NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

International Education Week celebrates expanding horizons and making connections. During #IEW2024 and beyond, we help students and educators work together to learn, innovate, and push boundaries. ?? Inspire the young minds in your life with NASA STEM opportunities delivered weekly to your inbox. https://lnkd.in/gkxh_VCP

Testing Spacecraft Thrusters With the New Flow-Through Balance A new project from NASA's Langley Research Center could make it easier to accurately test the thrusters on a spacecraft: the parts that help it turn, stop, and go in space. Engineers need to know how well these thrusters work—how much force or "thrust" they produce. Langley’s Flow-Through Balance is a special instrument designed to measure the thrust produced by different reaction control system (RCS) thrusters, which are the small engines used for adjusting a spacecraft's position while it descends. The Flow-Through Balance can handle the high-speed gas that flows through it, and out to the thrusters, while measuring thrust at the same time. Older systems were incapable of thrust measurement or figuring out how much force the thrusters are using to move, which affected their accuracy. Testing spacecraft engines with this new balance could lead to faster, cheaper, and more reliable results—and help engineers make sure that the spacecraft's thrusters will work perfectly in space, ensuring safe and efficient missions. Learn more about this project, its key partners, and its NASA centers on our TechPort database: https://lnkd.in/gdvc7N5n

Today, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins will become the first United States Army Reserve officer to receive the Basic Aviation Badge with Astronaut Device and Space Badge. Watch the pinning ceremony at 2 p.m. EST (1900 UTC): https://lnkd.in/gBQ4sQgJ

Congratulations are in order! ?? We've announced the 40 Global Finalists and 19 Honorable Mentions selected for this year's NASA Space Apps Challenge, our annual hackathon that brings technologists, innovators, and storytellers together to create solutions to challenges we face on Earth. Learn more about these projects, and stay tuned for the announcement of our Global Winners on Jan. 16, 2025: https://lnkd.in/gegriYs

Join us on Nov. 21 at 4 p.m. to celebrate Native American Heritage Month and learn more about NASA internships. This event will highlight the achievements of Native American professionals, share first-hand experiences from current interns about life at NASA, and provide insights into the internship application process and opportunities. There will also be time for a dynamic Q&A session with interns and internship specialists. Register here: https://lnkd.in/eSz6hMSy??

Using observations from NASA-German satellites, scientists have found evidence that Earth's global freshwater levels dropped starting in 2014—and have remained low ever since: https://lnkd.in/efsAX7fe

For the 14th year in a row, we’ve received a “clean” opinion from an external auditor on our fiscal year financial statements. This is the best possible audit opinion, certifying that NASA’s financial statements conform with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for federal agencies and accurately present the agency’s financial position. The audit opinion reaffirms our commitment to transparency in the use of American taxpayers’ dollars. https://lnkd.in/ek-RefFU

Gnaw way! ?? The Beaver Moon rises tonight, Nov. 15, as 2024’s last supermoon. This full moon, which may get its name from beavers preparing for winter, will appear a bit bigger and brighter than usual. Details: https://lnkd.in/eQ2SqJqV

“Working with amazing teams, just like the Europa Clipper team here at JPL, is amazing. It was just really a privilege to work on that. And I would say they’re just a bunch of breaks, some disappointments, but when you do get a disappointment, you just have to press on.” Dr. Bonnie Buratti is the deputy project scientist for Europa Clipper, which is currently en route to conduct sweeping flybys of one of Jupiter’s four large Galilean moons to look for a habitable environment similar to Earth’s. Learn more about her journey on the most recent episode of our "Small Steps, Giant Leaps" podcast: https://lnkd.in/er6XKXSM

New Solar Wind Sensor Will Study the Sun from the International Space Station NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is collaborating with the Korean Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) and the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics on a new experiment that will study the Sun from the International Space Station. The Coronal Diagnostic Experiment (CODEX), which was installed on the station earlier this week, will help us understand the sources of solar wind and how it accelerates. CODEX will provide global, comprehensive datasets covering the full solar corona over a six-month period. CODEX will build directly on solar wind data from previous collaborations with KASI, complementing other Sun-studying missions like Parker Solar Probe and the Solar Orbiter. The data we receive from CODEX will not only help us understand how the Sun interacts with our solar system, but will enhance our ability to detect extreme conditions which could help protect astronauts and robotic explorers in space—and technology on Earth. Learn more about this project, its NASA centers, and key partners on our TechPort database: https://lnkd.in/eDuYA--3