NASA

on 2020-04-17 in science

The image composite is just one of hundreds that the infrared observatory produced during its 16 years in space.

on 2020-04-17 in science

To honor the day’s 50th anniversary, NASA’s JPL has unveiled posters in which our home planet is the star.

on 2020-04-15 in science

While the star it orbits is much smaller than our Sun, it gets about 75% of the sunlight Earth does. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory managed Kepler mission development.

on 2020-04-15 in science

By mimicking rocky seafloor chimneys in the lab, scientists have produced new evidence that these features could have provided the right ingredients to kick-start life.

on 2020-04-14 in science

The Mars mission has learned to meet new challenges while working remotely.

on 2020-04-10 in science

The team also fueled the rover’s sky crane to get ready for this summer’s history-making launch.

on 2020-04-10 in science

From podcasts to live Q&A sessions to image galleries, the agency offers an entire world of ways to celebrate and learn more about our home planet.

on 2020-04-09 in science

A new JPL-led challenge is seeking ideas for scientific instruments that could fit inside a tiny payload no bigger than a bar of soap.

on 2020-04-09 in science

Not quite planets and not quite stars, brown dwarfs are cosmic in-betweeners. Learning about their atmospheres could help us understand giant planets around other stars.

on 2020-04-07 in science

Among the five JPL-led efforts chosen, a concept to image distant Earth-like planets orbiting other stars has received a $2 million grant for further development.

on 2020-04-06 in science

New mapping of the giant planet’s upper atmosphere reveals likely reason why it’s so hot.

on 2020-04-03 in science

After the rover was shipped from JPL to Kennedy Space Center, the team is getting closer to finalizing the spacecraft for launch later this summer.

on 2020-04-01 in science

The NASA mission will identify planets with large orbits, similar to our solar system’s far-flung giants, Uranus and Neptune.

on 2020-04-01 in science

The Mars Helicopter is riding to the Red Planet this summer with NASA’s Perseverance rover. The helicopter’s chief engineer, Bob Balaram, shares the saga of how it came into being.

on 2020-03-31 in science

Satellite data on the movement of water on Earth helps to improve the accuracy of moisture maps and forecasts.

on 2020-03-31 in science

With podcasts, e-books, DIY projects and more, the agency has lots of fun, informative ways to help you explore the solar system and beyond – no launch vehicle required.

on 2020-03-30 in science

An array of six spacecraft, each about the size of a toaster oven, will help us understand our nearest star and better protect astronauts traveling beyond Earth.

on 2020-03-26 in science

As part of NASA’s ‘Send Your Name to Mars’ campaign, they’ve been stenciled onto three microchips along with essays from NASA’s ‘Name the Rover’ contest. Next stop: Mars.

on 2020-03-25 in science

The shape of the ground beneath Denman Glacier, which is melting from the bottom up, makes it particularly vulnerable to the intrusion of seawater.

on 2020-03-25 in science

The ice giant Uranus appears to be losing a bit of its atmosphere to space, perhaps siphoned away by the planet’s magnetic field.

on 2020-03-20 in science

Along with capturing an image before its steepest ascent ever, the robotic explorer filmed its “selfie stick,” or robotic arm, in action.

on 2020-03-20 in science

The system will be collecting and storing Martian rock and soil. Its installation marks another milestone in the march toward the July launch period.

on 2020-03-18 in science

Greenland and Antarctica are melting – but how quickly and which areas are most affected? Nearly 20 years of satellite data provide key insights into these questions.

on 2020-03-18 in science

From lasers to rovers, the technology JPL develops for space often has unanticipated uses much closer to home.

on 2020-03-16 in science

The two regions have lost 6.4 trillion tons of ice in three decades; unabated, this rate of melting could cause flooding that affects hundreds of millions of people by 2100.

on 2020-03-10 in science

The upgraded Autonomous Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot, or A-PUFFER, is on a roll. The technology could find itself on a commercial lunar lander in the next few years.

on 2020-03-09 in science

After duking it out in the 20th Annual Los Angeles FIRST Robotics Regional Competition, three victors are moving on to the world championships.

on 2020-03-06 in science

Using data from NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, researchers found links between the population density of cities and how much carbon dioxide they produce per person.

on 2020-03-05 in science

NASA chose seventh-grader from Virginia as winner of the agency’s “Name the Rover” essay contest. Alexander Mather’s entry for “Perseverance” was voted tops among 28,000 entries.

on 2020-03-04 in science

To go along with the stunning 1.8-billion-pixel image, a new video offers a sweeping view of the Red Planet.

on 2020-03-04 in science

The antenna enhancements will improve future spacecraft communications, but during the upgrades, Voyager 2 will not be able to receive new commands from Earth.

on 2020-03-03 in science

After a months-long contest among students to name NASA’s newest Mars rover, the agency will reveal the winning name – and the winning student – this Thursday.

on 2020-02-27 in science

Team CoSTAR, which includes NASA’s JPL, Caltech and MIT engineers, placed first.

on 2020-02-24 in science

A batch of new papers summarizes the lander’s findings above and below the surface of the Red Planet.

on 2020-02-24 in science

Now on its fifth consecutive win at the JPL-hosted event, the team will move on to the national rounds in April.

on 2020-02-21 in science

Engineers have a plan for pushing down on the heat probe, which has been stuck at the Martian surface for a year.

on 2020-02-21 in science

To survive the planet’s intense heat and crushing surface pressure, the rover would need an obstacle-avoidance system unlike any other.

on 2020-02-20 in science

The leadership council for Mars 2020 science added two new members who represent the interests of scientists destined to handle and study the first samples from Red Planet.

on 2020-02-19 in science

As sea levels rise, some areas of the Mississippi Delta are drowning while others are actually gaining mass. NASA’s Delta-X heads to the delta to figure out why.

on 2020-02-18 in science

The mission publishes its first stream of data on the amount of water in Jupiter’s atmosphere – the first findings on the gas giant’s water since the agency’s 1995 Galileo mission.

on 2020-02-18 in science

Other orbiters will continue relaying data from Mars surface missions for a two-week period.

on 2020-02-13 in science

Two NASA-JPL proposals are among the selections: Trident would explore Neptune’s moon Triton, while Veritas aims to map Venus’ surface to determine the planet’s geologic history.

on 2020-02-13 in science

Knowing where emissions are happening and what’s causing them brings us a step closer to being able to forecast the region’s impact on global climate.

on 2020-02-12 in science

A recent update to this historic portrait shows Earth as a tiny speck surrounded by the vastness of space.

on 2020-02-12 in science

The agency’s first step in returning rocks from Mars just arrived at Kennedy Space Center. The Mars 2020 team now begins readying for a launch to the Red Planet this July.

on 2020-02-11 in science

Robotic spacecraft will be able to communicate with the dish using radio waves and lasers.

on 2020-02-10 in science

Jim Bridenstine addresses NASA’s ambitious plans for the coming years, including Mars Sample Return.

on 2020-02-07 in science

SuperCam is a rock-vaporizing instrument that will help scientists hunt for Mars fossils.

on 2020-02-06 in science

Using 12 years of satellite data, NASA scientists have measured how the influx of cold, fresh water is affecting the Beaufort Gyre, a major Arctic current.

on 2020-02-04 in science

Like many people, plants are less active at night. The agency’s ‘space botanist’ can see when they begin to stir, and start their day.