NASA News

Now in its 26th year, the event brings teams of middle and high school students to the lab to compete with home-built contraptions. Teenagers wielding power tools and plywood demonstrated their engineering prowess at the annual Invention Challenge at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Friday. Also in evidence: lots of small motors, […]

NASA’s broadcast of the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse has won an Emmy Award for Excellence in Production Technology. At the 76th Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards on Dec. 4, in New York City, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the win. Walt Lindblom and Sami Aziz accepted the award on behalf […]

Researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory monitor a research drone in this September 2025 photo. This flight occurred in Dumont Dunes, an area of the Mojave Desert, as part of a larger test campaign to develop navigation software that would guide future rotorcraft on Mars. The work was among 25 projects funded by NASA’s Mars […]

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a stormy and highly active spiral galaxy named NGC 1792. Located over 50 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Columba (the Dove), the bright glow of the galaxy’s center is offset by the flocculent and sparkling spiral arms swirling around it. NGC 1792 is just as fascinating […]

A rare tropical cyclone dropped torrential rains on the Indonesian island, fueling extensive and destructive floods.

NASA has selected two science instruments designed for astronauts to deploy on the surface of the Moon during the Artemis IV mission to the lunar south polar region. The instruments will improve our knowledge of the lunar environment to support NASA’s further exploration of the Moon and beyond to Mars.  “The Apollo Era taught us that […]

Two technicians look up at NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope after its inner and outer segments were connected at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland on Nov. 25, 2025. This marked the end of Roman’s construction. After final testing, the telescope will move to the launch site at NASA’s Kennedy Space […]

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, is preparing to depart the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft and return to Earth. Kim, Ryzhikov, and Zubritsky will undock from the station’s Prichal module at 8:41 p.m. EST on Monday, Dec. 8, headed for a parachute-assisted landing at […]

For the first time, scientists have made a clear X-ray detection of chlorine and potassium in the wreckage of a star using data from the Japan-led XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) spacecraft. The Resolve instrument aboard XRISM, pronounced “crism,” discovered these elements in a supernova remnant called Cassiopeia A or Cas A, for short. […]

When flying in certain weather conditions, tiny freezing water droplets floating in the air can pose a risk to aircraft. If not taken into consideration, these water droplets can accumulate on an aircraft as ice and pose a safety risk.  But NASA software tools such as Glenn Icing Computational Environment (GlennICE) are working to keep […]

NASA’s next big eye on the cosmos is now fully assembled. On Nov. 25, technicians joined the inner and outer portions of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in the largest clean room at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Completing the Roman observatory brings us to a defining moment for the […]

Select walls at NASA’s Johnson Space Center have been transformed into works of art. Each piece reflects creativity, collaboration, and the spirit of discovery. Painted by Texas students, the murals honor the legacy of the International Space Station and 25 years of continuous human presence in space.  The International Space Station Program Mural Project began […]

Perseverance confirmed a long-suspected phenomenon in which electrical discharges and their associated shock waves can be born within Red Planet mini-twisters. NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has recorded the sounds of electrical discharges —sparks — and mini-sonic booms in dust devils on Mars. Long theorized, the phenomenon has now been confirmed through audio and electromagnetic recordings […]

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy NGC 4535, which is situated about 50 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo (the Maiden). Through a small telescope, this galaxy appears extremely faint, giving it the nickname ‘Lost Galaxy’. With a mirror spanning nearly eight feet (2.4 meters) across and its location above Earth’s light-obscuring […]

Hazardous Materials Summary Tables (HMSTs) are a compilation of the chemical, biological, and flammability hazards of materials on a given flight or mission. HMSTs are required by Safety for all Programs, including but not limited to ISS, Commercial Crew Program (CCP), Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), and Gateway. Johnson Space Center (JSC) toxicologists evaluate the […]

Toxicology and Environmental Chemistry (TEC) monitors airborne contaminants in both spacecraft air and water. In-flight monitors are employed to provide real-time insight into the environmental conditions on ISS. Archival samples are collected and returned to Earth for full characterization of ISS air and water. Real-time in-flight air analytical instruments include the Air Quality Monitors (AQM), […]

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim is wrapping up his first mission aboard the International Space Station in early December. During his stay, Kim conducted scientific experiments and technology demonstrations to benefit humanity on Earth and advance NASA’s Artemis campaign in preparation for future human missions to Mars. Here is a look at some of the science […]

NASA has selected the University of Alabama at Birmingham to provide the necessary systems required to return temperature sensitive science payloads to Earth from the Moon. The Lunar Freezer System contract is an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity award with cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery orders. The contract begins Thursday, Dec. 4, with a 66-month base period along with two optional periods […]

NASA and industry partners will fly and operate a commercial robotic arm in low Earth orbit through the Fly Foundational Robots mission set to launch in late 2027. This mission aims to revolutionize in-space operations, a critical capability for sustainably living and working on other planets. By enabling this technology demonstration, NASA is fostering the […]

The waxing gibbous moon rises above Earth’s blue atmosphere in this photograph taken from the International Space Station on Oct. 3, 2025, as it orbited 263 miles above a cloudy Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Quebec, Canada. In our entire solar system, the only object that shines with its own light is the Sun. […]