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What time is Boeing's 1st Starliner astronaut launch for NASA on May 6?
Their other vehicle is the Starliner: Boeing's 1st crew to ride Astrovan II to the launch pad
Starlink on Mars? NASA Is Paying SpaceX to Look Into the Idea
NASA has given the go-ahead for SpaceX to work out a plan to adapt its Starlink broadband internet satellites for use in a Martian communication network.
The idea is one of a dozen proposals that have won NASA funding for concept studies that could end up supporting the space agency’s strategy for bringing samples from Mars back to Earth for lab analysis. The proposals were submitted by nine companies — also including Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, United Launch Alliance, Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace, Impulse Space, Albedo Space and Redwire Space.
Awardees will be paid $200,000 to $300,000 for their reports, which are due in August. NASA says the studies could lead to future requests for proposals, but it’s not yet making any commitment to follow up.
“We’re in an exciting new era of space exploration, with rapid growth of commercial interest and capabilities,” Eric Ianson, director of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, said in a news release. “Now is the right time for NASA to begin looking at how public-private partnerships could support science at Mars in the coming decades.”
For years, SpaceX executives have been talking about using Starlink satellites in Martian orbit as part of billionaire founder Elon Musk’s vision of making humanity a multiplanetary species. In 2020, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told Time magazine that connectivity will be an essential part of the company’s Mars settlement plan.
“Once we take people to Mars, they are going to need a capability to communicate,” she said. “In fact, I think it will be even more critical to have a constellation like Starlink around Mars. And then, of course, you need to connect the two planets as well — so, we need to make sure we have robust telecom between Mars and back in Earth.”
Musk delved into more detail during last October’s International Astronautical Congress in Azerbaijan. “For Mars, you’d want a laser relay system, essentially,” he said. “It depends on what bandwidth you’re looking for. … Ultimately, we’d want terabit, maybe petabit-level data transfer between Earth and Mars.” Check out his comments on YouTube:
Musk could capitalize on NASA’s need to upgrade its communication relay system at the Red Planet, which relies on satellites that are up to 23 years old. The space agency’s main focus for future Mars exploration is its multi-mission strategy to retrieve samples that have been cached by the Perseverance rover. Last month, NASA said it would rework that strategy to reduce costs, in part by taking advantage of innovations coming from private industry. The innovations that are now the focus of the Mars Exploration Commercial Services program could play prominent roles in the revised strategy.
Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, will look into adapting its Blue Ring transfer vehicle to host and deliver payloads heading for Mars. A separate study will focus on Blue Ring’s potential use for next-generation relay services. In a posting to X / Twitter, Blue Origin said it was “excited to be part of NASA’s studies around the future of Mars robotic science and the unique benefits our Blue Ring platform can provide by enabling large payload delivery, hosting, and next-gen relay services.”
Here are the other companies on NASA’s list, and the subjects of their studies:
- Albedo Space: How to adapt an imaging satellite originally meant for low Earth orbit to provide Mars surface imaging.
- Astrobotic Technology: How to modify a lunar-exploration spacecraft for large payload delivery and hosting services. Also, how to modify a lunar-exploration spacecraft for Mars surface imaging.
- Firefly Aerospace: How to adapt a lunar-exploration spacecraft for small payload delivery and hosting services.
- Impulse Space: How to adapt its Helios space tug to provide small payload delivery and hosting for Mars missions.
- Lockheed Martin: How to adapt a lunar-exploration spacecraft for small payload delivery and hosting. Also, how to provide communication relay services for Mars with a spacecraft originally meant for use in the vicinity of Earth and the moon.
- Redwire Space: How to modify a commercial imaging spacecraft originally meant for low Earth orbit to provide Mars surface-imaging services.
- United Launch Alliance (through United Launch Services): How to modify an Earth-vicinity cryogenic upper stage to provide large payload delivery and hosting services.
The post Starlink on Mars? NASA Is Paying SpaceX to Look Into the Idea appeared first on Universe Today.
Virgin Galactic to launch 7th commercial spaceflight on June 8
Did You Hear Webb Found Life on an Exoplanet? Not so Fast…
The JWST is astronomers’ best tool for probing exoplanet atmospheres. Its capable instruments can dissect the light passing through a distant world’s atmosphere and determine its chemical components. Scientists are interested in everything the JWST finds, but when it finds something indicating the possibility of life it seizes everyone’s attention.
