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Launch of PREFIRE and Ice from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1
Electron rocket's Rutherford engines at liftoff
Liftoff of PREFIRE and Ice
Electron rocket for the NASA PREFIRE Mission
Electron rocket on the pad at Launch Complex 1
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1
PREFIRE & Ice Mission patch
'PREFIRE and Ice' was the second of two back-to-back dedicated Electron launches for NASA's PREFIRE mission (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment).
The ‘PREFIRE and Ice’ Mission was launched on June 5th, 2024 from Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand—just eleven days after the first PREFIRE launch, ‘Ready, Aim, PREFIRE,’ was successfully launched on May 25th, 2024 from the same launch site.
NASA’s PREFIRE Mission consists of two shoebox-size cube satellites that will measure the amount of heat Earth radiates into space from Earth’s poles. Data from the PREFIRE Mission will help researchers better predict how Earth’s ice, seas, and weather will change in a warming world.
At the heart of the PREFIRE mission is Earth’s energy budget—the balance between incoming heat energy from the Sun and the outgoing heat given off by the planet. The difference between the two is what determines the planet’s temperature and climate. Much of the heat radiated from the Arctic and Antarctica is emitted as far-infrared radiation, but there is currently no detailed measurement of this type of energy. The water vapor content of the atmosphere, along with the presence, structure, and composition of clouds, influences the amount of far-infrared radiation that escapes into space from Earth’s poles. Data collected from PREFIRE will give researchers information on where and when far-infrared energy radiates from the Arctic and Antarctic environments into space.
NASA’s Boeing Starliner Flight Test Crew Leave for Launch Pad
NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams take their first steps outside from the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building to head to Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral in Florida for liftoff to the International Space Station at 10:52 a.m. EDT on Saturday, June 5, 2024.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program works with the American aerospace industry to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station on American-made rockets and spacecraft launching from American soil.
Learn more about NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at:
Listen to The Universe | NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
NASA is famous for beautiful space images.
However, did you know you can listen to them?
Go behind the scenes with the team that creates “sonifications,” translations of data into sound, and learn how meaningful they are to people who are blind or low-vision.
Video Credit: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
An aurora and an atmospheric glow crown Earth's horizon in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 263 miles above a cloudy Indian Ocean southeast of Africa.
Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)
NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominik, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps
An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.
Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
How China's Chang'e-6 Science Mission Returns Far Side Moon Samples to Earth
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) released an animation explaining Chang'e-6's return to Earth, after the lunar probe collected the first soil samples from the Moon's far side south pole—an unprecedented feat in human lunar exploration history.
The Chang'e-6 probe, comprising an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner, was launched on May 3, 2024. The lander-ascender combination, separated from the orbiter-returner combination on May 30, touched down at the designated landing area in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on June 2.
The SPA basin (43°±2° south latitude, 154°±4° west longitude) is a large impact crater on the far side of the Moon. At roughly 2,500 km (1,600 mi) in diameter and between 6.2 and 8.2 km (3.9–5.1 mi) deep, it is the largest, oldest, and deepest basin recognized on the Moon.
The Chang'e-6 lander finished its intelligent and rapid sampling work, and the samples were stowed in a container inside the ascender of the probe as planned.
After the sampling was completed, a Chinese national flag carried by the lander was unfurled for the first time on the far side of the Moon. The lander-ascender combination also took a "selfie" with the Moon.
After that, the combination separated, with the lander staying on the lunar surface, whereas the ascender lifted off from lunar surface on Tuesday morning, carrying samples collected from the Moon's far side.
A 3,000-newton engine, after working for about six minutes, pushed the ascender to the preset lunar orbit with a perigee of about 15 kilometers and an apogee of about 180 kilometers, where the ascender is expected to carry out unmanned rendezvous and docking with the orbiter-returner combination within around 21 seconds. The samples will be transferred to the returner.
After the samples are transferred to the returner, the orbiter-returner combination will separate from the ascender, and then orbit the moon while waiting for the window to enter the Moon-Earth transfer orbit. After orbiting the moon for around 14 days, the orbiter-returner combination will enter the Moon-Earth transfer orbit.
