NASA
TESS Completes its Primary Mission
On July 4, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) completed its primary mission, a two-year-long survey that imaged about 75% of the starry sky. In capturing this giant mosaic, TESS has found 66 new exoplanets, or worlds...
NASA
NASA | RRM: The Main Event
In orbit at 18,000 miles an hour, day and night change places every 90 minutes. Darkness and light, sleep and wake: it's tough to focus on precise tasks floating outside the International Space Station. But not if you're a robot. NASA's...
NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center Virtual Tour
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is one of the few space organizations that can manage a mission from beginning to end: imagine it, build it, test it, launch it and reap the scientific benefits. Come take a...
NASA
NASA | Five Years of Great Discoveries for NASA's IBEX
Launched on Oct. 19, 2008, the Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, spacecraft, is unique to NASA's heliophysics fleet: it images the outer boundary of the heliosphere, a boundary at the furthest edges of the solar system, far past...
NASA
The Geocenter of the Earth Is Changing (And Why That Matters)
At the foundation of virtually all airborne, space-based and ground-based Earth observations is the TRF, or Terrestrial Reference Frame. The TRF relies on an accurate calculation of the geocenter of the Earth (the center mass of the...
NASA
International Observe the Moon Night 2020
International Observe the Moon Night 2020 welcomed participants from all 7 continents, 103 countries, all 50 U. S. states, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, D.C. Hear from observers around the world, and view...
NASA
Modeling the Future of the Greenland Ice Sheet
Scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute used data from NASA’s Operation IceBridge to develop a more accurate model of how the Greenland Ice Sheet might respond to climate change in the future, finding that...
NASA
Is ‘Oumuamua an Interstellar Asteroid or Comet?
Observatories including NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope found that the interstellar object named ‘Oumuamua gained an extra boost of speed, which likely comes from comet-like jets of gas.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Katrina...
NASA
Climate Change Could Affect Global Agriculture Within 10 Years
Average global crop yields for maize, or corn, may see a decrease of 24% by late century, with the declines becoming apparent by 2030, with high greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new NASA study. Wheat, in contrast, may see an...
NASA
Vibration Testing of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope
Inside NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the James Webb Space Telescope team completed the environmental portion of vibration testing on the telescope. A shaker table subjects satellites like Webb to the...
NASA
Landsat Helps Warn of Algae in Lakes, Rivers
From space, satellites such as the NASA and USGS Landsat 8 can help scientists identify where an algal bloom has formed in lakes or rivers. It’s a complicated data analysis process, but one that researchers are automating so resource...
NASA
The James Webb Space Telescope Completes its Final Environmental Tests
The fully assembled James Webb Space Telescope has completed its environmental tests at Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, CA. The environmental tests are a combination of acoustic and sine vibration tests. These tests simulate the...
NASA
Master Plan "Envision Goddard, Modernizing for the Future."
We are modernizing Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and its six sites for the future. A comprehensive Facilities Master Plan is an essential element in developing a blueprint for the future of our Center. Goddard recognizes the...
NASA
Celebrating 25 Years of the GLOBE Program
GLOBE, now celebrating its 25th anniversary, is an international program that not only engages students and interested members of the public in hands-on science, but also gives them the opportunity to contribute their observations to a...
NASA
James Webb Space Telescope: Worth the Wait
Building the James Webb Space Telescope is challenging. It is NASA's most ambitious and complex space science observatory. The mission required 10 new technologies to be invented, the dedication of hundreds of scientists, engineers and...
NASA
NASA’s Asteroid Heist: The Challenges of TAG
NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission, OSIRIS-REx, will make a daring attempt to “TAG” asteroid Bennu on Oct. 20 – touch its surface and collect a sample for return to Earth. Sample site Nightingale, the mission’s targeted touch...
NASA
Go Now! Landsat & the Calypso Caper
During the summer of 1975, Jacques Cousteau and his divers helped NASA determine if Landsat could measure the depth of shallow ocean waters. The story of this NASA-led satellite bathymetry experiment unfolds through the photography and...
NASA
How OSIRIS-REx will Steer Itself to Sample an Asteroid
In late August, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will navigate to asteroid Bennu’s surface for its first sample collection attempt. To do this, it will use an onboard image software known as Natural Feature Tracking (NFT) — a form of optical...
NASA
The Largest Group of Earth Scientists on Earth
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has the largest collection of Earth scientists on the planet. Their job is to be the nation's trusted source of comprehensive environmental information about the current state and the future of Earth....
NASA
OSIRIS-REx TAG Trailer
On Oct. 20, the OSIRIS-REx mission will perform the first attempt of its Touch-And-Go (TAG) sample collection event. Not only will the spacecraft navigate to the surface using innovative navigation techniques, but it could also collect...
NASA
Why Observe?: Land Cover
Nearly every aspect of our lives is fundamentally tied to the land on which we live. Citizens using GLOBE Observer can observe land cover in much greater detail and more frequently than scientists can using satellite data alone. But why...
NASA
OSIRIS-REx Leaves its Mark on Bennu
Like boot prints on the Moon, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft left its mark on asteroid Bennu. Now, new images — taken during the spacecraft's final fly-over on April 7, 2021 — reveal the aftermath of the historic Touch-and-Go (TAG) sample...
NASA
OSIRIS-REx: Above and Beyond
Since arriving at asteroid Bennu in Dec. 2018, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has achieved many feats – from setting a record-breaking orbit, to mapping the asteroid’s surface better than any planetary body. The mission is now preparing to...
NASA
Lucy's Journey
Meet Lucy as she prepares for the first ever journey to the Trojan asteroids, a population of primitive small bodies orbiting in tandem with Jupiter. Video credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center James Tralie (ADNET): Lead Producer...