3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) A collage of artist concepts highlighting the novel approaches proposed by the 2024 NIAC Phase II awardees for possible future missions.Credits: NASA, From left: Edward Balaban, Mary Knapp, Mahmooda Sultana, Brianna Clements, Ethan Schaler NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program (NIAC) has selected six visionary concept studies for additional funding [...]

4 min read NASA 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 [...]

From left, NASA astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore and family pose for a photo with Billy Stover and family. Photo credit: Billy Stover As NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore launches aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station Monday, May 6 on its first crewed flight, one of his best friends will have played a key [...]

9 Min Read Orbits and Kepler’s Laws An illustration of our solar system. Credits: NASA/JPL Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion The story of how we understand planetary motion could not be told if it were not for the work of a German mathematician named Johannes Kepler.  Kepler’s three laws describe how planets orbit the [...]

On May 4, 1989, space shuttle Atlantis took off on its third flight, STS-30, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Its five-person crew of Commander David M. Walker, Pilot Ronald J. Grabe, and Mission Specialists Mark C. Lee, Norman E. Thagard, and Mary L. Cleave flew a four-day mission that deployed the Magellan [...]

Astronomers have discovered enormous circular radio features of unknown origin around some galaxies. Now, new observations of one dubbed the Cloverleaf suggest it was created by clashing groups of galaxies. Studying these structures, collectively called ORCs (odd radio circles), in a different kind of light offered scientists a chance to probe everything from supersonic shock [...]

23 Min Read The Marshall Star for May 1, 2024 Marshall Prepares for Strategic Facilities Updates  NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is getting ready for the next big step in the evolution of its main campus. Through a series of multi-year infrastructure projects, Marshall is optimizing its footprint to assure its place as a [...]

Smog over a deep mountain valley.Credit: NOAA NASA, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has selected BAE Systems (formerly known as Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation) of Boulder, Colorado, to develop an instrument to monitor air quality and provide information about the impact of air pollutants on Earth for NOAA’s Geostationary [...]

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Artist’s depiction of ScienceCraft, which integrates the science instrument with the spacecraft by printing a quantum dot spectrometer directly on the solar sail to form a monolithic, lightweight structure.Mahmooda Sultana Mahmooda Sultana NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Missions to the outer solar system are [...]

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Artist concept of novel approach proposed by a 2024 NIAC Phase II awardee for possible future missions depicting lunar surface with planet Earth on the horizon.Credit: Ethan Schaler Ethan Schaler NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory We want to build the first lunar railway system, which [...]