NASA Archives

International Astronomy Day: Seeking the stars

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International Astronomy Day started in 1973 by Doug Berger. As the then president of the Astronomical Association of Northern California, he wanted to make astronomy more accessible to the public. While it may feel that space is infinitely remote, the study and celebration of what space is and may contain is a truly down-to-earth matter. By studying the stars, scientists […]

Travel to Cornwall for your next holiday…then into space!

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Idyllic beaches, rugged coastal lines and quaint seaside towns make Cornwall one of the most popular tourist destinations for staycationers and globetrotters alike. Yet, it’s also set to become the home of the UK’s first ever spaceport for space travel! Virgin Orbit is soon set to launch it’s fifth mission of putting thrill-seekers and space-tech clients into space from Cornwall. […]

Monitoring electrolyte stability in lithium-air batteries for electric aircraft

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Switching to electric powered transport is one way of reducing CO2 emissions and their negative effects on the climate. Lithium-air batteries could play an important role in this transition, as they have the potential to provide the highest known theoretical energy density (3,400 Wh/kg). Development of lithium-air batteries requires highly stable electrolytes that are resistant to decomposition under operating conditions. […]

Twinkle, twinkle: How astronomers investigate alien planets

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The NASA Kepler Space Telescope revolutionised our understanding of the universe. By continuously observing over half a million stars during its four-year mission, Kepler discovered thousands of exoplanets. Many hundreds of these are Earth-like in size and composition, and tens of them reside in the habitable ‘Goldilocks’ zone. Kepler and similar space-based telescopes like TESS discover planets purely by inference, […]

Planetary Protection Policy: For sustainable space exploration and to safeguard our biosphere

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JAXA is planning a sample return mission from the Martian satellite(s).

The search for the origin of life amongst the planetary bodies in our solar system is a driving factor in space research. However, the simple act of sending a spacecraft to explore in situ solar system objects can potentially compromise their environments and cause harmful contamination when returning to Earth. Avoiding such biological contamination of planetary bodies (forward contamination) is […]