Asteroid Bennu’s Rugged Surface Baffled NASA, We Finally Know WhyIn one of the biggest surprises of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, its target asteroid, Bennu, turned out to be a jagged, rugged world covered in large boulders, with few of the smooth patches of sandy or pebbly material scientists had expected based on observations with Earth-based instruments. Bennu’s looks were quite deceiving, and until now, scientists struggled to figure out why.
Hail Yeah! NASA Researchers Use Volunteer Observations for Hail EstimatesThe bigger the hailstone, the more damage it can cause. But scientists find that predicting hailstone size can be challenging. How quickly does hail melt as it falls?
A Bit of Gray on an Emerald IsleIreland is best known for its many greens, but the striking grays of the island’s Burren region also stand out in satellite images.
NASA Invites Media to Learn About Upcoming X-59 Test FlightsNASA will hold a media teleconference at 5:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 19 to highlight plans for its X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft’s upcoming flight tests. The teleconference is set to take place after the X-59 is scheduled to complete its second flight, in California. For the media call, NASA leadership will join representatives from […]
SPARCS CubeSat ‘First Light’ ImagesDescription This pair of images shows stars observed by the SPARCS (Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat) space telescope simultaneously in the near-ultraviolet, left, and far-ultraviolet, right. These observations were recorded on Feb. 6, 2026, three weeks after the cube satellite, or CubeSat, launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 on Jan. 11. The fact that one star […]
To Protect Artemis II Astronauts, NASA Experts Keep Eyes on Sun As four astronauts travel around the Moon on NASA’s Artemis II mission, they will venture beyond Earth’s protective magnetic field. The crew’s spacecraft, Orion, will carry and protect them as they journey into deep space and serves as the main protection against the Sun’s intense power. During their 10-day flight, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will monitor the […]
Celebrating 100 Years Since Goddard’s Breakthrough Moment in Modern RocketryFrom the voyages of spacecraft to the Moon and beyond, to the launches of satellites that help us navigate, communicate, and understand our planet and the universe, the use of liquid-fueled rockets has been key to humanity’s use and exploration of space. Today marks 100 years since the first successful test of this technology. On […]
A Combination of Techniques Leads to Improved Friction Stir Welding Download PDF: A Combination of Techniques Leads to Improved Friction Stir Welding The NESC developed several innovative tools and techniques during an assessment to find the root cause of poor tensile strength and low topography anomalies (LTA) in welds formed using a solid-state welding process called self-reacting friction stir welding (SRFSW). Using a combination of […]
NESC Develops Method for Estimating Risk When Reducing NDE Download PDF: NESC Develops Method for Estimating Risk When Reducing NDE Performing nondestructive evaluation (NDE) can have both cost and schedule impacts, leading some to question whether descoping (i.e., reducing or eliminating) NDE inspections on certain spaceflight hardware could be possible. However, this approach would be counter to NASA’s Technical Standard NASA-STD-5019A, which outlines the spaceflight […]
Cañon Fiord’s Whirling WatersDuring the 2022 summer melt season, sediment plumes and fractured sea ice traced swirling eddies in a branch of the Nansen Sound fjord system in the Canadian Arctic.