NASA Science Chat about New Europa Findings

[Replay] NASA hosted a Science Chat on May 14, 2018, to discuss the latest analysis of Jupiter’s moon Europa and its status as one of the most promising places in the solar system to search for life.

Europa has long been a high priority for exploration because beneath its icy crust lies a salty, liquid water ocean. NASA’s Europa Clipper, targeted to launch in 2022, will be equipped with the instruments necessary to determine whether Europa possesses the ingredients necessary to support life as we know it.

For more information about Europa Clipper, visit:
www.nasa.gov/europa

Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Duration: 57 minutes
Release Date: May 14, 2018

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Europa—In Depth | NASA

Quick Facts
Type: Icy moon of Jupiter
🌑65% the mass of Earth's Moon
🌐1,939.7 miles in diameter (3,121.6 kilometers)
📅A day = 3.551 Earth days (Orbital Period)
Discovered: 1610

Image Description:
This image shows two views of the trailing hemisphere of Jupiter's ice-covered satellite, Europa. The left image shows the approximate natural color appearance of Europa. The image on the right is a false-color composite version combining violet, green and infrared images to enhance color differences in the predominantly water-ice crust of Europa.

Overview
Beneath the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa is perhaps the most promising place to look for present-day environments suitable for life.

Slightly smaller than Earth's Moon, Europa’s water-ice surface is crisscrossed by long, linear fractures. Like our planet, Europa is thought to have an iron core, a rocky mantle and an ocean of salty water. Unlike Earth, however, Europa’s ocean lies below a shell of ice probably 10 to 15 miles (15 to 25 kilometers) thick and has an estimated depth of 40 to 100 miles (60 to 150 kilometers).

Europa is named for a woman abducted by the god Zeus in Greek mythology–Jupiter to the Romans.

Europa orbits Jupiter every 3.5 days and is locked by gravity to Jupiter, so the same hemisphere of the moon always faces the planet. Because Europa's orbit is elliptical (slightly stretched out from circular), its distance from Jupiter varies, and the moon’s near side feels Jupiter’s gravity more strongly than its far side. The magnitude of this difference changes as Europa orbits, creating tides that stretch and relax the moon’s surface. Flexing from the tides creates the moon’s surface fractures. If Europa's ocean exists, it might also have volcanic or hydrothermal activity on the seafloor, supplying nutrients that could make the ocean suitable for living things.

Based on the small number of observable craters, the surface of this moon appears to be no more than 40 to 90 million years old, which is youthful in geologic terms (the surface of Callisto, another of Jupiter’s moons, is estimated to be a few billion years old). Along Europa's many fractures, and in splotchy patterns across its surface, is a reddish-brown material whose composition is not known, but may hold clues to the moon's potential as a habitable world.

NASA's Galileo spacecraft explored the Jupiter system from 1995 to 2003 and made numerous flybys of Europa. Galileo revealed strange pits and domes that suggest Europa’s surface ice could be slowly turning over, or convecting, due to heat from below. Galileo also found regions called "chaos terrain," where broken, blocky landscapes were covered in the mysterious reddish material. In 2011, scientists studying Galileo data proposed that chaos terrains could be places where the surface collapsed above lens-shaped lakes embedded within the ice.

In 2013, NASA announced that researchers using the Hubble Space Telescope found evidence that Europa might be actively venting water into space, which would mean the moon is geologically active in the present day. If confirmed by follow-up observations, the plumes of water could be studied by future spacecraft similar to how the Cassini spacecraft sampled the plume of Enceladus.

One of the most important measurements made by the Galileo mission showed how Jupiter's magnetic field was disrupted in the space around Europa. The measurement strongly implied that a special type of magnetic field is being created (induced) within Europa by a deep layer of some electrically conductive fluid beneath the surface. Based on Europa's icy composition, scientists think the most likely material to create this magnetic signature is a global ocean of salty water.

Scientists will begin studying Europa anew with the Europa Clipper mission. Scheduled to launch in the 2020s, Europa Clipper would arrive at Jupiter several years later and try to see whether the icy moon could harbor conditions suitable for life. The radiation-tolerant spacecraft will perform 45 flybys of Europa at altitudes varying from 1,675 miles to 16 miles (2,700 kilometers to 25 kilometers) from a long, looping orbit around Jupiter.

