Category Archives: writing

Mars rover landing engineer looks back

We recently had the pleasure of chatting with Miguel San Martin, chief engineer for Guidance, Navigation, and Control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he has worked on four Mars spacecraft. On Twitter he’s @MigOnMars.

‘Curiosity’s middle name is Patience’

Here’s the short version of today’s Mars news: Curiosity has, in fact, detected simple organics in Martian soil, but that detection is not definitive evidence of Mars-native organic compounds. Scientists first need to make sure that the compounds detected by … Continue reading →

Icy molecules a clue to our origins

Ice and organics could have hitched a ride to Earth on comets and asteroids, where they could have formed the building blocks of life as we know it.

What’s our fascination with Mars?

When you look up basic information on Mars on NASA’s website, in the field for the name of the discoverer, it says “known by the ancients.” Unlike Neptune, and the no-longer-a-planet Pluto, Mars has always figured in to the way we understand … Continue reading →

On becoming a NASM docent

Have you ever taken a tour at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center? Perhaps you heard fascinating stories about the artifacts on display…

NASA’s favorite mascot

Let me tell you about an ambitious rubber chicken. Her name is Camilla Corona SDO, and she’s the official mascot for NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. You may be most familiar with her as the bird that a group of high … Continue reading →

NASA instructor reflects on final launch

Steve Gauvain is an instructor and flight controller for NASA’s space shuttle. He’s down in Florida for the final launch of Atlantis, whose crew he helped to train for rendezvous. He has worked for NASA for 14 years, and has … Continue reading →

NASA shares the NBL

A facility that trains astronauts for space will soon train oil and gas workers for water safety. On Tuesday, NASA announced that Raytheon Technical Services Co., which runs the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, or NBL, will partner with Petrofac Training Services … Continue reading →

Congressional Gold Medals

At a ceremony in Washington on Wednesday, John Glenn, Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins were awarded Congressional Gold Medals for their work advancing human spaceflight.

SDO shows us the Sun’s spots

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is on a mission to study our sun and how its activity might affect Earth. We’ve heard about solar flares and the way solar activity can disrupt life on Earth, but have you ever just … Continue reading →

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