For anyone stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic, NASA is loaded with Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics projects and activities for all age ranges and interests.

Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics

NASA STEM @ Home for Students Grades K-4 offers dozens of how-to animations, guides, worksheets and more for children in kindergarten through fourth grade to do, sometimes alone and sometimes with their parents. Topics are far ranging, including things like an Apollo moon capsule craft, an edible cookie and pretzel spacecraft, space puzzles, a balloon-powered rocket, spacewalk coloring sheets, a 3-D dodecahedron paper airplane, printable space board games, storybooks, a straw plane and much more.

NASA STEM Activities for Families includes things like parachute design, building and launching a foam rocket, hovering on a cushion of balloon air, designing and building a solar water heater, filtering water, building a rubber band-powered rover, making a moon phase calculator and calendar, making a moon-like crater, creating a Mars exploration game, solving math problems using Pi, and much more.

NASA for Students in Fifth to Eighth Grades has things to do like making a paper model of the moon, an advanced paper airplane and stretchy slime; links to hundreds of online NASA website, materials and videos created for the age group; and wide-ranging articles like What Is the International Space Station? and What Is a Rockets?

NASA STEM Resources for Students 9-12 offers opportunities like the CineSpace competition, sending experiments to the International Space Station and the Blue Origins Club; videos like Where does the Suns energy come from? and Faces of Technology; activities like virtual reality and simulations; and projects like making starshades and rover models; and problems like talking to machines and the basics of spaceflight.

NASA Citizen Science Opportunities range from astronomy with opportunities like working with online photos to map the Moon, Mercury and Mars, and counting meteors, to the I See Change program, a community weather and climate journal for participants nationwide that combine citizen observations (photos and text) with cutting-edge weather and satellite data.

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Contact Marcus Schneck at mschneck@pennlive.com.

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NASA: Explore space from home while confined by coronavirus - PennLive

Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas that can come from all kinds of places, including industrial facilities, agriculture, the production of oil and gas, and natural sources like wetlands and bodies of water. NASA has developed a new 3D map to not only keep track of its sources but follow its movement as it builds up and travels in the atmosphere, offering a new tool in the efforts to mitigate its impacts.

Similar to carbon dioxide, human activity over long time periods is increasing atmospheric methane concentrations faster than the removal from natural sinks can offset it, says Abhishek Chatterjee, a carbon cycle scientist at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center. As human populations continue to grow, changes in energy use, agriculture and rice cultivation, [and] livestock raising will influence methane emissions. However, its difficult to predict future trends due to both lack of measurements and incomplete understanding of the carbon-climate feedbacks.

This need for a more complete picture of how methane is building up and contributing to global warming is a pressing one. According to NASA, methane concentration in the atmosphere has more than doubled since the Industrial Revolution and, molecule for molecule, it's far more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. In all, the agency calculates that methane is responsible for between 20 to 30 percent of the planets rising temperatures so far.

The agencys new 3D map was put together using methane data gathered by satellites and the emissions inventories of different countries. This was combined with computer modeling that calculates methane emissions from natural sources such as types of wetlands and simulates the atmospheric processes that break down methane. The team then employed a weather model to see how winds influence the movement of the gas through the atmosphere over time.

NASA/Scientific Visualization Studio

This global picture of methane revealed a few interesting insights. At least 60 percent of methane coming from the worlds wetlands originates in the tropics, while waste disposal is driving a 1.5 percent increase in methane emissions each year from southern Asia. Meanwhile, 70 percent of the methane from the Arctic was revealed to come from natural sources, while in Eastern Asia it is very much the opposite, with 85 percent coming from human activities.

Theres an urgency in understanding where the sources are coming from so that we can be better prepared to mitigate methane emissions where there are opportunities to do so, says research scientist Ben Poulter at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

You can hear from the team in the video below.

NASA Models Methane Sources, Movement Around Globe

Source: NASA

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3D NASA map tracks methane buildup and movement in the atmosphere - New Atlas

NASA has given the public its first high-resolution look at asteroid Bennus global surface. The details are revealed in a newly published global map of the asteroid, one that is currently the focus of NASAs OSIRIS-REx space mission. As weve seen in previously shared images, the asteroid has a very rocky surface filled with large boulders, which was an unexpected complication for the OSIRIS-REx mission.

Bennu is an asteroid that is relatively close to Earth, making its closest approach to our planet every six years. The asteroids diameter is around 1,600ft, which makes it the right size for landing a spacecraft it isnt spinning too fast, which is a problem with asteroids that have diameters around 650ft.

NASA chose the asteroid for its OSIRIS-REx mission, not only for its approachability, but also due to its age. The space agency describes Bennu as a fragment from the formation of our solar system, one that may even have bits of minerals older than the solar system. The well-preserved nature of this asteroid means that a successful sample collection will provide researchers with an uncontaminated bit of history.

Since the spacecrafts arrival at the asteroid, NASA has delivered increasingly clear and high-resolution images of the space rock to the public, as well as multiple 4K renders of the asteroid. The space agency is back this week with a new look at Bennu a high-resolution global map showing every part of its surface.

According to NASA, the new map is made from a series of images captured by the OSIRIS-REx mission from March 7 to April 19, 2019. Each pixel represents 2-inches of the asteroids surface and each image all 2,155 of them were captured at distances ranging from 1.9 miles to 3.1 miles. The public can view and download the full-resolution version of the global map on NASAs website here.

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NASA reveals Bennus entire surface in first high-resolution global map - SlashGear

The Mars InSight Lander has a ton of tools for exploring the Red Planet next door, including a 15-inch digging probe (also known as "the mole") meant to burrow into the Martian soil and take measurements.

Unfortunately, the mole got stuck. FromPopular Science:

A rock could be in the way, but the more likely culprit appears to be the Martian soil. Previous observations had led the German Aerospace Center engineers who designed the probe to expect that it would be digging through loose sand. They built the mole to bounce up and down like a jackhammer, sinking with each stroke and threading its way around any modestly sized rocks it encountered. But the probe has found soil that seems more dirt-like than sand-like; It sticks together and doesnt collapse around the mole to give it enough friction to dig. What the mole needs is a little nudge.

So what did they do to get the mole unstuck? They used the shovel-like scoop at the end of one of the InSight Lander's robot arms to pin down the mole. "The move is risky,"Popular Science explained, "because a delicate tether that provides power and communications from the lander attaches to the back part of the mole, and a hard whack could damage it."

Fortunately, it worked.

