NASA
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NASA
Percolating Clues: NASA Models New Way to Build Planetary Cores
A new NASA study reveals a surprising way planetary cores may have formed—one that could reshape how scientists understand the early evolution of rocky planets like Mars. Conducted by a team of early-career scientists and long-time researchers across the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, the study offers the first direct experimental and geochemical evidence that…
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NASA
Preflight Flower
A NASA photographer took this picture of a flower called Borshchov’s tulip near the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 7, 2025, ahead of NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky launching to the International Space Station. The flower is unique to Kazakhstan, attracting many to study and appreciate its beauty. Image credit: NASA/Joel…
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NASA
Sol 4546: Martian Jenga
Written by Michelle Minitti, Planetary Geologist at Framework Earth planning date: Monday, May 19, 2025 Have you ever played the game Jenga, where you remove one wooden block from a stack, gently place it on another part of the stack, then repeat over and over as you try to keep the stack from toppling over? There are strategies to the…
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NASA
NASA’s Dragonfly Mission Sets Sights on Titan’s Mysteries
When it descends through the thick golden haze on Saturn’s moon Titan, NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft will find eerily familiar terrain. Dunes wrap around Titan’s equator. Clouds drift across its skies. Rain drizzles. Rivers flow, forming canyons, lakes and seas. Artist’s concept of NASA’s Dragonfly on the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan. The car-sized rotorcraft will be equipped to characterize the…
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NASA
NASA’s Moffett Federal Airfield Hosts Boeing Digital Taxi Tests
New technology tested by an industry partner at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley could improve how commercial planes taxi to and from gates to runways, making operations safer and more efficient on the surfaces of airports. Airport taxiways are busy. Planes come and go while support vehicles provide maintenance, carry fuel, transport luggage, and more. Pilots must…
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NASA
Winners Announced in NASA’s 2025 Gateways to Blue Skies Competition
A team from South Dakota State University, with their project titled “Soil Testing and Plant Leaf Extraction Drone” took first place at the 2025 NASA Gateways to Blue Skies Competition, which challenged student teams to research aviation solutions to support U.S. agriculture. The winning project proposed a drone-based soil and tissue sampling process that would automate a typically labor-intensive farming…
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NASA
What is Lunar Regolith? (Grades 5-8)
This article is for students grades 5-8. The surface of the Moon is covered in a thick layer of boulders, rocks, and dust. This dusty, rocky layer is called lunar regolith. It was created a long time ago when meteorites crashed into the Moon and broke up the ground. NASA scientists study the regolith to learn more about the Moon’s history.…
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NASA
NASA-French Satellite Spots Large-Scale River Waves for First Time
In a first, researchers from NASA and Virginia Tech used satellite data to measure the height and speed of potentially hazardous flood waves traveling down U.S. rivers. The three waves they tracked were likely caused by extreme rainfall and by a loosened ice jam. While there is currently no database that compiles satellite data on river flood waves, the new…
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NASA
Another Milestone for X-59
NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft successfully completed a critical series of tests in which the airplane was put through its paces for cruising high above the California desert – all without ever leaving the ground. The goal of ground-based simulation testing was to make sure the hardware and software that will allow the X-59 to fly safely are properly…
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NASA
Discovery Alert: A Possible Perpendicular Planet
The Discovery A newly discovered planetary system, informally known as 2M1510, is among the strangest ever found. An apparent planet traces out an orbit that carries it far over the poles of two brown dwarfs. This pair of mysterious objects – too massive to be planets, not massive enough to be stars – also orbit each other. Yet a third…
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