Postcard from Saturn's Ring Plane | NASA Cassini

On March 13, 2006, the Cassini spacecraft’s narrow-angle camera captured this look at Saturn and its rings, seen here nearly edge on. The frame also features Mimas and tiny Janus (above the rings), and Tethys (below the rings). “Above” and “below” the rings is mostly a matter of perspective here. All three moons and the rings orbit Saturn in roughly the same plane.

The night side of Mimas is gently illuminated by “Saturnshine,” sunlight reflected from the planet’s cloud tops.

The Cassini spacecraft ended its mission on Sept. 15, 2017.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit: https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Image Date: March 13, 2006
Release Date: May 8, 2018

#NASA #Astronomy #Science #Space #Saturn #Planet #Rings #Atmosphere #Moons #Mimas #Janus #Tethys #SolarSystem #Exploration #Cassini #Spacecraft #JPL #California #UnitedStates #ESA #ASI #History #STEM #Education

Central America | International Space Station

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) focused a digital camera on the narrow strip of land that joins North and South America and divides the Caribbean Sea (left) from the Pacific Ocean (right). This view is close to what an astronaut sees from an ISS window because the short camera lens (24 millimeter) is similar in focal length of the human eye.

The narrow, winding strip of land at image center and lower left is Panama, with Venezuela under cloud cover at the top right. The narrowest point in the center of the photo (61 kilometers or 38 miles wide) is the location of the Panama Canal, though it is mostly obscured by clouds.

The widespread cloud cover illustrates the effect of the dominant easterly winds that blow from the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean year-round. Lines of fair-weather clouds on this day aligned themselves generally parallel to the wind direction. A different mass of thick clouds appears at the lower left, where mountains force the humid air to rise. As the air masses cool, they form clouds that deliver high rainfall totals to the “Caribbean slope” of Panama. In contrast, the air descends on the Pacific-facing slopes, leading to typically cloud-free skies and a hotter and drier climate. The wind also produces a visible cloud streak on the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

The Panama land bridge between North and South America did not exist until 8.6 to 7.1 million years ago. Prior to that time, South America was effectively an island continent like modern Australia. The land bridge allowed the migration of animals between the continents in what is known to scientists as the GABI: the Great American Biotic Interchange. This slow but vast migration process changed the composition of animal communities on both continents.

Astronaut photograph ISS054-E-44629 was acquired on February 13, 2018, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using a 24 millimeter lens and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 54 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public.

Image Credit: NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth
Caption Credit: M. Justin Wilkinson, Texas State University, JETS Contract at NASA-JSC
Image Date: February 13, 2018
Release Date: May 6, 2018
Instrument(s): ISS - Digital Camera
#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Earth #ISS #Panama #CostaRica #Venezuela #Caribbean #Sea #Pacific #Atlantic #Ocean #Spacecraft #Astronauts #Expedition54 #Photography #Art #Science #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

NASA InSight Mission to Mars Launch

Go, Atlas. Go, Centaur. Go, InSight! NASA's InSight mission launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base for Mars on May 5, 2018—the first interplanetary launch from the West Coast. InSight is expected to land on the Red Planet on Nov. 26, 2018. More than a mission to Mars, InSight will help scientists understand the formation and early evolution of all rocky planets, including Earth. 

For more, visit https://mars.nasa.gov/insight

Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Duration: 1 minute, 25 seconds
Release Date: May 5, 2018

#NASA #Mars #Astronomy #Space #Science #Insight #Robotics #AtlasV #Rocket #Technology #RedPlanet #California #UnitedStates #JPL #CNES #France #DLR #Germany #Deutschland #LockheedMartin #ULA #JourneyToMars #Vandenberg #AirForce #USAF #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA ScienceCasts: New Science from Jupiter

As the Juno spacecraft orbits Jupiter, new discoveries about the giant planet continue to be made.