After one to three corrections in about five days, the combination will reach a position around 5,000 kilometers above the Earth, where the returner will separate from the orbiter and start the phase of re-entering the atmosphere and returning to Earth. It will touchdown at a planned landing area at Siziwang Banner in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. This will mark the end of the Chang'e-6's 53-day journey of flying to the moon and back.
Video Credit: China Central Television (CCTV) Video News Agency
China Chang'e-6 Moon Lander for Sample Return: Far Side South Pole Images
Distant lunar mountains in South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin
Panorama of Chang'e-6 landing site in far side South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin
Panorama of Chang'e-6 landing site in far side in South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin
Close-up of Chang'e-6 lunar lander footpad
View of robotic arm for digging up surface samples
Detailed Moon surface view
View of Chang'e-6 lander from mini-lunar rover in far side South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin
Chang'e-6 lander unfurled and displayed a Chinese flag in lunar far side South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin
The ascender of China's Chang'e-6 probe successfully lifted off from the Moon's surface on Tuesday morning, June 4, 2024, carrying samples collected from the Moon's far side south pole—an unprecedented feat in human lunar exploration history. The probe completed sampling using a drill and a robotic arm. The international scientific community now awaits the return of the samples to Earth.
The Chang'e-6 ascender took off at 07:38 Beijing time and entered a preset orbit around the Moon about six minutes later, said the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The Chang'e-6 probe—consisting of an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner, like its predecessor Chang'e-5—was launched on May 3, 2024.
After a month-long journey, its lander-ascender combination touched down at the designated landing area in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on Sunday, June 2, 2024.
The SPA basin (43°±2° south latitude, 154°±4° west longitude) is a large impact crater on the far side of the Moon. At roughly 2,500 km (1,600 mi) in diameter and between 6.2 and 8.2 km (3.9–5.1 mi) deep, it is the largest, oldest, and deepest basin recognized on the Moon.
The Chang'e-6 lander finished its intelligent and rapid sampling work, and the samples were securely stowed in a container inside the ascender of the probe as planned, the CNSA said.
During sampling and packaging, researchers conducted simulated sampling in a ground lab, based on the detection data sent back by the new Queqiao-2 lunar relay satellite, providing important support for science mission decision-making and operations at every stage.
"The mission has withstood the test of high temperatures on the far side of the Moon," the CNSA said.
Chang'e-6 adopted two methods of Moon sampling, including using a drill to collect subsurface samples and grabbing samples on the surface with a robotic arm. It automatically gathered diverse samples at different sites.
The multiple payloads installed on the lander, including the landing camera, panoramic camera, lunar soil structure detector and lunar mineral spectrum analyzer, worked well and carried out scientific exploration as planned, the CNSA said.
After the sampling was completed, a Chinese national flag carried by the lander was unfurled for the first time on the far side of the Moon.
The ascender will rendezvous and dock with the orbiter-returner combination and transfer the lunar samples to the returner. The combination will fly around the moon, waiting for the right time to return. Near the Earth, the returner will re-enter the atmosphere carrying the lunar samples. It is scheduled to land at the Siziwang Banner landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia region.
In 2020, Chang'e-5 was the first lunar sample-return mission since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976. The mission made China the third country to return samples from the Moon after the United States and the Soviet Union.
Image Credit: China Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP)/China National Space Administration (CNSA)
Far Side Moon Images | China Chang'e-6 Science Mission
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, unveiled four images of the Moon's far side taken by the Chang'e-6 probe, including three taken during its landing at the lunar south pole and one from the panoramic camera capturing the landing site.
The Chang'e-6 probe, comprising an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner, was launched on May 3, 2024. The lander-ascender combination, separated from the orbiter-returner combination on May 30, touched down at the designated landing area in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on June 2.
During its landing on Moon's far side, the Chang'e-6 probe collected lunar samples and conducted a comprehensive investigation of the landing area using its payloads.
Chang'e-6 payloads successfully completed multiple scientific tasks and a panoramic image, capturing the landing area, was promptly transmitted to the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where the valid data obtained from the payloads will be analyzed and processed.
"From this panoramic image, we can see that the landing area is very flat, indicating a well-chosen safe landing area. Looking into the distance, we can see some mountains, which are the edges of circular craters in the Apollo Basin located beyond the lunar surface," said Ren Xin, researcher of the National Astronomical Observatories.