Public Domain via NASA/JPL-Caltech

Who knew that the "Why are you hitting yourself?" game would be such a useful tool for space exploration?

At long last, NASAs probe finally digs in on Mars [Charlie Wood / Popular Science]

NASA fixes Mars lander by telling it to hit itself with a shovel [Dan Robitzski / Futurism]

Mars InSight Lander to push on top of mole [NASA]

Image: Public Domain via NASA/JPL-Caltech

Whether youre a worried preparer for the worst or just a little concerned about whats ahead, you may haveoverdone it during your last trip to the store. Maybe you picked up some extra frozen goods or a larger stockpile of cheeses or dairy products than usual. And your fridge or freezer is now likely packed []

The Cheesecake Factory, with more than 200 restaurants across the U.S. and more than $2bn in annual revenues, today warned its landlords they will not be getting rent in April. The Calabasas Hills-based company informed all of its landlords in a letter dated March 18 (reproduced below) that a severe decline in restaurant traffic has []

In this thoughtful and heartwarming little video message, astronaut Chris Hadfield (the man who brought you Bowie from space), shares some tips on coming to grips with isolation and ends with the wonderful, Take care of yourself, take care of your family, take care of your friends, and take care of your spaceship. Simple words []

Whether youre a worried preparer for the worst or just a little concerned about whats ahead, you may haveoverdone it during your last trip to the store. Maybe you picked up some extra frozen goods or a larger stockpile of cheeses or dairy products than usual. And your fridge or freezer is now likely packed []

Every new year, people vow to read more. Of course, it seldom actually happens, but we all wish we had more time to slow down, pick up one of the books off the bedside table weve been meaning to get through, and dive in. If we can find any silver lining to all the COVID-19 []

With so much chaos happening in the world at the moment, this may not seem like the right time to start a new hobby. However, we would argue that now is actually the perfect time to dive into something new. Things are changing and while theres plenty happening thats worthy of genuine concern, theres []

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NASA fixed a Mars probe by hitting it with a shovel - Boing Boing

Despite humanitys current struggle against the novel coronavirus, and despite it taking up most of our attention, other threats still exist. The very real threat of a possible asteroid strike on Earth in the future is taking a backseat for now, but its still there.

Though an asteroid strike seems kind of ephemeral right now, its a real threat, and one thatunlike a coronavirushas the potential to end humanity. Agencies like NASA and the ESA are still working on their plans to protect us from that threat.

NASAs DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission is scheduled to launch on July 22, 2021. Its a demonstration mission to study the use of kinetic impact to deflect an asteroid. Itll head for the tiny binary asteroid system called Didymos, (or 65803 Didymos.) This double asteroid system poses no threat to Earth.

The larger of the pair, named Didymos A, is about 780 meters (2560 ft.) in diameter, while the smaller one, Didymos B, is only about 160 meters (535 ft.) DART will crash itself into the Didymos B. Its close to the typical size of an asteroid that threatens Earth.

DART has a lot of space to cover to reach Didymos. After launching in July 2021, it will reach its target in September 22nd, when the binary asteroid is within 11 million km (6.8 million miles) of Earth. And to get there, itll rely on a powerful ion engine called NASAs Evolutionary Xenon Thruster Commercial (NEXT-C).

The engine comes in two primary components: the thruster and the power processing unit (PPU.) NEXT-C is getting ready for the mission with a series of tests, both performance and environmental. The thruster was put through vibration, thermal vacuum and performance tests before being integrated with its PPU. It was also subjected to simulated spaceflight conditions: the extreme vibration during launch, and the extreme cold of space.

NEXT-C is a powerful engine. Its nothing like a rocket, which requires a massive amount of thrust to lift something away from Earths gravity. But in terms of ion drives, its a very powerful unit. Its about three times more powerful than the NSTAR ion drives on NASAs DAWN and Deep Space One spacecraft.

NEXT can produce 6.9kWthrust power and 236mNthrust. The engine has produced the highest total impulse of any ion engine: 17 MNs. It also has a specific impulse, which is a measure of how efficiently it uses propellant, of 4,190 seconds, compared to NSTARs 3,120.

Ion drives dont burn fuel like a rocket, though they do use a propellant. Typically the propellant is xenon, like in NEXT-C. The NEXT-C ion engine is a double-grid system.

The xenon is fed into a chamber, where it encounters the first, or upstream, grid. Solar arrays provide the electricity, and the first grid is charged positive. As the xenon ions pass through the upstream grid, they are charged positively. This draws them toward the second or accelerator grid, which is charged negatively. This propels them out of the engine, providing thrust. The thrust is equal to the force between the upstream ions and the accelerator grid.

When DART reaches the Didymos binary asteroid, it will have some company. The Italian Space Agency is providing LICIA(Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids) for the mission. LICIA is 6 cubesats that will separate from DART prior to impact with Didymos B. Itll capture images of the impact and the debris ejected from the collision and transmit it back to Earth.

The impact is expected to change Didymos Bs orbital velocity by about a half millimeter per second. That will change its rotation period by a large enough amount that Earth-based telescopes will detect it. It will also leave a crater in the surface, about 20 m (66 ft) wide.

Though DART will be destroyed when it impacts, the ESA is planning a follow-up mission. Its called Hera, and its scheduled to launch in 2024, and to arrive in 2027. Hera will investigate not only the effect of DARTs impact, but will carry a suite of instruments to learn more about binary asteroids, and the interior of the asteroid.

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This Powerful Ion Engine Will Be Flying on NASA's DART Mission to Try and Redirect an Asteroid - Universe Today

French philosopher Blaise Pascal foresaw modern societys core trouble back in the 17th century. All of humanitys problems stem from mans inability to sit quietly in a room alone, he said. And, thanks to the coronavirus, thats exactly the position we are suddenly, collectively stuck in at the moment.

But perhaps one man struggles with being socially isolated a little less than the rest of us. Between March 2015 and March 2016, now retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly lived on the International Space Station for nearly a year. It was the longest a human had lived away from Earth. And it wasnt easy, Kelly recalled in an essay for The New York Times published on Saturday.

SEE ALSO:How to Make Work-From-Home Productive During a Pandemic: Expert Tips

But I learned some things during my time up there that Id like to share, he wrote, because they are about to come in handy again, as we all confine ourselves at home to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

So, here are seven tips from Kelly to those who find it difficult to sit quietly by themselves.

On the space station, my time was scheduled tightly, from the moment I woke up to when I went to sleep, Kelly wrote. His normal tasks range from simple five-minute tasks to a spacewalk that could last hours. But its important that you have something planned. Maintaining a plan will help you and your family adjust to a different work and home life environment, he said.