Clipper’s instruments will include cameras and spectrometers to produce high-resolution images of Europa's surface and determine its composition. An ice-penetrating radar will determine the thickness of the moon's icy shell and search for subsurface lakes similar to those beneath Antarctica. The mission will also carry a magnetometer to measure strength and direction of the moon's magnetic field, which will allow scientists to determine the depth and salinity of its ocean.

Discovery
Galileo Galilei is credited with discovering what we now call the Galilean moons—including Europa—on Jan. 8, 1610. Simon Marius probably made an independent discovery of the moons about the same time that Galileo did, and he may have unwittingly sighted them up to a month earlier, but Galileo was given credit since he published an account of the discovery first

How Europa Got Its Name
Europa is named for the daughter of Agenor, in ancient Greek mythology. Europa was abducted by Zeus (the Greek equivalent of the Roman god Jupiter), who had taken the shape of a spotless white bull. Europa was so delighted by the gentle beast that she decked it with flowers and rode upon its back. Seizing his opportunity, Zeus rode away with her into the ocean to the island of Crete, where he transformed back into his true shape. Europa bore Zeus many children, including Minos.

Additional Resources
About Europa: https://europa.nasa.gov/about-europa/overview/
About Europa Clipper: https://europa.nasa.gov/about-clipper/overview/

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute/DLR
Release Date: April 9, 2018

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New Evidence of Europa Plumes | NASA

Artist’s illustration of Jupiter and Europa with the Galileo spacecraft after its pass through a plume erupting from Europa

May 14, 2018: Scientists re-examining data from an old mission bring new insights to the tantalizing question of whether Jupiter’s moon Europa has the ingredients to support life. The data provide independent evidence that the moon’s subsurface liquid water reservoir may be venting plumes of water vapor above its icy shell.

Data collected by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft in 1997 were put through new and advanced computer models to untangle a mystery—a brief, localized bend in the magnetic field—that had gone unexplained until now. Previous ultraviolet images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in 2012 suggested the presence of plumes, but this new analysis used data collected much closer to the source and is considered strong, corroborating support for plumes. The findings appear in Monday’s issue of the journal Nature Astronomy.

The research was led by Xianzhe Jia, a space physicist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and lead author of the journal article. Jia also is co-investigator for two instruments that will travel aboard Europa Clipper, NASA’s upcoming mission to explore the moon’s potential habitability.

“The data were there, but we needed sophisticated modeling to make sense of the observation,” Jia said.

Jia’s team was inspired to dive back into the Galileo data by Melissa McGrath of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. A member of the Europa Clipper science team, McGrath delivered a presentation to fellow team scientists, highlighting other Hubble observations of Europa.

“One of the locations she mentioned rang a bell. Galileo actually did a flyby of that location, and it was the closest one we ever had. We realized we had to go back,” Jia said. “We needed to see whether there was anything in the data that could tell us whether or not there was a plume.”

At the time of the 1997 flyby, about 124 miles (200 kilometers) above Europa’s surface, the Galileo team didn't suspect the spacecraft might be grazing a plume erupting from the icy moon. Now, Jia and his team believe, its path was fortuitous.

When they examined the information gathered during that flyby 21 years ago, sure enough, high-resolution magnetometer data showed something strange. Drawing on what scientists learned from exploring plumes on Saturn’s moon Enceladus—that material in plumes becomes ionized and leaves a characteristic blip in the magnetic field—they knew what to look for. And there it was on Europa—a brief, localized bend in the magnetic field that had never been explained.

Galileo carried a powerful Plasma Wave Spectrometer (PWS) to measure plasma waves caused by charged particles in gases around Europa’s atmosphere. Jia’s team pulled that data as well, and it also appeared to back the theory of a plume.

But numbers alone couldn’t paint the whole picture. Jia layered the magnetometry and plasma wave signatures into new 3D modeling developed by his team at the University of Michigan, which simulated the interactions of plasma with solar system bodies. The final ingredient was the data from Hubble that suggested dimensions of potential plumes.

The result that emerged, with a simulated plume, was a match to the magnetic field and plasma signatures the team pulled from the Galileo data.

“There now seem to be too many lines of evidence to dismiss plumes at Europa," said Robert Pappalardo, Europa Clipper project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. “This result makes the plumes seem to be much more real and, for me, is a tipping point. These are no longer uncertain blips on a faraway image."