NASA Science: http://science.nasa.gov/

Credit: NASA
Duration: 4 minutes, 47 seconds
Release Date: May 2, 2018

#NASA #Astronomy #Science #Space #Jupiter #Atmosphere #Planet #Juno #Spacecraft #JPL #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Full Moon | International Space Station

The full moon as the International Space Station orbited off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: April 30, 2018

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #ISS #Earth #Moon #Canada #CSA #Newfoundland #Spacecraft #Astronauts #Photography #Art #Science #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

Seven Billion Dreams

A special collaboration with Yanni and NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration & International Space Station

Yanni's Website:
http://yanni.com

Credit: Yanni/NASA/JSC
Duration: 3 minutes, 29 seconds
Release Date: December 25, 2015

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #ISS #Earth #Humanity #Yanni #Music #Spacecraft #Astronauts #Photography #Art #Science #HD #Video #Timelapse #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

Galaxy Cluster: "From toddlers to babies" | Hubble

In the darkness of the distant Universe, galaxies resemble glowing fireflies, flickering candles, charred embers floating up from a bonfire, light bulbs softly shining. This Picture of the Week, captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a massive group of galaxies bound together by gravity: a cluster named RXC J0032.1+1808.

This image was taken by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide-Field Camera 3 as part of an observing program called RELICS (Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey). RELICS imaged 41 massive galaxy clusters with the aim of finding the brightest distant galaxies for the forthcoming NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to study.

Expected to launch in 2018, the JWST is designed to see in infrared wavelengths, which is exceedingly useful for observing distant objects. As a result of the expansion of the Universe, very distant objects are highly redshifted (their light is shifted towards the redder end of the spectrum) and so infrared telescopes are needed to study them. While Hubble currently has the ability to peer billions of years into the past to see “toddler” galaxies, the JWST will have the capability to study “baby” galaxies, the first galaxies that formed in the Universe.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, RELICS
Release Date: May 7, 2018

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Science #Galaxy #Cluster #RXCJ003211808 #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #STScI #Goddard #GSFC #STEM #Education #JWST

NASA Mars InSight Atlas V Rocket Prelaunch | ULA

At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the gantry rolls back at Space Launch Complex 3 in preparation for the liftoff of NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander. InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listening for marsquakes. InSight will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet's deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created. 

For more about the mission, visit: https://mars.nasa.gov/insight

Credit: NASA/Charles Babir
Release Date: May 4, 2018

#NASA #Mars #Astronomy #Space #Science #Insight #Robotics #AtlasV #Rocket #Technology #RedPlanet #California #UnitedStates #JPL #CNES #France #DLR #Germany #Deutschland #LockheedMartin #ULA #JourneyToMars #Vandenberg #AirForce #USAF #STEM #Education

Liftoff of NASA's Mars InSight Mission

May 5, 2018: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT) from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California carrying NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander. InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes. The spacecraft will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars’ formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created.

For more about the mission, visit https://mars.nasa.gov/insight

Credit: NASA/JPL
Duration: 2 minutes, 11 seconds
Release Date: May 5, 2018

#NASA #Mars #Astronomy #Space #Science #Insight #Robotics #Technology #RedPlanet #Marsquakes #STEM #Education #UnitedStates #JPL #Pasadena #California #DLR #Germany #Deutschland #LockheedMartin #ULA #JourneyToMars #Vandenberg #AirForce #USAF #California #UnitedStates #HD #Video

NASA Mars InSight Mission: Prelaunch Briefing | JPL

InSight, the first planetary mission to take off from the West Coast, is targeted to launch at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT) on May 5 from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California, aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket. The agency hosted a prelaunch briefing on May 3 at VAFB.

