#spacecraft
4 posts
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft captures a growing Mars crescent during 2026 flyby
NASA’s Psyche mission filmed a time‑lapse of Mars turning from a thin crescent to a full disk during its May 2‑15, 2026 gravity‑assist flyby.
NASA's Psyche spacecraft completes Mars gravity‑assist flyby, delivering new data
NASA's Psyche probe used Mars' gravity on May 15, gathering instrument data that validates its tools before the 2029 asteroid mission.
New Horizons Mission Detects Significant Slowdown of Solar Wind in Outer Solar System
New Horizons measures the solar wind slowing down as it encounters interstellar gas, helping scientists define the heliosphere's boundary and understand our solar system's edge.
How Spacecraft Survive the Violence of Atmospheric Reentry
When a spacecraft plunges back into Earth's atmosphere, friction compresses the air in front of it so violently that the gas heats to thousands of degrees — hot enough to vaporize metal. Surviving this requires one of the cleverest engineering compromises in spaceflight: a shield that deliberately ablates, burning away to carry the heat with it. Without it, every astronaut return would be fatal.