NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Defense & Space

Greenbelt, MD 187,897 followers

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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is a major U.S. laboratory for developing and operating unmanned scientific spacecraft. The center manages many of NASA's Earth observation, astronomy, planetary science and astrophysics missions. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is home to the nation's largest organization of scientists, engineers and technologists who build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study Earth, the sun, our solar system and the universe. Just outside Washington, Goddard is home to Hubble operations and the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope. Goddard manages communications between mission control and orbiting astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Goddard scientists stare into the sun, grind up meteorites for signs of life's building blocks, look into the farthest reaches of space, and untangle the mysteries of our own changing world. Goddard engineers construct sensitive instruments, build telescopes that peer into the cosmos, and operate the test chambers that ensure those satellites' survival. Named for American rocketry pioneer Dr. Robert H. Goddard, the center was established May 1, 1959, as NASA's first space flight complex. Goddard and its several installations are critical in carrying out NASA's missions of space exploration and scientific discovery. Goddard encompasses several other NASA properties, most significantly: • Wallops Flight Facility near Chincoteague, Virginia • Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility in Fairmont, West Virginia • Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City • White Sands Complex outside Las Cruces, New Mexico • Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas

Website
https://www.nasa.gov/goddard
Industry
Defense & Space
Company size
5,001-10,000 employees
Headquarters
Greenbelt, MD
Type
Government Agency
Founded
1959
Specialties
earth science, space science, engineering, space operations, spacecraft design and construction, astrophysics, planetary science, heliophysics, satellite servicing, and space communications

Locations

  • Primary

    NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

    Greenbelt, MD 20771, US

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  • NASA's Wallops Flight Facility

    Wallops Island, Virginia 23337, US

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  • NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS)

    New York, New York 10025, US

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  • NASA's Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility

    Fairmont, West Virginia 26554, US

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  • NASA's White Sands Complex

    Las Cruces, New Mexico, US

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  • NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility

    Palestine, Texas 75803, US

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Updates

  • View organization page for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, graphic
    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

    187,897 followers

    Some stellar fireworks for #FourthOfJuly ⭐ Astronomers used @NASAWebb to directly image the Serpens Nebula, a young, star-forming region. The top left area of the image shows jets of gas from newborn stars colliding with nearby gas and dust at high speeds. These outflows are all slanted in the same direction, a previously uncaptured phenomenon. This image indicates that as clouds collapse to form stars, the stars will tend to spin in the same direction. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eFT9defg

    • A young star-forming region is filled with wispy orange, red, and blue layers of gas and dust. The upper left corner of the image is filled with an orange and red mixture of gas and dust, created from gas lighting up as the jets plow into the surrounding cloud. At the center, there is one particularly bright star that has an hourglass shadow above and below it. To the right of that is what looks like a vertical eye-shaped crevice with a bright star at the center. The gas to the right of the crevice is a darker orange. The center of the image is filled with blue wisps, created as light from the bright star in the center of the large shadow is reflected on small dust grains. Small points of light are sprinkled across the field; the brightest sources in the field have extensive eight-pointed diffraction spikes that are characteristic of the Webb Telescope.
  • View organization page for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, graphic
    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

    187,897 followers

    Attention skywatchers! ✨🔭 Summer constellation Scorpius, two star clusters, four planetary visits and a new Moon will spin across our sky this month. The July night sky will be host for a whole slew of astronomical objects, including four easily locatable planets and two bright star clusters accompanying a signature summer constellation, Scorpius. Scorpius will guide the way to M6 and M7, and our sky will play host to four planetary visitors: Jupiter, Uranus, Mars and Mercury throughout the Month. Read more about our July night sky: https://lnkd.in/eQFq25wR

  • View organization page for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, graphic
    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

    187,897 followers

    A phosphate surprise! 🪨 An early analysis of the asteroid Bennu sample collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission in 2020 revealed carbon, nitrogen, and organic compounds, all of which are essential components for life as we know it. Scientists also detected magnesium-sodium phosphate in the sample, which hints that the asteroid could have splintered off from a small, primitive, ancient ocean world. This was surprising to the team because the phosphate mineral had not been detected by the #OSIRISREx spacecraft while at Bennu from 2018 to 2021. #OSIRISREx delivered a sample of Bennu to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023. Scientists around the globe, including those at NASA Goddard, have been analyzing Bennu dust in their labs. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e9vJDjpe

    • A microscope image of a dark Bennu particle, about a millimeter long, with a crust of bright phosphate. To the right is a smaller fragment that broke off.
    • A zoomed-in view of a fragment of the particle that split off along a bright vein containing phosphate, captured by a scanning electron microscope. There is a boxed region outlining one millimeter of the particle.
    • A zoomed-in view of a fragment of the particle that split off along a bright vein containing phosphate, captured by a scanning electron microscope. There is a boxed region outlining 100 micrometers of the particle.
    • A zoomed-in view of a fragment of the particle that split off along a bright vein containing phosphate, captured by a scanning electron microscope. There is a boxed region outlining 50 micrometers of the particle.
  • View organization page for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, graphic
    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

    187,897 followers

    Augmented reality speeds construction 🏗 By projecting digital models onto the real world, technicians working on NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope can align parts of the spacecraft and look for potential interference among them. This can improve accuracy and save time during fit checks. The technologies allow 3D designs of parts and assemblies to be shared or virtually handed off from remote locations. They also enable dry runs of moving and installing structures, and help capture precise measurements after parts are built to compare to their designs. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/ezfx3bG8

