Feed aggregator

In this age of exoplanet discovery, the flaring of red dwarf stars (M-dwarfs) has taken on new importance. M-dwarfs are known to host many terrestrial planets in their putative habitable zones. The problem is the flaring could make their habitable zones uninhabitable.

Zena Cardman,who was removed from an ISS launch to facilitate the return to Earth of Starliner's first crew, will command SpaceX's upcoming Crew-11 mission to the station.

NASA

Men stand in front of turning vanes inside the Altitude Wind Tunnel (AWT) at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory in this February 1944 publicity photo. The photo was taken just weeks after the tunnel became operational.

The AWT was the only wind tunnel capable of testing full-size aircraft engines in simulated altitude conditions. A large wooden drive fan, located on the other side of these vanes, created wind speeds up to 500 miles per hour. Each corner of the rectangular tunnel had turning vanes, which straightened the airflow and directed it around the corners. This set of vanes was in the 31-foot-diameter southeast corner of the tunnel. These elliptical panels consisted of 36 to 42 vertical vanes that were supported by three horizontal supports. The individual vanes were 2.5 feet long and half-moon shaped. Each set of vanes took weeks to assemble before they were installed during the summer of 1943.

The Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory went through several name updates and changes through NACA and NASA history; it is now NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

Image credit: NASA

NASA

Men stand in front of turning vanes inside the Altitude Wind Tunnel (AWT) at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory in this February 1944 publicity photo. The photo was taken just weeks after the tunnel became operational.

The AWT was the only wind tunnel capable of testing full-size aircraft engines in simulated altitude conditions. A large wooden drive fan, located on the other side of these vanes, created wind speeds up to 500 miles per hour. Each corner of the rectangular tunnel had turning vanes, which straightened the airflow and directed it around the corners. This set of vanes was in the 31-foot-diameter southeast corner of the tunnel. These elliptical panels consisted of 36 to 42 vertical vanes that were supported by three horizontal supports. The individual vanes were 2.5 feet long and half-moon shaped. Each set of vanes took weeks to assemble before they were installed during the summer of 1943.

The Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory went through several name updates and changes through NACA and NASA history; it is now NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

Image credit: NASA

Watch all Marvel content, including the Avengers movies and the X-Men movies from the 2000s, ahead of Avengers: Doomsday next year, with a 72% discount.

New data released by the EPA show that nearly half of people in the U.S. have drinking water contaminated by toxic “forever chemicals,” or PFAS

New findings from the ALMA telescope have revealed that planets are born in much smaller protoplanetary disks than astronomers suspected, some of which would fit with the orbit of Earth.

The space telescope's image of a odd-looking spiral galaxy is, in reality, two distant galaxies overlapping each other.

Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to observe asteroid 2024 YR4, which earlier this year seemed to be at risk of hitting Earth in 2032. Earth is now safe, but astronomers are cheering on a possible collision with the moon

Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to observe asteroid 2024 YR4, which earlier this year seemed to be at risk of hitting Earth in 2032. Earth is now safe, but astronomers are cheering on a possible collision with the moon

Curiosity Navigation

• Curiosity Home
• Science
• News and Features
• Multimedia
• Mars Missions
• Mars Home

2 min read

Sols 4493-4494: Just Looking Around NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera on March 25, 2025 — sol 4491, or Martian day 4,491 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 17:16:50 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Written by Alex Innanen, atmospheric scientist at York University

Earth planning date: Wednesday, March 26, 2025

It’s my second shift of the week as the Environmental theme lead and keeper of the plan (a bit of a mouthful we shorten to ESTLK) and today started out feeling eerily similar to Monday. Once again, Curiosity is posing like a geologist, which means that once again we can’t unstow the arm and will be skipping contact science. The silver lining is that this means we have extra time to have a good look around.

The plan also looks similar to Monday’s — targeted remote sensing on the first sol before driving away, and then untargeted remote sensing on the next. On sol 4493 we start our remote sensing, almost as remote as we can get, with a suprahorizon movie looking for clouds in the south. A dust-devil survey rounds out the sol’s environmental observations, and then the geology theme group can get down to the serious business of looking at rocks. For Mastcam this means observing a group of bedrock targets all called “Observatory Trail” (one of which you can see in the middle of the image above), pointing out some interesting veins in “Point Loma,” and casting their gaze out toward “Black Butte” (which I could not think of a fun pun for…). ChemCam has a LIBS observation of “Cholla,” as well as two long-distance observations of the Texoli Butte and the boxwork structures. Our second sol is a little more restrained, as untargeted sols tend to be. But Curiosity will still have plenty of energy after a good rest. We’re taking advantage of that with an extra-long dust-devil movie. Even though we’re in our cloudy season, we still sometimes see dust lifting, and having that extra time to look out for it increases our chances of catching a wind gust or a dust devil in action. Alongside that we also have a Mastcam tau observation to keep an eye on the amount of dust in the atmosphere, and wrap up with a ChemCam AEGIS activity to autonomously choose a LIBS target.

