I have lost count of how many times I have given public lectures and explained the temperature differences between Mercury and Venus. How Mercury, surprisingly isn’t the hottest planet in the Solar System and how that badge goes to Venus, thick atmosphere blah blah blah. Mercury and its complex surface geology does of course get …
Image: A satellite’s death spiral
1 min read SaSa Learning Activities Students of the 2022 SaSa class stand in a cockpit, learning from a NASA airman as part of a training module. Module 1 The first module starts with a two-week introductory summer workshop at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and Howard University Beltsville Campus research facility in …
1 min read SaSa Learning Activities Students of the 2022 SaSa class stand in a cockpit, learning from a NASA airman as part of a training module. Module 1 The first module starts with a two-week introductory summer workshop at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and Howard University Beltsville Campus research facility in …
Anybody with a modicum of intellectual curiosity is looking forward to the NASA/ESA Mars Sample Return Mission. NASA’s Perseverance rover is busily collecting and caching samples for eventual return to Earth. While the technical and engineering challenges in getting those samples into scientists’ hands here on Earth are formidable, budgeting and funding might be the …
What’s Going on With the Mars Sample Return Mission? Read More »
If there’s one chemical that causes excitement in the search for biosignatures on other worlds, it’s methane. It’s not a slam dunk because it has both biotic and abiotic sources. But finding it in an exoplanet’s atmosphere means that planet deserves a closer look. Methane captures scientific attention mainly because of its short duration in …
Wow. JWST Just Found Methane in an Exoplanet Atmosphere Read More »
6 min read NASA Uses Two Worlds to Test Future Mars Helicopter Designs This video combines two perspectives of the 59th flight of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. Video on the left was captured by the Mastcam-Z on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover; the black-and-white video on the right was taken by Ingenuity’s downward-pointing Navcam. The flight …
NASA Uses Two Worlds to Test Future Mars Helicopter Designs Read More »
6 min read NASA Uses Two Worlds to Test Future Mars Helicopter Designs This video combines two perspectives of the 59th flight of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. Video on the left was captured by the Mastcam-Z on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover; the black-and-white video on the right was taken by Ingenuity’s downward-pointing Navcam. The flight …
NASA Uses Two Worlds to Test Future Mars Helicopter Designs Read More »
19 Min Read The Marshall Star for November 22, 2023 Artemis II Astronauts View SLS Core Stage at Michoud Artemis II NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch of NASA, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen viewed the core stage for the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility on Nov. …
19 Min Read The Marshall Star for November 22, 2023 Artemis II Astronauts View SLS Core Stage at Michoud Artemis II NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch of NASA, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen viewed the core stage for the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility on Nov. …
