| Two very different payloads flying on one rocket are ready for their ride to space.
NASA is almost ready to launch the weather and climate satellite mission known as the Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2), which NASA supports in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Satellites like JPSS-2 help scientists around the world study our planet. Their data help scientists forecast severe weather events, such as blizzards, hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires. Once in orbit, JPSS-2 will join a constellation of JPSS satellites that orbit from the North to the South pole, circling Earth 14 times a day and providing a full view of the entire globe twice daily. Together, NOAA and NASA oversee the development, launch, testing, and operation of all the satellites in the JPSS program.
Launching alongside JPSS-2 is a secondary NASA payload known as the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, or LOFTID. This unique flight test is a demonstration of an inflatable heat shield for atmospheric entry and re-entry, which could one day be used to help land humans and heavy cargo on Mars. |
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| Both JPSS-2 and LOFTID are scheduled to lift off on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Tuesday, Nov. 1. Live coverage of the launch and the LOFTID tech demonstration will air on NASA Television, the NASA app, and agency’s website.
Want to be more involved with JPSS-2 and LOFTID? Join our virtual watch party to receive updates, resources, and a stamp for your virtual passport following the launch. |
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| Webb’s New View – Our James Webb Space Telescope has captured the iconic Pillars of Creation, revealing a lush, highly detailed landscape brimming with new stars forming within dense clouds of gas and dust. Download the full-resolution visuals and take a tour of Webb’s image in this video. |
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| Training for Space – Earlier this month, two NASA astronauts completed a simulated mission in the lunar-like environment of the southwestern United States. Read the field log and discover how NASA is preparing for a real, human-powered moonwalk on the upcoming Artemis III mission. |
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| Traversing the Red Planet – Our Curiosity Mars rover has arrived in a long-awaited region of Mount Sharp. Scientists believe ancient flowing water left behind salty minerals that may offer clues as to how – and why – the Red Planet’s climate changed to the frozen desert it is today. |
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| Your Climate Questions, Answered – Are hurricanes getting stronger? Or does it just seem that way? Climate expert Mara Cordero-Fuentes of our Goddard Space Flight Center describes the connection between climate change and tropical cyclones in this episode of “We Asked a NASA Scientist”. |
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| Watch a Launch – Space fans on the East Coast of the U.S. might be able to catch the launch of Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket as it launches from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore of Virginia on Nov. 6. Check our launch viewing map to see if the rocket will be visible in your area! |
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| Time Lapse of the Sky – Combining detailed images taken by NASA’s NEOWISE spacecraft, scientists have created what is essentially a time-lapse movie of the entire sky, revealing a decade’s worth of changes that provide new insights into how the universe works. |
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| Meet Dr. Ivan Perez Dominguez, senior research scientist at our Ames Research Center.
“It was magical that I could just tell the computer exactly what to do. And [my career] all came from that. The last time I was home, I found a little note that I had written when I was a thirteen-year-old kid. It said, ‘My dream job in the future is to be a programmer.’” |
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| Vibrant red and yellow tree leaves mark the changing of the seasons in this image of the Adirondack Mountains in northeast New York, captured by the Operational Land Imager-2 on our Landsat 9 satellite on Oct. 8, 2022.
Image Credit: NASA/Joshua Stevens/USGS |
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