    • People in white, full-body clean room suits position hardware for the Roman Space Telescope’s propulsion system in a gleaming metallic clean room at NASA Goddard. Two spherical and metallic silver objects rise atop a silver metal frame, with two more arms rising from either side. The frame below it sits on three pistons positioned above another metal rectangle and a white base. Four people on the left and two more on the right are working on the spacecraft.
  • View organization page for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, graphic
    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

    187,897 followers

    Experience the Pillars of Creation in a whole new way ✨ This new 3D visualization of the towering celestial structures uses data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, switching between Hubble’s visible light and Webb’s infrared views. This is the most comprehensive and detailed multiwavelength movie yet of the star-birthing region in the heart of the Eagle Nebula. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/ePx2heyT

  • View organization page for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, graphic
    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

    187,897 followers

    Happy International #AsteroidDay! Last week, Goddard interns saw a speck of NASA’s #OSIRISREx Bennu sample on display at Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History and got a behind-the-scenes tour from Tim McCoy, curator of meteorites and OSIRIS-REx science team member. They learned about how the museum curated its display to tell the story behind this asteroid sample, delivered to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023, and how it fits into the museum’s larger collection of Earth and space rocks. Interns also had the opportunity to hold several historic objects, made out of meteorites, and pieces of Mars and the Moon that landed on Earth. A portion of the asteroid Bennu sample is also being analyzed in one of our labs here at Goddard! Learn more about #OSIRIS-REx and asteroid Bennu: https://lnkd.in/erf5UZk6

    • Two interns wearing blue gloves look at a meteorite sample. They are standing behind a white counter. Other interns stand around them.
    • A smiling intern wearing blue gloves stands behind a white counter. Her palms are face up. A piece of Mars rock rests in her left palm. A piece of Moon rock rests in her right palm. She is standing before a mostly empty glass display cabinet. She is wearing a black long-sleeve shirt and dark blue jeans.
    • An intern wearing blue gloves studies a meteorite between her hands as other interns watch with interest. She is standing at the end of a white, rectangular counter. She has black sunglasses on her head and is wearing a red tank top with a black jacket.
    • The museum’s curator of meteorites holds a meteorite core between his hands. The sample is a light gray rectangle with diagonal stripes in two perpendicular directions that cross in a lighter gray color, resembling a damascus pattern. He stands in front of several white filing cabinets and is framed between the shoulders of two interns listening to his explanation.
    • A meteorite sample is illuminated by the white light of a microscope. The sample is dark gray. It is pocketed by small holes with a dark brown color. The part directly under the microscope has a larger hole slightly smaller than the width of a dime.
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  • View organization page for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, graphic
    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

    187,897 followers

    Did you know NASA supports on-the-ground responders in disaster relief? Using Earth-observing data, disaster response coordinators at Goddard and across the agency were able to map power outages and over 4,000 landslides in response to widespread flooding and landslides in Brazil. Building on this response and similar successes, on June 13, NASA announced a new system to support disaster response organizations in the U.S. and around the world. The team behind NASA’s Disaster Response Coordination System gathers science, technology, data, and expertise from across the agency and provides it to emergency managers. The new system will be able to provide up-to-date information on fires, earthquakes, landslides, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other extreme events. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/euExSZEE

    • A satellite photo of Porto Alegre, with Patos Lagoon labeled in the bottom right quadrant, and the Jacuí River labeled just above it to the left. The river flows almost imperceptibly across the image in a squiggling horizontal line. Most of the picture is green forest, two small clouds are in the bottom left corner, the far right bottom corner shows Brazil’s coast.
    • A satellite photo of Porto Alegre, with Patos Lagoon labeled in the bottom right quadrant, and the Jacuí River labeled just above it to the left. The river and lagoon are both filled with rising muddy water. The river overflows across the image in a squiggling horizontal line with thick brown branches up and down. Most of the picture is green forest, swirling clouds occupy the bottom left corner and fill the bottom edge of the image. The far right bottom corner shows Brazil’s coast.
  • View organization page for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, graphic
    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

    187,897 followers

    A blast of heat has hit the east. In June 2024, a heat dome formed over the U.S. Midwest and Northeast, trapping warm air near Earth’s surface. High pressure in the upper atmosphere suppresses clouds, rain, and heat distribution across Earth’s surface, causing these temperature spikes. Extreme heat worsens common age-related health conditions such as heart, lung, and kidney disease. The last 12 months have each been the hottest for their respective month on record. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eUtvYCrp

    • A map of air temperatures across the eastern U.S. on June 19, 2024, with states labeled in white text. Lakes, rivers, oceans, and state borders are colored in white. There is a gradual diagonal gradient from light orange to dark red when moving from west to east. The states on the left side of the visible map are light orange, indicating temperatures around 66 degrees Fahrenheit (19 degrees Celsius), with occasional blue swirls that indicate colder temperatures as low as 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). The states on the right side of the map are dark red, which indicates temperatures of more than 93 degrees Fahrenheit (34 degrees Celsius) at about 6.5 feet (2 meters) above the ground. There is a legend below, ranging from light blue to dark red, which describes the air temperature in Celsius.

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