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A full-scale test version of the SLS solid rocket booster is on site at Orbital ATK’s Utah test facility in preparation for the upcoming Qualification Motor-2 test. Photo Credit: Orbital ATK
SLS Booster Heads for Critical Test

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), the world’s most powerful launch vehicle, is on track for the final ground-fire test of its solid rocket booster (SRB).

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The Kepler space telescope has confirmed the existence of 21 exoplanets that are less than twice the size of Earth and are orbiting in the habitable zone of their stars. Being in this zone suggests liquid water could exist on the planet’s surface, indicating they may harbor the potential for life. In the graphic above, the blue circles represent 12 previously known exoplanets, while the orange circles represent nine planets recently confirmed by a new statistical validation technique. Image Credit: NASA Ames/N. Batalha and W. Stenzel
Kepler Expands Understanding of Planetary Population

The Kepler space telescope leads the way in the discovery of exoplanets: worlds that orbit other stars in our galaxy. Recently, the team doubled the number of confirmed planets out there.

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A Chance Vought F-8 Crusader, seen here in flight, was modified for NASA’s groundbreaking Digital Fly-By-Wire program. Photo Credit: NASA
This Month in NASA History: The Digital Fly-By-Wire Program Revolutionized Flight

Forty-four years ago, NASA replaced the flight control system on an F-8C Crusader with a computer from the Apollo Program and sent the aircraft soaring into the sky.

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One of the engineering challenges facing NASA in the 21st century is the need to design and build effective but affordable technologies that will support missions to Mars. Here, engineers get ready to test a 3-D printed rocket engine turbopump using liquid methane at Marshall Space Flight Center. An engine with this technology could power a Mars lander. Photo Credit: NASA/MSFC/Emmett Given
Engineering Solutions for the 21st Century

The Grand Challenges for Engineering ask current and future engineers to consider what they can do to shape humanity’s future.

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Artist’s concept of a solar electric propulsion system. Photo Credit: Analytical Mechanics Associates
SEP Propels Mission Efficiency and Flexibility

Based on decades of development, high-power solar electric propulsion (SEP) is preparing to fuel deep space exploration.

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NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, shown here in the thermal vacuum chamber, is a Planetary Science Discovery Program mission that began orbiting and exploring the dwarf planet Ceres in 2015. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL
Planetary Science Builds on Success to Expand Exploration

From exploring new worlds to investing in novel technology, NASA’s Planetary Science Division (PSD) continues to build on its 2015 successes.

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Created using a technique known as “schlieren,” this image shows the shock wave formed by a USAF T-38C aircraft flying at supersonic speed. Data from schlieren images will help NASA design quieter supersonic aircraft. Photo Credit: NASA
NASA and Lockheed Martin Get Ready to Rumble

Forty-five years after Congress defunded the American commercial supersonic transport (SST) program, NASA and Lockheed Martin plan to design a quieter supersonic X-plane.

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The Far Ultra Violet Imaging Spectrograph (FUV) will fly on the ICON mission, one of NASA’s major projects reviewed by the GAO. In the image, the FUV door release mechanism is being tested at Lockheed Martin. Photo Credit: NASA/UC Berkeley/ICON
Government Brief: Agency Sustains Positive Trend for Major Projects

NASA continues to improve cost and schedule performance among large-scale projects, according to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) assessment.

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False-color image of Gale Crater based on data from Odyssey’s Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS). The colors indicate different minerals in the martian surface. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University
This Month in NASA History: A Record-Breaking Odyssey Began

Fifteen years ago this month, the 2001 Mars Odyssey launched from Cape Canaveral to become the longest-operating spacecraft around the red planet.

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