Solar eruptions could electrify Martian Moons
Oct 19, 2017, at 07:17 pm
Washington, Oct 19 (IBNS): Powerful solar eruptions could electrically charge areas of the Martian moon Phobos to hundreds of volts, presenting a complex electrical environment that could possibly affect sensitive electronics carried by future robotic explorers, according to a new NASA study.
NASA missions catch first light from a gravitational-wave event
Oct 17, 2017, at 10:25 pm
Washington, Oct 17 (IBNS): For the first time, NASA scientists have detected light tied to a gravitational-wave event, thanks to two merging neutron stars in the galaxy NGC 4993, located about 130 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra.
New insights from OCO-2 showcased in science
Oct 13, 2017, at 10:12 pm
Washington, Oct 13 (IBNS): High-resolution satellite data from NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 are revealing the subtle ways that carbon links everything on Earth – the ocean, land, atmosphere, terrestrial ecosystems and human activities.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft ends its historic exploration of Saturn
Sep 16, 2017, at 02:25 am
Washington, Sept 15 (IBNS): A thrilling epoch in the exploration of our solar system came to a close today, as NASA's Cassini spacecraft made a fateful plunge into the atmosphere of Saturn, ending its 13-year tour of the ringed planet.
NASA gets a night-time and under-the-hood look at Hurricane Irma
Sep 03, 2017, at 02:50 am
Washington, Sept 2 (IBNS): NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP Satellite provided a night-time and infrared look at the Atlantic’s latest hurricane that revealed the power under the clouds. NASA’s GPM also provided a look at the rainfall being generated by Hurricane Irma.
Large asteroid to safely pass Earth on Sept 1
Aug 18, 2017, at 09:41 pm
Washington, Aug 18 (IBNS): Asteroid Florence, a large near-Earth asteroid, will pass safely by Earth on Sept. 1, 2017, at a distance of about 4.4 million miles, (7.0 million kilometers, or about 18 Earth-Moon distances), said NASA.
NASA study finds drought recoveries taking longer
Aug 17, 2017, at 12:18 am
Washington, Aug 16 (IBNS): As global temperatures continue to rise, droughts are expected to become more frequent and severe in many regions during this century.
NASA studies Tethered CubeSat Mission to study Lunar Swirls
Aug 09, 2017, at 10:25 pm
Washington, Aug 9 (IBNS): A novel mission concept involving two CubeSats connected by a thin, miles-long tether could help scientists understand how the Moon got its mysterious “tattoos†— swirling patterns of light and dark found at more than 100 locations across the lunar surface.
Planetary protection excites space fans of all ages
Aug 05, 2017, at 10:06 pm
Washington, Aug 5 (IBNS): The recent announcement for a position that NASA has had since the 1960s – Planetary Protection Officer – has generated a lot of excitement in the public, as well as comparisons to many sci-fi movie heroes.
New clues to Universe's structure revealed
Aug 05, 2017, at 10:05 pm
Washington, Aug 5 (IBNS): What is our universe made of, and has its composition changed over time?
Aug 05, 2017, at 02:01 am
Washington, Aug 4 (IBNS) :NASA and a team of Brazilian space researchers have announced a joint CubeSat mission to study phenomena in Earth's upper atmosphere -- a region of charged particles called the ionosphere -- capable of disrupting communications and navigation systems on the ground and potentially impacting satellites and human explorers in space.
NASA’s Voyager Spacecraft still reaching for the stars after 40 years
Aug 03, 2017, at 01:45 am
Washington, Aug 2 (IBNS): Humanity’s farthest and longest-lived spacecraft, Voyager 1 and 2, achieve 40 years of operation and exploration this August and September. Despite their vast distance, they continue to communicate with NASA daily, still probing the final frontier.
Two decades of changes in Helheim Glacier, compiles NASA
Jul 30, 2017, at 10:45 pm
Washington, July 30 (IBNS): Helheim Glacier is the fastest flowing glacier along the eastern edge of Greenland Ice Sheet and one of the island’s largest ocean-terminating rivers of ice.
Asteroid flyby will benefit NASA detection and tracking network
Jul 30, 2017, at 10:23 pm
Washington, July 30 (IBNS): NASA scientists are excited about the upcoming close flyby of a small asteroid and plan to use its upcoming October close approach to Earth as an opportunity not only for science, but to test NASA’s network of observatories and scientists who work with planetary defense.
NASA finds Moon of Saturn has chemical that could form ‘Membranes’
Jul 30, 2017, at 04:05 am
Washington, July 29 (IBNS): NASA scientists have definitively detected the chemical acrylonitrile in the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan, a place that has long intrigued scientists investigating the chemical precursors of life.