(Also, as remote working experts advised to Observer previously, establish some sort of a routine, such as getting dressed in the morning, will help boost productivity.)

When you are living and working in the same place for days on end, work can have a way of taking over everything if you let it, Kelly warned. [Writing this article at 9 p.m. on a Monday, I can totally attest to that statement.] Living in space, I deliberately paced myself because I knew I was in it for the long haul just like we all are today.

To maintain a healthy pace, Kelly recommends carving out time for non-work activities, whether binge-watching your favorite TV shows or setting a strict time to go to bed.

This may soon be hard to do as authorities tighten self-quarantine rules. But until then, Kelly recommends going outside at least once a day, as long as you abide by social distancing and stay at least six feet from other people.

If you really cant sit still, find something to do or somewhere else (figuratively) to be. Kelly recommends reading. The quiet and absorption you can find in a physical bookone that doesnt ping you with notifications or tempt you to open a new tabis priceless, he wrote.

Learning a musical instrument is another good idea. So are making some art or trying a handcraft.

Based on studies on humans living in prolonged isolation, NASA has found that keeping a journal is one of the most effective activities that keep people sane, Kelly said.

Even if you dont wind up writing a book based on your journal like I did, writing about your days will help put your experiences in perspective and let you look back later on what this unique time in history has meant, the astronaut wrote.

This one is self-evident. Scientists have found that isolation is damaging not only to our mental health, but to our physical health as well, especially our immune systems, Kelly warned. Technology makes it easier than ever to keep in touch, so its worth making time to connect with someone every dayit might actually help you fight off viruses.

Living in space taught me a lot about the importance of trusting the advice of people who knew more than I did about their subjects, Kelly wrote. This doesnt mean that you have to follow his advice during self-quarantine. But when it comes to news and updates about the coronavirus, you should make an effort to go to reputable sources and avoid suspicious content on social media.

Excerpt from:

7 Self-Isolation Tips From Scott Kelly, the NASA Astronaut Who Lived a Year in Space - Observer

Are you an engineer, designer, manufacturer, or STEM student? Maybe just someone with a healthy predilection for bucket drums? Then NASA wants to hear from you.

NASA's Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII) is sponsoring a challenge hosted by GrabCAD to garner ideas for a bucket drum system to be equipped on the Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR) excavator. LSII is a technology development portfolio aimed at empowering human-robotic exploration of the Moon and, one day, Mars.

RASSOR 2.0 being tested along with the MARCO POLO/Mars Pathfinder, an ISRU propellant production technology, at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

(Photo: NASA)

The RASSOR excavatora "tele-operated mobile robotic platform"is being iterated at NASA Kennedy Space Center. Its current 2.0 design looks like it was built with a life-size K'NEX set. Four giant tread wheels surround the main platform, which has two arms coming out from either side.

At the end of each arm is a giant bucket drum with hollow cylinders for scoping up regolith, the layer of rocky material that covers bedrock. As the bucket drums on each arm counter-rotate, baffles within trap the regolith to prevent it from falling out as the excavator roams. When RASSOR reaches its deposit site, the drums reverse direction to spill their contents.

NASA's challenge for participants is to design a better shape for the RASSOR's bucket drums and interior baffling. The drums must be able to hold regolith at 50 percent capacity without spillage. That's easier said than done, and for most people, it likely didn't sound that easy in the first.

"With RASSOR, we're no longer relying on the traction or the weight of the robot," Jason Schuler, a robotics engineer in the Exploration Research and Technology Programs at Kennedy Space Center, told CNN. "RASSOR is excavation and transportation all in one, but we'd like to improve the design.

The reason the RASSOR can't rely on traction or weight has to do with the Moon's weaker gravity. On Earth, an excavator's weight and traction can be used to overcome soil's resistive force. The Moon's gravity is only 17 percent that of Earth's, so the RASSOR cannot rely on reaction force to penetrate the regolith, especially at depths with high density. For this reason, it must incorporate near "net-zero reaction force."

The RASSOR must also be much lighter than a typical excavator while maintaining the durability and reliability required to work in such an extreme environment. With space transportation costs at about $4,000 a pound, any pound shed or square foot condensed from the design equals thousands of dollars saved.

The RASSOR will be part of NASA's Artemis program. Through Artemis, NASA hopes to put the first woman and thirteenth man on the Moonthe first people to revisit to the lunar surface in more than 40 years. Once there, the goal is to establish sustained Moon exploration by 2028, a proving ground for the technology that may one day send astronauts to Mars.

To establish sustained exploration, NASA must practice in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). This practice allows astronauts to generate much-needed resources using local materials. The farther astronauts travel from Earth, the more necessary ISRU becomes to maintaining sustainable, human-friendly habitats.

RASSOR will travel to the Moon as a precursor to human moonflight. Coupled with a lander sporting a processing plant, the robot excavator will journey onto the Moon's surface to excavate regolith. It will deposit that regolith at the lander for processing.

Regolith can be processed into valuable resources such as water, propellant, and breathable air. It also contains metals that could be used to craft structures for the astronaut's labs and habitats.

NASA is working toward launching Artemis 1an uncrewed flight to test the Orion spacecraftlater this year, but had to suspend work on the rocket due to the COVID-19 threat.

The GrabCAD challenge has a prize pool totaling $7,000. The first-place proposal will be awarded $3,000, with monetary prizes offered for second to fifth place. There is also the satisfaction and bragging rights of knowing your design will make sustained Moon exploration a reality.

The challenge ends on April 20, 2020. Finalists will be announced on April 27, and winners will be announced on May 4. To learn more, visit GrabCAD's website.

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Want to help design a moon robot? NASA needs you. - Big Think

X-ray images from NASA have shown the middle of our galaxy in stunning detail. The image from the space agency shows a plethora of stunning colours caused by gasses heated up to one million degrees Celsius and a supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, which has a mass of around four million times that of the Sun.

Neutron stars and white dwarf stars tearing materials apart also contribute to the bright centre of the Milky Way.

NASA said of the image: "The central region of our galaxy, the Milky Way, contains an exotic collection of objects, including a supermassive black hole weighing about 4 million times the mass of the Sun (called Sagittarius A*), clouds of gas at temperatures of millions of degrees, neutron stars and white dwarf stars tearing material from companion stars and beautiful tendrils of radio emission."

Sagittarius A* has a radius of 22 million kilometres and a mass of more than four million times that of the Sun. In other words, it is very dense.

