NASA will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 22, to present new findings on planets that orbit stars other than our sun, known as exoplanets. The event will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
Details of these findings are embargoed by the journal Nature until 1 p.m.
Falcon 9 and Dragon lift off from Launch Pad 39A for CRS-10
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 with Dragon capsule at Launch Complex 39A, February 2017.
NASA’s Dawn mission has found evidence for organic material on Ceres, a dwarf planet and the largest body in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists using the spacecraft’s visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIR) detected the material in and around a northern-hemisphere crater called Ernutet. Organic molecules are interesting to scientists because they are necessary, though not sufficient, components of life on Earth.
The discovery adds to the growing list of bodies in the solar system where organics have been found. Organic compounds have been found in certain meteorites as well as inferred from telescopic observations of several asteroids. Ceres shares many commonalities with meteorites rich in water and organics – in particular, a meteorite group called carbonaceous chondrites. This discovery further strengthens the connection between Ceres, these meteorites and their parent bodies.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX is gearing up to launch its 10th commercial cargo mission on Saturday morning (Feb. 18), ferrying supplies and an assortment of science investigations to the International Space Station — including a deadly superbug, an advanced lightning sensor, a tool for new autonomous rendezvous capabilities and more.
Perched atop an upgraded Falcon 9 booster, the Dragon spacecraft will lift off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A — marking the first time a vehicle has launched from the historic pad since the final, 2011 shuttle mission.
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The next research investigation that was presented may sound like something out of a science-fiction horror story, but the researchers explained there’s no danger to the crew. As part of a NASA-funded study, led by Dr. Anita Goel, Nanobiosym is partnering with CASIS — the company tasked with managing the space station’s national laboratory — to send a batch of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (aka MRSA) into space, sealed in three levels of containment.
MRSA is common in hospitals, and in the United States alone, MRSA is notorious for killing more Americans in a single year than the combined total of deaths from emphysema, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson’s disease and homicide.
So why would NASA want to send such a deadly strain of bacteria into space? Dr. Goel explained that by exposing the bacteria to a microgravity environment, researchers may be able to better understand how MRSA mutates.
NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter, which has been in orbit around the gas giant since July 4, 2016, will remain in its current 53-day orbit for the remainder of the mission. This will allow Juno to accomplish its science goals, while avoiding the risk of a previously-planned engine firing that would have reduced the spacecraft’s orbital period to 14 days.
“Juno is healthy, its science instruments are fully operational, and the data and images we’ve received are nothing short of amazing,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “The decision to forego the burn is the right thing to do – preserving a valuable asset so that Juno can continue its exciting journey of discovery.”
Two weeks ago, Sidd Bikkannavar flew back into the United States after spending a few weeks abroad in South America. An employee of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Bikkannavar had been on a personal trip, pursuing his hobby of racing solar-powered cars. He had recently joined a Chilean team, and spent the last weeks of January at a race in Patagonia.
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Bikkannavar says he was detained by US Customs and Border Patrol and pressured to give the CBP agents his phone and access PIN. Since the phone was issued by NASA, it may have contained sensitive material that wasn’t supposed to be shared. Bikkannavar’s phone was returned to him after it was searched by CBP, but he doesn’t know exactly what information officials might have taken from the device.
This artist’s rendering illustrates a conceptual design for a potential future mission to land a robotic probe on the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa. The lander is shown with a sampling arm extended, having previously excavated a small area on the surface. The circular dish on top is a dual-purpose high-gain antenna and camera mast, with stereo imaging cameras mounted on the back of the antenna. Three vertical shapes located around the top center of the lander are attachment points for cables that would lower the rover from a sky crane, which is envisioned as the landing system for this mission concept.
Removal of the Space Shuttle Enterprise from the dynamic test stand at the Marshall Space Flight Center, 1978. It underwent its first “Mated Vertical Ground Vibration Test.” (NASA)
“The further out we went, the smaller it got.”
—Gene Cernan on watching Earth recede into the distance as he flew to the Moon, December 7, 1972
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