When comparing the panoramic images of the landing areas captured by Chang'e-6 and Chang'e-5, Ren said, "The most noticeable difference is that the Chang'e-6 landing area has fewer rocks in comparison with Chang'e-5. Particularly, there was a large rock of about 30 centimeters in the Chang'e-5 landing area, believed to have been ejected from a distance. But no similarly large rocks have been discovered in Chang'e-6 landing area. Instead, only a few small rocks, measuring around three to five centimeters, are present, resulting in a smoother landing area. Nevertheless, there are still small impact craters and mud-like traces, potentially indicating remnants of ejected materials in the landing area."
The multiple payloads installed on the lander, including the landing camera, panoramic camera, lunar soil structure detector and lunar mineral spectrum analyzer, worked well and carried out scientific exploration as planned.
"The lunar soil structure detector functions as a CT scanner for the moon, using electromagnetic wave propagation to probe the shallow subsurface. Throughout its lunar operations, the detector conducted a total of four scans. The first scan occurred prior to the drilling mission, providing a preliminary understanding of the subsurface up to a depth of three meters. This scan facilitated the identification of approximate rock distribution, contributing to the successful completion of the drilling mission. The subsequent three scans were conducted after the drilling mission, employing different parameter configurations to generate distinct underground structure maps. The initial findings unveiled a notable presence of scattered rocks within a three-meter depth beneath the lunar surface," said Su Yan, another researcher of the National Astronomical Observatories.
The Chang'e-6 ascender will rendezvous and dock with the orbiter-returner combination and transfer the lunar samples to the returner. The combination will then fly around the Moon, waiting for the right time to return. Near the Earth, the returner will re-enter the atmosphere carrying the lunar samples. It is scheduled to land at the Siziwang Banner landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia region.
In 2020, Chang'e-5 was the first lunar sample-return mission since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976. The mission made China the third country to return samples from the Moon after the United States and the Soviet Union.
Video Credit: China Central Television (CCTV) Video News Agency
China's Chang'e-6 Probe Launches from Moon with First Far Side Lunar Samples
The ascender of China's Chang'e-6 probe successfully lifted off from the Moon's surface on Tuesday morning, June 4, 2024, carrying samples collected from the Moon's far side south pole—an unprecedented feat in human lunar exploration history. The probe completed sampling using a drill and a robotic arm. The international scientific community now awaits the return of the samples to Earth.
The Chang'e-6 ascender took off at 07:38 Beijing time and entered a preset orbit around the Moon about six minutes later, said the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The Chang'e-6 probe—consisting of an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner, like its predecessor Chang'e-5—was launched on May 3, 2024.
After a month-long journey, its lander-ascender combination touched down at the designated landing area in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on Sunday, June 2, 2024.
The SPA basin (43°±2° south latitude, 154°±4° west longitude) is a large impact crater on the far side of the Moon. At roughly 2,500 km (1,600 mi) in diameter and between 6.2 and 8.2 km (3.9–5.1 mi) deep, it is the largest, oldest, and deepest basin recognized on the Moon.
The Chang'e-6 lander finished its intelligent and rapid sampling work, and the samples were securely stowed in a container inside the ascender of the probe as planned, the CNSA said.
During sampling and packaging, researchers conducted simulated sampling in a ground lab, based on the detection data sent back by the new Queqiao-2 lunar relay satellite, providing important support for science mission decision-making and operations at every stage.
"The mission has withstood the test of high temperatures on the far side of the Moon," the CNSA said.
Chang'e-6 adopted two methods of Moon sampling, including using a drill to collect subsurface samples and grabbing samples on the surface with a robotic arm. It automatically gathered diverse samples at different sites.
The multiple payloads installed on the lander, including the landing camera, panoramic camera, lunar soil structure detector and lunar mineral spectrum analyzer, worked well and carried out scientific exploration as planned, the CNSA said.
After the sampling was completed, a Chinese national flag carried by the lander was unfurled for the first time on the far side of the Moon.
The ascender will rendezvous and dock with the orbiter-returner combination and transfer the lunar samples to the returner. The combination will fly around the moon, waiting for the right time to return. Near the Earth, the returner will re-enter the atmosphere carrying the lunar samples. It is scheduled to land at the Siziwang Banner landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia region.