That’s what happened in September 2023, when the JWST found dimethyl sulphide (DMS) in the atmosphere of the exoplanet K2-18b.
K2-18b orbits a red dwarf star about 124 light-years away. It’s a sub-Neptune with about 2.5 times Earth’s radius and 8.6 Earth masses. The exoplanet may be a Hycean world, a temperate ocean-covered world with a large hydrogen atmosphere.
In October 2023, researchers announced the tentative detection of dimethyl sulphide in K2-18b’s atmosphere. They found it in JWST observations of the planet’s atmospheric spectrum. “The spectrum also suggests potential signs of dimethyl sulphide (DMS), which has been predicted to be an observable biomarker in Hycean worlds, motivating considerations of possible biological activity on the planet,” the researchers wrote.
The DMS caught people’s attention because it’s produced by living organisms here on Earth, mostly by marine microbes. So, finding it on an ocean world is cause for a deeper look. A team of researchers from the USA, Germany, and the UK examined the detection to see how it fits with atmospheric models.
“The best biosignatures on an exoplanet may differ significantly from those we find most abundant on Earth today.”
Eddie Schwieterman, astrobiologist, University of California, RiversideThey published their results in a paper in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. It’s titled “Biogenic Sulfur Gases as Biosignatures on Temperate Sub-Neptune Waterworlds.” The lead author is Shang-Min Tsai, a University of California Riverside project scientist.
Most of the thousands of exoplanets we’ve discovered are nothing like Earth. Habitability is impossible according to every known metric. But some are more intriguing. Some, like K2-18b, are more difficult to understand regarding habitability.
There’s some disagreement over what type of planet K2-18b is. It was the first exoplanet scientists ever detected water vapour on. It may be the first example of a Hycean world if they exist.
Artist depiction of the mini-Neptune K2-18 b. Credit: NASA, CSA, ESA, J. Olmstead (STScI), N. Madhusudhan (Cambridge University)There are some clear differences between K2-18b and Earth. Our atmosphere is dominated by nitrogen, which makes up about 78%. K2-18b’s atmosphere is dominated by hydrogen. But it’s enough like Earth in some ways that scientists are keen to understand it better.
“This planet gets almost the same amount of solar radiation as Earth. And if atmosphere is removed as a factor, K2-18b has a temperature close to Earth’s, which is also an ideal situation in which to find life,” said lead author Shang-Min Tsai.
The researchers who found DMS in K2-18b’s atmosphere also found carbon dioxide and methane. Finding CO2 and CH4 is noteworthy, but finding DMS with them is even more intriguing.
“What was icing on the cake, in terms of the search for life, is that last year these researchers reported a tentative detection of dimethyl sulfide, or DMS, in the atmosphere of that planet, which is produced by ocean phytoplankton on Earth,” Tsai said. DMS is oxidized in Earth’s oceans and is the planet’s main source of atmospheric sulphur.
K2-18b’s atmospheric composition as measured by the JWST’s near-infrared instruments. The detection of Dimethyl Sulphide is not holding up under increased scrutiny. Image Credit: NASA/CSA/ESA/STScIHowever, the 2023 findings were not conclusive. There were hints of DMS but nothing strong enough to convince scientists and overcome their professional skepticism. “The potential inference of DMS is of high importance, as it is known to be a robust biomarker on Earth and has been extensively advocated to be a promising biomarker for exoplanets,” the authors of the 2023 paper explained.
“The DMS signal from the Webb telescope was not very strong and only showed up in certain ways when analyzing the data,” Tsai said. “We wanted to know if we could be sure of what seemed like a hint about DMS.”
The JWST has no alarm bell and flashing indicator that lights up and says, ‘Biomarker Detected!’ It produces data that must be processed to tease out its secrets. Scientists also rely on battle-tested climate and atmospheric chemistry models to understand what the JWST sees.
“In this study, we explore biogenic sulphur across a wide range of biological fluxes and stellar UV environments,” the researchers write. They performed experiments with a 2D photochemical model and a 3D general circulation model (GCM.) According to Tsai and his co-researchers, the data is unlikely to show the presence of DMS in K2-18b’s atmosphere.
