NASA

The Perseids are back! Well… sort of. Usually bringing one of the most vivid annual meteor showers visible in Earth’s night sky, commonly delivering 50-100 “shooting stars” per hour at its height, the Perseids will peak Aug. 12 and 13. There’s just one problem: the full Moon. A shower of Perseid meteors lights up the sky in 2009 in this NASA time-lapse image. (NASA/JPL) “Sadly, this year’s Perseids peak will see the worst possible circumstances for spotters,” said NASA astronomer Bill Cooke, who leads the Meteoroid Environment Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “Most of us in North America would normally see 50 or 60 meteors per hour,” he said, “but this year, during the normal peak, the full Moon will reduce that to 10-20 per hour at best.” The Moon i...

Not long after midnight on Dec. 7, 1972, the last crewed mission to the Moon, Apollo 17, lifted off with three astronauts: Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, and Ronald Evans.Experience the Apollo 17 launch and follow the mission in real time.ALTMeet the CrewLet’s meet the astronauts who made the final Apollo trip to the Moon, including the first scientist-astronaut.Gene Cernan: In 1972, Apollo 17 Mission Commander Eugene A. Cernan had two space flights under his belt, Gemini 9 in June 1966, and Apollo 10 in May 1969. He was a naval aviator, electrical and aeronautical engineer and fighter pilot.Ron Evans: Apollo 17 Command Module Pilot Ronald E. Evans was selected as a member of the 4th group of NASA astronauts in 1966. Like Cernan, he was an electrical and aeronautical engineer, and naval ...

SAN FRANCISCO – Morpheus Space is ramping up electric propulsion production in its new Dresden, Germany, factory. In the 1,260-square-meter factory, Morpheus will initially produce 100 GO-2 Field Emission Electric Propulsion-based propulsion systems per year. With additional personnel and equipment, Morpheus could produce 500 GO-2 units annually. Morpheus executives decided to expand production after hearing current and prospective customers complain of waiting a year for propulsion deliveries, Morpheus CEO Daniel Bock told SpaceNews. “Nobody has the time to wait a year for any subsystem,” Bock said. “And propulsion is one of the few subsystems that typically are not produced in-house because it’s quite complex.” The in-space propulsion business is undergoing si...

Celebrating Autism Acceptance Month Did you know an eclipse has sound? Thanks to innovative technology, guests can listen to the sonification of an eclipse using a LightSound box which converts data (light intensity) into sound. Guests are shown experiencing the October 2023 Annular Solar Eclipse at Space Center Houston using a sound machine box.  (Photo Courtesy, Aaron Rodriguez). Space Center Houston is a destination to explore the marvels of space and human spaceflight bringing people and space closer together, and this includes individuals with disabilities to fully immerse themselves in the wonders of space.   As a Certified Autism Center by the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES), the science center is the first Autism-...

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, ...