NASA Science

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed many protostars and stars within the glowing gases of NGC 7129.

The region to the left of the central star is filled with hot, atomic hydrogen gas, which creates a golden glow, while the region to the right is packed with cooler, molecular hydrogen. Embedded protostars in the rightmost region eject outflows that shock and heat the region, giving certain areas a red hue and a clumpy texture. Many of these red outflows, ejected as protostars accumulate mass, are visible throughout the image.
The central star and the stars embedded within the golden region are at a more mature stage in their life cycle than the protostars growing to the right of the central star. Their heat breaks down the molecular hydrogen into atoms, driving the differences in temperature and color. The coldest, densest gas, where protostars have yet to form, is shown in gray.

The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment

The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, or MOXIE, is an exploration technology demonstration that will produce oxygen from the carbon-dioxide-rich atmospheres of Mars. This is the critical first step toward the development of a sustained human presence on another planetary body.

For over 40 years NASA’s Sounding Rocket Program has provided critical scientific, technical, and educational contributions to the nation’s space program and is one of the most robust, versatile, and cost-effective flight programs at NASA.

Sounding rockets carry scientific instruments into space along a parabolic trajectory. Their overall time in space is brief, typically 5-20 minutes, and at lower vehicle speeds for a well-placed scientific experiment. The short time and low vehicle speeds are more than adequate — in some cases they are ideal — to carry out a successful scientific experiments. Indeed, there are certain important regions of space that are too low for satellites and thus sounding rockets provide the only platforms that can carry out measurements in these regions.

3D print true-to-scale models of historic NASA rockets!

The 3D Resources hub stores 3D models related to NASA’s various missions. Some of these models are 3D printable! All of these assets are free to download and use.