And because it is so heavy, it has the ability to completely stretch out space-time to a point where one minute on the edge of Sagittarius A* will see 700 years pass on Earth.

Emma Osborne, an astrophysicist at the University of Southampton, told an audience at New Scientist Live: Anything mass will stretch space-time. And the heavier something is, or the more mass it has, the more it will stretch space-time.

If you were to stand just outside the event horizon of Sagittarius A*, and you stood there for one minute, 700 years would pass because time passes so much slower in the gravitational field there than it does on Earth.

There are a few ways in which a black hole can form.

Scientists believe the most common instance is when a star, thousands of times the size of the Sun, collapses in on itself when it dies - known as a supernova.

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NASA news: Space agency reveals stunning image of heart of the Milky Way - Express.co.uk

Percussive Maintenance

NASAs InSightlander, which is currently on the surface of Mars, has faced some unexpected problems during its mission to explore and study the planet.

Namely, a digging probe that was built to burrow beneath the surface like a jackhammer got stuck because Mars soil is clumpier than scientists expected,PopularScience reports.

After a few failed attempts to get it out, NASA had to get a bit creative. Ultimately, it freed the probe up by giving it a solid thwack with InSights shovel.

NASA expected its probe, dubbed the mole, to dig its way through sand-like terrain. But because the Martian soil clumped together, the whole apparatus got stuck in place.

Programming InSights robotic arm to land down on the mole was a risky, last-resort maneuver, PopSci reports, because it risked damaging fragile power and communication lines that attached nearby. Thankfully, engineers spent a few months practicing in simulations before they made a real attempt.

With tentative results that the mole is working again, NASA hopes to again task it with burrowing beneath the surface of Mars.

Once its down there, it will hopefully be able to complete its research mission: analyzing temperature fluctuations inside the Red Planet in an attempt to understand how similar Mars core is to that of Earth.

READ MORE: At long last, NASAs probe finally digs in on Mars [Popular Science]

More on InSight: NASA Isnt Sure Whats Wrong With Its InSight Mars Lander

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NASA Fixes Mars Lander By Telling It to Hit Itself With a Shovel - Futurism

NASA/Chandra X-ray Observatory

Could some observations from a faraway galaxy add up to a refutation of string theory? Researchers who study data from NASAs Chandra Observatory think so.

Its difficult to prove somethings absence from the universe, but in the Perseus galaxy cluster, scientists found no signs of a type of boson called an axion-like particle they say is integral to some kinds of string theory.

Rather than damning for any particular form of string theory, the researchers say this was really a special opportunity to test these theories firsthand. For five days, the Chandra X-ray Observatory combed the Perseus galaxy cluster for evidence of extremely low-mass particles including axions and axion-like particles. Axions are one thing, but more variable and convertible axion-like particles are the key item in this experiment.

Galaxy clusters are giganticso large that theyre the biggest single body of things that gravity can still hold together. At the heart of the Perseus cluster is a giant black hole, and its this flow and pull, into the black hole from the rest of the cluster, where Chandra used a full spectrum of x-ray signals to search for axions and axion-like particles. The tiny particles cause distortions that can be detected by the x-rays.

There's no way around it: The lack of evidence in this experiment is disappointing. If physicists are basically panning the universe for gold in the form of axion-like particles, theyve gotten down to a strainer small enough to snag a billionth of an electron and still not found the gold. Now, they say, the options are more like Goldilocks: the axion-like particles are smaller than we thought, much larger than we thought (and therefore out of Chandras gauged range this time), or theyre just not there at all. This study is four times finer and 100 more powerful than previous observations could be.

String theory offers a way to harmonize all of physics together, something that was easier before scientists began to turn their minds toward outer space, posit the existence of bosons and other wildly tiny subatomic particles, and theorize about dark matter. Its hard to believe theres no unifying theory out there to be found, and intuitively we feel like the world is operating by some consistent idea.

But to formulate concrete suggestions and theories has required a great deal of calculation and position of these theoretical pieces that glue each theory together. If real observation doesnt reveal the right glue, that helps scientists continue to develop their theories.

These constraints dig into the range of properties suggested by string theory, and may help string theorists weed their theories, coauthor Dr. Helen Russell said in a NASA statement.

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NASA Experiment Weakens String Theory, but Doesn't Disprove It - Popular Mechanics

It should pass at a distance of about 4 million miles (Science Photo Library)

Nasa is constantly on the lookout for asteroids that may pose a threat to life on Earth.

These so-called near-Earth objects (NEOs) need to pass within a certain threshold to be considered potentially hazardous.

And the experts at the US space agency say there is one such rock on the radar for this week. The asteroid 2012 XA133 is set to pass Earth on Thursday, March 26 at a speed of 53,000mph.

The asteroid measures approximately 1,280 feet (390m) wide, which is enough to cause a major impact on Earth if it collided with the planet. Thankfully, Nasa engineers calculate the trajectory of the asteroid will take it safely past us.

Its believed to pass 0.04453 astronomical units (AU) or roughly 4.1 million miles from the center of Earth. A single AU describes the distance from Earth to the sun roughly 93 million miles.

As they orbit the Sun, NEOs can occasionally approach close to Earth, Nasa explained.

Note that a close passage astronomically can be very far away in human terms: millions or even tens of millions of kilometres.

Alongside Nasa, the European Space Agency (ESA) is also tracking the asteroid. Its actually one of about six that are being tracked as they pass Earth this week but its the only one falling into the potentially hazardous category.

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are currently defined based on parameters that measure the asteroids potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth, Nasa said in a statement.

On a daily basis, about one hundred tons of interplanetary material drifts down to the Earths surface, said Nasas Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).

Most of the smallest interplanetary particles that reach the Earths surface are the tiny dust particles that are released by comets as their ices vaporize in the solar neighborhood.

The vast majority of the larger interplanetary material that reaches the Earths surface originates as the collision fragments of asteroids that have run into one another some eons ago.

The agency does go into some detail about would would happen if one of these rocks did end up smashing into us: With an average interval of about 10,000 years, rocky or iron asteroids larger than about 100 meters would be expected to reach the Earths surface and cause local disasters or produce the tidal waves that can inundate low lying coastal areas.

On an average of every several hundred thousand years or so, asteroids larger than a kilometer could cause global disasters. In this case, the impact debris would spread throughout the Earths atmosphere so that plant life would suffer from acid rain, partial blocking of sunlight, and from the firestorms resulting from heated impact debris raining back down upon the Earths surface.

