Feed aggregator

Even tipped over onto its side, the Odysseus Lunar Lander was able to do some science. Though a broken leg means it's doomed to spend eternity in an awkward position, its solar panels were able to gather some energy. Enough for its radiotelescope to take observations for about 80 minutes.

Inaudible ultrasonic beams steered around obstacles can create pockets of sound in an otherwise quiet room, acoustics experts report

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost moon lander went dark in the lunar night on Sunday (March 16) as expected, bringing an end to its historic mission.

After a long wait and a bunch of disappointing straight-to-DVD sequels, Starship Troopers is still trying to live forever with a theatrical reboot now in development.

We are so familiar with our solar system that we often presume it is generally how star systems are built. Four little planets close to the star, four large gas planets farther away, and all with roughly circular orbits. But as we have found ever more exoplanets, we've come to understand just how unusual the solar system is. Large planets often orbit close to their star, small planets are much more common than larger ones, and as a new study shows, orbits aren't always circular.

Students, mentors, and team supporters donning team colors watch robots clash on the playing field at the FIRST Robotics Los Angeles regional competition in El Segundo on March 16. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Robots built by high schoolers vied for points in a fast-moving game inspired by complex ocean ecosystems at the FIRST Robotics Los Angeles regional competition.

High school students who spent weeks designing, assembling, and testing 125-pound rolling robots put their fast-moving creations into the ring over the weekend, facing off at the annual Los Angeles regional FIRST Robotics Competition, an event supported by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

Four of the 43 participating teams earned a chance to compete in April at the FIRST international championship tournament in Houston, which draws winning teams from across the country.

Held March 14 to 16 at the Da Vinci Schools campus in El Segundo, the event is one of many supported by the nonprofit FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), which pairs students with STEM professionals. Teams receive the game rules, which change every year, in January and sprint toward competition, assembling their robot based on FIRST’s specifications. The global competition not only gives students engineering experience but also helps them develop business skills with a range of activities, from fundraising for their team to marketing.

For this year’s game, called “Reefscape,” two alliances of three teams competed for points during each 2½-minute match. That meant six robots at a time sped across the floor, knocking into each other and angling to seed “coral” (pieces of PVC pipe) on “reefs” and harvesting “algae” (rubber balls). In the final seconds of each round, teams could earn extra points if their robots were able to hoist themselves into the air and dangle from hanging cages, as though they were ascending to the ocean surface.

The action was set to a bouncy soundtrack that reverberated through the gym, while in the bleachers there were choreographed dancing, loud cheers, pom-poms, and even some tears.

The winning alliance was composed of Warbots from Downey’s Warren High School, TorBots from Torrance’s South High School, and West Torrance Robotics from Torrance’s West High School. The Robo-Nerds of Benjamin Franklin High in Los Angeles’ Highland Park and Robo’Lyon from Notre Dame de Bellegarde outside Lyon, France, won awards that mean they’ll also get to compete in Houston, alongside the Warbots and the TorBots.

NASA and its Robotics Alliance Project provide grants for high school teams across the country and support FIRST Robotics competitions to encourage students to pursue STEM careers in aerospace. For the L.A. regional competition, JPL has coordinated volunteers — and provided coaching and mentoring to teams, judges, and other competition support — for 25 years.

For more information about the FIRST Los Angeles regional, visit:

https://cafirst.org/frc/losangeles/

News Media Contact

Melissa Pamer
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-314-4928
melissa.pamer@jpl.nasa.gov

2025-037

Share

Details Last Updated Mar 17, 2025 Related Terms

• Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Explore More 3 min read NASA Analysis Shows Unexpected Amount of Sea Level Rise in 2024 Article 5 days ago 6 min read Cosmic Mapmaker: NASA’s SPHEREx Space Telescope Ready to Launch Article 2 weeks ago 5 min read NASA Turns Off 2 Voyager Science Instruments to Extend Mission Article 2 weeks ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA

Missions

Humans in Space

Climate Change

Solar System

The stunning comet C/2024 G3 lights up the sunset sky over Chile's Very Large Telescope in this spectacular photo.

NASA’s InSight lander recorded surprisingly large quakes that indicate Mars is more seismically active than we first thought. Mysteriously, they only happen during Martian summers

NASA’s InSight lander recorded surprisingly large quakes that indicate Mars is more seismically active than we first thought. Mysteriously, they only happen during Martian summers

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a spirited selection of sci-fi films born from the Emerald Isle.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has directly imaged four planets orbiting the host star HR 8799 about 130 light-years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov onboard, Friday, March 14, 2025, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission is the tenth crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. McClain, Ayers, Onishi, and Peskov launched at 7:03 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy to begin a six-month mission aboard the orbital outpost.

Analysing the aftermath of particle collisions has revealed two new instances of “CP violation”, a process that explains why our universe contains more matter than antimatter

Analysing the aftermath of particle collisions has revealed two new instances of “CP violation”, a process that explains why our universe contains more matter than antimatter

They may tell us they hate chores, but kids who help around the house report feeling accomplished and competent, not to mention happy

Birds do it, chimps do it, even monarch butterflies do it – and by paying more attention to how animals self-medicate, we can find new treatments for ourselves

Birds do it, chimps do it, even monarch butterflies do it – and by paying more attention to how animals self-medicate, we can find new treatments for ourselves

Gravitational slingshots are now a common part of space missions where the trajectory of a spacecraft is altered using the gravity of another body. These often bring fabulous opportunities for an extra bit of bonus science such as that demonstrated by ESA’s Hera mission on its way to asteroid Dimorphos. It’s following up on the DART 2022 impact but to get there, it’s used the gravity of Mars. It came within 5,000 km of the red planet and on its way, was able to take a look at Mars’ smaller moon Deimos from its far side.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov onboard, Friday, March 14, 2025, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission is the tenth crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. McClain, Ayers, Onishi, and Peskov launched at 7:03 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy to begin a six-month mission aboard the orbital outpost.

Image Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

A planned project in Texas could be the world’s first direct air capture development to rely primarily on electricity produced on site by wind power