Shanghai, China | ESA Satellite

The European Space Agency's Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite takes us over Shanghai, China. One of the most populous cities in the world and home to over 24 million people, the city is visible in the lower right of the image just above the Yangtze River mouth. As a significant global financial center it is also the site of the world’s busiest container ports because of its strategic location on the Yangtze River delta.

The image covers an area of over 1200 km, showing Beijing at the center-top, the salt flats close to the Mongolian border in the top left, and North Korea, with its capital, Pyongyang, just visible in the top right of the image. A large number of urban settlements represented as grey flecks are interspersed with agricultural fields, dominating the central part of the image.

This true color image taken using Sentinel-3A’s Ocean and Land Color Instrument (OLCI) shows the huge amount of sediment carried into the ocean along the coast.

Meanwhile, Taihu Lake is shown in green in the lower right part of the image. In 2007, an algal bloom on the lake caused major problems with water supplies in the neighboring city of Wuxi. Such algal blooms may well be linked to the discharge of phosphates found in fertilizers used in industry and agriculture into the water.

Steps have been taken to limit the use of such fertilizers in a bid to reduce algal blooms, which can significantly alter the ecology of the environment below the surface and pose a threat to various forms of water life.

Sentinel-3 is a two-satellite mission to supply the coverage and data delivery needed for Europe’s Copernicus environmental monitoring program. Since 2016, Sentinel-3A has been measuring our oceans, land, ice and atmosphere to monitor and understand large-scale global dynamics and to provide critical information for marine operations, and more.

This image which was captured on April 29, 2017, is also featured on the "Earth from Space" video program.

Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2017), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Image Date: April 29, 2017
Release Date: July 13, 2018

#ESA #Earth #Space #Satellite #Shanghai #上海市 #Port #Yangtze #长江 #River #Taihu #Lake #Beijing #北京市 #Hebei #河北省 #Dalian #大连市 #Liaoning #辽宁省 #Shandong #山东省 #Jiangsu #江苏省 #Zhejiang #浙江省 #China #中国 #PRC #NorthKorea #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #Copernicus #Sentinel3A #STEM #Education

How Big is the International Space Station?

The International Space Station is HOW big? As big as the World Cup field!

Credit: NASA 360
Duration: 38 seconds

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #WorldCup2018 #WorldCup #Football #Soccer #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #STEM #Education #International #HD #Video

Inside NASA's Kennedy Space Center | Week of July 13, 2018

This week in space news, NASA continues preparations to launch the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The spacecraft is undergoing preflight checkouts, and the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket's solid motors and upper stage are now in place.

Credit: Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
Duration 1 minute, 33 seconds
Release Date: July 13, 2018

#NASA #Space #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #ICESat2 #Satellite #Climate #ClimateChange #Environment #Rocket #DeltaII #ULA #Vandenberg #AirForce #California #Kennedy #KSC #Florida #Spaceport #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Tracing The Source of a Cosmic Phenomenon | This Week@NASA

July 13, 2018: Tracing the source of a cosmic phenomenon, the sound of plasma waves in space, and X-ray exploration of the Eagle Nebula . . . a few of the stories to tell you about–This Week at NASA!

Credit: NASA
Duration: 3 minutes, 16 seconds
Release Date: July 13, 2018

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #ISS #Science #Galaxies #Blazars #Blazar #BlazarTXS0506056 #BlackHole #Fermi #GammaRays #Neutrino #Multimessenger #IceCube #Observatory #SouthPole #Antarctica #AmundsenScott #IceCube170922A #Plasma #Nebula #Eagle #Chandra #Astrophysics #Cosmos #Universe #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Tropical Storm Chris, Atlantic Ocean | NOAA

Tropical Storm Chris, Beryl's Remnants, and More Saharan Dust over the Atlantic
Several interesting atmospheric features appear in this GOES East satellite image of the western Atlantic Ocean, captured July 9, 2018. The small eye of Tropical Storm Chris is visible off the coast of the Carolinas, while in the eastern Caribbean Sea, we can see the remnants of former Hurricane Beryl, around which a thick plume of Saharan dust is wrapping north and east of the storm. Chris, which formed on July 8, is the third named storm of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season. In its latest update, the National Hurricane Center reported the storm had sustained winds near 60 mph and remains stalled a few hundred miles off the coast of North Carolina. The storm is expected to strengthen to a hurricane before weakening again as it tracks northeastward toward Newfoundland later this week.

