Science

Artist’s concept of “hot Neptune” TOI-3261 b. NASA/JPL-Caltech/K. Miller (Caltech/IPAC) By Grace Jacobs Corban The Discovery A Neptune-sized planet, TOI-3261 b, makes a scorchingly close orbit around its host star. Only the fourth object of its kind ever found, the planet could reveal clues as to how planets such as these form. Key Facts An international team […]

Cities tend to be hotter than nearby rural areas because of the urban heat island effect. Heat-trapping dark surfaces such as sidewalks, buildings, and roads absorb heat from the Sun’s rays, which raises the temperature of the city. Extreme heat poses serious health threats for urban residents, including dehydration, heat stroke, and even death. Though

The Materials ISS Experiment Flight Facility mounted on the outside of the International Space Station allows researchers to test the performance and durability of materials and devices. This is done by exposing items of interest to everything that makes the space environment harsh, including radiation, highly reactive atomic oxygen, microgravity, and extreme temperatures.   Currently, one

Basil Baldauff knew early in his tenure at NASA’s Johnson Space Center that he wanted to become a leader within the agency and make an impact on the future of space exploration. As a contract electrical design and test engineer working within Johnson’s Energy Systems Test Area, Baldauff had an opportunity to lead small teams

NASA has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for the Dragonfly mission, a rotorcraft lander mission under NASA’s New Frontiers Program, designed to explore Saturn’s moon Titan. The mission will sample materials and determine surface composition in different geologic settings, advancing our search for the building blocks of life. The firm-fixed-price contract has a value

NASA and its commercial partners continue to drive innovation in space exploration, achieving milestones that will ultimately benefit human spaceflight and commercial low Earth orbit efforts. These recent achievements from NASA’s industry partners include completed safety milestones, successful flight tests, and major technological advancements. “Our commercial partners’ growing capabilities in low Earth orbit underscore NASA’s

A 16.5-inch-long prototype of a robot designed to explore subsurface oceans of icy moons is reflected in the water’s surface during a test in a competition swimming pool in September 2024. Conducted by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the testing showed the feasibility of a mission concept called SWIM, short for Sensing With Independent Micro-swimmers. The

XRISM’s Resolve instrument has captured the most detailed X-ray spectrum yet acquired of Cygnus X-3. Peaks indicate X-rays emitted by ionized gases, and valleys form where the gases absorb X-rays; many lines are also shifted to both higher and lower energies by gas motions. Top: The full Resolve spectrum, from 2 to 8 keV (kiloelectron