NASA solar sail technology passes crucial deployment test

In his youth, NASA technologist Les Johnson was riveted by the 1974 novel "The Mote in God's Eye," by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven, in which an alien spacecraft propelled by solar sails visits humanity. Today, Johnson ...

NASA tests 3D-printed, rotating detonation rocket engine

Looking to the future, NASA is investigating several technologies that will allow it to accomplish some bold objectives. This includes returning to the moon, creating the infrastructure that will let us stay there, sending ...

The feline frontier: NASA sends cat video from deep space

NASA on Monday announced it had used a state-of-the-art laser communication system on a spaceship 19 million miles (31 million kilometers) away from Earth—to send a high-definition cat video.

Talking with Webb using the Deep Space Network

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is nearly 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometer) away from Earth, orbiting around the sun-Earth Lagrange point 2. How do we send commands and receive telemetry—the science and engineering ...

If rogue planets are everywhere, how could we explore them?

At one time, astronomers believed that the planets formed in their current orbits, which remained stable over time. But more recent observations, theory, and calculations have shown that planetary systems are subject to shake-ups ...

Video: Hera Propulsion Module leak test, in time-lapse

ESA's Hera mission for planetary defense will perform a close-up survey of the Dimorphos asteroid in deep space. But first Hera needs to cross millions of kilometers of space to get there. That is the task of Hera's Propulsion ...

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