Hidden stars may make planets appear smaller
Jul 12, 2017, at 09:17 pm
Washington, July 12 (IBNS): In the search for planets similar to our own, an important point of comparison is the planet's density.
NASA completes study of future ‘Ice Giant’ mission concepts
Jun 22, 2017, at 01:27 am
Washington, June 21 (IBNS): A NASA-led and NASA-sponsored study of potential future missions to the mysterious “ice giant†planets Uranus and Neptune has been released—the first in a series of mission studies NASA will conduct in support of the next Planetary Science Decadal Survey.
NASA releases Kepler Survey Catalog with hundreds of new planet candidates
Jun 20, 2017, at 02:33 pm
Washington, June 20 (IBNS): NASA’s Kepler space telescope team has released a mission catalog of planet candidates that introduces 219 new planet candidates, 10 of which are near-Earth size and orbiting in their star's habitable zone, which is the range of distance from a star where liquid water could pool on the surface of a rocky planet.
May 2017 was second warmest May on record: NASA
Jun 16, 2017, at 03:30 pm
Washington, June 16 (IBNS): May 2017 was the second warmest May in 137 years of modern record-keeping, according to a monthly analysis of global temperatures by scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.
SOFIA finds cool dust around energetic active black holes
Jun 14, 2017, at 03:33 pm
Washington, June 14 (IBNS): Researchers at the University of Texas San Antonio using observations from NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, found that the dust surrounding active, ravenous black holes is much more compact than previously thought.
Smoke from wildfires can have lasting climate impact, says study
Jun 14, 2017, at 01:51 am
Washington, June 13 (IBNS): The 2017 wildfire season is well underway in the United States with thousands of acres scorched already in Georgia and Florida alone, according to the National Park Service.
Cosmic magnifying-glass effect captures Universe's brightest Galaxies
Jun 08, 2017, at 12:13 am
Washington, June 7 (IBNS): Boosted by natural magnifying lenses in space, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured unique close-up views of the universe's brightest infrared galaxies, which are as much as 10,000 times more luminous than our Milky Way.
NASA’s SDO sees partial eclipse in space
May 27, 2017, at 11:08 pm
Washington, May 27 (IBNS): On May 25, 2017, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, saw a partial solar eclipse in space when it caught the moon passing in front of the sun.
A whole new Jupiter: First science results from NASA’s Juno mission
May 26, 2017, at 09:49 pm
Washington, May 26 (IBNS): Early science results from NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter portray the largest planet in our solar system as a complex, gigantic, turbulent world, with Earth-sized polar cyclones, plunging storm systems that travel deep into the heart of the gas giant, and a mammoth, lumpy magnetic field that may indicate it was generated closer to the planet’s surface than previously thought.
New horizons deploys global team for rare look at next Flyby target
May 26, 2017, at 09:47 pm
Washington, May 26 (IBNS): On New Year’s Day 2019, more than 4 billion miles from home, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft will race past a small Kuiper Belt object known as 2014 MU69 – making this rocky remnant of planetary formation the farthest object ever encountered by any spacecraft.
Scientists look to skies to improve Tsunami detection
May 19, 2017, at 11:39 pm
Washington, May 19 (IBNS): A team of scientists from Sapienza University in Rome, Italy, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has developed a new approach to assist in the ongoing development of timely tsunami detection systems, based upon measurements of how tsunamis disturb a part of Earth’s atmosphere.
NASA's CPEX tackles a weather fundamental
May 19, 2017, at 11:32 pm
Washington, May 19 (IBNS): A NASA-funded field campaign getting underway in Florida on May 25 has a real shot at improving meteorologists' ability to answer some of the most fundamental questions about weather: Where will it rain? When? How much?
NASA asks scientific community to think on possible Europa Lander Instruments
May 18, 2017, at 04:15 pm
Washington, May 18 (IBNS): NASA is asking scientists to consider what would be the best instruments to include on a mission to land on Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa.
NASA annual Arctic Ice survey expanded range this year
May 18, 2017, at 04:11 pm
Washington, May 18 (IBNS): NASA’s annual survey of changes in Arctic ice cover greatly expanded its reach this year in a series of flights that wrapped up on May 12. It was the most ambitious spring campaign in the region for NASA’s Operation IceBridge, an airborne mission to monitor ice changes at Earth’s poles, which also included a rapid-response flight over a new crack in Petermann Glacier, one of the largest and fastest-changing glaciers in Greenland.
Mars Rover opportunity begins study of Valley's origin
May 16, 2017, at 11:49 pm
Washington, May 16 (IBNS): NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has reached the main destination of its current two-year extended mission -- an ancient fluid-carved valley incised on the inner slope of a vast crater's rim.