Share

• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  

Details

Last Updated

Mar 28, 2025

Related Terms

• Blogs

Explore More

2 min read Sols 4491-4492: Classic Field Geology Pose

Article


2 days ago

3 min read Sols 4488-4490: Progress Through the Ankle-Breaking Terrain (West of Texoli Butte, Climbing Southward)

Article


4 days ago

3 min read Sols 4486-4487: Ankle-Breaking Kind of Terrain!

Article


7 days ago

Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…

All Mars Resources

Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…

Rover Basics

Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…

Mars Exploration: Science Goals

The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…

Curiosity Navigation

• Curiosity Home
• Science
• News and Features
• Multimedia
• Mars Missions
• Mars Home

2 min read

Sols 4493-4494: Just Looking Around NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Left Navigation Camera on March 25, 2025 — sol 4491, or Martian day 4,491 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 17:16:50 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Written by Alex Innanen, atmospheric scientist at York University

Earth planning date: Wednesday, March 26, 2025

It’s my second shift of the week as the Environmental theme lead and keeper of the plan (a bit of a mouthful we shorten to ESTLK) and today started out feeling eerily similar to Monday. Once again, Curiosity is posing like a geologist, which means that once again we can’t unstow the arm and will be skipping contact science. The silver lining is that this means we have extra time to have a good look around.

The plan also looks similar to Monday’s — targeted remote sensing on the first sol before driving away, and then untargeted remote sensing on the next. On sol 4493 we start our remote sensing, almost as remote as we can get, with a suprahorizon movie looking for clouds in the south. A dust-devil survey rounds out the sol’s environmental observations, and then the geology theme group can get down to the serious business of looking at rocks. For Mastcam this means observing a group of bedrock targets all called “Observatory Trail” (one of which you can see in the middle of the image above), pointing out some interesting veins in “Point Loma,” and casting their gaze out toward “Black Butte” (which I could not think of a fun pun for…). ChemCam has a LIBS observation of “Cholla,” as well as two long-distance observations of the Texoli Butte and the boxwork structures. Our second sol is a little more restrained, as untargeted sols tend to be. But Curiosity will still have plenty of energy after a good rest. We’re taking advantage of that with an extra-long dust-devil movie. Even though we’re in our cloudy season, we still sometimes see dust lifting, and having that extra time to look out for it increases our chances of catching a wind gust or a dust devil in action. Alongside that we also have a Mastcam tau observation to keep an eye on the amount of dust in the atmosphere, and wrap up with a ChemCam AEGIS activity to autonomously choose a LIBS target.

Share

• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  

Details

Last Updated

Mar 28, 2025

Related Terms

• Blogs

Explore More

2 min read Sols 4491-4492: Classic Field Geology Pose

Article


2 days ago

3 min read Sols 4488-4490: Progress Through the Ankle-Breaking Terrain (West of Texoli Butte, Climbing Southward)

Article


4 days ago

3 min read Sols 4486-4487: Ankle-Breaking Kind of Terrain!

Article


7 days ago

Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…

All Mars Resources

Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…

Rover Basics

Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…

Mars Exploration: Science Goals

The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…

Swarms of satellites launched by SpaceX and other companies are disrupting astronomical observations. Here's how scientists are coping

Video: 00:15:30

Meet Arnaud Prost—aerospace engineer, professional diver, and member of ESA’s Astronaut Reserve. From flying aircraft to getting a taste of spacewalk simulation, his passion for exploration knows no bounds.

In this miniseries, we take you on a journey through the ESA Astronaut Reserve, diving into the first part of their Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) near Cologne, Germany. Our “ARTists” are immersing themselves in everything from ESA and the International Space Station programme to the European space industry and institutions. They’re gaining hands-on experience in technical skills like spacecraft systems and robotics, alongside human behaviour, scientific lessons, scuba diving, and survival training.

ESA’s Astronaut Reserve Training programme is all about building Europe’s next generation of space explorers—preparing them for the opportunities of future missions in Earth orbit and beyond.

This interview was recorded in November 2024. 

You can listen to this episode on all major podcast platforms.

Keep exploring with ESA Explores!

Learn more about Arnaud’s PANGAEA training here.

Hiroyasu Tsukamota has developed a deep-learning-based guidance and control framework called Neural-Rendezvous that could allow spacecraft to safely encounter interstellar objects.

Week in images: 24-28 March 2025

Discover our week through the lens

The crew of SpaceX's pioneering Fram2 mission includes a polar explorer, a marine technology scientist, a filmmaker and a bitcoin magnate.

There are a number of ways that exoplanets have been discovered over recent years but a team of astronomers have been exploring other ways. One particular exciting method is to hunt for them by finding their magnetospheres! Earth and Jupiter are a great example of planets that are surrounded by strong magnetospheres that interact with solar activity and when they do, they release radio emissions. The team of researchers have been demonstrating just how they could detect Jupiter’s radio emissions using simulated data. Not only would they be able to detect it, but they could also measure its rotation and even detect interactions with its moons!

The long-standing question of how animals came to have an anus may have been solved by studies of which genes are active during development in various animals

The long-standing question of how animals came to have an anus may have been solved by studies of which genes are active during development in various animals