Early analysis of the asteroid Bennu sample returned by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has revealed dust rich in carbon, nitrogen and organic compounds, all of which are essential components for life as we know it. The sample is dominated by clay minerals, particularly serpentine, and reflects the type of rocks found on Earth at mid-ocean ridges. … Read more
Researchers delve into a synthetic universe to help us better understand the real universe. Using supercomputers at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, scientists have created nearly 4 million simulated images of the cosmos from NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly funded by NSF (the … Read more
A recent solar eruption sent a powerful blast of charged particles and radiation toward Mars, giving scientists a rare glimpse of how these events unfold on planets other than Earth. Sonos’ very first headphones are too expensive for what they offer NASA’s Curiosity rover captured the aftermath of a solar storm on the surface of … Read more
In addition to producing auroras, a recent extreme storm has provided more details about the amount of radiation future astronauts might encounter on the Red Planet. Mars scientists have been expecting epic solar storms since the sun entered a period of peak activity called solar maximum earlier this year. Over the past month, NASA’s Mars … Read more
Credit: NASA/Ryan Fitzgibbons What do you give to an ocean that has everything? This year, in celebration of National Ocean Month, NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite is giving us a unique look at our home planet. The visualizations created using data from the satellite, which was launched on February 8, are already … Read more
A new higher-resolution infrared camera equipped with a variety of lightweight filters could examine sunlight reflected from Earth’s upper atmosphere and surface, improve forest fire warnings and reveal the molecular composition of other planets. The cameras use sensitive, high-resolution superlattice sensors originally developed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, using IRAD, Internal … Read more