Latest New Frontiers program Stories

WASHINGTON, May 16, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's first mission to sample an asteroid is moving ahead into development and testing in preparation for its launch in 2016. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The Origins-Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) passed a confirmation review Wednesday called Key Decision Point (KDP)-C. NASA officials reviewed a series of detailed project assessments and...

WASHINGTON, May 1, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An asteroid that will be explored by a NASA spacecraft has a new name, thanks to a third-grade student in North Carolina. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) NASA's Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft will visit the asteroid now called Bennu, named after an important ancient Egyptian avian deity. OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch in...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Students worldwide have an opportunity to name an asteroid from which an upcoming NASA mission will return the first samples to Earth. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Scheduled to launch in 2016, the mission is called the Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx). Samples returned from the primitive surface of the near-Earth asteroid currently...

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online NASA’s Jupiter orbiter Juno successfully fired its engine Thursday as it prepares to make a crucial fly-by around Earth to give it the momentum it needs to shoot off toward the solar system’s largest planet. The firing of the main engine lasted just short of 30 minutes, and should give the spacecraft, which is currently about 300 million miles away, the push it needs to make the boomerang pass. The maneuver is the first of two...

In England it is known as the "Plough," in Germany the "Great Cart," and in Malaysia the "Seven Ploughs." Since humanity first turned its eyes skyward, the seven northern hemisphere stars that compose the "Big Dipper" have been a welcome and familiar introduction to the heavens. "I can recall as a kid making an imaginary line from the two stars that make up the right side of the Big Dipper's bowl and extending it upward to find the North Star," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of...

NASA's solar-powered Juno spacecraft successfully refined its flight path last Wednesday with the mission's first trajectory correction maneuver. The maneuver took place on Feb. 1. It is the first of a dozen planned rocket firings that, over the next five years, will keep Juno on course for its rendezvous with Jupiter. "We had a maneuver planned soon after launch but our Atlas V rocket gave us such a good ride we didn't need to make any trajectory changes," said Rick Nybakken, Juno project...

  NASA’s Juno spacecraft, on its way to visit the solar system’s giant Jupiter, took a look back at Earth and the Moon and snapped a photo, reports BBC News. “This is a remarkable sight people get to see all too rarely,” said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “This view of our planet shows how Earth looks from the outside, illustrating a special perspective of our role and place in the universe. We see a humbling...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Aug. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's solar-powered Juno spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 12:25 p.m. EDT Friday to begin a five-year journey to Jupiter. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Juno's detailed study of the largest planet in our solar system will help reveal Jupiter's origin and evolution. As the archetype of giant gas planets, Jupiter can help scientists understand the origin of our solar...

When it comes to magnetic fields, Jupiter is the ultimate muscle car. It's endowed with the biggest, brawniest field of any planet in the solar system, powered by a monster engine under the hood.Figuring out how this mighty engine, or dynamo, works is one goal of NASA's Juno mission, which is scheduled to begin its five-year, 400-million-mile voyage to Jupiter in August 2011. Juno will orbit the planet for about a year, investigating its origin and evolution with eight instruments to probe...

NASA, looking forward to launching a Jupiter-bound mission next week, sent the Juno spacecraft to its final destination at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida as the agency makes final preparations for the launch. The solar-powered spacecraft was secured in place atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas V 55 rocket at 10:42 a.m. EDT on Wednesday. The "most powerful Atlas rocket ever made" is sitting on the launch pad at the base while technicians carry out "a final flurry of checks...