Why It's HARD To Land on Mars
AdultsScienceSpaceTechnologyThis video is about why it's harder to successfully land spacecraft and landers and rovers on Mars than on Earth, or Venus, or the Moon, or Titan, or asteroids. It all comes down to atmospheric density! When there's no atmosphere, you can do a powered descent in a flimsy tinfoil spacecraft like the Lunar Module, and when there's plenty of atmosphere you can do an unpowered descent via heat shield and parachutes like the space shuttle, Apollo command module, Soyuz, Huygens, etc. But on Mars with its thin air, you have to do both powered & unpowered descent, getting the worst of both worlds.
Meet NASA's new class of astronauts
AdultsScienceTechnologySpaceMore than 18,300 candidates applied to be astronauts in NASA's latest class-smashing the record of 8,000 applicants in 1978-and only 12 got the job. Here's who made the cut.
This Is Not What Space Looks Like
AdultsPhotographySpaceTechnology...Amazing images of the far reaches of the universe are everywhere, but are they accurate? What does space really look like?
NASA Is Going to the Sun! But How...and Why?
AdultsScienceSpaceTechnologyIn 2018, NASA will launch a solar probe that will travel closer to the sun than any spacecraft before. But why? What are they looking for?
Amazing Images of a Changing Earth
AdultsSpaceTechnologyWorld...Incredible before-and-after satellite images of our dynamic planet.
The Beginning of Everything -- The Big Bang
AdultsHistoryPhysicsSpace...How did everything get started? Has the universe a beginning or was it here since forever? Well, evidence suggests that there was indeed a starting point to this universe we are part of right now. But how can this be? How can something come from nothing? And what about time? We don't have all the answers yet so let's talk about what we know.
Are You Alone? (In The Universe)
AdultsLifeSpacePhilosophy...Are you alone? To answer this question we have to take a look what "you" are first. What are you made of and where you stand in this universe. Are you your body? Your atoms? And how are your parts connected to the big picture?
The Crazy Way Scientists Launch Rockets From Balloons
AdultsSpaceTechnologyScienceLarge chemical rockets are needed to launch payloads into space from the ground, but could rockoons, rocket balloons, be a more efficient alternative?
Images of Our Changing Earth
AdultsPhotographySpaceWorld...Amazing before and after satellite images taken from the International Space Station show how quickly our dynamic, but fragile planet can change.
Death From Space
AdultsScienceSpaceTechnologyThere are cosmic snipers firing at random into the unvierse. What are they and what happens if they hit us?