In 2020, Chang'e-5 was the first lunar sample-return mission since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976. The mission made China the third country to return samples from the Moon after the United States and the Soviet Union.
Video Credit: China Central Television (CCTV) Video News Agency
Expedition 71 Crew Prepares for Upcoming Spacewalks | International Space Station
NASA astronaut and Expedition 71 flight engineer Matthew Dominick gives a behind-the-scenes look at the International Space Station’s airlock. Astronauts are scheduled to put on their spacesuits and work outside of the space station three times this summer, and Dominick demonstrates how he is helping to size the spacesuits while demonstrating some of their capabilities.
Dominick became a NASA astronaut in 2017. He is from Wheat Ridge, Colorado, and earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of San Diego, California, and a master’s in systems engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He is an active-duty U.S. Navy astronaut. He flew to the space station as commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission. This is his first spaceflight.
Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)
NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominik, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps
An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.
Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
A Night of Observing at Cerro Pachón in South America
A night of observing at Cerro Pachón in Chile. The Gemini South observatory is seen in the foreground and the Simonyi Survey Telescope of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in the background (under construction).
French Scientists Celebrate China Chang'e-6's Historic Landing on Moon's Far Side
A group of French scientists participating in China's Chang'e-6 mission celebrated the lunar probe's successful landing on the Moon's far side south pole, as it marked a major advance in lunar exploration and international collaboration.
The Chang'e-6 mission features scientific payloads from France, Italy, Sweden, and Pakistan. The international scientific payloads carried by the Chang'e-6 mission include the French radon gas detector (CNES), the European Space Agency/Swedish ion analyzer, and the Italian laser corner reflector (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana).
Supported by the Queqiao-2 relay satellite, the Chang'e-6 probe made a historic touchdown in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin at 06:23 Beijing time on Sunday, June 2, 2024. This feat, achieved with the crucial support of the Queqiao-2 relay satellite, landed the probe in the South Pole-Aitken Basin, an area previously unseen from Earth.
The scientists declared the successful landing on the Moon's far side a monumental achievement in space exploration.
"Well, we have been thinking about this moment for years and even more intensely for the last few months, and weeks, and days. We were watching the Moon every night almost here in Beijing, and now we are there on the far side. So actually, it went very smoothly, also, it seems that everything went perfectly," said Pierre-Yves Meslin, chief scientist of Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology.
"It's hard to land on a planet. It's very hard, especially on the Moon. Don't think it's easy, okay? And what I've seen today seems to have worked absolutely perfectly. They landed right where they wanted to. And remember, it's on the far side of the Moon. It's not the Moon we can see; it's the other side. And for that, they had to put a relay. So, there was another satellite to watch the landing because we cannot see it. So, it's quite an achievement, something we've been looking for for so many years," explained Sylvestre Maurice, professor of Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology.
The successful landing was captured in a video released by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), showcasing the lander-ascender combination of Chang'e-6 touching down.
"It's a very moving time for me because, as a young boy, I had the opportunity [when] I was 10 years old to see Neil Armstrong landing on the Moon from TV, as a kid. And this is my very first landing in a control room on the Moon. And I see it from China on the far side. This is something very impressive. It is just 55 years later. But it means that a lot of things have evolved through time, and we are absolutely stunned by what has been done today. But again, it's only a start," reflected Patrick Pinet, professor of Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology.
Chang'e-6, consisting of an orbiter, a returner, a lander, and an ascender, has successfully completed a series of critical stages since its launch on May 3. These include Earth-Moon transfer, near-Moon braking, lunar orbiting, and landing descent.
The lander-ascender combination separated from the orbiter-returner on May 30, according to the CNSA.
With the probe scheduled to complete sampling within two days using a drill and a robotic arm, the scientific community awaits further results from this groundbreaking mission.
Video Credit: China Central Television (CCTV) Video News Agency
Multi-color View of Young Star 177-341 W in Orion Nebula | ESO
This video shows images of the young stellar object 177-341 W in the Orion Nebula obtained with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument in the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). Each slice corresponds to a different color or wavelength. At certain wavelengths, corresponding to the emission of elements like hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, and iron, the nebula shines brightly, revealing intricate structures.