The findings are good news for the Europa Clipper mission, which may launch as early as June 2022. From its orbit of Jupiter, Europa Clipper will sail close by the moon in rapid, low-altitude flybys. If plumes are indeed spewing vapor from Europa’s ocean or subsurface lakes, Europa Clipper could sample the frozen liquid and dust particles. The mission team is gearing up now to look at potential orbital paths, and the new research will play into those discussions.

“If plumes exist, and we can directly sample what’s coming from the interior of Europa, then we can more easily get at whether Europa has the ingredients for life,” Pappalardo said. “That’s what the mission is after. That’s the big picture.”

JPL manages the Europa Clipper mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate.

Image Description:
Artist’s illustration of Jupiter and Europa (in the foreground) with the Galileo spacecraft after its pass through a plume erupting from Europa’s surface. A new computer simulation gives us an idea of how the magnetic field interacted with a plume. The magnetic field lines (depicted in blue) show how the plume interacts with the ambient flow of Jovian plasma. The red colors on the lines show more dense areas of plasma.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Michigan
Release Date: May 14, 2018

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Re-analyzing Old Data Reveals New Evidence at Europa | NASA

New science, mined from the archives. Data from NASA Galileo orbiter launched a generation ago yields new evidence of plumes, eruptions of water vapor, from Jupiter's moon Europa.

Learn more:
www.nasa.gov/press-release/old-data-reveal-new-evidence-of-europa-plumes

Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Duration: 2 minutes, 31 seconds
Release Date: May 14, 2018

#NASA #Astronomy #Science #Space #Jupiter #Planet #Moon #Europa #Plumes #MagneticField #Astrobiology #Life #Habitability #EuropaClipper #Galileo #Spacecraft #JPL #UnitedStates #SolarSystem #Exploration #Illustration #Art #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA Hosts Live Europa Discussion on May 14: To Discuss Findings, Potential for Life

NASA will host a Science Chat at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT Monday, May 14), to discuss the latest analysis of Jupiter’s moon Europa and its status as one of the most promising places in the solar system to search for life. The event will air live on NASA Television, including Ustream, YouTube and the agency's website:
NASA TV: nasa.gov/nasatv
Ustream: www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv
NASA Website: www.nasa.gov/live

Image: The puzzling, fascinating surface of Jupiter's icy moon Europa looms large in this newly-reprocessed color view, made from images taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s

Europa has long been a high priority for exploration because beneath its icy crust lies a salty, liquid water ocean. NASA’s Europa Clipper, targeted to launch in 2022, will be equipped with the instruments necessary to determine whether Europa possesses the ingredients necessary to support life as we know it.

Lori Glaze, acting director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, and JoAnna Wendel, the division’s communications lead, will host the chat. Guests include:

Xianzhe Jia, associate professor in the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Elizabeth Turtle, research scientist at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland
Margaret Kivelson, professor emerita of Space Physics in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles
The public can send questions on social media by using #AskNASA at any time during the event.

For more information about Europa Clipper, visit:
www.nasa.gov/europa

For information about NASA’s missions, programs and activities, visit: www.nasa.gov
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A spiral galaxy disguised | Hubble

Resembling a wizard’s staff set aglow, NGC 1032 cleaves the quiet darkness of space in two in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. NGC 1032 is located about a hundred million light years away in the constellation Cetus (The Sea Monster). Although beautiful, this image perhaps does not do justice to the galaxy’s true aesthetic appeal: NGC 1032 is actually a spectacular spiral galaxy, but from Earth, the galaxy’s vast disc of gas, dust and stars is seen nearly edge-on.

A handful of other galaxies can be seen lurking in the background, scattered around the narrow stripe of NGC 1032. Many are oriented face-on or at tilted angles, showing off their glamorous spiral arms and bright cores. Such orientations provide a wealth of detail about the arms and their nuclei, but fully understanding a galaxy’s three-dimensional structure also requires an edge-on view. This gives astronomers an overall idea of how stars are distributed throughout the galaxy and allows them to measure the “height” of the disc and the bright star-studded core.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Release Date: May 14, 2018
#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Science #Galaxy #NGC1032 #Spiral #Cetus #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #STScI #Goddard #GSFC #STEM #Education

SpaceX Bangabandhu Satellite-1 Mission

 Falcon 9 Block 5 to Carry NASA Astronauts to Earth Orbit in Future.

Bangabandhu-1 is Bangladesh's first geostationary communications satellite.

SpaceX successfully launched the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 on Friday, May 11 from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
Bangabandhu Satellite-1 was deployed into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).

The Bangabandhu Satellite-1 mission was the first to utilize the Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket—the final substantial upgrade to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Falcon 9 Block 5 is designed to be capable of 10 or more flights with very limited refurbishment as SpaceX continues to strive for rapid reusability and extremely high reliability.

Following stage separation, SpaceX landed Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Bangabandhu-1 satellite is to be located at the 119.1° East longitude geostationary slot. The satellite is named after the father of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It was designed and manufactured by Thales Alenia Space.

Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It shares land borders with India and Myanmar (Burma). Nepal. Bhutan and China are located near Bangladesh, but do not share a border with it. The country's maritime territory in the Bay of Bengal is roughly equal to the size of its land area. Bangladesh is the world's eighth most populous country. (Source: Wikipedia)

Credit: SpaceX
Capture Date: May 11, 2018

#NASA #Space #SpaceX #Earth #Rocket #Falcon9 #Block5 #Satellite #Bangladesh #Bāṃlādēśa #SouthAsia #Bangabandhu #Communications #Commercial #Droneship #KSC #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

SpaceX Bangabandhu Satellite-1 Mission

Falcon 9 Block 5 to Carry NASA Astronauts to Earth Orbit in Future.
Bangabandhu-1 is Bangladesh's first geostationary communications satellite.
SpaceX successfully launched the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 on Friday, May 11 from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
Bangabandhu Satellite-1 was deployed into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).

The Bangabandhu Satellite-1 mission was the first to utilize the Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket—the final substantial upgrade to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Falcon 9 Block 5 is designed to be capable of 10 or more flights with very limited refurbishment as SpaceX continues to strive for rapid reusability and extremely high reliability.

Following stage separation, SpaceX landed Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Bangabandhu-1 satellite is to be located at the 119.1° East longitude geostationary slot. The satellite is named after the father of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It was designed and manufactured by Thales Alenia Space.

Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It shares land borders with India and Myanmar (Burma). Nepal. Bhutan and China are located near Bangladesh, but do not share a border with it. The country's maritime territory in the Bay of Bengal is roughly equal to the size of its land area. Bangladesh is the world's eighth most populous country. (Source: Wikipedia)

Credit: SpaceX
Capture Date: May 11, 2018

#NASA #Space #SpaceX #Earth #Rocket #Falcon9 #Block5 #Satellite #Bangladesh #Bāṃlādēśa #SouthAsia #Bangabandhu #Communications #Commercial #Droneship #KSC #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

SpaceX Bangabandhu Satellite-1 Mission

Falcon 9 Block 5 to Carry NASA Astronauts to Earth Orbit in Future.
Bangabandhu-1 is Bangladesh's first geostationary communications satellite.
SpaceX successfully launched the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 on Friday, May 11 from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
Bangabandhu Satellite-1 was deployed into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).

The Bangabandhu Satellite-1 mission was the first to utilize the Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket—the final substantial upgrade to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Falcon 9 Block 5 is designed to be capable of 10 or more flights with very limited refurbishment as SpaceX continues to strive for rapid reusability and extremely high reliability.

Following stage separation, SpaceX landed Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Bangabandhu-1 satellite is to be located at the 119.1° East longitude geostationary slot. The satellite is named after the father of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It was designed and manufactured by Thales Alenia Space.

Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It shares land borders with India and Myanmar (Burma). Nepal. Bhutan and China are located near Bangladesh, but do not share a border with it. The country's maritime territory in the Bay of Bengal is roughly equal to the size of its land area. Bangladesh is the world's eighth most populous country. (Source: Wikipedia)

Credit: SpaceX
Capture Date: May 11, 2018

#NASA #Space #SpaceX #Earth #Rocket #Falcon9 #Block5 #Satellite #Bangladesh #Bāṃlādēśa #SouthAsia #Bangabandhu #Communications #Commercial #Droneship #KSC #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

SpaceX Bangabandhu Satellite-1 Mission

Falcon 9 Block 5 to Carry NASA Astronauts to Earth Orbit in Future.
Bangabandhu-1 is Bangladesh's first geostationary communications satellite.
SpaceX successfully launched the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 on Friday, May 11 from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
Bangabandhu Satellite-1 was deployed into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).

The Bangabandhu Satellite-1 mission was the first to utilize the Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket—the final substantial upgrade to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Falcon 9 Block 5 is designed to be capable of 10 or more flights with very limited refurbishment as SpaceX continues to strive for rapid reusability and extremely high reliability.

Following stage separation, SpaceX landed Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Bangabandhu-1 satellite is to be located at the 119.1° East longitude geostationary slot. The satellite is named after the father of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It was designed and manufactured by Thales Alenia Space.

Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It shares land borders with India and Myanmar (Burma). Nepal. Bhutan and China are located near Bangladesh, but do not share a border with it. The country's maritime territory in the Bay of Bengal is roughly equal to the size of its land area. Bangladesh is the world's eighth most populous country. (Source: Wikipedia)

Credit: SpaceX
Capture Date: May 11, 2018
#NASA #Space #SpaceX #Earth #Rocket #Falcon9 #Block5 #Satellite #Bangladesh #Bāṃlādēśa #SouthAsia #Bangabandhu #Communications #Commercial #Droneship #KSC #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Happy Mother's Day! | International Space Station

This view of Earth's atmosphere was captured by Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, on Expedition 55.

Credit: Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev
Release Date: March 27, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Atmosphere #Expedition55 #Cosmonaut #OlegArtemyev #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Russia #Россия #Astronauts #Photography #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #International #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

Happy Mother's Day! | International Space Station

This unique orbital view of the Earth's aurora was captured by Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, on Expedition 55.

Oleg: The aurora is "one of the most beautiful light and colorful phenomena of nature."

Credit: Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev
Release Date: April 23, 2018

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High Above Jupiter's Clouds | NASA's Juno Mission

NASA’s Juno spacecraft was a little more than one Earth diameter from Jupiter when it captured this mind-bending, color-enhanced view of the planet’s tumultuous atmosphere.

Jupiter completely fills the image, with only a hint of the terminator (where daylight fades to night) in the upper right corner, and no visible limb (the curved edge of the planet).

Juno took this image of colorful, turbulent clouds in Jupiter’s northern hemisphere on Dec. 16, 2017 at 9:43 a.m. PST (12:43 p.m. EST) from 8,292 miles (13,345 kilometers) above the tops of Jupiter’s clouds, at a latitude of 48.9 degrees.

The spatial scale in this image is 5.8 miles/pixel (9.3 kilometers/pixel).

Citizen scientists Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran processed this image using data from the JunoCam imager.

JunoCam's raw images are available for the public to peruse and process into image products at: www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam

Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRI/MSSS/SPICE/Gerald Eichstädt/Seán Doran
Image Date: December 16, 2017
Release Date: January 4, 2018

#NASA #Astronomy #Science #Space #Jupiter #Atmosphere #Planet #Juno #Spacecraft #JunoCam #Malin

Mars 2020 Rover's Copter Companion | This Week @NASA

May 11, 2018: Sending a helicopter to Mars, a busy week for our new Administrator, and showcasing how technology enables exploration – a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 3 minutes, 29 seconds
Release Date: May 11, 2018

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Mars #Technology #Helicopter #Mars2020 #Planet #Atmosphere #RedPlanet #Engineering #JPL #California #UnitedStates #SolarSystem #Exploration #JourneyToMars #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Mars Helicopter to Fly on NASA's Next Rover | JPL

May 11, 2018: The Mars Helicopter, a small, autonomous rotorcraft, will travel with NASA's Mars 2020 rover, currently scheduled to launch in July 2020, to demonstrate the viability and potential of heavier-than-air vehicles on the Red Planet.

NASA is sending a helicopter to Mars.

The Mars Helicopter, a small, autonomous rotorcraft, will travel with the agency's Mars 2020 rover mission, currently scheduled to launch in July 2020, to demonstrate the viability and potential of heavier-than-air vehicles on the Red Planet.

"NASA has a proud history of firsts," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "The idea of a helicopter flying the skies of another planet is thrilling. The Mars Helicopter holds much promise for our future science, discovery, and exploration missions to Mars."

The Mars Helicopter is a technology demonstration that will travel to the Red Planet with the Mars 2020 rover. It will attempt controlled flight in Mars' thin atmosphere, which may enable more ambitious missions in the future.

U.S. Rep. John Culberson of Texas echoed Bridenstine's appreciation of the impact of American firsts on the future of exploration and discovery.

"It's fitting that the United States of America is the first nation in history to fly the first heavier-than-air craft on another world," Culberson said. "This exciting and visionary achievement will inspire young people all over the United States to become scientists and engineers, paving the way for even greater discoveries in the future."

Started in August 2013 as a technology development project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Mars Helicopter had to prove that big things could come in small packages. The result of the team's four years of design, testing and redesign weighs in at little under four pounds (1.8 kilograms). Its fuselage is about the size of a softball, and its twin, counter-rotating blades will bite into the thin Martian atmosphere at almost 3,000 rpm—about 10 times the rate of a helicopter on Earth.

"Exploring the Red Planet with NASA's Mars Helicopter exemplifies a successful marriage of science and technology innovation and is a unique opportunity to advance Mars exploration for the future," said Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency headquarters in Washington. "After the Wright Brothers proved 117 years ago that powered, sustained, and controlled flight was possible here on Earth, another group of American pioneers may prove the same can be done on another world."

The helicopter also contains built-in capabilities needed for operation at Mars, including solar cells to charge its lithium-ion batteries, and a heating mechanism to keep it warm through the cold Martian nights. But before the helicopter can fly at Mars it has to get there. It will do so attached to the belly pan of the Mars 2020 rover.

"The altitude record for a helicopter flying here on Earth is about 40,000 feet. The atmosphere of Mars is only one percent that of Earth, so when our helicopter is on the Martian surface, it's already at the Earth equivalent of 100,000 feet up," said Mimi Aung, Mars Helicopter project manager at JPL. "To make it fly at that low atmospheric density, we had to scrutinize everything, make it as light as possible while being as strong and as powerful as it can possibly be."

Once the rover is on the planet's surface, a suitable location will be found to deploy the helicopter down from the vehicle and place it onto the ground. The rover then will be driven away from the helicopter to a safe distance from which it will relay commands. After its batteries are charged and a myriad of tests are performed, controllers on Earth will command the Mars Helicopter to take its first autonomous flight into history.

"We don't have a pilot and Earth will be several light minutes away, so there is no way to joystick this mission in real time," said Aung. "Instead, we have an autonomous capability that will be able to receive and interpret commands from the ground, and then fly the mission on its own."

The full 30-day flight test campaign will include up to five flights of incrementally farther flight distances, up to a few hundred meters, and longer durations as long as 90 seconds, over a period. On its first flight, the helicopter will make a short vertical climb to 10 feet (3 meters), where it will hover for about 30 seconds.

As a technology demonstration, the Mars Helicopter is considered a high-risk, high-reward project. If it does not work, the Mars 2020 mission will not be impacted. If it does work, helicopters may have a real future as low-flying scouts and aerial vehicles to access locations not reachable by ground travel.

"The ability to see clearly what lies beyond the next hill is crucial for future explorers," said Zurbuchen. "We already have great views of Mars from the surface as well as from orbit. With the added dimension of a bird's-eye view from a 'marscopter,' we can only imagine what future missions will achieve."

Mars 2020 will launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, and is expected to reach Mars in February 2021.

The rover will conduct geological assessments of its landing site on Mars, determine the habitability of the environment, search for signs of ancient Martian life, and assess natural resources and hazards for future human explorers. Scientists will use the instruments aboard the rover to identify and collect samples of rock and soil, encase them in sealed tubes, and leave them on the planet's surface for potential return to Earth on a future Mars mission.

The Mars 2020 Project at JPL in Pasadena, California, manages rover development for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management.

For more information about NASA's Mars missions, go to:
www.nasa.gov/mars

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Release Date: May 11, 2018

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Mars #Technology #Helicopter #Mars2020 #Planet #Atmosphere #RedPlanet #Engineering #JPL #California #UnitedStates #SolarSystem #Exploration #JourneyToMars #Illustration #STEM #Education

NASA Mars Helicopter Technology | JPL

The Mars Helicopter is a technology demonstration that will travel to the Red Planet with the Mars 2020 rover. It will attempt controlled flight in Mars' thin atmosphere, which may enable more ambitious missions in the future.

For more information, visit https://go.nasa.gov/2IC8tIh

Credit: Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
Duration: 1 minute, 22 seconds
Release Date: May 11, 2018

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Mars #Technology #Helicopter #Mars2020 #Planet #Atmosphere #RedPlanet #Engineering #JPL #California #UnitedStates #SolarSystem #Exploration #JourneyToMars #STEM #Education #HD #Video