Tag archives for NASA
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The top 10 stories on our radar today: Scientists have created stem cells from cloned human embryos, 1.5-billion-year-old water has been found in a deep Canadian mine, and…
Following April 22nd’s kick-off Earth Day Hangout on Air, National Geographic will launch of series of daily Hangouts- each one tackling a key environmental issue.
This Earth Day, National Geographic is teaming up with NASA and Catlin Seaview Survey to bring you a Google+ Hangout that explores the land, sea, and sky.
Hangout With Explorers of Land, Sea, and Sky on Earth Day
Posted by Lauren Ward of NG Staff on April 9, 2013 
This Earth Day, National Geographic is teaming up with NASA and Catlin Seaview Survey to explore the land, sea, and sky
Declining Forests In The Eastern United States As Seen From Space
Posted by Alyson Foster on March 7, 2013 
Forests in the eastern United States have become less green over the past decade. That’s what scientists at NASA have concluded after analyzing a series of satellite images compiled between 2000 and 2010.
Posted by Orbiting miles above the Earth, NASA astronaut Kevin Ford celebrates our shared passion for exploration and sends his best wishes for Nat Geo’s 125th anniversary.
NASA’s Dharma Initiative “Swan Station?”
Posted by Susan Poulton on February 1, 2013 All that is missing is the computer, the beeping, and a prompt to enter the code 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. The dome-shaped survival room deep under Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida has been abandoned for over 40 years and now NASA is letting folks take a look.
Global Temperature Rises in 2012, Climate Conditions Questioned
Posted by Tim Profeta of Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University on January 17, 2013 Just days after the announcement that last year was the warmest in history for the continental United States, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found global temperatures are rising too. In their separate annual analyses of surface temperatures, NASA and NOAA ranked 2012 among the 10 warmest years on record globally (NOAA showed 2012…
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It’s rare that astronomers declare news with great certainty, so the announcement that water ice was confirmed in Mercury’s poles is an “exclamation point.” The amount of ice is also astounding—100 billion to a trillion metric tons, or something like layering Washington, D.C. with 2 to 2.5 miles of ice.
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Kennedy Space Center said goodbye to their final departing space shuttle orbiter on Friday, though Atlantis only had to travel 9.8 miles (15.8 km) to her new home just off-site in the process. “It’s bittersweet seeing her go,” said one NASA employee, “but at least she’ll be nearby.” The same can’t be said for the…
Mission 26 The Big Endeavour from Givot on Vimeo.
This stunning new time-lapse video of the space shuttle Endeavour’s shuffle through the streets of Los Angeles is quite simply, the best.
According to some, people in Los Angeles are hard to impress. But bring a real spaceship to town and tow it through the streets? That’ll do it.
Isaac May Become Major Hurricane in Gulf
Posted by Willie Drye on August 23, 2012 
Tropical Storm Isaac could intensify into a major hurricane with winds exceeding 110 mph (177 kph) and threaten the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida by the middle of next week — the seventh anniversary of devastating Hurricane Katrina. Meteorologists think Tampa, Florida — where the Republican National Convention will begin Monday — is less likely…
Scientists: Mars Rover Can Help Us Better Understand Climate Change on Earth
Posted by Tim Profeta of Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University on August 9, 2012 NASA’s rover, Curiosity, made a successful landing on Mars earlier this week. Some scientists say the car-sized rover, the most high-tech ever designed by the space agency, could have a lot to tell us about our own climate. As Mother Jones reports, scientists have made great strides in predicting what will happen to our climate, but we only have one climate to…
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It has the feel of a crime scene shot—a grainy black-and-white photo with arrows pointing to where the salient evidence was found. But the absorbing image is instead a marvel of space science, an actual photo that shows where the five portions of the now celebrated Mars Science Lab/Curiosity descent capsule landed.
By dropping the one-ton rover Curiosity into a Martian crater (with a three-mile high mountain nearby!), and equipping it to search over two years for the building blocks of possible extraterrestrial life; humans are once again at a great moment of adventure and exploration to savor.
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For the lucky few get to travel to space, the food isn’t exactly, well, out of this world. Most space cuisine consists of a limited selection of pre-packaged food prepared by adding water—possibly leading to “menu fatigue” that could compromise the crew’s health. Enter the “gastronauts”—a team of scientists with the NASA-funded Hawaii Space Exploration Analogue and Simulation project (HI-SEAS) who are working to develop more appetizing and healthy foods for long-term space travel. Think shrimp paella, curry chicken crepes, and chocolate pudding with raspberries.
NASA Rockets Paint Glowing Trails in the Sky
Posted by Andrew Fazekas on March 27, 2012 
It was down to the wire, but after numerous weather delays NASA managed to launch five sub-orbital sounding rockets Tuesday morning just before 5 am ET from their Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment (ATREX) mission will help unravel some of the mysteries surrounding the inner clockwork of the jet stream…
Posted by HeadsUp! from Heads Up! 2012 on Vimeo.
Since today is World Water Day, I thought that I would kick off my contributions to the Water Currents blog with a renewed wake-up call. It’s one that you’ve heard before, from me and from many, many others — that groundwater is being depleted at a rapid clip in many of the world’s major aquifers…
Posted by My God, It’s Full of Stars…
Posted by Jason Major on January 20, 2012 Here’s a wonderful time-lapse video made of photos taken from orbit as the International Space Station passed over Switzerland, western Europe and eventually Saudi Arabia on the night of December 22, 2011. A portion of the Station can be seen along the right side, reflecting the lights of the major cities passing 240 miles below.…
Oil, Gasoline Prices Hit All-Time Highs in 2011—and May Continue Rising
Posted by Mason Inman on January 12, 2012 Average prices of oil and gasoline at the pump reached an all-time high in 2011, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data. Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, averaged $111 a barrel—the first time it broke $100 for a whole year. In some ways, these records snuck up on Americans, since there was no extreme…
Space Shuttle Discovery Powers Down
Posted by Susan Poulton on December 16, 2011 
Friday morning marked a sad and permanent milestone in the ongoing decommissioning of the space shuttles at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with the closing of the payload bay doors and the final power-down of Discovery.
A New Milestone for New Horizons
Posted by Jason Major on December 9, 2011 
Artist’s rendering of New Horizons. Southwest Research Institute (Dan Durda)/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (Ken Moscati) Last Friday, December 2, 2011, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft became the closest spacecraft ever to Pluto, a record previously held by Voyager 1 which came within 983 million miles of Pluto on January 29, 1986. This…
