Satellite News

High Fives:This is the fifth time humans will see a comet close-up, and the Deep Impact spacecraft flew by Earth for its fifth time on Sunday, June 27, 2010.Eco-friendly Spacecraft: Recycle, Reuse, Record:The EPOXI mission is recycling the Deep Impact spacecraft, whose probe intentionally collided with comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, revealing, for the first time, t

Flight Dynamics data from THEMIS-B indicated that one of the electric field instrument sphere-shaped tip masses may have been struck by a meteoroid on October 14. All science instruments continue to collect the data and the probe and science instruments aboard the spacecraft continue to operate technically. The upcoming placing into Lissajous orbit will not be interr

The lunar rocks brought back to the Earth by the Apollo astronauts were found to have very little water, and to be much drier than rocks on Earth. An explanation for this was that the Moon formed billions of years ago in the solar system's turbulent youth, when a Mars-sized planet crashed into Earth. The impact stripped away our planet's outer layer, sending it into

It has flown to space more than any other craft, and it has carried more crew members to orbit. It was the first spacecraft to retrieve a satellite and bring it back to Earth. It has visited two space stations. It launched a telescope that has seen deeper in space and in time than ever before. And twice it has demonstrated the United States' will to persevere followi

Though the universe is chocking full of spiral-shaped galaxies, no two look exactly the same. This face-on spiral galaxy, called NGC 3982, is striking for its rich tapestry of star birth, along with its winding arms. The arms are ruled with pink star-forming regions of glowing hydrogen, newborn blue star clusters, and obscuring dust lanes that provide the raw materia

Fast-growing sunspot 1112 is crackling with solar flares.The three strongest of this 24 hour periodAn M3-flare at 1910 UT on 16th October C1-flare at 0900 UT on 17th OctoberC1-flare at 1740 UT on 17th October . So far, none of the blasts has hurled a substantial CME toward Earth.Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this stunning image of one of the most intenseA vast

Twice a year, Solar Week provides a weeklong series of web-based educational activities for classrooms about our magnetic variable star, the sun, and its interactions with Earth and the solar system.Each day of Solar Week offers a different set of lessons and games for students ranging from the upper elementary to high school level. The site covers everything from so

NASA and Gowalla are bringing people one small step closer to the universe. Anyone who uses Gowalla, a mobile and web service, now has the opportunity to find and collect four NASA-related virtual items - a moon rock, a NASA patch, a spacesuit and a space shuttle.Gowalla's mission is to inspire discovery by connecting people with the places around them. When Gowalla

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured the snapshots of a suspected asteroid collision. The images show a bizarre X-shaped object at the head of a comet-like trail of material. In January, astronomers began using Hubble to track the object for five months. They thought they had witnessed a fresh asteroid collision, but were surprised to learn the collision occurr

Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered that a giant star in a remote galaxy ended its life with a dust-shrouded whimper instead of the more typical bang.Researchers suspect that this odd event - the first one of its kind ever viewed by astronomers – was more common early in the universe. It also hints at what we would see if the brightest s

A little asteroid will fly past Earth early Tuesday inside the Earth-moon system. The asteroid 2010 TD54 will have its closest come up to Earth’s surface at an altitude of about 27,960 miles nearly 45,000 kilometers at early morning. At to facilitate the time, the asteroid will be over southeastern Asia in the surrounding area of Singapore. During its flyby, Asteroid

SAM will develop into an automated, mobile laboratory as it is carry across Mars by the rover when the mission arrives at the Red Planet in 2012.SAM is in flight configuration, meaning its instruments are in the condition they will be during launch and are ready to begin operations on Mars. The instrument suite has started final environmental testing this week, whi

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured images of the large asteroid Vesta that will help refine plans for the Dawn spacecraft's rendezvous with Vesta in July 2011.Chris Russell explains how new images obtained by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope help his mission refine plans for Dawn's rendezvous with the large asteroid.Scientists have constructed a video from the i

Three views of Saturn's moon RheaSet of enhanced-color maps made from data obtained by NASA's CassiniThese three enhanced-color views of an equatorial region on Saturn's moon RheaSchematic graphic illustrates the bombardments that lead to colorful splotchesEnhanced-color view of Saturn's moon Mimas

Visitors at the 2010 International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, N.M., not only get the visual stimulation of hundreds of colorful hot-air balloons soaring skyward, but can learn about NASA efforts toward improving aviation via an exhibit focusing on the agency's aeronautics research efforts.NASA Aeronautics exhibit this year is focusing on its "green aviation" ini

The Red Planet bleeds. Not blood, but its atmosphere, slowly trickling away to space. The culprit is our sun, which is using its own breath, the solar wind, and its radiation to rob Mars of its air. The crime may have condemned the planet's surface, once apparently promising for life, to a cold and sterile existence.Features on Mars resembling dry riverbeds, and the

The frigid ice of Jupiter's moon Europa may be hiding more than a presumed ocean: it is likely the scene of some unexpectedly fast chemistry between water and sulfur dioxide at extremely cold temperatures. Although these molecules react easily as liquids—they are well-known ingredients of acid rain—Mark Loeffler and Reggie Hudson at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA will award $3.3 million over three years to support academic excellence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics tribal colleges and universities.The awards are part of a Cooperative Agreement Notice released by the NASA Office of Education’s Minority University Research and Education Program for the Tribal Colleges and Universities Project.Three inst