Issue #7 (May 2014)
World Science U launches online learning for everyone
World Science U is an up and coming web-based school that offers massive open online courses (MOOC). It was created by Dr. Brian Greene, Theoretical Physicist, so that top researchers and educators could guide any student’s way through the expansion of their scientific knowledge at whatever level they are most comfortable approaching. There are no …
Spinoff 2013 shows how much space is in our lives
Water filtration bottles, comfortable car seats and remote medical monitoring devices all have one thing in common – they all have benefited from NASA technology. These products are featured in Spinoff 2013, an online publication now available that highlights commercial products created using NASA-developed technology, including some developed at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, …
NASA testing supersonic parachute, inflatable decelerator
Force equals mass times acceleration – or in the case of NASA and JPL planning for a landing on Mars – deceleration. JPL is currently in the testing phase of the LDSD (Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator) for future, larger load trips to the Red Planet. The current limit of parachute and deceleration technology has been reached …
NASA selfie during Earth Day 2014
NASA Astronaut John Mace Grunsfeld takes a quick selfie with astronauts at the International Space Station at the NASA sponsored Earth Day event April 22, 2014 at Union Station in Washington, DC. NASA announced the “Global Selfie” event as part of its “Earth Right Now” campaign, celebrating the launch of five Earth-observing missions in 2014. …
Land ho! Expedition 39 returns to Earth
Support personnel prepare to extract the crew from the Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft shortly after it landed with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on May 14. Wakata, Tyurin and Mastracchio …
SLS engine prepared for the test stand
Formerly known as the Space Shuttle Main Engine, the RS-25 accumulated more than one million seconds – or almost 280 hours – of hot fire experience during 135 missions and numerous engine tests like the one pictured here. Four RS-25 engines will power the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and the engine …