Watch the launch: youtube.com/NASAJPL/live

Presenters included:
Jim Green, NASA chief scientist
Tom Hoffman, InSight project manager at JPL
Stu Spath, InSight program manager at Lockheed Martin Space, Denver
Bruce Banerdt, InSight principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Annick Sylvestre-Baron, deputy project manager for InSight seismometer investigation at France's space agency, the Centre National d'Études Spatiales, Paris
Philippe Lognonné - InSight seismometer investigation lead at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France
Tilman Spohn, investigation lead at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Probe (HP3), an instrument on InSight, Berlin
Andrew Klesh, MarCO chief engineer at JPL
Anne Marinan, MarCO systems engineer at JPL
Tim Dunn, launch director with NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Scott Messer, ULA program manager for NASA launches, Centennial, Colorado
Col. Michael Hough, commander of the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Central California
1st Lt. Kristina Williams, weather officer for the 30th Space Wing

For more about the mission, visit https://mars.nasa.gov/insight

Credit: NASA/JPL
Duration: 1 hour, 35 minutes
Release Date: May 4, 2018

#NASA #Mars #Astronomy #Space #Science #Insight #Robotics #Technology #RedPlanet #STEM #Education #UnitedStates #JPL #Pasadena #California #DLR #Germany #Deutschland #LockheedMartin #ULA #JourneyToMars #Vandenberg #AirForce #USAF #California #UnitedStates #HD #Video

NASA Mars InSight Countdown to T-Zero | KSC

Episode 2: Into the Fairing

The launch campaign heats up for NASA’s InSight spacecraft and United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The Mars-bound probe is secured inside its protective payload fairing, then moved overnight to the launch pad, where it’s lifted into position atop the waiting Atlas V. Also on board are two small communications-relay satellites—MarCO-A and MarCO-B—intended to become the first CubeSats to venture into deep space.

For more about the mission, visit: https://mars.nasa.gov/insight

Credit: NASA's Kennedy Space Center
Duration: 3 minutes, 17 seconds
Release Date: May 3, 2018

#NASA #Mars #Astronomy #Space #Science #Insight #Robotics #CubeSats #Technology #RedPlanet #STEM #Education #UnitedStates #JPL #Pasadena #California #DLR #Germany #Deutschland #LockheedMartin #ULA #JourneyToMars #Vandenberg #AirForce #USAF #California #UnitedStates #HD #Video

Structure for NASA Orion Moon Module Arrives | ESA

May 3, 2018: The structure for Europe’s second service module for NASA’s Orion spacecraft arrived at the Airbus clean room in Bremen, Germany, last week.

Technicians can now start working on installing over 12 km of cables, fuel, water and air tanks, computers, engines and everything else that is needed to support astronauts further from Earth than any human being has been before.

Engineers at Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy, packed the “chassis” for its transport earlier this month. This is the real thing—its trip from Turin to Bremen is the start of a voyage that will see the Orion spacecraft launched beyond the Moon before completing a lunar flyby and returning to Earth.

The European Service Module is a crucial element of Orion, providing support to the crew module that will house up to four astronauts. The crew will travel over one million kilometers in total.

The module provides structural rigidity to the Orion spacecraft much like the chassis of a car. It absorbs the vibrations and energy from launch and protects them from micrometeoroids and space debris.

Connecting the crew module to the launcher it also absorbs the vibrations from NASA’s Space Launch System rocket that has the equivalent thrust of 34 Jumbo Jets—holding everything together for the wild ride into space.

Astronauts will fly Orion 70,000 km beyond the Moon before completing a lunar flyby and returning to Earth. The mission will take a minimum of eight days.

The service module for the first mission—without astronauts—is nearing completion and set to ship to the USA this summer. The production schedule for the service module is going at full speed with Airbus technicians working in shifts 24 hours a day.

“The arrival of the second flight model structure is an emotional moment for the people working on this unique spacecraft—from here on things get real and things start to take shape—we are sending people beyond the Moon,” says Anthony Thirkettle, ESA’s production manager for the service module.

“It is an exciting adventure for European space industry to be part of this mission to the Moon in transatlantic cooperation,” adds Bas Theelen, Orion program manager at Airbus.

The Orion spacecraft is built by NASA with ESA providing the service module. The arrangement stems from the international partnership for the International Space Station.

Credit & Copyright: Airbus
Release Date: May 3, 2018

#NASA #Space #Orion #Spacecraft #SLS #ESA #Airbus #Moon #Mars #JourneyToMars #LockheedMartin #Science #Technology #UnitedStates #Europe #International #Exploration #STEM #Education

May the Forest Be with You: GEDI | NASA

NASA's GEDI (pronounced like "Jedi") is a first-of-its kind laser instrument that will map Earth's forests from the International Space Station in 3-D. 

