New & hot: Science

About Our Perseverance Mars Rover

NASA’s technical workforce put boots on the Moon, tire tracks on Mars, and the first reusable spacecraft in orbit around the Earth. Learn what’s next as they build missions that redefine the future with amazing discoveries and remarkable innovations.

Small Steps, Giant Leaps Podcast

IXPE, or the Infrared X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, is NASA’s first space telescope dedicated to studying X-ray polarization from extreme objects like black holes and quasars.

Small Steps, Giant Leaps: Episode 156: A New Era of X-ray Astronomy with IXPE

Fighting wildland fires by air at night is especially hazardous. NASA’s ACERO Project aims to make firefighting safer – day or night – with drones and smarter airspace management.

As wildland fires grow more intense and unpredictable, NASA is helping first responders gain the upper hand. In this episode, we explore the ACERO Project, the team developing an airspace management system to enable drones and other aircraft to safely monitor and suppress wildland fires 24 hours a day. The system will increase aerial response capabilities for responders during low-visibility conditions in a way that is not currently possible. Firefighters in California are already using this technology. We speak with Patrick Hill, chief of uncrewed aircraft systems training at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia.

Small Steps, Giant Leaps: Episode 157: Fighting Wildland Fires with Drones

The Hubble Space Telescope has changed humanity’s understanding of the universe. Now in orbit for 35 years, it remains a remarkable feat of engineering.

Small Steps, Giant Leaps: Episode 159: Hubble: An Engineering Marvel

NASA’s StarBurst mission, a satellite about the size of a washing machine, is set to launch in 2027 to detect the initial blasts of these cosmic fireworks. By studying gamma-ray bursts in unprecedented detail, StarBurst will help scientists probe the extreme physics of neutron star collisions and shed light on one of the most powerful events in astrophysics. We’re talking about it today with Dr. Dan Kocevski, principal investigator for StarBurst, out of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Small Steps, Giant Leaps: Episode 160: StarBurst: Gamma-ray Hunter

From black holes to star clusters, NASA is turning space data into audible sounds with a process called sonification. Dr. Kimberly Arcand, visual scientist with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, joins us to explore how data sonification lets more people experience the cosmos and give researchers a new way to interpret science one note at a time. 

Small Steps, Giant Leaps: Episode 160: Turning Space Data Into Sound

We’re going to Mars! NASA’s Perseverance rover will head to Mars this summer to search for signs of ancient life. Christina Hernandez and Mitch Schulte tell us all about Mars Perseverance in this special edition episode of NASA’s Curious Universe.

NASA's Curious Universe: Inside Our Mars Perseverance Mission

On Episode 171, Howard Hu, Orion deputy program manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, gives an update on Orion, the spacecraft that will take the next generation of space explorers to the Moon and beyond.

Houston We Have a Podcast: Orion Today

A pair of behemoth machines called crawler-trans­porters have carried the load of taking rockets and spacecraft to the launchpad for more than 50 years at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Each larger than a baseball infield and powered by locomotive en­gines, the crawler-transporters stand ready to keep up the work for the next generation of launch vehicles to lift astronauts into space. Sam Dove, John Giles, and Breanna Rohloff explain.

The Crawlers: How NASA Transports Rockets

The Curiosity rover has been probing the secrets of Mars since its arrival in 2012. Its discoveries include chemical signatures that could be related to life – or, alternatively, to geological processes. The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument has found organic molecules, which are fundamental building blocks of life on Earth, but can also be produced in non-biological ways. Scientists have also observed sudden rises and falls in methane, a gas also associated with life, but which can be geological in nature, too. But with such a thin atmosphere, cold temperatures and scathing radiation from the Sun, the surface of Mars would be hostile to life. Where could life be hiding, if it were on Mars? Jen Eigenbrode, astrobiologist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, discusses.

Gravity Assist: Mars Takes a Breath, with Jen Eigenbrode

NASA's Michelle Munk, Ashley Korzun and Eric Nielsen discuss the impact of state-of-the-art computing on future NASA missions.

Small Steps, Giant Leaps: Mars Landing Retropropulsion Simulation

The rocket ranch welcomes Dr. Moogega Cooper, NASA JPL's planetary protection lead for Mars Perseverance. She'll tell us how she and her team are actually protecting Mars and she'll describe the incredibly complex maneuvers needed to land on the red planet. Plus, she'll tell us about the most exciting parts of its astrobiology mission.

Perseverance Rover: Rapid Disassembly, Martian Mission, and Beyond

Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Chief Engineer Bob Balaram discusses the first experimental aircraft flight on another planet.

Small Steps, Giant Leaps - Ingenuity Mars Helicopter

What does it take to drive a rover that’s more than 100 million miles away? Sophia Mitchell at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been driving the Mars Curiosity rover since 2018. In addition to her science and engineering background, Mitchell is also an avid hiker and pilot, and explains how she combines all of these interests and skills in her job. Curiosity landed on Mars on Aug. 6, 2012, and sends back images and other science data from Mount Sharp in Gale Crater. On Feb. 18, 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover will land on Mars at Jezero Crater. Mitchell also explains how these craters are different and why she’s excited to have a second rover exploring the Red Planet.

Gravity Assist

Gravity Assist: Driving on Mars, with Rover Driver Sophia Mitchell

On Episode 182, Chloe Sackier, entry, descent, and landing communications systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, illustrates the shortest and most intense phase of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission.

Houston We Have a Podcast: Mars Perseverance Landing

Hello, we’re NASA. You may have seen our astronauts, rocket launches, or Mars rovers — but have you heard our sounds? From interviews with astronauts and engineers to stories that take you on a tour of the galaxy, NASA’s audio offerings let you experience the thrill of space exploration without ever leaving Earth.