NASA

WASHINGTON — NASA expects to determine by early next year the next steps for a lunar rover mission it canceled in July amid some confusion over the timing of that decision. Speaking at an Oct. 28 meeting of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG), Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said the agency was reviewing responses to a request for information (RFI) the agency issued in August seeking alternative uses for its Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) spacecraft. NASA issued the RFI after a decision announced in July to cancel the mission, whose launch had slipped to no earlier than September 2025 on Astrobotic’s Griffin lander. The agency said then it would solicit expressions of interest from ...

HOUSTON, TX (October 17, 2024) – Space Center Houston is excited to announce Equinor as the title sponsor of the Conrad Challenge, the world’s most highly regarded global STEM innovation and entrepreneurship competition, and the presenting sponsor of the Energy & Environment track within the competition. “We are thrilled to have Equinor as the title sponsor of the Conrad Challenge,” said William T. Harris, president and CEO of Space Center Houston. “Equinor shares in our vision for the Challenge which is to promote collaborative, student-centered, real-world learning that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship.” Now in its 19th year, the Conrad Challenge brings together youth teams aged 13-18 to present innovative solutions across four categories: Aerospace & Aviati...

After safely splashing down on Earth as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission Friday, a NASA astronaut experienced a medical issue. NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin were flown together to Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola in Florida. After medical evaluation at the hospital, three of the crew members departed Pensacola and have arrived at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The one astronaut who remains at Ascension is in stable condition under observation as a precautionary measure. To protect the crew member’s medical privacy, specific details on the individual’s condition or identity will not be shared. During its return to Earth, the SpaceX Dragon executed a normal entry and splashdown. Recovery of t...

Icy Hearts: A heart-shaped calving front of a glacier in Greenland (left) and Pluto’s frozen plains (right). Credits: NASA/Maria-Jose Viñas and NASA/APL/SwRIFrom deep below the soil at Earth’s polar regions to Pluto’s frozen heart, ice exists all over the solar system…and beyond. From right here on our home planet to moons and planets millions of miles away, we’re exploring ice and watching how it changes. Here’s 10 things to know:1. Earth’s Changing Ice SheetsAn Antarctic ice sheet. Credit: NASAIce sheets are massive expanses of ice that stay frozen from year to year and cover more than 6 million square miles. On Earth, ice sheets extend across most of Greenland and Antarctica. These two ice sheets contain more than 99 percent of the planet’s freshwater ice. However, our ice sheets are se...

WASHINGTON — Boeing is taking another charge against earnings of $250 million on its CST-100 Starliner commercial crew program as the company’s new leader vowed it will not walk away from troubled programs like it. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Oct. 23, Boeing disclosed it took the charge in its fiscal third quarter “primarily to reflect schedule delays and higher testing and certification costs.” This is in addition to a $125 million loss the company recorded in the second quarter. The company had warned Oct. 11 that it would take a total of $2 billion in charges in the third quarter on four fixed-price programs in its Defense, Space and Security, or BDS, business unit, including Starliner. The company did not state then how large the Starliner char...