NASA News

Viewpoint: Mars Mission Should Inspire Insurers to Embrace Smart Home

In February, an unprecedented winter storm left millions of Texans crippled without power, burst pipes, and compromised water. Homeowners were left both helpless and unaware of what to expect as a bitter cold created chaos across the state. In parallel, …

SpaceX Confirms Crew Capsule Destroyed in April Test Accident

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Nearly two weeks after a fiery explosion during a ground test of its new crew capsule, SpaceX confirmed on Thursday that the vehicle was destroyed, but neither the company nor NASA, its primary customer, have publicly …

SpaceX Suffers Serious Setback with Crew Capsule Accident

About the photo: The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon spacecraft onboard, launches from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla, Saturday, June 3, 2017. Photo courtesy of NASA. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX has …

U.S. Agencies Aim to Ramp up Earth’s Protection From Asteroids, Comets

The U.S. government is stepping up efforts to protect the planet from incoming asteroids that could wipe out entire regions or even continents. The National Science and Technology Council released a report Wednesday calling for improved asteroid detection, tracking and …

Michigan Meteor Could Have Been Worse

The fireball that streaked through the Michigan sky put on quite a show but as far as potentially killer space rocks, it was merely a flash in the pan. There are much bigger asteroids careening through our solar system. Scientists …

NASA Launches 8 Mini-Satellites to Better Forecast Hurricanes

NASA launched eight mini-satellites Thursday morning to measure surface wind deep in the heart of hurricanes. The plane carrying the satellites took off shortly after sunrise Thursday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. An hour later, the co-pilot pushed the …

Researchers Demonstrate How Lightning Strikes Can Improve Storm Forecasts

Humans have always been frightened and fascinated by lightning. This month, NASA is scheduled to launch a new satellite that will provide the first nonstop, high-tech eye on lightning over the North American section of the planet. University of Washington …

Hurricane Hunter Aircraft Now Tracking Earth’s Shrinking Ice Caps

It is the morning of the last test flight before the first joint NASA-NOAA mission to map melting ice caps, and Miss Piggy is being difficult. Sitting on the flight line just outside Hangar 5 at MacDill Air Force Base, …

Congressional Panel Questions NASA on Why it Isn’t Probing SpaceX Blast

A U.S. House panel this week asked NASA to explain why it hasn’t launched an independent review of the explosion on June 28 of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, as it did after the earlier explosion of Orbital ATK Inc’s …

Scientists Research Midwest’s Nighttime Thunderstorms

The radar screens in the jetliner show massive storm systems around Wichita and Dodge City, Kansas, growing and beginning to merge. Any commercial aircraft in the area have already diverted. But this DC-8 heads right between the storms. Then it …