NASA Archives

June 18, 2019June 18, 2019 by Evan Gough

New Ideas to Reduce Muscle Loss During Spaceflight

Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk using the exercise bike on the ISS. Exercise is one way of combatting muscle atrophy in space. Image Credit: NASA

One of the obstacles to long space missions is the muscle loss that astronauts suffer from. It’s called atrophy, and NASA says that astronauts can lose up to 20% muscle mass during missions of only 5 to 11 days. This muscle loss affects what are called “anti-gravity muscles,” including calf muscles, the quadriceps and the muscles of the back and neck.

This muscle loss makes it hard for astronauts to complete their tasks, especially when missions to Mars happen. It can also be very dangerous to astronauts, because they’re weakened when they return to Earth. If there are problems during re-entry, and they need to perform any strenuous emergency procedures, that missing muscle could be the difference between life and death.

June 18, 2019June 18, 2019 by Matt Williams

Inflatable Heat Shield Could Deliver Heavy Payloads to Worlds With a Thick Atmosphere

Illustration of Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID). Credits: NASA

One of the greater challenges of sending payloads to Mars is having to contend with the planet’s atmosphere. While incredibly thin compared to Earth’s (with roughly half of 1% of Earth’s air pressure), the resulting air friction is still an issue for spacecraft looking to land there. And looking to the future, NASA hopes to be able to land heavier payloads on Mars as well as other planets – some of which may have atmospheres as dense as Earth.

A possible solution to this is the use of inflatable aeroshells (aka. heat shields), which offer numerous advantages over rigid ones. To develop this technology, NASA and United Launch Alliance (ULA) have partnered to develop an inflatable heat shield known as the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID). By 2022, they hope to send this cutting-edge prototype to low-Earth orbit (LEO), where it will be tested.

June 14, 2019August 26, 2024 by Matt Williams

Robotic asteroid mining spacecraft wins a grant from NASA

Credits: Joel Sercel, TransAstra Corporation

Back in April, NASA once again put out the call for proposals for the next generation of robotic explorers and missions. As part of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program, this consisted of researchers, scientists, and entrepreneurs coming together to submit early studies of new concepts that could one-day help advance NASA’s space exploration goals.

One concept that was selected for Phase III of development was a breakthrough mission and flight system called Mini Bee. This small, robotic mining craft was designed by the Trans Astronautica (TransAstra) Corporation to assist with deep-space missions. It is hoped that by leveraging this flight system architecture, the Mini-bee will enable the full-scale industrialization of space as well as human settlement.

June 14, 2019June 14, 2019 by Evan Gough

This is What the Ground Looked Like After InSight Landed on Mars

The gnarly surface of Mars, with two pits excavated by InSight's thrusters. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

When InSight landed on Mars on Nov. 26th, 2018, it deployed a parachute to slow its descent through the thin Martian atmosphere. As it approached the surface, it fired its retro rocket to slow it even more, and then gently touched down on the surface. As it did so, its retro rockets excavated two small pits in the Martian soil.

June 13, 2019June 14, 2019 by Matt Williams

In Order to Reveal Planets Around Another star, a Starshade Needs to Fly 40,000 km Away from a Telescope, Aligned Within Only 1 Meter

Artist's concept of the prototype starshade, a giant structure designed to block the glare of stars so that future space telescopes can take pictures of planets. Credit: NASA/JPL

To assist with future efforts to locate and study exoplanets, engineers with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory – in conjunction with the Exoplanet Exploration Program (ExEP) – are working to create Starshade. Once deployed, this revolutionary spacecraft will help next-generation telescopes by blocking out the obscuring light coming from distant stars so exoplanets can be imaged directly.

While this may sound pretty straightforward, the Starshade will also need to engage in some serious formation flying in order to do its job effectively. That was the conclusion of the reached by the Starshade Technology Development team (aka. S5) Milestone 4 report – which is available through the ExEP website. As the report stated, Starshade will need to be perfectly aligned with space telescopes, even at extreme distances.

June 11, 2019June 11, 2019 by Evan Gough

It’s Been Exactly One Year Since Opportunity Sent This Final Message Home – on its 5,111th Martian Day

Opportunity's final image before the global dust storm ended the rover's mission on Mars. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU

Opportunity’s final message home is not much to look at on its own. If you’re old enough to remember film cameras, it looks like the final exposure on a roll of film, developed but partly missing. It’s a suitable epitaph for Opportunity’s mission.

June 7, 2019June 7, 2019 by Evan Gough

You Can Use a Live Webcam to Watch NASA Build the Mars 2020 Rover

NASA's Mars 2020 rover under construction at JPL. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-CalTech

NASA’s next mission to the surface of Mars is called the 2020 rover (in case you didn’t know already.) It’s planned launch date is July 17th, 2020, and it should land at Jezero Crater on Mars on February 18th 2021. The rover is still under construction at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California.

June 5, 2019June 5, 2019 by Evan Gough

Engineers are Still Troubleshooting Why Mars InSight’s Mole is Stuck and Won’t Go Any Deeper

The support structure for the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Probe. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-CalTech.

NASA’s Mars InSight Lander was always a bit of a tricky endeavour. The stationary lander has one chance to get things right, since it can’t move. While initially the mission went well, and the landing site looked good, the Mole is having trouble penetrating deep enough to fulfill its mission.

June 4, 2019June 4, 2019 by Evan Gough

How Will NASA and ESA Handle Mars Samples When They Get Them Back to Earth?

A graphic showing what's required to get samples from Mars to Earth. Image Credit: ESA

We’ve learned a lot about Mars in recent years. Multiple orbiters and hugely-successful rover missions have delivered a cascade of discoveries about our neighbouring planet. But to take the next step in unlocking Mars’ secrets, we need to get Martian samples back to Earth.

June 3, 2019June 3, 2019 by Matt Williams

NASA is building up a map of the entire sky seen in X-rays, line by line with its NICER experiment

X-ray data recorded by NASA's NICER instrument aboard the ISS. Credits: NASA/NICER

In June of 2017, NASA’s Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) was installed aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The purpose of this instrument is to provide high-precision measurements of neutron stars and other super-dense objects that are on the verge of collapsing into black holes. NICER is also be the first instrument designed to test technology that will use pulsars as navigation beacons.

Recently, NASA used data obtained from NICER’s first 22 months of science operations to create an x-ray map of the entire sky. What resulted was a lovely image that looks like a long-exposure image of fire dancers, solar flare activity from hundreds of stars, or even a visualization of the world wide web. But in fact, each bright spot represents an x-ray source while the bright filaments are their paths across the night sky.