Aug 3, 2012 | Blog, Education Station, European Space Agency, Exploration, Kids Space, Mars, NASA
NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission carrying the one-ton Curiosity rover is on target to land on the red planet at 10:31 p.m. PDT on Sunday, Aug. 5 (1:31 a.m. EDT, 0531 GMT on Aug. 6). That spacecraft is headed for Gale Crater, a154 kilometer wide feature that dots...
Jul 26, 2012 | Ask the Expert, Blog, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, Mars, Multimedia, NASA, Space and Science
It will last all of seven minutes, but as engineers say, it’s all a “gulp moment”. NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory’s (MSL) entry, descent and landing (EDL) – will determine the fate of the mission. And MSL’s aeroshell is absolutely vital to getting the Mars Curiosity...
Jul 21, 2012 | Blog, Education Station, Events, Exploration, Kids Space, Mars, NASA, NASA News, Research, Space Research
UPDATE: IRVE-3 Scores Successful Test A large inflatable heat shield developed by NASA’s Space Technology Program has successfully survived a trip through Earth’s atmosphere while travelling at hypersonic speeds up to 7,600 mph. The Inflatable Reentry...
Jul 20, 2012 | Blog, Education Station, European Space Agency, Exploration, International Cooperation, Kids Space, Our Solar System, Planet Earth, Space and Science
Titan, a moon of Saturn, has been found to be an active mini-world of geological processes. But seeing those phenomena has been blocked by Titan’s thick, methane- and nitrogen-rich atmosphere. Thanks to the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft mission supported by NASA and the...
Jul 19, 2012 | Asteroid Exploration, Blog, Education Station, Exploration, International Cooperation, Kids Space, Space and Science, Space Research, Why Space
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) project is moving to the final design stage. To be located in Chile, the LSST is a proposed 8-meter wide-field survey telescope that will survey the entire sky approximately twice per week, delivering a large and...
Jul 13, 2012 | Ask the Expert, Blog, Education Station, Exploration, International Cooperation, International Space Station, Kids Space, Mars, NASA, Planet Earth, Space and Science, The Moon, The Sun
The Sun is acting up again! A huge coronal mass ejection on the Sun was recorded on July 12. Forecasters expect the cloud of energetic particles to arrive at Earth on July 14th. Its impact could spark moderate to severe geomagnetic storms, allowing auroras to be seen...
Jul 12, 2012 | Ask the Expert, Blog, Education, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Programs Online, Kids Space, Mars, Multimedia, NASA, Our Solar System, Space and Science
There’s a great way to study the 3-D nature of NASA spacecraft. Thanks to space specialists at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a new application can bring robotic spacecraft to life. It’s available for free on the iPhone and iPad…and just in time for the...
Jul 6, 2012 | Ask the Experts — Answers, Blog, Education Station, Exploration, Kids Space, Mars, NASA, Space Research
A team of researchers from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa and Cornell University are testing new forms of food and food preparation strategies for deep-space travel. The university investigators have picked six volunteers to make up the crew of a simulated Mars...
Jul 2, 2012 | Blog, Education Station, International Cooperation, Kids Space, NASA, Planet Earth
It was 50 years ago this month when the first privately sponsored space-faring mission reached Earth orbit. Telstar 1 was lofted on July 10, 1962 from Cape Canaveral, enabling the world’s first transmissions of live television. Some two weeks after the satellite’s...
Jul 1, 2012 | Ask the Expert, Blog, Book Reviews, Education Station, Kids Space, Spaceports, The Moon, Why Space
2001: The Lost Science by Adam K. Johnson; Apogee Prime; Burlington Ontario, Canada; $49.95 (soft cover); 2012. This large format book adds yet more atmospherics to that already larger-than-life 1968 science fiction movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, produced and directed...