Never Tell Me the Odds: NASA’s Lucy To Fly Past Thousands of Objects for Earth Gravity Assist
Mission engineers will continually track NASA’s Lucy spacecraft as it prepares to swing by Earth on October 16 for a gravity assist. This will allow…
Southwest Research Institute News
Southwest Research Institute (SWRI) is located in San Antonio, Texas and was founded by Tom Slick in 1947. The institution wants to push the boundaries of science and technology to create innovative solutions to pressing world issues. The interdisciplinary culture of SWRI allows for a collaborative environment. Read about SWRI research at SciTechDaily.com.
NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft About To Sling-Shot Past Earth
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft, the first mission to the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, will skim the Earth’s atmosphere on October 16, at 7:04 a.m. EDT. It is…
Key Building Block for Life Likely Discovered on One of Saturn’s Moons
The subsurface ocean of Saturn’s moon is most likely rich in phosphorus, a key component for life. The hunt for extraterrestrial life has just become…
Moon Discovered Around Asteroid Polymele by NASA’s Lucy Team
Even before its launch in October 2021, NASA’s Lucy mission was already on course to break records by visiting more asteroids than any previous mission….
Scientists Identify a Possible Source for Red Cap on Pluto’s Largest Moon Charon
Research combined spacecraft data with new lab experiments and models of Pluto’s largest moon. Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists combined data from NASA’s New Horizons…
NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Observes Lunar Eclipse From 64 Million Miles Away
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft observed the total lunar eclipse on May 15-16, 2022, from a unique vantage point, 64 million miles (100 million km) from the…
Liquid Water Confirmed Beneath Martian South Polar Cap
A Southwest Research Institute scientist measured the properties of ice-brine mixtures as cold as -145 degrees Fahrenheit to help confirm that salty water likely exists…
“Stealth” Ocean Worlds: Evidence Uncovered for an Internal Ocean in Small Saturn Moon
Discovery could point to a new class of “stealth” ocean worlds. A Southwest Research Institute scientist set out to prove that the tiny, innermost moon…
sCO2 Turbomachinery Developed for Concentrated Solar Power Plant
Southwest Research Institute worked with government and commercial collaborators to successfully develop and demonstrate full-scale turbomachinery for one of the world’s first supercritical carbon dioxide…
Galactic Lyman-Alpha Brightness of Our Galaxy Measured by New Horizons Space Probe
Researcher utilized SwRI-developed instrument on New Horizons to measure how much Lyman-alpha light the Milky Way galaxy is shining on our solar system. A new…
NASA’s Lucy Trojan Asteroid Mission Invites You to Build Your Own Time Capsule
Where will you be and what will you be up to in August of 2027? What about March of 2033? NASA knows exactly where the…
NASA’s Daring Lucy Mission to Jupiter’s Trojan Asteroids Poised To Launch
SwRI’s Levison, Olkin lead the mission to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is encapsulated in a protective fairing atop an Atlas V rocket, awaiting…
Scientists Use Occultation Event To Confirm Decrease in Pluto’s Atmospheric Density
When Pluto passed in front of a star on the night of August 15, 2018, a Southwest Research Institute-led team of astronomers had deployed telescopes…
Outreach for NASA PUNCH Mission Embraces Ancient and Modern Sun-Watching Theme
NASA has funded a five-year outreach program in association with the Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH), a solar mission led by Southwest…
Mystery of Energetic Heavy Elements in Galactic Cosmic Rays
Scientists have used data from the Southwest Research Institute-led Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission to explain the presence of energetic heavy elements in galactic cosmic rays…
NASA PUNCH Mission Advances Toward 2023 Launch
On July 23, 2021, the Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission achieved an important milestone, passing its latest NASA review and entering…
Dark Primitive Asteroids: Zeroing In on Source of the Impactor That Wiped Out the Dinosaurs
The impactor believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs and other life forms on Earth some 66 million years ago likely came from the outer…
NASA Lucy Mission’s Message – Not for Unknown Aliens – But for the Future
In the 1970s four spacecraft began their one-way trips out of our Solar System. As the first human-built objects to ever venture into interstellar space,…
