NASA

WASHINGTON — NASA has agreed to extend operations of its New Horizons spacecraft through late this decade to support “multidisciplinary” science that could include another Kuiper Belt object flyby. NASA announced Sept. 29 that it would extend New Horizons, currently approved for operations through the end of fiscal year 2024, until the spacecraft exits the Kuiper Belt, which is expected around the end of the decade. The focus of the mission, starting in fiscal year 2025, will be collecting heliophysics data as the spacecraft heads out of the solar system. The arrangement, though, would allow the spacecraft to perform another Kuiper Belt flyby, like the flyby of Arrokoth it conducted in early 2019. While there are currently no known objects within range of New Horizons, “this ...

The newly restored John F. Kennedy lectern sits at Space Center Houston’s Starship Gallery exhibit where visitors can learn more about the artifact and the significance the president’s speech had on human spaceflight exploration. (Space Center Houston/Aaron Rodriguez).   HOUSTON — In a remarkable turn of events, Space Center Houston highlights an important figure behind human spaceflight with the conclusive authentication of the famed lectern from which John F. Kennedy delivered his historic moon-shot speech. Following earlier doubts raised by a Dallas-based historian, the lectern’s authenticity has been thoroughly investigated and confirmed, putting an end to the debate surrounding this significant artifact.  Earlier this year, a news story cast doubt on the authenticity of the...

Saturn will have one of its best viewing opportunities of the year in the period surrounding Sunday, Aug. 14. Or it would, if the nearly Full Moon doesn’t spoil our fun. On that date, Saturn will reach opposition – the point where it lies directly opposite the Sun in our night sky – around midnight local time for most stargazers, with the constellation Capricornus behind it. Saturn will be visible for much of the night, rising above the southeastern horizon and lingering high in the southern sky. This will occur during Saturn’s perigee – its closest approach to Earth – making it even larger and brighter than usual. An illustration of NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn, where it documented the ringed planet in 2017. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) But as previously noted the last blog, ...

Big news for our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope! Thanks to some new “shades” – an infrared filter that will help us see longer wavelengths of light – the mission will be able to spot water ice on objects in the outer solar system, see deeper into clouds of gas and dust, and peer farther across space. We’re gearing up for some super exciting discoveries!You probably know that our solar system includes planets, the Sun, and the asteroid belt in between Mars and Jupiter – but did you know there’s another ‘belt’ of small objects out past Neptune? It’s called the Kuiper belt, and it’s home to icy bodies that were left over from when our solar system formed.A lot of the objects there are like cosmic fossils – they haven’t changed much since they formed billions of years ago. Using its new fil...

WASHINGTON — A National Reconnaissance Office mission flew to geostationary Earth orbit Sept. 10 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. The rocket lifted off at 8:47 a.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.  The launch had been originally scheduled for August 29 but was delayed due to Hurricane Idalia. A second attempt on Sept. 9 was scrubbed due to a technical issue found during a pre-launch check. The NROL-107 mission, also known as SilentBarker, carried multiple sensor payloads for surveillance of objects in geostationary orbit.   “It will not be looking at the ground. It will be looking at space,” said Chris Scolese, director of the National Reconnaissance Office.  The NRO did not reveal the exact number of p...