Space Sciences

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Kellie Gerardi's Secret: From Film Degree to Space Industry

In her journey, Virigin Galactic Astronaut Kellie Gerardi reflects on the challenges of entering the space industry as a total outsider. From amusing mishaps like mistaking 'LOX' for lunch to the profound lessons learned working with rocket fuel, every...
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Reader Response/Space News Deep Dive: HD 110067 and Orbital Resonance

Our readers want to know more about the concept of orbital resonance, which is of major importance in this system. So let’s meet this crazy new exoplanet system and talk a bit about resonance in the universe.
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Kellie Gerardi Explores Martian Farming - Soil to Sip

How will future astronauts raise food on Mars?
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The Demon and the Wonder: Variable Stars

If you look up on the next clear night, you might be able to make out the constellations of Perseus and Cetus, the home of stars Mira and Algol. Let's see just what’s up with these variable stars.
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13 minutes

What Kind of Space Research Happens in Massachusetts?

Dr. Supriya Chakrabarti, the Director of UMass Lowell's Center for Space Science and Technology, explains some of the exciting space research and engineering that is happening right here in our backyard.
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Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds – Getting to know the Lucy Mission

We’ve reached the end of NASA’s Asteroid Autumn—a few months that were coincidentally packed with exciting asteroid-related news stories, specifically the Lucy spacecraft’s flyby of the asteroid Dinkinesh.
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Space News Deep Dive: Plate Tectonics on Venus

Let’s get all up in Venusian geological history and talk about plate tectonics. It’s actually really cool, I swear. Or well, hot. It is Venus we’re talking about.
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Okay Fine, Let’s Talk About Aliens

As a Planetarium educator who is also generally known as “the space nerd” to anyone who gets to know me for longer than thirty seconds, I frequently get asked what I think about aliens. The question has come up even more frequently of late, what with the...
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7 minutes

What is it Like to Look Down at the Earth from Space?

One of the more hopeful results of human spaceflight has been the Overview Effect, when astronauts feel the awe in looking down at our home planet while orbiting above. NASA Astronaut Bob Hines details his experience earthgazing from the International...
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What the Heck is Hubble Tension? (aka The Hubble Wars)

Let's talk about the expansion of the Universe. We know it’s happening, and we even know it’s accelerating. But if you ask how fast it’s accelerating, you might get one of a couple of different answers because of the ongoing saga known as the Hubble...
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DIY Solar Eclipse Viewer | Pinhole Projector

Are you ready to experience the wonder of an eclipse without risking your eyesight? In this video, Alex Dainis shows you how to create a simple and effective DIY pinhole projector to safely observe this incredible astronomical event. You don't need...
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OSIRIS-REx Sample Returns To Earth

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft dropped its sample return container through Earth's atmosphere, safely landing in the Utah desert. In 2016, OSIRIS-REx embarked on a mission to visit the asteroid Bennu, a relic from the early solar system, collecting a...
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Where Spacecraft Go To Die

Join me as we explore the Spacecraft Cemetery, talk about graveyard orbits, and take a look around at some of the other final fates that our spacecraft have met over the years.
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Let’s Get Metal – Getting Psyched for Psyche

There’s a new asteroid mission on the block. NASA is preparing this coming Thursday, October 12th, to launch Psyche, a spacecraft destined to explore one of the strangest worlds in the asteroid belt, the asteroid…Psyche.
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2:43

Living on Mars Time | NASA JPL Engineer Nagin Cox Shares Her Experience

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Systems Engineer Nagin Cox shares her experience of living on Martian time from Earth while working on four rover missions.