Since their orbital paths often cross that of the Earth, collisions with near-Earth objects have occurred in the past and we should remain alert to the possibility of future close Earth approaches. It seems prudent to mount efforts to discover and study these objects, to characterize their sizes, compositions and structures and to keep an eye upon their future trajectories.

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Nasa: 'potentially hazardous' asteroid will skim Earth this week - Metro.co.uk

The poet Wendell Berry wrote about the power of nature to ease the mind:

"I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."

Even when we can't see them, the stars and other wonders of the universe are always there, and the "grace of the world" or the many worlds of our solar system can offer inspiration. These NASA resources will help you find and enjoy some of that beauty.

NASA's Juno spacecraft is currently orbiting the giant planet, studying its mysterious deep interior. To document its journey, the spacecraft carries a camera called JunoCam. As part of a NASA citizen science project, amateur image processors around the world convert raw data from JunoCam into stunning imagery. The results are beautiful, and have even contributed to significant scientific discoveries about Jupiter's churning atmosphere. You can see the JunoCam contributors' latest work and submit your own on the Juno website.

The Cassini mission left a legacy of 395,927 images taken by its onboard cameras through a variety of photographic filters. They reveal the planet, its rings and its miniature solar system of moons at a level of detail that changed our understanding of planetary science. This treasure trove of imagery is archived online, organized by subject. You can even search through the entire collection of raw images. Some of the most striking Cassini pictures have been collected in an e-Book.

Each planet and major moon, as well as some asteroids and comets, has its own page on this site, complete with an image and video gallery to explore. Just choose your destination.

This poster set, which can be downloaded and printed individually, showcases the beauty of our solar system and beyond. You can optionally download a back page for each poster that includes orbit diagrams and further context. Fifteen of the best images are also available in trading card size.

Each space image in this collection is available for download in sizes that make for good desktop or phone wallpapers. Creative video conference-goers could even use them as a background for their next virtual meeting.

When you're ready to take your exploration farther, this page leads to other resources, including videos, podcasts, education guides and hands-on activities for adults and children.

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The Grace of the Worlds: Beautiful Planets - NASA Planetary Science

Sea ice in the Northern Hemisphere is not limited to the cap of ice that tops the Arctic Ocean; seas around and south of the Arctic Circle also can get a seasonal covering. These satellite images, acquired in March 2020, show ice in the Sea of Okhotskone of the lowest latitudes (down to 44 North) in the Northern Hemisphere where a sizable amount of seasonal sea ice forms each year.

Ice formation here is aided by cold westerly winds that blow out from East Siberia for much of the winter. Freshwater from the Amur and other rivers also helps ice form in parts of the sea. When freshwater mixes with seawater, the water mass becomes fresher (less saline) than seawater alone, which allows it to freeze at a warmer temperature.

The two images above, acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, show thin sea ice in the Sea of Okhotsk on March 12, 2020. The area shown is just off the southeastern coast of Sakhalin, Russias largest island. Much of this ice likely started forming north of the island and was then carried south by the Sakhalin Current, which flows south along the islands east coast. Northwest and west winds likely pushed the ice to the southeast and east, as evidenced by the streaks.

Starting between mid-January to early February, sea ice usually moves south toward the waters off Abashiri, a port town on the northeastern coast of Hokkaido, Japan. Residents and tourists celebrate the arrival with the Abashiri Okhotsk Drift Ice Festival. Drift ice (Ryuhyo in Japanese) is the name for sea ice that is moved by winds and currents.

Drift ice was still visible around Sakhalin and Hokkaido on the last day of winter, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Terra satellite acquired the third image. Its not likely to last long, however, as spring will soon bring warmer air and water to the region.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS/LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Kathryn Hansen.

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Drift Ice in the Sea of Okhotsk - NASA

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NASAs automated asteroid tracking system has detected four near-Earth objects that are expected to approach the planet this weekend. According to the agency, the biggest asteroid in the group is about as big as the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy.

The first asteroid that will approach Earth this weekend has been identified by NASAs Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) as 2020 FK. As indicated in CNEOS database, this asteroid has an estimated diameter of about 43 feet, which makes it the smallest in the group.

CNEOS noted that this asteroid is currently traveling across space at a speed of over 23,000 miles per hour.

Trailing behind 2020 FK is an asteroid known as 2020 FS. This space rock is currently flying towards Earth at a speed of about 9,600 miles per hour. CNEOS estimated that this asteroid measures around 56 feet wide.

Both 2020 FK and 2020 FS will visit Earths vicinity on Saturday. 2020 FK is expected to approach the planet on March 21 at 12:05 a.m. EDT from a distance of about 0.00909 astronomical units or around 845,000 miles away.

2020 FS, on the other hand, will zip past the planet on March 21 at 11:29 a.m. EDT. During its approach, the asteroid will be about 0.02096 astronomical units from the Earths center, which is equivalent to around 1.9 million miles.

On Sunday, Earth will be visited by two asteroids. The first one is called 2020 DP4, which is the biggest asteroid in the group. According to CNEOS, this space rock has an estimated diameter of 180 feet. It is currently moving across the Solar System at a speed of 18,000 miles per hour.

The second asteroid that will fly past Earth on Sunday is known as 2020 FF1. This space rock measures about 49 feet wide and is moving towards Earth at a velocity of almost 29,000 miles per hour.

2020 DP4 will fly past Earth on March 22 at 2:34 p.m. EDT from a distance of about 0.00903 astronomical units or 840,000 miles away. As for 2020 FF1, this asteroid will approach from a much closer distance on March 22 at 6:09 p.m. EDT. According to CNEOS, this asteroid will zip past the planet from a distance of only 0.00477 astronomical units or 443,000 miles away.

Image: Artist illustration of an asteroid heading for the Earth Photo: Pixabay

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NASA Spots 4 Asteroids Headed For Earth This Weekend - International Business Times

Amid all the coronavirus worries, heres a positive development: NASA this month began taking applications for new astronauts.

You probably wont qualify: Candidates must have STEM backgrounds, and the odds of being accepted in the last round were 50 times worse than those for Harvard applicants.

Plus NASAs at least four years away from getting anyone to the moon though thats far from the only manned mission now on the planning boards.

On the other hand, firms like Axiom Space and Elon Musks SpaceX are starting to offer regular commercial trips that are (literally) out of this world and you dont need to be a real astronaut.

Its not cheap: You need to fork over $55 million for a seat on the first fully private-sector spaceflight, slated for next year complete with two days of space travel and eight days at the International Space Station. (Better act fast: Only two of the three available seats are left, reports The New York Times.)

