SOFIA
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NASA
The Sky Belongs to All of Us
How did a little girl born in India soon after its independence from the British Empire, become a program scientist for NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, and the first female program scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope, Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), Gravity Probe B, and other astrophysics flight missions? The story starts in October 1957, when I was…
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NASA
NASA Completes Kuiper Deconstruction, Plans for Display
The planned deconstruction, disposal, and preservation of historic parts of NASA’s decommissioned Kuiper Airborne Observatory is complete. Part of the airborne astronomy legacy of NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, Kuiper conducted more than two decades of astronomical observations from 1975 to 1995. Later this year, the Kuiper cockpit will go on display at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Pima,…
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NASA
Three NASA Interns Expand Classroom Access to NASA Data
This summer, NASA welcomed interns with professional teaching experience to help make the agency’s data more interactive and accessible in the classroom. Their efforts are an important step in fostering the education and curiosity of the Artemis Generation of students who will shape the future workforce. Diane Ripollone: Making Activities Accessible for Low-Vision Students In the center, Diane Ripollone smiles…
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NASA
Hubble Finds Surprises Around a Star That Erupted 40 Years Ago
Astronomers have used new data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the retired SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) as well as archival data from other missions to revisit one of the strangest binary star systems in our galaxy – 40 years after it burst onto the scene as a bright and long-lived nova. A nova is a star that suddenly increases its brightness…
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NASA
Clues to Psyche Asteroid’s Metallic Nature Found in SOFIA Data
When the asteroid Psyche has its first close-up with a NASA spacecraft, scientists hypothesize they will find a metal-rich asteroid. It could be part or all of the iron-rich interior of a planetesimal, an early planetary building block, that was stripped of its outer rocky shell as it repeatedly collided with other large bodies during the early formation of the…
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NASA
NASA’s Retired SOFIA Aircraft Finds New Home at Arizona Museum
NASA’s now-retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) aircraft will find a permanent home in the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. The airplane is expected to make its final flight from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California, to Tucson on Tuesday, Dec. 13. It will land in Tucson at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base before ultimately arriving at the Air & Space…
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NASA
NASA’s SOFIA Discovers Water on Sunlit Surface of Moon
NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has confirmed, for the first time, water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. This discovery indicates that water may be distributed across the lunar surface, and not limited to cold, shadowed places. SOFIA has detected water molecules (H2O) in Clavius Crater, one of the largest craters visible from Earth, located in the…
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NASA Awards Two Contracts for Supply of Gaseous, Liquid Helium
NASA has awarded contracts to Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Messer LLC of Bridgewater, New Jersey, to supply gaseous and liquid helium. Each contract is a fixed-price, indefinite-delivery requirement contract that begins Oct. 1 with a two-year base period, followed by three one-year options that, if exercised, extend the contract to Sept. 30, 2024. The total…
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