Image of the week

Image of the week

21-06-2013 10:00 AM CEST

The Spanish city of Barcelona is pictured in this image from Japan's ALOS satellite

NASA's Space Launch System Program Kicks Off Preliminary Design Review

NASA's Space Launch System Program Kicks Off Preliminary Design Review

06/19/2013 12:00 AM EDT

NASA is beginning a preliminary design review for its Space Launch System (SLS). This major program assessment will allow development of the agency's new heavy-lift rocket to move from concept to initial design.

NASA and Italian Space Agency Sign Agreement on Exploration of Mercury

NASA and Italian Space Agency Sign Agreement on Exploration of Mercury

06/20/2013 12:00 AM EDT

At a meeting in Rome Thursday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Italian Space Agency (ASI) President Enrico Saggese signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation on the European Space Agency- (ESA) led BepiColombo mission to Mercury, strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation between NASA and ASI in planetary exploration.

IRIS Preps for Launch

IRIS Preps for Launch

06/20/2013 12:00 AM EDT

The fully integrated spacecraft and science instrument for NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission is seen in a clean room at the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Sunnyvale, Calif. facility. 

The solar arrays are deployed in the configuration they will assume when in orbit. IRIS is scheduled to launch on June 26, 2013. Understanding the interface between the photosphere and corona remains a fundamental challenge in solar and heliospheric science. 

The IRIS mission opens a window of discovery into this crucial region by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromosphere and transition region into the corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS is designed to provide significant new information to increase our understanding of energy transport into the corona and solar wind and provide an archetype for all stellar atmospheres. 

The unique instrument capabilities, coupled with state of the art 3-D modeling, will fill a large gap in our knowledge of this dynamic region of the solar atmosphere. The mission will extend the scientific output of existing heliophysics spacecraft that follow the effects of energy release processes from the sun to Earth. 

Image Credit: NASA/Lockheed Martin

Banking on satellites in Africa

Banking on satellites in Africa

19-06-2013 09:48 AM CEST

Satellites are making it possible to transfer money between remote locations in sub-Saharan African countries that are otherwise unconnected to the outside world.

Earth from Space

Earth from Space

20-06-2013 10:16 AM CEST

Join us Friday, 21 June, at 10:00 CEST for an 800 km-high tour with spectacular images from Earth-observing satellites

NASA Television to Air June 24 Space Station Spacewalk

NASA Television to Air June 24 Space Station Spacewalk

06/19/2013 12:00 AM EDT

NASA Television will provide live coverage when two members of the Expedition 36 crew venture outside the International Space Station on Monday, June 24.