But prices will come down, as the long-term prospects for off-planet exploration and residency are improving.

NASA is forging ahead with its Moon to Mars program, with a planned lunar landing date in 2024.

The moon leg, called Artemis (Apollos twin sister), includes an orbiting spacecraft with room for astronauts to live for up to three months, while shuttling back and forth to the lunar surface.

Thatll allow for extended periods of exploration and access to more moon sites, including, notably, the lunar South Pole, which is thought to hold hundreds of millions of tons of ice. (Off-Earth ice is a huge asset for further space exploration.)

NASA hopes to establish a permanent human presence on the moon as it searches for scientific discoveries and lays the foundation for private companies to build a lunar economy.

Artemis will also help NASA prepare for a trip to Mars in the 2030s. And the agencys not alone with its Martian dreams: SpaceX and other private firms are eyeing colonization of the next planet out from the sun.

Its important to get a self-sustaining base on Mars, says Musk, whose company is working on plans to get there. The Red Planet is far enough away that, in the event of a war, its more likely mankind can survive there than on the moon.

Musk hopes to ferry 1 million people to Mars by 2050 via 1,000 Starships a year, each with 100 people and materials to sustain them, for 10 years.

Such visions are ambitious. But space exploration and development come with big payback: They broaden knowledge, create possibilities for new applications and hold out enormous economic potential, with resources to be mined and space jobs to be filled.

And even if Musks worry about a humanity-ending war is excessive, having an off-Earth refuge may be handy for other reasons such as an outbreak of something even worse than COVID-19.

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NASA and private sector have big plans for space travel and they're recruiting - New York Post

NASA is still having trouble managing the development of its next big rocket, the Space Launch System, a new audit has found. The report is the latest in a string of damning reports from NASAs inspector general, which has been warning about scheduling and budget problems with the rocket for years.

The Space Launch System, or SLS, is the epicenter of NASAs Artemis program, the agencys plan to return humans to the Moon by 2024 and put the first woman on the lunar surface. Once complete, the SLS is set to be the most powerful rocket in the world, capable of lofting more than 200,000 pounds of material into low Earth orbit. NASA plans to fly people on top of the SLS, sending them to dock with a small station around the Moon where they will then journey down to the surface in a lander.

Since the SLS is so crucial to NASAs lunar ambitions, the inspector general did a complete assessment of the contracts for all of the major elements of the rocket. Three government contractors Boeing, Aerojet Rocketdyne, and Northrop Grumman are working on the rocket; Boeing is handling the majority of the vehicle, while Aerojet makes the engines and Northrop is making boosters that will give the rocket extra thrust at liftoff. All of the contractors have experienced technical problems and setbacks, resulting in $2 billion of cost increases and two years of delays, the report said. In fact, the entire SLS program is over budget and behind schedule by more than 33 percent, compared to the baseline figures NASA gave Congress for 2019. And that will probably grow to 43 percent, the report says, as more schedule delays occur.

NASA originally hoped the rocket would make its debut in 2017. But Boeing only finished building the core of the rocket earlier this year before shipping it to Mississippi for testing. For a while, NASA has been targeting the SLS to launch on its first uncrewed test flight in November of this year, but officials at the agency have conceded that SLS wont fly until 2021 at the earliest.

In the meantime, the cost of the program has ballooned. Until December 2019, the SLS program had cost a total of $14.8 billion, and its expected to grow to $17 billion by the end of this year, according to the inspector general. Of that total, $6 billion isnt being reported or tracked. Regardless, the total cost is 60 percent more than the $10.8 billion that NASA had originally envisioned for the project back in 2014, the audit said. The program will likely grow to $18.3 billion by the time the rocket actually flies next year if the vehicle can make the new 2021 deadline. If the second flight of the SLS slips to 2023, the entire program will probably be $22.8 billion by then, according to the audit.

The inspector general chalks these problems up to technical issues, bad management, and poor performances from the NASA contractors. NASAs scope for the SLS has constantly been in flux, with the agency changing the design of the vehicle for various upcoming missions. Additionally, the inspector general admonishes NASA for continuing to hand over award fees to Boeing and other contractors, despite missing deadlines and bad performance. Boeing and NASA have blamed their poor performance on the fact that its been 50 years since anyone has developed a rocket of this size, and that expertise has thinned since then.

NASAs inspector general, along with the Government Accountability Office, has been warning about the mismanagement of the SLS program for years. Audit after audit has questioned NASAs timetable for the rocket and pointed out flaws in the way Boeing has managed the program. This particular report also comes at a vulnerable time for Boeing, just a few months after the companys other spacecraft in development, the CST-100 Starliner, made a less-than-stellar debut flight for NASA. A recent investigation into the Starliners botched mission revealed 61 corrective actions that Boeing needs to take to fix the problems experienced during the flight.

As for the SLS, the inspector general has some suggestions about how to address those issues. The audit says that NASA needs to let Congress know that the program has exceeded its timeline and budget, take a closer look at how people are managing these programs, and develop a new cost accounting model.

In response to the audit, NASA agreed to make all of the changes the inspector general suggested, and it plans to create a new timetable for the program moving forward. NASA has already begun implementing improvements to better track cost and schedule and to report progress against baseline, NASA officials said in response.

Boeing also argued that it has learned a lot while developing the SLS. The hard-earned experience acquired during initial SLS development is resulting in significant savings and efficiencies in subsequent development and production, Boeing said to The Verge in a statement. Were committed to supporting NASAs vision to having boots on the moon by 2024.

Seeing as how the SLS program has continually struggled with timelines, its unclear if the rocket will actually meet its deadline next year. And with all of these delays, it becomes increasingly unlikely that NASA will be able to meet its goal of sending humans back to the Moon by 2024, especially if the SLS is a central part of that plan. No matter what, the SLS program promises to be a very expensive endeavor for NASA. The inspector general estimated that the entire SLS program, along with the Orion crew capsule needed to carry humans and the ground systems needed to support the rocket, will have cost NASA $50 billion by 2024.

Updated March 10th, 3:30PM ET: This article was updated to include a statement from Boeing.

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NASAs future monster rocket is once again over budget and behind schedule - The Verge

NASA is supplementing its standard protocols and processes for ensuring the health of the astronauts meant to take part in the initial commercial crew spaceflight program with added measures designed to protect them against the possibility of contracting COVID-19, Business Insider reports. Its standard practice for the U.S. space agency to institute practices designed to reduce the chances any crew flying to space will contract any illnesses on the ground prior to their trip, but extra steps are now in place to specifically address coronavirus risks.

