NASA’s Curiosity Rover Frees Its Drill From a RockDescription This series of images shows NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover as it got a rock stuck to the drill on the end of its robotic arm and, after waving the arm and running the drill a few times, finally detached the rock. The imagery showing the entire process was captured by the black-and-white hazard cameras […]
NASA Astronaut to Answer Questions from Students in FloridaStudents in Florida will hear from NASA astronaut Chris Williams as he answers prerecorded science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) questions while aboard the International Space Station. The Earth-to-space call will begin at 11 a.m. EDT Friday, May 8, and will stream live on the agency’s Learn With NASA YouTube channel. This event is hosted […]
NASA Research Shows Early Life Relied on Rare MetalNASA-funded scientists have discovered that life on Earth over 3 billion years ago relied on the metal molybdenum, which was incredibly scarce in the environment at the time. The study, published in Nature Communications on Tuesday, is the first to show that molybdenum was used by ancient life this far back in our planet’s history. […]
Building on America’s 65-Year Legacy of Human SpaceflightOn the morning of May 5, 1961, the Mercury-Redstone 3 launch vehicle lifted into the sky from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. Over the next 15 minutes, Shepard ascended to an altitude of 116 miles (187 kilometers) in his Freedom 7 spacecraft, becoming the first American to fly into space before […]
NASA’S Juno Misson Captures Jupiter Moon ThebeDescription NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this view of Thebe, the second largest of Jupiter’s inner moons, during a close pass on May 1, 2026. The spacecraft’s Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) captured this image from a distance of approximately 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) at a resolution of about 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) per pixel. Thebe resides […]
New NASA HEAT Coloring Book Blends Art, Science, and Cultural PerspectivesA new Sun-centered and science-focused coloring book produced by NASA in partnership with the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) is now available for people to learn while showing their artistic side.
NASA Volunteers Double Known Population of Brown DwarfsA new paper from NASA’s Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project announces that volunteers have essentially doubled the number of known brown dwarfs, with over 3,000 new discoveries made over the past 10 years since the project began. Brown dwarfs are balls of gas the size of Jupiter, less massive than stars. There’s one for every three or four stars near the Sun.
Ahuachapán and Its Restive NeighborsFrom a geothermal hotspot to the one-time “Lighthouse of the Pacific,” the heat is on beneath the volcanic landscape of western El Salvador.
NASA Welcomes Ireland as Newest Artemis Accords SignatoryIreland signed the Artemis Accords Monday during a signing ceremony hosted by NASA, becoming the latest nation to commit to the responsible exploration of space for all humanity. Ireland, a longstanding member of ESA (European Space Agency) and a valued international partner for NASA, now joins all 23 ESA member states as a signatory of […]
NASA Fosters Development of Lunar Resource-Seeking TechnologiesTo support long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars, NASA and industry are developing technologies that can extract resources such as hydrogen and helium-3 from lunar soil, known as regolith. This capability, known as in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), allows explorers to use what is already available on other planetary bodies, from water ice to minerals. […]