Tag: NASA
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Now you can put your name on NASA’s Mars 2020 rover (in teeny tiny letters)
Members of the public who sign up to have their names sent to Mars will get a souvenir boarding pass to print out as well. (NASA / JPL-Caltech Image) Space fans have been sending their names to Mars and other extraterrestrial destinations for more than two decades, and it’s that time again: From now until…
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NASA’s lunar orbiter spots the smoking hole left behind by Israel’s moon lander
A processed image from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, taken on April 22, highlights the dark smudge and bright impact halo left behind by the Beresheet lunar lander’s impact (NASA / GSFC / ASU Photo) The Israeli-built Beresheet moon lander made history when it went into lunar orbit and descended to the surface — and although…
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NASA taps Blue Origin and 10 other companies to work on moon lander studies and prototypes
An artist’s conception shows a landing system in lunar orbit. (NASA Illustration) It’s almost as if Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos knew what was coming: His Blue Origin space venture is among 11 companies selected by NASA to conduct studies and produce prototypes of spacecraft that could carry astronauts down to the moon’s south polar region…
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White House proposal to tap Pell Grant fund casts a pall over NASA’s moon plans
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, at left, discusses the plan to send astronauts to the moon by 2024 as three of his associate administrators — William Gerstenmaier, Jim Reuter and Thomas Zurbuchen — look on during a town hall at NASA headquarters. (NASA Photo / Joel Kowsky) Will NASA’s plan to land astronauts on the moon…
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Amid the talk about moon missions, Mars fans push for a share of the space spotlight
An artist’s conception depicts a crewed mission to Mars. (NASA / JPL-Caltech Illustration / 2004) As NASA shifts the focus of its space exploration effort to the moon, the advocates of Mars exploration and settlement have a message for future lunar explorers: Don’t get too comfortable. “I do think the moon should be included in…
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White House seeks $1.6B more as ‘down payment’ for NASA’s newly named Artemis moon program
An artist’s conception shows astronauts exploring the moon after landing. (NASA Illustratiion) The White House is asking Congress for $1.6 billion more than the $21 billion it previously requested for NASA’s budget, to fund what’s now known as the Artemis program to put American astronauts on the moon by 2024. “This initial investment, I want…
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X-ray communications experiment delivered to space station
NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) instrument and the U.S. military’s Space Test Program-Houston 6 (STP-H6) payload, which carries the X-ray communications experiment, inside the trunk of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft before launch. Credit: NASA A novel communications experiment developed by NASA and the Naval Research Laboratory has arrived at the International Space Station to prove…
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Blue Origin ‘one step closer’ to human flights after successful suborbital launch
This image from Blue Origin’s webcast of Thursday’s mission shows the New Shepard’s capsule just before touchdown in West Texas. Credit: Blue Origin Taking another step toward flying space tourists to the edge of space, Jeff Bezos’s space company Blue Origin again flew its New Shepard suborbital booster Thursday with a package of microgravity research…
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Blue Origin readies reusable suborbital launcher for another flight
File photo of a New Shepard booster landing after a previous mission. Credit: Blue Origin Blue Origin teams in West Texas are preparing for another launch of the company’s reusable New Shepard suborbital rocket Thursday to loft dozens of microgravity research payloads to the edge of space. The single-stage rocket is set for liftoff from…
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InSight lander detects first likely ‘quake’ on Mars
This image of InSight’s seismometer was captured March 19. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Sensors delivered to Mars by NASA’s InSight lander have detected the first signals suggesting seismic activity on the red planet, a major discovery that extends the field of seismology to a new world beyond the Earth and the moon. Scientists announced the detection Tuesday,…