The VLT is equipped with an adaptive optics facility that corrects atmospheric turbulence, making these images sharper than Hubble’s. The system relies on four lasers to create artificial “stars” high up in the atmosphere. Their twinkling is monitored in real time. The lasers have a wavelength of 589 nanometers, and MUSE has a special filter that blocks the light around that wavelength, as shown in the video, so that the lasers do not contaminate the scientific data.
Location of Young Star 177-341 W in Orion Nebula | Hubble & VLT Views
The young stellar object 177-341 W, as seen with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT, top inset) and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST, bottom inset). This object is located in the Orion Nebula, shown here in the background as seen with the VLT Survey telescope. The VLT’s adaptive optics facility corrects the blur caused by atmospheric turbulence. The VLT image is the sharpest ever taken of this object. It appears in a new paper led by Mari-Liis Aru (ESO) presenting MUSE observations of many proplyds in Orion. It will help astronomers understand how stars and planetary systems form in these stellar nurseries.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/M. L. Aru et al./R. O'Dell/G. Beccari
Young Star 177-341 W in Orion Nebula | European Southern Observatory
Young stars are surrounded by a disc of gas and dust—the building materials for planets. When other very bright and massive stars are present nearby, their light heats the young star’s disc, stripping away part of its material. The teardrop-shaped object in this image, 177-341 W, is in the Orion Nebula. The stars eroding away the disc of 177-341 W are out of the frame past the upper-right corner; when their radiation clashes with the material around the young star, it creates the bright, bow-like structure seen here in yellow. The tail extending from the star towards the lower-left corner is material being dragged away from 177-341 W by the stars out of the field of view. This type of objects—ionized protoplanetary discs—are known as “proplyds”.
This observation is presented in a new paper led by Mari-Liis Aru (ESO) and taken with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. The colors shown in this image map different elements like hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen. However, this is just a small fraction of all the data gathered by MUSE. It actually takes thousands of images at different colors or wavelengths simultaneously. This allows astronomers to study the physical properties of protoplanetary discs in great detail, including the amount of mass that they lose. This new paper presents MUSE observations of many other proplyds in Orion, part of a project led by Carlo F. Manara (ESO). It will help astronomers understand how stars and planetary systems form in these stellar nurseries.
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/M. L. Aru et al.
Spiral Galaxy NGC 3059: A Broad and Narrow Galactic View | Hubble
This picture features the barred spiral galaxy NGC 3059. It lies about 57 million light-years from Earth. The data used to compose this image were collected by Hubble in May 2024, as part of an observing program that studied a number of galaxies. All the observations were made using the same range of filters: partially transparent materials that allow only very specific wavelengths of light to pass through.
Filters are used extensively in observational astronomy, and can be calibrated to allow either extremely narrow or somewhat broader ranges of light through. Narrow-band filters are invaluable from a scientific perspective because certain light wavelengths are associated with specific physical and chemical processes. For example, under particular conditions, hydrogen atoms are known to emit red light with wavelength value of 656.46 nanometers. Red light at this wavelength is known as H-alpha emission, or the ‘H-alpha line’. It is very useful to astronomers because its presence acts as an indicator of certain physical processes and conditions; it is often a tell-tale sign of new stars being formed, for example.
Thus, narrow-band filters calibrated to allow H-alpha emission through can be used to identify regions of space where stars are forming.
Such a filter was used for this image, the narrow-band filter called F657N or the H-alpha filter. The F stands for filter, and the N stands for narrow. The numerical value refers to the peak wavelength (in nanometres) that the filter lets through. The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that 657 is very close to the 656.46 H-alpha line’s wavelength. Data collected using five other filters contributed to this image as well, all of which were wide-band filters; meaning that they allow a wider range of light wavelengths through. This is less useful for identifying extremely specific lines (such as the H-alpha line) but still enables astronomers to explore relatively specific parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. In addition, collectively the information from multiple filters can be used to make beautiful images such as this one.
Image Description: A spiral galaxy seen face-on, so that its many arms and its glowing, bar-shaped core can be easily seen. The arms are filled with bluish patches of older stars, pink patches where new stars are forming, and dark threads of dust. A few bright stars with cross-shaped diffraction spikes lie in the foreground.
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