Tag: NASAS

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Sets New Mars Driving Record

Space.com reports that NASA’s Perseverance rover has set a new record for the greatest distance traveled on another world, surpassing the previous mark held by the Opportunity rover. On 11 October, Perseverance reached 28.10 miles (45.22 kilometers) traveled on Mars, exceeding Opportunity’s 28.06-mile record in just 5.5 years, compared with Opportunity’s 14 years. According to Space.com, “the mission team thinks the rover could eventually more than double the distance it’s already traveled.”
Full Story (Space.com)

Could the SR-71 Blackbird Fly Again? Inside NASA’s High-Speed Pursuit

Aerospace Global News reports that renewed interest in potentially returning a retired SR-71 Blackbird to flight is drawing attention to the aircraft’s enduring legacy and NASA’s high-speed aviation research. Nearly 30 years after its retirement, the Blackbird remains the “world’s fastest operational jet aircraft” and has never had a “direct successor.” Reports of NASA exploring a possible return to flight have reignited questions about why modern aviation has yet to match the SR-71’s extraordinary capabilities.
Full Story (Aerospace Global News)

Modified Boeing 777 Set to Replace DC-8 as NASA’s Premier Research Aircraft

Flying Magazine reports, “A heavily modified Boeing 777-200ER formerly operated by Japan Air Lines will soon become NASA’s largest flying science laboratory. The retired commercial jet arrived at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia on Wednesday following a check flight and three-hour transit from Waco, Texas, where L3Harris since January 2025 had been making structural modifications. It will replace the space agency’s retired Douglas DC-8, which flew its final science mission in 2024 after 37 years in service.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)

NASA’s X-59 Collects Valuable Data Despite Shortened Second Flight

Aviation International News reports, “NASA’s X-59 supersonic demonstrator returned to the skies on Friday morning for a nine-minute flight that was cut short after a warning light illuminated. However, NASA officials said they were still able to gather data during the second flight from the aircraft built in collaboration with Lockheed Martin at its Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)

SpaceX Launches NASA’s TRACERS Mission to Study the Origins of Space Weather

Ars Technica reports, “Two NASA satellites rocketed into orbit from California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday, commencing a $170 million mission to study a phenomenon of space physics that has eluded researchers since the dawn of the Space Age. The twin spacecraft are part of the NASA-funded TRACERS mission, which will spend at least a year measuring plasma conditions in narrow regions of Earth’s magnetic field known as polar cusps.”
Full Story (Ars Technica)

SpaceX Launches NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH Missions

The New York Times reports, “Two NASA missions launched from the California coast and soared toward the stars late Tuesday night, overcoming a week of delays to get to orbit. Both aim to unravel mysteries about the universe — one by peering far from Earth, the other by looking closer to home. The rocket’s chief passenger is SPHEREx, a space telescope that will take images of the entire sky in more than a hundred colors that are invisible to the human eye. Accompanying the telescope is a suite of satellites known collectively as PUNCH, which will study the sun’s outer atmosphere and solar wind.”
Full Story (New York Times – Subscription Publication)

 

Video

SpaceX launches NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions (Launch at 58:01 mark)
(NASA; YouTube)

NASA Says Hubble Telescope Will Resume Operation Following Gyroscope Issue

SPACE reports that following a “string of setbacks concerning one of its directional instruments, the Hubble Space Telescope will get back to its job of capturing deep space images soon enough, NASA says.” It all “began on Nov. 19, when one of the iconic observatory’s three gyroscopes (a trio that live on from an original set of six) began providing faulty readings.” In general, gyroscopes “are devices that use either circulating beams of light or rapidly spinning wheels to help scientists make sure an object is facing the direction they want it to face.” Incorrect gyroscope readings “on the Hubble Telescope, as you might imagine, can therefore drastically affect science measurements.” To image a specific spot “in deep space with this Earth-orbiting telescope, you’d have to make sure it’s actually facing that spot in deep space.”
Full Story (SPACE)

NASA Working to Resolve Hubble Space Telescope Gyroscope Issue

SPACE reports NASA on Wednesday confirmed that the Hubble Space Telescope “automatically entered safe mode on Nov. 23.” The reason behind the interruption “lies with issues concerning one of the observatory’s gyroscopes.” Mission scientists said “that they’re working to resolve the issue and bring Hubble back on again.”
Full Story (SPACE)