NASA
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650 NASA Volunteers Have Co-Authored Scientific Papers
After a recent count, NASA Citizen Science is proud to report that more than 650 people who have volunteered to participate in NASA citizen science projects have co-authored peer-reviewed research papers with scientists on those project teams. These volunteers made incredible contributions like: Spotting comets, gamma-ray bursts, and brown dwarfs in data collected by space telescopes. Observing auroras, sprites, and noctilucent clouds from here on Earth. Using their…
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NASA’s Curiosity Rover Frees Its Drill From a Rock
Description This series of images shows NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover as it got a rock stuck to the drill on the end of its robotic arm and, after waving the arm and running the drill a few times, finally detached the rock. The imagery showing the entire process was captured by the black-and-white hazard cameras on the front of Curiosity’s…
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NASA Research Shows Early Life Relied on Rare Metal
NASA-funded scientists have discovered that life on Earth over 3 billion years ago relied on the metal molybdenum, which was incredibly scarce in the environment at the time. The study, published in Nature Communications on Tuesday, is the first to show that molybdenum was used by ancient life this far back in our planet’s history. On Earth today, molybdenum helps speed up…
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NASA Astronaut to Answer Questions from Students in Florida
Students in Florida will hear from NASA astronaut Chris Williams as he answers prerecorded science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) questions while aboard the International Space Station. The Earth-to-space call will begin at 11 a.m. EDT Friday, May 8, and will stream live on the agency’s Learn With NASA YouTube channel. This event is hosted by the Aurelia M. Cole Academy in Clermont,…
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NASA’S Juno Misson Captures Jupiter Moon Thebe
Description NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this view of Thebe, the second largest of Jupiter’s inner moons, during a close pass on May 1, 2026. The spacecraft’s Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) captured this image from a distance of approximately 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) at a resolution of about 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) per pixel. Thebe resides at the outer edge of…
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Building on America’s 65-Year Legacy of Human Spaceflight
On the morning of May 5, 1961, the Mercury-Redstone 3 launch vehicle lifted into the sky from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. Over the next 15 minutes, Shepard ascended to an altitude of 116 miles (187 kilometers) in his Freedom 7 spacecraft, becoming the first American to fly into space before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean. This short flight…
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New NASA HEAT Coloring Book Blends Art, Science, and Cultural Perspectives
A new Sun-centered and science-focused coloring book produced by NASA in partnership with the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) is now available for people to learn while showing their artistic side. The book, titled “Journey Through the Heliosphere: The Sun-Earth System in Color,” has twenty-eight, 11”x14” pages, and includes science facts and coloring pages for ten themes, including the Sun’s…
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NASA Volunteers Double Known Population of Brown Dwarfs
A new paper from NASA’s Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project announces that volunteers have essentially doubled the number of known brown dwarfs, with over 3,000 new discoveries made over the past 10 years since the project began. Brown dwarfs are balls of gas the size of Jupiter, less massive than stars. There’s one for every three or four stars near the Sun. Although brown…
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Ahuachapán and Its Restive Neighbors
Volcanic activity takes on many forms in western El Salvador. The land near the city of Ahuachapán is pockmarked with craters and covered with recent lava flows. Meanwhile, a geothermal field feeds geysers, heats mineral pools, and powers a long-operating energy plant. The area is part of a volcanic landscape that stretches more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) along the Pacific coast from…
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NASA Welcomes Ireland as Newest Artemis Accords Signatory
Ireland signed the Artemis Accords Monday during a signing ceremony hosted by NASA, becoming the latest nation to commit to the responsible exploration of space for all humanity. Ireland, a longstanding member of ESA (European Space Agency) and a valued international partner for NASA, now joins all 23 ESA member states as a signatory of the Artemis Accords. “It is…
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