Tag Archives: Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA has chosen two proposed space exploration concepts as finalists for a robotic mission scheduled to launch in the mid-2020s. The space agency said Thursday it will fund the concept development of the finalists, which include a comet sample return mission and a rotorcraft that would seek potential landing sites on …

A proposed NASA mission aims to install an optics system aboard the International Space Station to locate and characterize sources of gravitational waves that result from powerful cosmic events. The Transient Astrophysics Observatory on the ISS project, or ISS-TAO, is one of three mission concepts that NASA could select in 2019 as …

Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the NASA‘s Science Mission Directorate, has urged the Goddard Space Flight Center to study potential design changes on the agency’s future space observatory to address the results of an independent review. The design modification study is intended to reduce the cost and complexity of the Wide Field Infrared Survey …

NASA has facilitated a meeting between spaceflight experts from multiple agencies to address technical challenges associated with the assembly of large structures in space. The space agency said Thursday the technology interchange meeting at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland was the third in a series of discussions between …

NASA will install cameras and science data processing computers for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-built Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite onto an Orbital ATK spacecraft in the coming weeks following the platform’s completion of a systems integration review. The space agency said Saturday that independent technical and scientific experts reviewed the TESS …

A team of engineers and scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has obtained  federal funds to develop a sodium light detection and ranging technology for the space agency to study Earth’s mesosphere. NASA said Tuesday the lidar instrument will help researchers conduct studies on the relationship between the chemistry and dynamics of …

NASA has launched a project to develop a laser communications system for the Orion spacecraft the agency intends to use for its future manned missions to deep space. The Laser-Enhanced Mission and Navigation Operational Services system is designed to provide connectivity to astronauts in space and allow them to communicate with people on Earth, NASA said Thursday. Goddard …

NASA plans to launch a technology demonstration of laser communications systems  designed to increase the speed of data transmission between space vehicles and ground terminals. The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration will be deployed in summer 2019 as part of a two- to five-year mission that seeks to help NASA learn ways to operate laser communications systems, the space agency said Wednesday. …

NASA has awarded a total of $3.6 million in grants to 10 mission concept studies that will use small satellites to explore Venus, Earth’s moon, asteroids, Mars and outer planets. The agency said Thursday awardees on the Planetary Science Deep Space SmallSat Studies program will use satellites that weigh less than 400 pounds while CubeSats will …

William Zhang, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, has developed a silicon-based method to manufacture lightweight X-ray optical mirrors. NASA said Tuesday that Zhang believes the use of silicon technology will help astrophysicists to create super-thin mirrors that have a large collection area and high resolution. His goal is to further develop the …