NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Two NASA Probes Tackle New Mission: Studying the Moon

07.19.11 - A NASA led team of scientists and engineers has repositioned two small probes from Earth’s orbit where they studied space weather to begin orbiting the moon to study its interior and surface composition.

Two NASA Spacecraft Begin New Exploration Assignments

10.27.10 - Two NASA spacecraft have been assigned a new mission after successfully completing their original science objectives earlier this year.

Spring is Aurora Season

03.04.08 - For reasons not fully understood, auroras are more common in the spring than at other times. The five-craft THEMIS fleet may help scientists determine why.

THEMIS Arrives in Florida for Launch Preparations

The Mystery of Auroras

Learn more about the mysteries of auroras.

THEMIS/AIM Science Writer's Workshop

The THEMIS mission plans to unravel the tantalizing mystery behind auroral substorms, an avalanche of magnetic energy powered by the solar wind that intensifies the northern and southern lights.

Six Years of THEMIS: Understanding the Magnetosphere

In THEMIS's sixth year in space, it is helping to show how even small variations in the magnetosphere can sometimes cause extreme space weather responses, helping scientist map and predict events in this complex system.

THEMIS: Watching Aurora and Space Weather

Since 2007, THEMIS has mapped how explosive auroras erupt and solar wind transfers energy to the magnetosphere.

THEMIS Sees a Great Electron Escape

Filled with electrons and charged particles, the radiation belts regularly swell and shrink, but no one is quite sure how. A new study sheds light on how those radiation particles escape.

Aurora From ISS Orbit

This view of the aurora from Earth orbit was taken from the International Space Station as it crossed over the southern Indian Ocean on September 17, 2011.

Second ARTEMIS Spacecraft Successfully Enters Lunar Orbit

The second of the two ARTEMIS spacecraft entered lunar orbit Sunday morning.

STS-135 Sees Aurora Australis

Astronauts from STS-135 and crew of the ISS witness a beautiful aurora over the southern hemisphere, a space-based treat for the final mission of NASA's 30-year shuttle program.

ARTEMIS Spacecraft Prepare for Lunar Orbit

It took one and a half years, over 90 orbit maneuvers, many gravitational boosts and little fuel to move two spacecraft from their orbits around Earth to their new home around the moon.

Tracking the Origins of Speedy Space Particles

THEMIS helped track the origin of energetic particles in a kind of space weather called a substorm -- these speedy electrons gain energy from changing magnetic fields far from the origin of the event that causes them.

Dead Spacecraft Walking  →

A pair of NASA spacecraft that were supposed to be dead a year ago are instead flying to the Moon for a breakthrough mission in lunar orbit.

ARTEMIS Spacecraft Believed Struck by Object

Flight Dynamics data from THEMIS-B (one of the two ARTEMIS spacecraft) indicated that one of the electric field instrument spherical tip masses may have been struck by a meteoroid at 0605 UT on October 14.

ARTEMIS - The First Earth-Moon Libration Orbiter

NASA has achieved another first by placing the ARTEMIS-P1 spacecraft into a unique orbit behind the moon, but not actually orbiting the moon itself.

Spacequakes Rumble Near Earth  →

Researchers using NASA's fleet of five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a form of space weather that packs the punch of an earthquake and plays a key role in sparking bright Northern Lights. They call it "the spacequake."

Colliding Auroras Produce an Explosion of Light

Observations from THEMIS and all-sky cameras show that disparate auroral phenomena are actually connected.

Magnetic Tremors Pinpoint Epicenter of Space Storms

Using data from NASA's THEMIS mission, a team of University of Alberta researchers has pinpointed the impact epicenter of an earthbound space storm as it crashes into the atmosphere.

"Singing" Electrons Protect and Threaten TV and GPS

Electrons – the particles that carry electricity – can both protect and disrupt your satellite TV or GPS navigator with a "song".

Sun Often "Tears Out A Wall" In Earth's Solar Storm Shield

Earth's magnetic field, which shields our planet from particles streaming outward from the sun, often develops two holes that allow the largest leaks, according to researchers sponsored by NASA and the National Science Foundation.

THEMIS Finds Trigger of Northern Lights Eruptions

Researchers have discovered that an explosion of magnetic energy powers sudden brightenings and rapid movements of the Northern Lights.

How to Explore Something Enormous and Mostly Invisible: Part 1

Build and Deploy a Fleet of Spacecraft

How to Explore Something Enormous and Mostly Invisible: Part 2

Create a Continent-spanning Observatory Network on the Ground

THEMIS Arrives in Florida for Launch Preparations

THEMIS/AIM Science Writer's Workshop

The THEMIS mission plans to unravel the tantalizing mystery behind auroral substorms, an avalanche of magnetic energy powered by the solar wind that intensifies the northern and southern lights.