NASA

on 2020-07-30 in science

The agency’s Mars 2020 mission is on its way. It will land at Jezero Crater in about seven months, on Feb. 18, 2021.

on 2020-07-28 in science

In a Q&A, spacesuit designer Amy Ross explains how five samples, including a piece of helmet visor, will be tested aboard the rover, which is targeting a July 30 launch.

on 2020-07-27 in science

The new projects look at food- and water-supply stability and how changes in human activity are affecting the environment.

on 2020-07-27 in science

With a targeted launch date of July 30, the next robotic scientist NASA is sending to the to the Red Planet has big ambitions.

on 2020-07-26 in science

Wild weather sweeping in from the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico is bringing flooding rains, high winds, and dangerous storm surges to Hawaii and Texas.

on 2020-07-23 in science

Carried by a balloon the size of a football stadium, ASTHROS will use a cutting-edge telescope to observe wavelengths of light that aren’t visible from the ground.

on 2020-07-23 in science

A Mars photo booth, augmented-reality filters, and a virtual launch packet are just some of the ways to celebrate the July 30 launch of the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission.

on 2020-07-22 in science

The agency’s Mars 2020 mission has one more big prelaunch review – the Launch Readiness Review, on July 27.

on 2020-07-22 in science

Infrared images from Juno provide the first glimpse of Ganymede’s icy north pole.

on 2020-07-17 in science

How two video meetings, two online purchases, and a kitchen counter led to what could be “one small step” for future astronauts to grow food on the Moon.

on 2020-07-17 in science

Starting July 27, news activities will cover everything from mission engineering and science to returning samples from Mars to, of course, the launch itself.

on 2020-07-16 in science

The telltale sign that the black hole was feeding vanished, perhaps when a star interrupted the feast. The event could lend new insight into these mysterious objects.

on 2020-07-14 in science

Members of the public can help scientists learn how planets form by sifting through data from NASA’s WISE mission, managed by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

on 2020-07-14 in science

As Comet NEOWISE begins to dazzle the evening skies, the public and media can pose their astronomy questions to a panel of experts from NASA, JPL, and the NEOWISE mission.

on 2020-07-14 in science

The first helicopter attempting to fly on another planet is a marvel of engineering. Get up to speed with these key facts about its plans.

on 2020-07-14 in science

The winners for the JPL-led “Honey, I Shrunk the NASA Payload” challenge have been announced, and the miniature robotic designs could help the agency explore the Moon.

on 2020-07-10 in science

Data from NASA’s NEOWISE mission, managed by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, fuels the search for these not-quite-planets-but-not-quite-stars.

on 2020-07-10 in science

No matter where you live, choose from a menu of activities to join NASA as we “Countdown to Mars” and launch the Perseverance rover to the Red Planet.

on 2020-07-10 in science

From its vantage point aboard the Aqua satellite, the instrument maps how much moisture the storm’s clouds contain.

on 2020-07-09 in science

Ready for its launch later in the month, the Mars-bound rover will touch terra firma no more.

on 2020-07-09 in science

Used for communicating with distant spacecraft, a massive radio antenna is being retrofitted to prepare it for a busy future of solar system exploration.

on 2020-07-08 in science

Under consideration to become the next Discovery Program mission, VERITAS would reveal the inner workings of Earth’s mysterious “twin.”

on 2020-07-08 in science

NASA’s next rover to the Red Planet launched on July 30 and will land on Feb. 18, 2021. These highlights will get you up to speed on the ambitious mission.

on 2020-07-08 in science

Catch the comet in the morning sky until July 11, after which you can find it just after sunset until mid-August.

on 2020-07-07 in science

Now that the lander’s robotic arm has helped the mole get underground, it will resume science activities that have been on hold.

on 2020-07-07 in science

The mission to explore a metal-rich asteroid is pivoting from planning the details to building real pieces of the spacecraft puzzle.

on 2020-07-07 in science

The Sentinel-6/Jason-CS satellite mission will add to a long-term sea level dataset that’s become the gold standard for climate studies from orbit.

on 2020-07-06 in science

After more than a year in a clay-rich region, Curiosity is making a mile-long journey around some deep sand so that it can explore higher up Mount Sharp.

on 2020-07-06 in science

An overwhelming response to the competition will help advance the design of a mechanical rover concept that could one day explore the hellish surface of Venus.

on 2020-06-30 in science

From the vantage point of the Terra satellite, the instrument can detect the scarred land that the wildfire, burning north of Tucson, is leaving in its wake.

on 2020-06-25 in science

In a first, astronomers may have seen light from the merger of two black holes, providing opportunities to learn about these mysterious dark objects.

on 2020-06-24 in science

The newly discovered planet’s parent star is still encircled by the disk of material from which both objects formed, giving scientists a glimpse at early planet evolution.

on 2020-06-24 in science

SPARROW, a steam-powered robotic concept, could one day take giant leaps over some of the most hazardous terrains known (and unknown) in the solar system.

on 2020-06-24 in science

Smart phone apps provide nearly instantaneous navigation on Earth; the Deep Space Atomic Clock could do the same for future robotic and human explorers.

on 2020-06-23 in science

The small craft will seek to prove that powered, controlled flight is possible on another planet. But just getting it onto the surface of Mars will take a whole lot of ingenuity.

on 2020-06-22 in science

Jupiter-size planets orbiting close to their stars have upended ideas about how giant planets form. Finding young members of this planet class could help answer key questions.

on 2020-06-17 in science

Born from an exploded star, the infant magnetar belongs to a family of extreme objects called neutron stars. Its discovery may lend insight into these strange phenomena.

on 2020-06-17 in science

The Red Planet’s surface has been visited by eight NASA spacecraft. The ninth will be the first that includes gathering Mars samples for future return to Earth.

on 2020-06-16 in science

One of four concepts being considered for a Discovery Program mission, Trident would investigate one of the solar system’s most unusual worlds.

on 2020-06-15 in science

This new portrait of the Red Planet’s neighbors was taken during a time when there’s more dust in the air on Mars.

on 2020-06-15 in science

Learn more about the agency’s next Red Planet mission during a live event on June 17.

on 2020-06-12 in science

A new study describes how the mission became the first to make a fifth state of matter in Earth orbit, and the advantages of studying atoms in space.

on 2020-06-12 in science

Using an online tool to label Martian terrain types, you can train an artificial intelligence algorithm that could improve the way engineers guide the Curiosity rover.

on 2020-06-11 in science

A team of engineers in the U.S. and Europe subjected the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich spacecraft to a battery of trials to ready it for liftoff later this year.

on 2020-06-08 in science

The new research by scientists at NASA and the Italian Space Agency has implications for the entire Saturn system as well as other planets and moons.

on 2020-06-08 in science

Taken with the infrared camera on NASA’s Odyssey orbiter, the images reveal temperature variations aboard the small moon as it drifts into and out of Mars’ shadow.

on 2020-06-03 in science

Landslides cause loss of life and billions of dollars in damage each year. The ability to predict them accurately can reduce both.

on 2020-06-02 in science

About the size of a briefcase, the CubeSat was built to test new technologies but exceeded expectations by spotting a planet outside our solar system.

on 2020-06-02 in science

Two astronauts collected Moon rocks on Apollo 11. It will take three robotic systems working together to gather up the first Mars rock samples for return to Earth.

on 2020-06-01 in science

Continuous monitoring of glaciers and ice caps has provided unprecedented insights to global ice loss that could have serious socioeconomic impacts on some regions.