BIs report notes the added measures in place in addition to the standard two-week quarantine leading up to the commercial crew mission, which is currently set to take place sometime in either April, May or June aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. These include an improved emphasis on surface cleaning and disinfection, social distancing and hand cleaning, all of which is in keeping with the CDCs recommendations when it comes to prevention among the general population.

NASA has also suspended tours at the facilities where the astronauts, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, undergo training ahead of their flight, and to further limit potential exposure, its asking its own staff to say home if they have any feeling that they might potentially be sick.

The health of anyone tasked with traveling to and working while in space is obviously paramount. NASAs existing procedures, which include extensive testing and monitoring leading up to the actual flights, have a great track record of preventing anyone from taking any unwanted viral guests on their trips to space. Coronavirus may present a new challenge to the agencys precautionary measures, but it shouldnt functionally differ all that much from the other viral illnesses that astronauts typically seek to avoid before a mission.

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NASA boosts existing astronaut health protection measures in light of coronavirus - TechCrunch

NASAs InSight lander has performed a lot of great work since its arrival on the Red Planet many months ago. Its provided scientists with insights (no pun intended) into the planet, revealing that marsquakes frequently rumble across its rocky surface, and even sent back timely weather reports. Just about everything is going well for the high-tech robot. Just about.

The one instrument that has seriously failed to meet expectations is the self-hammering mole tool that was supposed to dig itself up to 16 deep. Its first attempts were lackluster, and even when NASA tried new techniques, Mars barfed the probe back up again. Now, NASA is pulling out all the stops, and its newest plan appears to be working.

Weeks back, NASA announced that it would use the InSight landers robotic arm to physically push the probe into its hole. This strategy, NASA said, could give the probe enough traction in the loose Martian soil to dig itself deeper. The probe is only useful to NASA if it can dig way, way down, so this new technique is something of a hail mary.

The mission team plans to command the scoop on InSights robotic arm to press down on the mole, the mini pile driver designed to hammer itself as much as 16 feet (5 meters) down, NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory said at the time. They hope that pushing down on the moles top, also called the back cap, will keep it from backing out of its hole on Mars, as it did twice in recent months after nearly burying itself.

Nobody knew whether the strategy would work, or if it would even be possible to push on the end of the probe without damaging the connections between the instrument and the lander itself. After all, cutting the probe off from the lander would mean an abrupt end to that particular mission objective, so great care had to be taken to avoid pinching the cords and causing damage.

Today, NASAs InSight team tweeted something that looks rather promising. Its a very brief video that appears to show the robotic arm giving the probe a gentle nudge. The probe inches deeper into the Martian soil just before the looping video ends. Check it out:

The team seems very encouraged by the results, noting that the technique appears to be working. Still, its far too early to declare this a total success. The troublesome mole has been rescued before, and each time it appears to be working, something else goes wrong and it ends up on the surface again.

Well have to wait a while before we know if the mole will actually be able to complete its job, but for now, well be cautiously optimistic.

Image Source: NASA/JPL

Mike Wehner has reported on technology and video games for the past decade, covering breaking news and trends in VR, wearables, smartphones, and future tech. Most recently, Mike served as Tech Editor at The Daily Dot, and has been featured in USA Today, Time.com, and countless other web and print outlets. His love ofreporting is second only to his gaming addiction.

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NASA fixed its Mars mole problem in the most unusual way - BGR

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An asteroid following an Earth-intersecting orbit is about to approach Earth in a couple of days. Based on the data collected by NASA, the asteroid is big enough to create a violent explosion in the atmosphere if it ends up colliding with the planet.

The approaching asteroid if currently being monitored by NASAs Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNOES). According to CNEOS, the asteroid, which has been identified as 2020 EF, is currently moving towards Earth at a speed of over 10,000 miles per hour.

CNEOS estimated that the asteroid has a diameter of about 98 feet, making it slightly longer than the distances between baseball diamond bases.

According to CNEOS, 2020 EF is an Aten asteroid, which means it follows a natural orbit that crosses Earths path. As indicated in NASAs orbit diagram for 2020 EF, the asteroid follows a very wide orbit around the Sun and almost follows the same path as Earth. Aside from intersections, the diagram also shows multiple near-approaches between 2020 EF and the planet.

Due to its size, 2020 EF will most likely not cause an impact event on Earth during a collision. Instead, the asteroid will probably break apart upon entering the atmosphere and cause an explosion in the sky.

Unfortunately, this does not automatically mean that a collision with 2020 EF will not be dangerous for Earth. As shown during the 2013 meteor explosion over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, mid-air explosions caused by asteroids can be very dangerous.

Depending on their sizes, the blast from space rocks can release energy equivalent to multiple atomic bombs. Although much of the explosion will be absorbed by the atmosphere, the remaining energy would still be powerful enough to damage buildings and injure people on the ground.

Fortunately, CNEOS noted that 2020 EF is not in danger of hitting Earth during its upcoming near-intersection with the planet. The asteroid is expected to approach Earth on March 18 at 11:15 p.m. EDT. During this time, the asteroid will fly past Earth from a distance of 0.04241 astronomical units or roughly 3.9 million miles from the planets center.

Image: Artist illustration of an asteroid heading for the Earth Photo: Pixabay

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NASA Warns Of Airburst-Causing Asteroid Arriving This Week - International Business Times

The little boy who grew upin Los Angeles never thought he'd wind up living in Detroit - and never dreamed he would want to stay. Blame his passion for batteries. That's right, batteries.

It's one thing to dash across town to pick up a tube of toothpaste. It's another story to travel all the way to Jupiter. But the technology can be the same. And it's designed by a guy named Bob Taenaka.

He's the man, whether it's powering the Galileo space probe at Jupiter or engineering the power source behind the Mustang Mach-E, F-150 hybrid pickup and Police Interceptor hybrid.

He's the top battery technology guy at Ford Motor Co. He came from NASA's world, working at Hughes Space & Communications Co. in El Segundo, California.

READ MORE:* Bond car designer now dreams of a luxury eco-friendly EV* The Ford Courier could come back in 2022* Ford NZ to launch plug-in Transit van next year* The popular cars that are going pure-electric

"I'm not a rocket scientist but I worked with rocket scientists," Taenaka said. At NASA, battery engineers sometimes actually get top billing over actual rocket scientists, he said. Who knew?