“The signal strongly overlaps with methane, and we think that picking out DMS from methane is beyond this instrument’s capability,” Tsai said.
That doesn’t mean that DMS is ruled out. It’s possible that the chemical could build up to detectable levels if plankton or some other life form were producing it. But, they’d have to produce about 20 times more DMS than there is on Earth.
Professor Madhusudhan from Cambridge University is the lead author of the 2023 paper on K2-18b’s atmosphere. He’s being touted in the media as the man who discovered alien life on another planet. He’s clearly uncomfortable with some of the hyperbole, but the message is becoming bigger than the messenger.
This study will probably put a damper on the media’s enthusiasm. But for people who follow science, this is just another instance of science correcting itself.
The fact is, we’re only groping our way toward understanding exoplanet atmospheres. Scientists have a powerful tool in the JWST, but it has limitations. It measures light in extreme detail and leaves the rest up to us. “We find that it is challenging to identify DMS at 3.4 ?m where it strongly overlaps with CH4,” the authors explain. But, they continue, “it is more plausible to detect DMS … in the mid-infrared between 9 and 13 ?m,” the authors explain.
This figure from the research compares how detectable DMS is in NIR (left) vs MIR (right.) We’re mostly interested in the 20xSorg (20 x organic sulphur.) Its presence at that concentration is muddy in NIR but stands out more clearly in simulated MIR data. Image Credit: Left: Madhusudhan et al. 2023. Right: Batalha et al. 2017.That means there’s hope for K2-18b. These observations were taken with the JWST’s near-infrared instruments, the NIRISS and the NIRSpec. Sometime next year, the JWST will examine the exoplanet’s atmosphere again, this time with its mid-infrared instrument MIRI. This instrument should tell us definitively whether DMS is present.
This figure shows the wavelength ranges of its instruments and the modes available to them. Image Credit: NASA/STScIScientists’ understanding of biosignatures has grown more detailed. Instead of searching for biosignatures like the ones on Earth, scientists are taking a larger, more holistic view of biosignatures and the nature of the atmospheres they might be present in.
“The best biosignatures on an exoplanet may differ significantly from those we find most abundant on Earth today. On a planet with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere, we may be more likely to find DMS made by life instead of oxygen made by plants and bacteria as on Earth,” said UCR astrobiologist Eddie Schwieterman, a senior author of the study.
The team’s work does show that sulphur could be a detectable biomarker for Hycean worlds. “The moderate threshold for biological production suggests that the search for biogenic sulphur gases as one class of potential biosignature is plausible for Hycean worlds,” they conclude.
The post Did You Hear Webb Found Life on an Exoplanet? Not so Fast… appeared first on Universe Today.
Does a cosmic 'glitch' in gravity challenge Albert Einstein's greatest theory?
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Autoimmune conditions linked to reactivated X chromosome genes
ARMD Solicitations
7 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Illustration showing multiple future air transportation options NASA researchers are studying or working to enable.NASA
This ARMD solicitations page compiles the opportunities to collaborate with NASA’s aeronautical innovators and/or contribute to their research to enable new and improved air transportation systems. A summary of available opportunities with key dates requiring action are listed first. More information about each opportunity is detailed lower on this page.
University Leadership Initiative
Key date: May 29, 2024
Commercial Supersonic Technology
Key date: May 31, 2024
University Student Research Challenge
June 20, 2024
Advanced Air Mobility
Key date: Feb. 1, 2025, at 6 p.m. EST
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations is using this request for information to identify technologies that address current challenges facing the wildland firefighting community. NASA is seeking information on data collection, airborne connectivity and communications solutions, unmanned aircraft systems traffic management, aircraft operations and autonomy, and more. This will support development of a partnership strategy for future collaborative demonstrations.
Interested parties were requested to respond to this notice with an information package no later than 4 pm ET, October 15, 2023, that shall be submitted via https://nari.arc.nasa.gov/acero-rfi. Any proprietary information must be clearly marked. Submissions will be accepted only from United States companies.
View the full RFI Announcement here.
