Curiosity Blog, Sols 4634-4635: A Waiting GameWritten by Lucy Thompson, Planetary Scientist and APXS Team Member, University of New Brunswick, Canada Earth Planning Date: Monday, Aug. 18, 2025 The downlink data from our weekend activities arrived on Earth as we started planning this morning. As the APXS payload uplink and downlink lead, I assess the downlink data to ensure that our […]
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4631-4633: Radiant Ridge RevolutionWritten by Remington Free, Operations Systems Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Earth planning date: Friday, Aug. 15, 2025 Today we uplinked a three-sol weekend plan with lots of exciting activities — to support both the science and engineering teams! While usually our science activities take front and center stage, we often also do engineering […]
Sun at the Center: Teacher Ambassadors Bring Heliophysics to Classrooms NationwideFor the fourth year in a row, the American Association of Physics Teachers, a collaborator on the NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (HEAT), selected eight new educators to serve as ambassadors for heliophysics education. Meeting in Boulder, CO, from July 14-17, 2025, these teachers met to work through AAPT’s lessons that bring physics content to […]
NASA’s X-59 Nears First FlightAs we honor the legacy of aviation pioneers this National Aviation Day, NASA’s X-59 is preparing to push the boundaries of what’s possible in air travel. The quiet supersonic aircraft’s historic first flight is on the horizon, with final ground tests about to begin. Following completion of low-speed taxi tests in July 2025 in Palmdale, […]
What is BioNutrients?A series of biology experiments, called BioNutrients, is testing ways to use microorganisms to produce nutrients – off Earth and on demand – that will be critical for human health in space. Editor’s note: This article was updated on Aug. 19, 2025, to clarify which BioNutrients experiments in the series are completed and adds new […]
NASA’s Psyche Captures Images of Earth, MoonHeaded for a metal-rich asteroid of the same name, the Psyche spacecraft successfully calibrated its cameras by looking homeward. On schedule for its 2029 arrival at the asteroid Psyche, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft recently looked back toward home and captured images of Earth and our Moon from about 180 million miles (290 million kilometers) away. The […]
Moonlight and Our AtmosphereThe Moon’s light is refracted by Earth’s atmosphere in this April 13, 2025, photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited into a sunset 264 miles above the border between Bolivia and Brazil in South America. Understanding the Moon helps us understand other planets, how they have evolved and the processes which have shaped […]
National Aviation Day: Celebrating NASA’s Heritage While Charting Our FutureAs we observe National Aviation Day Tuesday – a tribute to Orville Wright’s birthday – let’s reflect on both America’s and NASA’s aviation heritage and share how we are pushing the boundaries of flight for the nation’s future. Modern NASA grew from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), an agency created by Congress in […]
NASA-funded Compact Radar Drives Big Changes in Airborne and Suborbital Radar CapabilitiesA collaboration between NASA and the small business Aloft Sensing produced a new compact radar system that will enable researchers to leverage High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) platforms to observe dynamic Earth systems. This new radar is small, provides highly sensitive measurements, and doesn’t require GPS for positioning; eventually, it could be used on vehicles […]
NASA Invites You to Celebrate National Aviation Day 2025The first “A” in NASA stands for Aeronautics – so naturally that means today, Aug. 19, National Aviation Day, is one of our favorite days all year! National Aviation Day was first proclaimed in 1939 by President Franklin Roosevelt to celebrate the birthday of aviation pioneer Orville Wright, who, with his brother Wilbur, in 1903, […]