Anyway, Taenaka is senior technical leader on advanced battery systems at Ford - designing the range, charge and power of battery packs. For auto companies, this is the secret sauce.

He has been creating car batteries at Ford for nearly two decades, after earlier designing space batteries for NASA and for the U.S. Air Force for almost two decades.

Supplied

Bob Taenaka is the main battery man at Ford. He came from NASA.

"Bob is passionate about batteries, whether they're going in an interplanetary space probe or the Ford Escape (hybrid) or (Mustang) Mach-E that's parked in your driveway," said Mike Levine, Ford North America product communications manager. "You need a reliable, dependable, affordable battery, whether hybrid or all-electric."

This is the key to the future. Figuring out how to keep batteries warm in the winter and cool in the summer. This tech is used in cars and spaceships.

Speaking about Galileo's mission to Jupiter, Taenaka said, "The batteries provided power for all science instruments. If the battery fails, the whole mission fails. This is pretty much true of any system as complex as spacecraft or automotive. Reliability is really critical."

Dependability is just one reason why Oakland County Sheriff's Major Christopher Wundrach said the agency ordered two hybrid Police Interceptors in April 2019.

"It's more efficient. We like it because it uses less fuel," he said. "It keeps our carbon footprint down. We want to do our part to help out. Sheriff (Michael) Bouchard likes to keep us on the cutting edge of technology."

Taenaka said, "This is a new design, new technology and we need to prove it out. The battery in space needed to last a really long time or the whole plan would collapse. In a vehicle, we want the battery to last the whole life of the vehicle. That would be mission accomplished."

He is the kid who spent his days playing Hot Wheels for hours. Once a month on a Saturday, he and his father drove to the family's combination grocery store and barbershop in Watts for haircuts from his grandma.

SUPPLIED

The Ford Police Interceptor Hybrid is fast, high-tech and frugal. And the Police love it.

"It was nice back then," Taenaka said.

But when he attended elementary school, the smog was so bad some days that kids couldn't go outside to play at recess.

"I still remember a slight burning sensation in my eyes, and beginning to cough and wheeze if you took too deep a breath while playing outside," Taenaka said. "Those experiences motivated me to work on alternative energy. I had no idea it would lead me to a 37-year career as a battery engineer."

That is when he thought about his way of helping to change the world. The rest of his extended family went into fields such as earthquake engineering and aerospace engineering. Bob Taenaka studied chemical engineering.

"Electrified vehicles and a spacecraft are actually very similar. They both have energy storage systems and propulsion and vehicle launches," he explained. "We have launch dates for both cars and spacecraft. The common thread between spacecraft and car batteries is reliability and durability. If you don't have those attributes, they will never be good products."

Fully electric vehicles have zero tailpipe emissions but making them and powering them still requires energy that can generate pollution. Longer-range electric vehicles require more energy and use up more natural resources to make them than shorter-range versions. Hybrid vehicles, on the other hand, have very low emissions, they don't need to be plugged in and there's no limit to the distance they can travel with just short stops for gasoline fill-ups.

"Hybrids and fully electric vehicles are both really important to achieving long-term air quality goals and environmental solutions," said Taenaka, who is 61 and lives in Plymouth. He drives a 2019 Ford Fusion hybrid. "I love that car."

"In the industry, a battery is typically referred to as a grouping of cells," Taenaka said, "like a group of students makes up a class."

He and his team have developed and delivered hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fully-electric vehicles including the F-150, Explorer, Police Interceptor, Escape, Transit, Lincoln Aviator and Corsair.

He has worked on design, development, testing, and validation at the battery cell and pack level, and - most important - the vehicle level, in manufacturing, field issue support and post-production battery quality.

"The first task I would get involved in is determining what the size of the battery needs to be," Taenaka said. "Vehicles will have a certain set of requirements - power, energy and lifetime required. The faster you want to accelerate the vehicle, the more power you need to discharge out of the battery. The other thing is energy, which translates directly to vehicle range. By putting more cells into the system, you can go further and have more power. The combination of power and energy determines the right size of the battery."

"Historically, you usually never have enough space to fit all the energy desired," Taenaka said. "That's why the electric vehicle range has been increasing over the years, because battery cell technology has been advancing."

Fact is, battery tech is so simple it can be explained to a kid with ease:

"A battery is just like you. Fill it with food (electricity) and tender love (treat it nicely), and it becomes full of energy to make things go. It works best at the same temperatures that you like - not too hot and not too cold. It likes to take a break from time to time to rest and rejuvenate itself, just like you do. And when it gets low on energy, that's the time to recharge it with food (electricity) so that it becomes full of energy again," he wrote while travelling Iceland in recent days to see the Northern Lights.

SUPPLIED

The Ford Mustang Mach-E and the Galileo space probe might be quite different, but their battery tech is the same.

Over the years, Taenaka has taken time to reflect on his work and its impact.

"My most personally satisfying moment since I joined Ford in 2001 took place when I took a personal trip to New York City in 2017," he said. "I exited the subway at Madison Square Garden and walked along the nearby city streets, and it became clear to me that about 30 per centof the yellow taxis were Escape Hybrids. But we had ended production of the Escape hybrid five years earlier, in 2012. It was concrete proof we had designed a durable, dependable vehicle. About 70 per centof all Escape hybrids ever produced from 2004 to 2012 are still on the road today, and some taxi vehicles have more than 400,000 miles, almost all with their original traction battery."

Jeremy Acevedo, senior manager of insights at Edmunds.com car appraisal site, said battery technology is the "final frontier." And having NASA expertise at Ford enhances the company's credibility in a highly competitive space.

"It's uncharted territory for the industry," he said. "That's huge. And it's about the industry getting it right."

In fact, Ford is investing more than US$11.5 billion in electrified vehicles by 2022, including the all-new fully electric Mustang Mach-E SUV in 2020 with a targeted range of 300 miles and an all-electric F-150 in a few years, Levine said. A hybrid version of the best-selling F-150 pickup coming later this year will join new Ford Escape and Explorer hybrids, he said.

But Taenaka won't predict his future.

"When I was 9, I was certain I was going to pitch or play first base for the Los Angeles Dodgers. I am left-handed and that's an advantage in baseball," he said. "In junior high, a career survey said I should become a national park ranger. So I figured I'd be a park ranger after playing baseball. But I got cut from the varsity team in 11th grade. Maybe I'll work for the Detroit Tigers one day as an usher after I retire from Ford."

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Ford's secret weapon has a passion for batteries and came from NASA - Stuff.co.nz