Science Mission Directorate
NASA Tests Technology, Practices Artemis Moonwalks in Arizona Desert
To prepare for exploring the Moon during NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency is conducting a week-long field test in the lunar-like landscape of San Francisco Volcanic Field near Flagstaff, Arizona to practice moonwalk scenarios. NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Andre Douglas are serving as the crewmembers and wearing mockup spacesuit systems as they traverse through […]
Read MoreHubble Celebrates the 15th Anniversary of Servicing Mission 4
Fifteen years ago, human hands touched NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope for the last time. As astronauts performed finishing tasks on the telescope during its final servicing mission in May 2009, they knew they had successfully concluded one of the most challenging and ambitious series of spacewalks ever conducted. But they couldn’t have known at the […]
Read MoreNASA Selects Students for Europa Clipper Intern Program
NASA has selected 40 undergraduate students for the first year of its Europa ICONS (Inspiring Clipper: Opportunities for Next-generation Scientists) internship program, supporting the agency’s Europa Clipper mission. Europa ICONS matches students with mentors from the mission’s science team for a 10-week program to conduct original scientific research on topics related to the mission to Jupiter’s […]
Read MoreNASA Grants Support Academic Collaborations for STEM Student Success
NASA has awarded $3.9 million to 13 teams at under-resourced academic institutions across the country, to support collaborative projects with NASA that offer students mentorship and career development in science, technology, engineering, and math. This is the second round of seed funding awards given through the agency’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Bridge Program, which was […]
Read MoreNASA’s New Hubble E-Book Spotlights Universe’s Best-Kept Dark Secrets
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope team has released a new downloadable e-book in the Hubble Focus series, called “Hubble Focus: The Dark Universe.” This e-book highlights the mission’s recent discoveries about two mysterious components of our universe, known as dark energy — an unexplained cosmic pressure that’s speeding up the universe’s expansion — and dark matter, […]
Read MoreNASA Awards Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowships for 2024
The highly competitive NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP) recently named 24 new fellows to its 2024 roster. The program fosters excellence and inclusive leadership in astrophysics by supporting a diverse group of exceptionally promising and innovative early-career astrophysicists. The NHFP enables outstanding postdoctoral scientists to pursue independent research in any area of NASA Astrophysics, using […]
Read MoreNASA Launches Snap It! Computer Game to Learn About Eclipses
On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will be visible to over 30 million people across North America. To help kids learn about solar eclipses, NASA is launching Snap It! An Eclipse Photo Adventure. The Snap It! game – designed for kids ages 7 and up – lets players help out the Traveler, an enthusiastic character who […]
Read More2023 NASA International Space Apps Challenge Announces 10 Global Winners
Ten teams from around the world have been named the Global Winners of the 2023 NASA International Space Apps Challenge. The Challenge is the largest annual global hackathon, and gives participants the opportunity to engage with real world problems we face on Earth and in space.
Read MoreClues to Psyche Asteroid’s Metallic Nature Found in SOFIA Data
When the asteroid Psyche has its first close-up with a NASA spacecraft, scientists hypothesize they will find a metal-rich asteroid. It could be part or all of the iron-rich interior of a planetesimal, an early planetary building block, that was stripped of its outer rocky shell as it repeatedly collided with other large bodies during […]
Read MoreNear-Earth Asteroids as of September 2023
September 2023 Each month, NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office releases a monthly update featuring the most recent figures on NASA’s planetary defense efforts, near-Earth object close approaches, and other timely facts about comets and asteroids that could pose an impact hazard with Earth. Here is the what we’ve found for September.
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