Meanwhile, in the Caribbean, the disorganized remnants of Beryl can be seen east of the island of Hispaniola. The storm is currently bringing heavy rain to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and has a 40 percent chance of re-strengthening to a tropical storm or depression over the next five days. North and east of the storm, a hazy cloud of Saharan dust is visible in the lower-right portion of this image. Known as the Saharan Air Layer, this dry, dusty air mass has been a persistent feature over the tropical Atlantic Ocean in recent weeks.

This geocolor enhanced imagery was created by NOAA's partners at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere. The GOES East geostationary satellite, also known as GOES-16, provides coverage of the Western Hemisphere, including the United States, the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The satellite's high-resolution imagery provides optimal viewing of severe weather, such as hurricanes and tropical storms, as well as atmospheric aerosols, such as dust and sand.

Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Release Date: July 13, 2018

#NASA #NOAA #Earth #Space #Satellite #Planet #Atmosphere #Weather #TropicalStorm #Chris #Hurricane #Beryl #Hispaniola #PuertoRico #VirginIslands #AtlanticOcean #NorthAmerica #Caribbean #Sea #Sahara #Desert #Dust #Africa #GOESEast #GOES15 #Geocolor #CIRA #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

NASA's Space to Ground: Same Day Delivery

July 13, 2018: NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

Cancer research is taking place aboard the International Space Station possibly leading to safer, more effective therapies. Flight Engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor contributed to that research by examining endothelial cells through a microscope for the AngieX Cancer Therapy study. AngieX is seeking a better model in space to test a treatment that targets tumor cells and blood vessels.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center
Duration: 2 minutes, 13 seconds
Release Date: July 13, 2018

#NASA #ISS #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Russia #Space #Progress70 #Progress #ProgressMS06 #Spacecraft #Cargo #Supplies #Soyuz #Rocket #Launch #Россия #Baikonur #Kazakhstan #Қазақстан #AngieX #Cancer #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Soyuz Spacecraft | International Space Station

The Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft is pictured docked to the Rassvet module of the International Space Station's Russian segment. The Soyuz MS-09 launched Expedition 56-57 crew members Serena Auñón-Chancellor, Alexander Gerst and Sergey Prokopyev to the station on June 6, 2018 and docked on June 8.

Image Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: June 29, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Soyuz #Союз #SoyuzMS09 #Astronauts #AlexanderGerst #Europe #Germany #Deutschland #SerenaAuñónChancellor #RickyArnold #UnitedStates #SergeiProkopyev #Cosmonaut #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Photography #STEM #Education #International

Beijing, China | International Space Station

ESA Astronaut Alexander Gerst: "A relatively clear day over Beijing. What a gigantic and impressive city. I travelled there once from Moscow by train." 🚆

Beijing, formerly romanized as Peking, is the capital of the People's Republic of China, the world's second most populous city proper, and most populous capital city. The city, located in northern China, is governed as a direct-controlled municipality under the national government with 16 urban, suburban, and rural districts. Beijing Municipality is surrounded by Hebei Province with the exception of neighboring Tianjin Municipality to the southeast; together the three divisions form the Jingjinji metropolitan region and the national capital region of China. (Source: Wikipedia)

Follow Alexander and the Horizons mission:
http://bit.ly/AlexanderGerstESA and on bit.ly/HorizonsBlogESA

Credit: Alexander Gerst/European Space Agency (ESA)
Release Date: July 9, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Beijing #北京市 #Peking #Capital #China #中国 #PRC #Astronaut #AlexanderGerst #Horizons #Europe #Germany #Deutschland #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Photography #STEM #Education #International #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

Your Home Planet, as Seen From Mars | NASA

West coast of South America is visible

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera would make a great backyard telescope for viewing Mars, and we can also use it at Mars to view other planets. This is an image of Earth and the moon, acquired on October 3, 2007, by the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

At the time the image was taken, Earth was 142 million kilometers (88 million miles) from Mars, giving the HiRISE image a scale of 142 kilometers (88 miles) per pixel, an Earth diameter of about 90 pixels and a moon diameter of 24 pixels. The phase angle is 98 degrees, which means that less than half of the disk of the Earth and the disk of the moon have direct illumination. We could image Earth and moon at full disk illumination only when they are on the opposite side of the sun from Mars, but then the range would be much greater and the image would show less detail.

On the Earth image we can make out the west coast outline of South America at lower right, although the clouds are the dominant features. These clouds are so bright, compared with the moon, that they are saturated in the HiRISE images. In fact the red-filter image was almost completely saturated, the Blue-Green image had significant saturation, and the brightest clouds were saturated in the infrared image. This color image required a fair amount of processing to make a nice-looking release. The moon image is unsaturated, but brightened relative to Earth for this composite. The lunar images are useful for calibration of the camera.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colorado.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Image Date: October 3, 2007

Release Date: March 3, 2008

#NASA #Earth #Moon #Mars #Space #Astronomy #Science #SouthAmerica #RedPlanet #MRO #Reconnaissance #Orbiter #Spacecraft #HiRISE #Camera #JPL #Caltech #STEM #Education

Earth and Its Moon: View from Mars | NASA

Australia, Southeast Asia, and Antarctica are visible

This composite image of Earth and its moon, as seen from Mars, combines the best Earth image with the best moon image from four sets of images acquired on Nov. 20, 2016, by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Mars was about 127 million miles from Earth.

This composite image of Earth and its moon, as seen from Mars, combines the best Earth image with the best moon image from four sets of images acquired on Nov. 20, 2016, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Each was separately processed prior to combining them so that the moon is bright enough to see. The moon is much darker than Earth and would barely be visible at the same brightness scale as Earth. The combined view retains the correct sizes and positions of the two bodies relative to each other.

HiRISE takes images in three wavelength bands: infrared, red, and blue-green. These are displayed here as red, green, and blue, respectively. This is similar to Landsat images in which vegetation appears red. The reddish feature in the middle of the Earth image is Australia. Southeast Asia appears as the reddish area (due to vegetation) near the top; Antarctica is the bright blob at bottom-left. Other bright areas are clouds.

These images were acquired for calibration of HiRISE data, since the spectral reflectance of the Moon's near side is very well known. When the component images were taken, Mars was about 127 million miles (205 million kilometers) from Earth.

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Credit: Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
Image Date: November 20, 2016
Release Date: January 6, 2017

#NASA #Earth #Moon #Mars #Space #Astronomy #Science #Australia #SoutheastAsia #Antarctica #RedPlanet #MRO #Reconnaissance #Orbiter #Spacecraft #HiRISE #Camera #JPL #Caltech #STEM #Education

New Supplies & Research for Space Station | This Week @NASA for July 6, 2018

A new resupply mission arrives at the Space Station, a closer look at dwarf planet, Ceres, and the Parker Solar Probe is ready for the heat . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 3 minutes, 42 seconds
Release Date: July 6, 2018
#NASA #ISS #Earth #Science #CRS15 #SpaceX #Dragon #Ceres #Dawn #Europa #ParkerSolarProbe #NuSTAR #Mosquitoes #Astronauts #RickyArnold #DrewFeustel #SerenaAuñónChancellor #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #UnitedStates #CitizenScience #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's Space to Ground: Meet CIMON

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. The Pilot Study with the Crew Interactive MObile companioN (Cimon) assists crew members with the following:

Crew activity/maintenance: Cimon can facilitate and improve efficiency of a crew activity or a trained maintenance task if feasible. The astronaut can work freely with both hands while having voice controlled access to documents and media in their field of view.

Science support/experimentation: complex science tasks would benefit from onsite video documentation of a procedure. Cimon can function as a mobile camera to document the procedure for either live or retrospective analysis. Cimon should be used to support crew in the execution of the procedure.

Motor skills learning/skill training: it is hypothesized that Cimon can speed up the performance of a motor skills task.

Developer(s)
Airbus Bremen, Bremen, Germany
German Aerospace Center (DLR), Bonn, Bonn, Germany
IBM Europe, Munich, Germany

Sponsoring Space Agency
European Space Agency (ESA)

The Pilot Study with the Crew Interacitve MObile companioN (Cimon) is a technology demonstration project, and an observational study, that aims to obtain the first insights into the effects on crew support by an artificial intelligence (AI), in terms of efficiency and acceptance during long-term missions in space. Spaceflight missions put the crew under a substantial amount of stress and workload, and it is thought that AI could provide operational support to crew members.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Duration: 2 minutes, 22 seconds
Release Date: July 6, 2018

#NASA #ISS #Earth #Science #CRS15 #SpaceX #Dragon #CIMON #Robot #Robotics #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #GPS #Satellites #Crew #Astronauts #RickyArnold #DrewFeustel #SerenaAuñónChancellor #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

SpaceX CRS-15 Launch | NASA Kennedy

The two-stage SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, carrying the SpaceX Dragon resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 5:42 a.m. EDT on Friday, June 29, 2018. On the company’s 15th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station, Dragon is filled with supplies and payloads, including critical materials to support several science and research investigations that will occur during Expedition 56. The spacecraft’s unpressurized trunk is carrying a Canadian-built Latching End Effector, or LEE. This new LEE will replace a failed unit astronauts removed during a series of spacewalks in the fall of 2017. Each end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm has an identical LEE, and they are used as the “hands” that grapple payloads and visiting cargo spaceships.

Credit: NASA/Tony Gray and Tim Powers
Release Date: June 29, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #SpaceX #CRS15 #Dragon #Falcon #Rocket #Launch #Commercial #Cargo #Astronauts #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #KSC #Kennedy #CapeCanaveral #AirForce #Florida #UnitedStates #Spaceport #STEM #Education

SpaceX CRS-15 Launch | NASA Kennedy

The two-stage SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, carrying the SpaceX Dragon resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 5:42 a.m. EDT on Friday, June 29, 2018. On the company’s 15th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station, Dragon is filled with supplies and payloads, including critical materials to support several science and research investigations that will occur during Expedition 56. The spacecraft’s unpressurized trunk is carrying a Canadian-built Latching End Effector, or LEE. This new LEE will replace a failed unit astronauts removed during a series of spacewalks in the fall of 2017. Each end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm has an identical LEE, and they are used as the “hands” that grapple payloads and visiting cargo spaceships.

Credit: NASA/Tony Gray and Tim Powers
Release Date: June 29, 2018
#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #SpaceX #CRS15 #Dragon #Falcon #Rocket #Launch #Commercial #Cargo #Astronauts #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #KSC #Kennedy #CapeCanaveral #AirForce #Florida #UnitedStates #Spaceport #STEM #Education

Happy 4th of July from NASA!

NASA wishes you a safe and happy Independence Day!

Since the beginning of human space flight, NASA’s astronauts, rockets and spacecraft have flown the American flag to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Independence Day, also referred to as the Fourth of July or July Fourth, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The Continental Congress declared that the thirteen American colonies regarded themselves as a new nation, the United States of America, and were no longer part of the British Empire. The Congress actually voted to declare independence two days earlier, on July 2.

Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, family reunions, and political speeches and ceremonies, in addition to various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States. Independence Day is the National Day of the United States.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 47 seconds
Release Date: July 2, 2018
#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #ISS #Moon #Mars #Astronauts #IndependenceDay #July4th #4thofJuly #4thofJuly2018 #Holiday #National #Flag #Exploration #Human #Spaceflight #SolarSystem #Cosmos #Universe #UnitedStates #America #STEM #Education #International #HD #Video

Saturn: The Shadowcaster | NASA Cassini

Processed using calibrated red, green, and blue filtered images of Saturn taken by the Cassini spacecraft on January 3, 2010. Rings have been brightened relative to the planet.

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

The Cassini-Huygens mission was a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, managed the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center was based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/Kevin M. Gill
Image Date: January 3, 2010
Release Date: July 2, 2018

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