NASA Archives

June 3, 2019June 6, 2019 by Evan Gough

LEGO’s New Apollo 11 Lunar Lander has been Released

The LEGO Eagle Lander set is a tribute to the Apollo 11 mission. Image Credit: LEGO

The 50th anniversary of You-Know-What is coming up and LEGO is getting in on the celebration. The much-beloved company has released a replica of the Apollo 11 Eagle Lunar Lander. The new lander is part of LEGO’s Creator Expert collection.

LEGO teamed up with NASA on this effort, and the model boasts quite a few realistic touches.

May 31, 2019May 31, 2019 by Evan Gough

Curiosity has Found the Mother Lode of Clay on the Surface of Mars

Curiosity at Mt. Sharp, Gale Crater, Mars. To the left of the rover are two drill holes into the rocks "Aberlady" and "Kilmarie." Curiosity found high concentrations of clay in both rocks. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Clay is a big deal on Mars because it often forms in contact with water. Find clay, and you’ve usually found evidence of water. And the nature, history, and current water budget on Mars are all important to understanding that planet, and if it ever supported life.

May 30, 2019May 30, 2019 by Evan Gough

Why do Some Hubble Images Have That Chunk Taken Out of the Corner?

Great question! The answer has to do with Hubble’s history.

It’s easy to forget that the Hubble has been in space since 1990. That’s going on 30 years now. And during that time, it’s been serviced and had its cameras upgraded.

May 28, 2019May 28, 2019 by Evan Gough

This Strange Feature on Mars was Probably the Result of an Ancient Volcanic Explosion

An olivine-rich deposit near Nili Fossae on the Martian surface. Image Credit: NASA/MRO

A strange feature on the surface of Mars has kept scientists guessing about its origin. It’s a surface deposit of a mineral which is more common in the interiors of planets. A new study shows that this interior mineral was probably brought to the surface by an ancient explosive volcano.

May 27, 2019May 27, 2019 by Evan Gough

NASA’s Long-Term Climate Predictions have Proven to be Very Accurate, Within 1/20th of a Degree Celsius

The map shows temperature changes for the last decade—January 2000 to December 2009—relative to the 1951-1980 mean. Credit: NASA

There are a handful of major science institutions around the world that keep track of the Earth’s temperature. They all clearly show that the world’s temperature has risen in the past few decades. One of those institutions is NASA.

May 25, 2019May 28, 2019 by Matt Williams

Theory proposes that Venus could have been habitable, but a large ocean slowed down its rotation, killing it

Observations suggest Venus may have had water oceans in its distant past. A land-ocean pattern like that above was used in a climate model to show how storm clouds could have shielded ancient Venus from strong sunlight and made the planet habitable. Credits: NASA

There’s no sense in sugar-coating it – Venus is a hellish place! It is the hottest planet in the Solar System, with atmospheric temperatures that are hot enough to melt lead. The air is also a toxic plume, composed predominantly of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid rain clouds. And yet, scientists theorize that Venus was once a much different place, with a cooler atmosphere and liquid oceans on its surface.

Unfortunately, this all changed billions of years ago as Venus experienced a runaway greenhouse effect, changing the landscape into the hellish world we know today. According to a NASA-supported study by an international team of scientists, it may have actually been the presence of this ocean that caused Venus to experience this transition in the first place.

May 22, 2019May 24, 2019 by Susie Murph

Weekly Space Hangout: May 22, 2019 – Dr. Susan Bailey of the NASA TWINS Study

Hosts:
Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain)
Dr. Kimberly Cartier (KimberlyCartier.org / @AstroKimCartier )
Dr. Morgan Rehnberg (MorganRehnberg.com / @MorganRehnberg & ChartYourWorld.org)
Dr. Paul M. Sutter (pmsutter.com / @PaulMattSutter)
Dr. Brian Koberlein (briankoberlein.com / @BrianKoberlein)

Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout: May 22, 2019 – Dr. Susan Bailey of the NASA TWINS Study”

May 22, 2019May 22, 2019 by Evan Gough

NASA has Picked the Companies That’ll Help Build its Lunar Landers

An artist's illustration of lunar lander that can carry humans to the surface of the Moon. Image Credit: NASA

NASA has chosen 11 American companies to help them build the next lunar landers that will carry humans to the surface of the Moon. The 11 companies will conduct studies and work on prototype landers in the coming years. It’s all part of NASA’s Artemis mission, and the mission’s 2024 date with the surface of the Moon.

May 21, 2019May 21, 2019 by Matt Williams

Don’t Forget, Curiosity’s Sister Rover is Flying to Mars in 2020

Engineers testing the spacecraft that will carry the Mars 2020 rover to the Red Planet. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Next summer, NASA will be sending it’s Mars 2020 rover to the Red Planet. In addition to being the second rover to go as part of the Mars Exploration Program, it will be one of eight functioning missions exploring the atmosphere and surface of the planet. These include the recently-arrived InSight lander, the Curiosity rover – Mars 2020s sister-mission – and
the Opportunity rover (which NASA recently lost contact with and retired).

As the launch date gets closer and closer, NASA is busily making all the final preparations for this latest member of the Mars exploration team. In addition to selecting a name (which will be selected from an essay contest), this includes finalizing the spacecraft that will take the rover on its seven-month journey to Mars. Recently, NASA posted images of the spacecraft being inspected at NASA JPL’s Space Simulator Facility (SFF) in Pasadena, California.

May 16, 2019May 16, 2019 by Evan Gough

NASA’s 2024 Moon Mission is called Artemis, and Will Need an Additional $1.6 Billion in Funding

NASA is adjusting to its ambitious new timeline to get to the Moon by 2024. Image: NASA.

The Moon’s going to have more human visitors in the year 2024. NASA has announced that their mission to the Moon, which is named Artemis after the Greek goddess of hunting, has been advanced by four years, from 2028 to 2024. But there’s a catch: they need more dough to do it. $1.6 billion more.