Saturday, May 17

NASA

Top High School Innovators Named Pete Conrad Scholars at the 2025 Conrad Challenge, Hosted by Space Center Houston and Presented by Equinor
NASA

Top High School Innovators Named Pete Conrad Scholars at the 2025 Conrad Challenge, Hosted by Space Center Houston and Presented by Equinor

HOUSTON, TEXAS (APRIL 28, 2025) – Since the start of the 2024-25 school year, nearly 2,000 high school teams and 5,000 students from more than 80 countries collaborated across oceans and time zones to develop viable solutions to global challenges in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Competing for first place titles as “Pete Conrad Scholars,” the top 31 student teams convened at Space Center Houston for the Conrad Challenge Innovation Summit and EXPO finals sponsored by Equinor. Founded in 2007 by Nancy Conrad in honor of her late husband, NASA astronaut Charles “Pete” Conrad, the Challenge inspires students to design today’s solutions for tomorrow’s challenges, carrying forward his legacy for innovation and exploration. Nancy Conrad, ...
NASA — Seeing the Invisible Universe
NASA

NASA — Seeing the Invisible Universe

ALTThis computer-simulated image shows a supermassive black hole at the core of a galaxy. The black region in the center represents the black hole’s event horizon, beyond which no light can escape the massive object’s gravitational grip. The black hole’s powerful gravity distorts space around it like a funhouse mirror. Light from background stars is stretched and smeared as it skims by the black hole.You might wonder — if this Tumblr post is about invisible things, what’s with all the pictures? Even though we can’t see these things with our eyes or even our telescopes, we can still learn about them by studying how they affect their surroundings. Then, we can use what we know to make visualizations that represent our understanding.When you think of the invisible, you might first picture som...
NASA

Engine change delays ispace-built lunar lander mission

WASHINGTON — A change in engines will cause the launch of a lunar lander being built for a NASA-funded mission to slip from 2026 to 2027.In a May 9 statement, ispace U.S., the American subsidiary of Japan’s ispace, said it will use a new engine called VoidRunner for its Apex 1.0 lunar lander. That lander is being developed by ispace U.S. for a team led by Draper flying a mission that is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.The company previously planned to use an engine from Agile Space Industries called A2200, a bipropellant engine that produces about 2,200 newtons (500 pounds-force) of thrust. However, ispace U.S. said that after a review with Agile, the companies concluded the A2200 “would not be supplied within the originally planned procurement schedu...
From Earthrise to Action: A Celebration of Our Planet
NASA

From Earthrise to Action: A Celebration of Our Planet

Space Center Houston’s annual Planet Earth Celebration brings people and space together to recognize how extraordinary our planet is—and to explore simple, meaningful ways to protect it.  The origins of Planet Earth Celebration The Planet Earth Celebration traces its roots to the iconic Earthrise photo taken by Apollo 8 astronauts in 1968, showing our planet rising above the Moon’s horizon. This striking image—the first color photo of Earth from space—inspired a sense of global unity and urgency around protecting our fragile planet. It played a pivotal role in launching the environmental movement and led to the first Earth Day in 1970, when millions of people rallied for change. Today, the celebration continues to raise awareness and inspire action to preserve Earth’s uni...
NASA — Artemis Astronauts Have Drills, Too!
NASA

NASA — Artemis Astronauts Have Drills, Too!

Choose your player! As we gear up for our Artemis I mission to the Moon — the mission that will prepare us to send the first woman and the first person of color to the lunar surface — we have an important task for you (yes, you!). Artemis I will be the first integrated test flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion crew capsule. Although there won’t be any humans aboard Orion, there will be a very important crewmember: the Moonikin! The Moonikin is a manikin, or anatomical human model, that will be used to gather data on the vibrations that human crewmembers will experience during future Artemis missions. But the Moonikin is currently missing something incredibly important — a name! There are eight names in the running, and each one reflects an important piece of NASA...