Advanced Air Mobility MissionGENERAL ADVANCED AIR MOBILITY
ANNOUNCEMENT OF REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
This request for information (RFI) is being used to gather market research for NASA to make informed decisions regarding potential partnership strategies and future research to enable Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). NASA is seeking information from public, private, and academic organizations to determine technical needs and community interests that may lead to future solicitations regarding AAM research and development.
This particular RFI is just one avenue of multiple planned opportunities for formal feedback on or participation in NASA’s AAM Mission-related efforts to develop these requirements and help enable AAM.
The current respond by date for this RFI is Feb. 1, 2025, at 6 p.m. EST.
View the full RFI announcement here.
NASA Research Opportunities in AeronauticsNASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) uses the NASA Research Announcement (NRA) process to solicit proposals for foundational research in areas where ARMD seeks to enhance its core capabilities.
Competition for NRA awards is open to both academia and industry.
The current open solicitation for ARMD Research Opportunities is ROA-2023 and ROA-2024.
Here is some general information to know about the NRA process.
- NRA solicitations are released by NASA Headquarters through the Web-based NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES).
- All NRA technical work is defined and managed by project teams within these four programs: Advanced Air Vehicles Program, Airspace Operations and Safety Program, Integrated Aviation Systems Program, and Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program.
- NRA awards originate from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, Ames Research Center in California, Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, and Armstrong Flight Research Center in California.
- Competition for NRA awards is full and open.
- Participation is open to all categories of organizations, including educational institutions, industry, and nonprofits.
- Any updates or amendments to an NRA is posted on the appropriate NSPIRES web pages as noted in the Amendments detailed below.
- ARMD sends notifications of NRA updates through the NSPIRES email system. In order to receive these email notifications, you must be a Registered User of NSPIRES. However, note that NASA is not responsible for inadvertently failing to provide notification of a future NRA. Parties are responsible for regularly checking the NSPIRES website for updated NRAs.
Amendment 1
UPDATED MAY 3, 2024
Amendment 1 to the NASA ARMD Research Opportunities in Aeronautics (ROA) 2024 NRA has been posted on the NSPIRES web site at https://nspires.nasaprs.com.
The announcement solicits proposals from accredited U.S. institutions for research training grants to begin the academic year. This NOFO is designed to support independently conceived research projects by highly qualified graduate students, in disciplines needed to help advance NASA’s mission, thus affording these students the opportunity to directly contribute to advancements in STEM-related areas of study. AAVP Fellowship Opportunities are focused on innovation and the generation of measurable research results that contribute to NASA’s current and future science and technology goals.
Research proposals are sought to address key challenges provided in Elements of Appendix A.8.
Notices of Intent (NOIs) are not required.
A budget breakdown for each proposal is required, detailing the allocation of the award funds by year. The budget document may adhere to any format or template provided by the applicant’s institution.
Proposals were due by April 30, 2024, at 5 PM ET.
Amendment 2
UPDATED APRIL 5, 2024
University Leadership Initiative (ULI) provides the opportunity for university teams to exercise technical and organizational leadership in proposing unique technical challenges in aeronautics, defining multi-disciplinary solutions, establishing peer review mechanisms, and applying innovative teaming strategies to strengthen the research impact.
Research proposals are sought in six ULI topic areas in Appendix D.4.
Topic 1: Safe, Efficient Growth in Global Operations (Strategic Thrust 1)
Topic 2: Innovation in Commercial High-Speed Aircraft (Strategic Thrust 2)
Topic 3: Ultra-Efficient Subsonic Transports (Strategic Thrust 3)
Topic 4: Safe, Quiet, and Affordable Vertical Lift Air Vehicles (Strategic Thrust 4)
Topic 5: In-Time System-Wide Safety Assurance (Strategic Thrust 5)
Topic 6: Assured Autonomy for Aviation Transformation (Strategic Thrust 6)
This NRA will utilize a two-step proposal submission and evaluation process. The initial step is a short mandatory Step-A proposal due May 29, 2024. Those offerors submitting the most highly rated Step-A proposals will be invited to submit a Step-B proposal. All proposals must be submitted electronically through NSPIRES at https://nspires.nasaprs.com. An Applicant’s Workshop was held on Thursday April 3, 2024; 1:00-3:00 p.m. ET (https://uli.arc.nasa.gov/applicants-workshops/workshop8)
Amendment 3
NEW APRIL 5, 2024
Commercial Supersonic Technology seeks proposals for a fuel injector design concept and fabrication for testing at NASA Glenn Research Center.