(Star Wars: We suppose it could be used on Endor, too...)
Happy Star Wars Day!
#MayThe4thBeWithYou

May 4, 2018: The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation—or GEDI, pronounced like "Jedi," of Star Wars fame—instrument is undergoing final integration and testing this spring and summer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. The instrument is expected to launch aboard SpaceX's 16th commercial resupply services mission, targeted for late 2018. GEDI is being led by the University of Maryland, College Park; the instrument is being built at NASA Goddard.

From its perch on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory, GEDI will be the first space-borne laser instrument to measure the structure of Earth's tropical and temperate forests in high resolution and three dimensions. These measurements will help fill in critical gaps in scientists' understanding of how much carbon is stored in th e world's forests, the potential for ecosystems to absorb rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere, and the impact of forest changes on biodiversity.

Learn more: http://go.nasa.gov/2FL790c

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Duration: 36 seconds
Release Date: May 4, 2018

LK Ward (USRA): Lead Producer
Patrick Lynch (NASA/GSFC): Lead Writer
John Caldwell (AIMM): Videographer
Music: "Navigating the Nebulae" by Or Kribos and Udi Harpaz

#NASA #Earth #Science #Forests #Biodiversity #Space #Satellite #3D #Mapping #ISS #GEDI #ScienceFiction #Film #StarWarsDay #StarWars #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Beggar's Canyon, Tatooine? | International Space Station

NASA Astronaut Randy Bresnik: "Got this great shot of Beggar's Canyon last fall when we were flying over Tatooine! Ah, wishful thinking, actually it's Africa, but looks so similar. We're working hard to get us there someday."
Happy Star Wars Day!
#MayThe4thBeWithYou

Credit: U.S. Astronaut Randy Bresnik
‏Release Date: May 4, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Africa #StarWarsDay #StarWars #Tatooine #ScienceFiction #Film #Humor #RandyBresnik #Astronaut #Expedition55 #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

NASA's Space to Ground: Releasing Dragon

May 4, 2018: NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. 

During Expedition 55, researchers are studying Earth atmospherics, the effects of microgravity on bone marrow, materials’ responses to space environments, and biological samples’ responses to simulated gravity.

Credit: NASA Johnson (JSC)
Duration: 2 minutes, 4 seconds
Release Date: May 4, 2018

#NASA #ISS #Earth #Science #SpaceX #JimBridenstine #Astronauts #ScottTingle #RickyArnold #DrewFeustel #NorishigeKanai #Japan #JAXA #Expedition55 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Great Lakes Region | International Space Station

U.S. Astronaut A.J. (Drew) Feustel: "On Monday, I captured this amazing image of all the places I called home for the first 32 years of my life. Many of my family and friends are in this photo, somewhere."

Drew Feustel is currently a part of the Expedition 55 crew that launched to the International Space Station in March 2018.

Andrew J. Feustel was selected by NASA in 2000. He has been assigned to Expedition 55/56, scheduled to launch in March 2018. The Lake Orion, Michigan native has a Ph.D. in the Geological Sciences, specializing in Seismology, and is a veteran of two spaceflights. In 2009, Dr. Feustel served on STS-125. This mission launched on Atlantis and was the fifth and final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope that improved the observatory's capabilities through 2014. Dr. Feustel also served on STS-134, launching on Endeavour to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and an ExPress Logistics Carrier to the International Space Station. Dr. Feustel has logged more than 29 days in space with over 42 hours in spacewalks.

Drew's Official NASA Biography
http://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/andrew-j-feustel/biography

Credit: A.J. (Drew) Feustel
Image Date: April 30, 2018
‏Release Date: May 2, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #GreatLakes #NewYork #Michigan #Indiana #Ontario #Quebec #Canada #UnitedStates #Astronaut #AndrewFeustel #Expedition55 #STEM #Education #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect