Orbital Research and Crew Operations Aboard the International Space Station An orbital sunrise illuminated Earth’s atmosphere and cloud tops in a photograph captured from the International Space Station as it orbited approximately 264 miles above the Czech Republic in Eastern Europe NASA Flight Engineer Zena Cardman dedicated her day to human research activities, including blood…
Sea Levels Are Rising Faster Than Ever Global sea levels have risen about 21–24 cm since 1880. The pace is accelerating due to melting glaciers and warming oceans. Warmer water expands, and melting ice adds volume-both push sea levels higher. Antarctica’s Ice Is Melting Rapidly Recent satellite data shows alarming ice loss in Antarctica. If…
Hey there, astrodrive.fun readers and fellow night owls! Stop what you’re doing and check your calendar, because tonight—November 21st into the morning of the 22nd—the sky is gearing up for a stunning show, and the conditions couldn’t be more perfect! We’re talking about the peak of the Alpha-Monocerotid meteor shower, a fantastic, if sometimes unpredictable,…
Olympus Mons rises 22 km above the Martian surface—2.5 times higher than Mount Everest and wide enough to cover entire countries. A giant among giants, it is the largest volcano in the solar system. When we think of the tallest mountain in the world, Mount Everest instantly comes to mind. Towering at 8.8 km (8,850…
NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers captured this breathtaking image of California’s San Francisco Bay Area on August 3, 2025. From 260 miles above Earth aboard the International Space Station (ISS), her photo showcases San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, and their suburbs glowing under the summer sky. The International Space Station Earth observation program provides a unique…
Can We Make Oxygen from Water—Elsewhere in the Universe? On Earth, we often say forests are the “lungs of our planet,” but the real oxygen powerhouses are microscopic: phytoplankton in the oceans produce over 50% of our atmospheric oxygen through photosynthesis. The process is simple—water (H₂O) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) are converted into oxygen (O₂)…