The proposal for the fuel injector design aims to establish current state-of-the-art in low NOx supersonic cruise while meeting reasonable landing take-off NOx emissions. The technology application timeline is targeted for a supersonic aircraft with entry into service in the 2035+ timeframe.
These efforts are in alignment with activities in the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate as outlined in the NASA Aeronautics Strategic Implementation Plan, specifically Strategic Thrust 2: Innovation in Commercial High-Speed Aircraft.
Proposals due by May 31, 2024 at 5 pm EDT.
ROA-2023 NRA AmendmentsAmendment 5
UPDATED MAY 3, 2024
Amendment 5 to the NASA ARMD Research Opportunities in Aeronautics (ROA) 2023 NRA has been posted on the NSPIRES web site.
University Student Research Challenge (solicitation NNH23ZEA001N-USRC) seeks to challenge students to propose new ideas/concepts that are relevant to NASA Aeronautics. USRC will provide students, from accredited U.S. colleges or universities, with grants for their projects and with the challenge of raising cost share funds through a crowdfunding campaign. The process of creating and implementing a crowdfunding campaign acts as a teaching accelerator – requiring students to act like entrepreneurs and raise awareness about their research among the public.
The solicitation goal can be accomplished through project ideas such as advancing the design, developing technology or capabilities in support of aviation, by demonstrating a novel concept, or enabling advancement of aeronautics-related technologies.
Notices of Intent (NOIs) are not required for this solicitation. Three-page proposals for the next USRC cycle are due June 20, 2024.
The USRC Cycle 4 Q&A/Info Session and Proposal Workshop will be held on Monday, May 6, 2024 at 2pm ET. Please join us on TEAMS using the Meeting Link below, or call in via +1 256-715-9946,,176038745# Phone Conference ID: 176 038 745#
Amendment 4 (Expired)
(Full text here)
Amendment 3 (Expired)
(Full text here)
Amendment 2 (Expired)
(Full text here)
Amendment 1 (Expired)
(Full text here)
Aeronautics STEM
Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)
Aeronáutica en español
Share Details Last Updated May 03, 2024 EditorJim BankeContactJim Bankejim.banke@nasa.gov Related TermsFormer NASA Center Director, Scientist to Receive Presidential Medals
President Joe Biden will present Dr. Ellen Ochoa, former center director and astronaut at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, and Dr. Jane Rigby, senior project scientist for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, each with the Presidential Medal of Freedom Friday in a ceremony at the White House in Washington.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor award, and these two NASA recipients are among the 19 awardees announced May 3. Ochoa is recognized for her leadership at NASA Johnson and as the first Hispanic woman in space, and Rigby is recognized for her work on leading NASA’s transformational space telescope.
“I am proud Ellen and Jane are recognized for their incredible roles in NASA missions, for sharing the power of science with humanity, and inspiring the Artemis Generation to look to the stars,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Among her many accomplishments as a veteran astronaut and leader, Ellen served as the second female director of Johnson, flew in space four times, and logged nearly 1,000 hours in orbit. Jane is one of the many wizards at NASA who work every day to make the impossible, possible. The James Webb Space Telescope represents the very best of scientific discovery that will continue to unfold the secrets of our universe. We appreciate Ellen and Jane for their service to NASA, and our country.”
Dr. Ellen Ochoa
Portrait of retired NASA Johnson Space Center Director Ellen Ochoa seated in the Flight Control Room 1 viewing area in the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Stafford and Allison Bills
Ochoa retired from NASA in 2018 after more than 30 years with the agency. In addition to being an astronaut, she served a variety of positions over the years, including the 11th director of NASA Johnson, Johnson deputy center director, and director of Flight Crew Operations.
She joined the agency in 1988 as a research engineer at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, and moved to NASA Johnson in 1990 when she was selected as an astronaut. Ochoa became the first Hispanic woman to go to space when she served on the nine-day STS-56 mission aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1993. She flew in space four times, including STS-66, STS-96 and STS-110.
Born in California, Ochoa earned a bachelor’s degree in Physics from San Diego State University and a master’s degree and doctorate in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. As a research engineer at Sandia National Laboratories and NASA Ames Research Center, Ochoa investigated optical systems for performing information processing. She is a co-inventor on three patents and author of several technical papers.
“Wow, what an unexpected and amazing honor! I’m so grateful for all my amazing NASA colleagues who shared my career journey with me,” said Ochoa upon hearing the news of her Presidential Medal of Freedom award.
During her career, Ochoa also received NASA’s highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal, and the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award for senior executives in the federal government. She has received many other awards and is especially honored to have seven schools named for her.
Ochoa also is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and formerly chaired both the National Science Board and the Nomination Evaluation Committee for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.
Dr. Jane Rigby
NASA James Webb Space Telescope Operations Project Scientist Jane Rigby answers a question from a member of the media during a briefing following the release of the first full-color images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, Tuesday, July 12, 2022, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Rigby, who was born and raised in Delaware, is honored with the Medal of Freedom for her role in the success of NASA’s Webb mission – the largest, most powerful space telescope launched on Dec. 25, 2021 – as well as her longtime support of diversity and inclusion in science.
She is an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. She provides scientific leadership for Webb, which has made pioneering discoveries about the secrets of our universe and inspired the world in its first two years of science operations. Rigby worked on the development of Webb for many years, and subsequently led the characterization of Webb’s science performance, which now is exceeding expectations, and frequently shares the progress of Webb science with the public.
“Webb has become a symbol not only of technical excellence and scientific discovery, but also of how much humanity can accomplish when we all work together,” Rigby said. “I’m so proud and grateful to lead the amazing Webb team.”
Rigby is an active researcher, developing new techniques to better understand how galaxies evolve over time and form stars. She has published 160 peer-reviewed publications and has been recognized with awards such as NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, the Fred Kavli Prize Plenary Lecture from the American Astronomical Society (AAS), and the 2022 LGBTQ+ Scientist of the Year from Out to Innovate.
“Thousands of people around the world came together to build Webb,” said Rigby. “The engineers who built and deployed Webb were critical to Webb’s success, and now thousands of scientists around the world are using Webb to make discovery after discovery.” To represent those contributions, in addition to inviting her family to the Medal of Freedom ceremony, Rigby invited her colleague Mike Menzel, Webb lead mission systems engineer at NASA Goddard, and Dr. Kelsey Johnson, president of the American Astronomical Society.
Rigby also serves as a trustee of the AAS and was a founding member of the AAS Committee for Sexual-Orientation and Gender Minorities in Astronomy. She holds a doctorate in Astronomy from the University of Arizona, as well as a bachelor’s degree in Physics, as well as another in Astronomy and Astrophysics from Penn State University.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
Learn more about NASA’s missions at:
-end-
Cheryl Warner / Karen Fox
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov / karen.c.fox@nasa.gov
Laura Betz
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-9030
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
Boeing Starliner spacecraft 'go' for 1st astronaut launch on May 6, NASA says
Long ago, a lake on Mars might have been sprawling with microbes
Gas Stove Pollution Lingers in Homes for Hours Even outside the Kitchen
Gas stoves spew nitrogen dioxide at levels that frequently exceed those that are deemed safe by health organizations
A Moonlit Trio
A Moonlit Trio
The Moon (left), Saturn, and Jupiter (lower right; Saturn is above and to the left of Jupiter) were seen in the sky above the Washington Memorial on Dec. 17, 2020. At the time, Saturn and Jupiter were nearing each other in the sky, culminating in a “great conjunction” on Dec. 21, where they appeared a tenth of a degree apart.
Great conjunctions between Jupiter and Saturn happen every 20 years, making the planets appear to be close to one another. This closeness occurs because Jupiter orbits the Sun every 12 years, while Saturn’s orbit takes 30 years, causing Jupiter to catch up to Saturn every couple of decades as viewed from Earth.
The last great conjunction was even more special: Jupiter and Saturn had not appeared that close in the sky to each other since 1623.
For skywatching tips, visit What’s Up.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls