NASA's Space to Ground: Concrete Science | Week of July 20, 2018

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Duration: 2 minutes, 15 seconds
Release Date: July 20, 2018

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Cygnus #Cargo #NorthropGrumman #Concrete #Research #Astronauts #DrewFeustel #RickyArnold #ESA #DLR #AlexanderGerst #Europe #Germany #Deutschland #SerenaAuñónChancellor #UnitedStates #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Blue Origin New Shepard Mission 9 Launch Webcast

Launch is at the 34 minute mark
New Shepard flew for the ninth time on July 18, 2018. During this mission, known as Mission 9 (M9), the escape motor was fired shortly after booster separation. The Crew Capsule was pushed hard by the escape test and we stressed the rocket to test that astronauts can get away from an anomaly at any time during flight. The mission was a success for both the booster and capsule. Most importantly, astronauts would have had an exhilarating ride and safe landing.

This is not the first time we have done this type of extreme testing on New Shepard. In October of 2012, we simulated a booster failure on the launch pad and had a successful escape. Then in October 2016, we simulated a booster failure in-flight at Max Q, which is the most physically strenuous point in the flight for the rocket, and had a completely successful escape of the capsule.

This test on M9 allowed us to finally characterize escape motor performance in the near-vacuum of space and guarantee that we can safely return our astronauts in any phase of flight.

Also on M9, New Shepard carried science and research payloads from commercial companies, universities and space agencies.
Learn more about the payloads on board here:
https://www.blueorigin.com/news/news/payload-manifest-on-mission-9

Credit: Blue Origin
Duration: 50 minutes
Release Date: July 18, 2018

#NASA #Earth #Space #BlueOrigin #Rocket #NewShepard #Vehicle #Crew #Capsule #Mission9 #M9 #Launch #JeffBezos #Technology #Propulsion #Engines #Technology #Engineering #Texas #UnitedStates #Human #Spaceflight #Spaceflight #STEM #Education #SpaceTourism #NewSpace #Commercial #HD #Video

Mount Rainier | International Space Station

Stratovolcano Mount Rainier is pictured as the International Space Station orbited about 256 miles above the state of Washington in the United States.

Mount Rainier is the highest mountain of the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, and the highest mountain in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a large active stratovolcano located 59 miles (95 km) south-southeast of Seattle, in the Mount Rainier National Park. It is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and the Cascade Volcanic Arc, with a summit elevation of 14,411 ft (4,392 m).

Mt. Rainier is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, and it is on the Decade Volcano list. Because of its large amount of glacial ice, Mt. Rainier could produce massive lahars that could threaten the entire Puyallup River valley, and poses a grave threat to the southern sections of the 3.7-million-resident Seattle metropolitan area.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: July 8, 2018
Release Date: July 15, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #MountRainier #Stratovolcano #NationalPark #Washington #PacificNorthwest #Cascade #Volcanic #Arc #NorthAmerica #Astronauts #UnitedStates #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Photography #STEM #Education #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

Cygnus in Sunlight | International Space Station

The Northrop Grumman (formerly Orbital ATK) Cygnus resupply ship and its UltraFlex solar arrays figure prominently in this photograph of several International Space Station components with Earth in the background. At top are a set of basketball court-sized solar arrays. In the foreground is the Cupola and a portion of the Tranquility module. At bottom is the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft docked to the Rassvet module.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: July 10, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Sun #Sunlight #Cygnus #Resupply #Cargo #Commercial #NorthropGrumman #OrbitalATK #Soyuz #MS09 #Cupola #Astronauts #UnitedStates #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #ESA #Photography #STEM #Education #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

Sunglint on the Atlantic | International Space Station

The International Space Station orbited over New England and across Canada capturing the Sun's glint on the North Atlantic Ocean just off the North American coast. That gleam is caused by sunglint, an optical phenomenon that occurs when sunlight reflects off the surface of water at the same angle that one views it. The result is a mirror-like specular reflection of sunlight off the water and back at the astronaut and their camera.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: July 5, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Sun #Sunlight #Sunglint #Atlantic #Ocean #NewEngland #Canada #NorthAmerica #Astronauts #UnitedStates #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Photography #STEM #Education #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

Jupiter and Europa | Hubble

Judy: "The Great Red Spot is still kinda great, but it's getting smaller and smaller as time wears on. At some point, it may just be a regular red spot. Still, it remains a striking feature, and it is nice that it was facing the telescope when these observations were taken."

"Bright, icy Europa is just about finished transiting the impressively sized planet and can be seen near the top."

The Great Red Spot is a persistent high-pressure region in the atmosphere of Jupiter, producing an anticyclonic storm 22° south of the planet's equator. It has been continuously observed for 188 years, since 1830. Earlier observations from 1665 to 1713 are believed to be of the same storm; if this is correct, it has existed for at least 350 years. Such storms are not uncommon within the turbulent atmospheres of gas giants.

Europa is the smallest of the four Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter, and the sixth-closest to the planet. It is also the sixth-largest moon in the Solar System. Europa was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei.

Slightly smaller than Earth's Moon, Europa is primarily made of silicate rock and has a water-ice crust and probably an iron–nickel core. It has a tenuous atmosphere composed primarily of oxygen. Its surface is striated by cracks and streaks, whereas craters are relatively rare. In addition to Earth-bound telescope observations, Europa has been examined by a succession of space probe flybys, the first occurring in the early 1970s.

Europa has the smoothest surface of any known solid object in the Solar System. The apparent youth and smoothness of the surface have led to the hypothesis that a water ocean exists beneath it, which could conceivably harbor extraterrestrial life. The predominant model suggests that heat from tidal flexing causes the ocean to remain liquid and drives ice movement similar to plate tectonics, absorbing chemicals from the surface into the ocean below. Sea salt from a subsurface ocean may be coating some geological features on Europa, suggesting that the ocean is interacting with the seafloor. This may be important in determining if Europa could be habitable.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Technical details:
This image represents how Jupiter looked on 2017-07-11 at 09:47:16 UTC. It is composed using three images which were taken a few minutes apart. Individual frames were warped to align cloud tops and Europa with the Red (F631N) channel. This is an approximately visible light image.

Data from the following proposal comprise this image:
Wide Field Coverage for Juno (WFCJ): Jupiter's 2D Wind Field and Cloud Structure
https://archive.stsci.edu/proposal_search.php?mission=hst&id=14661

Red: WFC3/UVIS F631N
Green: WFC3/UVIS F502N
Blue: WFC3/UVIS F395N

Credit: NASA/ESA
Processing & Caption: Judy Schmidt
Release Date: July 17, 2018
#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Jupiter #Planet #Atmosphere #GRS #GreatRedSpot #Europa #Moon #SolarSystem #Exploration #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Namib Desert, Africa | International Space Station

U.S. Astronaut Ricky Arnold: "The ethereal beauty of Earth is our constant companion. It reminds us of all that we have left behind and what awaits when we return. The Skeleton Coast of the Namib Desert."

The Skeleton Coast is the northern part of the Atlantic coast of Namibia and south of Angola from the Kunene River south to the Swakop River, although the name is sometimes used to describe the entire Namib Desert coast. The Bushmen of the Namibian interior called the region "The Land God Made in Anger", while Portuguese sailors once referred to it as "The Gates of Hell".

The Namib is a coastal desert in southern Africa. The name Namib is of Nama origin and means "vast place". According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 mi) along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia, and South Africa, extending southward from the Carunjamba River in Angola, through Namibia and to the Olifants River in Western Cape, South Africa.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Credit: NASA Astronaut Ricky Arnold/JSC
Release Date: July 17, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Namibia #Desert #Namib #SkeletonCoast #Africa #Atlantic #Ocean #Astronaut #RickyArnold #UnitedStates #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Photography #STEM #Education #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

Polar Mesopheric Clouds | International Space Station

ESA Astronaut Alexander Gerst: "High, cold and icy. These polar mesospheric clouds are still a mystery to science, but the Space Storm Hunter outside Columbus is investigating. At around 80 km altitude, they often reflect the sun while Earth underneath is already dark, appearing noctilucent."

Polaren Höhenwolken
"Hoch, kalt, eisig. Diese polaren Höhenwolken über Nordeuropa sind immer noch ein Rätsel, doch unser ASIM-Experiment untersucht es bereits. In 80 km Höhe reflektieren sie oft noch Sonnenlicht, wenn die Erde darunter bereits dunkel ist, und erscheinen nachtleuchtend."

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

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/NASA–A. Gerst
Image Date: July 13, 2018
Release Date: July 17, 2018
#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #Clouds #Polar #Mesopheric #NLC #Noctilucent #Astronaut #AlexanderGerst #Horizons #Europe #Germany #Deutschland #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Photography #STEM #Education #International #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

U.S. Cygnus Cargo Spacecraft Release

Expedition 56 Flight Engineers Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA commanded the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to release the Cygnus cargo spacecraft at 8:37 a.m. EDT on July 15, 2018. At the time of release, the station was flying 253 miles above the southeastern border of Colombia. Earlier, ground controllers used the robotic arm to unberth Cygnus.

The departing spacecraft moved a safe distance away from the space station before deploying a series of CubeSats. Cygnus will remain in orbit for two more weeks to allow a flight control team to conduct engineering tests.

Cynus is scheduled to deorbit with thousands of pounds of trash on Monday, July 30, as it burns up harmlessly over the Pacific Ocean while entering the Earth’s atmosphere.

The spacecraft arrived on station May 24 delivering cargo for Orbital ATK’s (now Northrop Grumman’s) ninth contracted mission under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract.

For more information about the International Space Station, visit: www.nasa.gov/station.

Credit: Russian Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev/Roscosmos
Release Date: July 15, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #NorthropGrumman #OrbitalATK #Cygnus #Cargo #Canada #CSA #Canadarm2 #Dextre #Robotics #Cosmonaut #OlegArtemyev #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Photography #STEM #Education

U.S. Cygnus Cargo Spacecraft Release

Expedition 56 Flight Engineers Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA commanded the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to release the Cygnus cargo spacecraft at 8:37 a.m. EDT on July 15, 2018. At the time of release, the station was flying 253 miles above the southeastern border of Colombia. Earlier, ground controllers used the robotic arm to unberth Cygnus.

The departing spacecraft moved a safe distance away from the space station before deploying a series of CubeSats. Cygnus will remain in orbit for two more weeks to allow a flight control team to conduct engineering tests.

Cynus is scheduled to deorbit with thousands of pounds of trash on Monday, July 30, as it burns up harmlessly over the Pacific Ocean while entering the Earth’s atmosphere.

The spacecraft arrived on station May 24 delivering cargo for Orbital ATK’s (now Northrop Grumman’s) ninth contracted mission under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract.

For more information about the International Space Station, visit: www.nasa.gov/station.

Credit: Russian Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev/Roscosmos
Release Date: July 15, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #NorthropGrumman #OrbitalATK #Cygnus #Cargo #Canada #CSA #Canadarm2 #Dextre #Robotics #Cosmonaut #OlegArtemyev #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #Photography #STEM #Education

Eagle Nebula: A Quick Look | NASA Chandra

July 16, 2018: New stars form in clusters containing large amounts of dust and gas, including structures like the Pillars of Creation. A newly forming star is located near the tip of the largest Pillar.

The atmospheres of young stars produce X-ray emission, and disks of dust and gas surrounding many of them produce infrared light. Astronomers combine X-ray and infrared data to study the behavior of young stars.

X-ray activity in young stars with disks is, on average, a few times less intense that in young stars without disks.

Credit: Chandra X-ray Observatory
Duration: 1 minute, 8 seconds
Release Date: July 16, 2018

#NASA #Astronomy #Science #Space #Nebula #Eagle #M16 #NGC6611 #PillarsOfCreation #Star #Cluster #Stars #Serpens #Cosmos #Universe #MSFC #Chandra #Xray #Observatory #ESA #XMMNewton #Marshall #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA ScienceCasts: An Intersection of Art and Science on the Station

July 16, 2018: The WORF and the optical quality window on the International Space Station are a perfect blend of art and science, allowing for Earth science research and amazing high-resolution photos.

ISS Science: http://nasa.gov/iss-science
NASA Science: http://science.nasa.gov/

Credit: NASA
Duration: 3 minutes, 35 seconds
Release Date: July 16, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Art #Earth #WORF #Photography #OpticalQualityWindow #EarthObservation #Destiny #Module #Research #Astronauts #UnitedStates #Expedition56 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #STEM #Education #StarTrek #TV #ScienceFiction #HD #Video

Mars: Close Approach to Earth in 2018 | NASA

Mars & Earth come close every 26 months. Between July 27-31 Mars will be at its brightest in the night sky and it will be closest to Earth on early July 31. That is the point in Mars' orbit when it comes closest to Earth. Mars will be at a distance of 35.8 million miles (57.6 million kilometers). Mars reaches its highest point around midnight—about 35 degrees above the southern horizon, or one third of the distance between the horizon and overhead. Mars will be visible for much of the night. By mid-August, Mars will become fainter as Mars and Earth travel farther away from each other in their orbits around the Sun.

Throw a star party, simply go outside and look up, contact your local planetarium, or look for a star party near you.

What is Mars Close Approach?
Close Approach is when Mars and Earth come nearest to each other in their orbits around the sun. Close is a relative term. The minimum distance from the Earth to Mars is about 33.9 million miles (54.6 million kilometers). However, that does not happen very often.

If Earth and Mars had perfectly circular orbits, their minimum distance would always be the same. However, they have elliptical (egg-shaped) paths.

In addition, gravitational tugging by planets constantly changes the shape of their orbits a little bit. Giant Jupiter especially influences the orbit of Mars.

The orbits of Mars and Earth are also slightly tilted with respect to each other.

All of these factors mean that not all close encounters are equal. In 2003, Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years! It won't be that close again until the year 2287.

When Mars and Earth are close to each other, Mars appears very bright in our sky. It also makes it easier to see with telescopes or the naked eye. The Red Planet comes close enough for exceptional viewing only once or twice every 15 or 17 years.

The next Mars close approach is October 6, 2020.

Credit: NASA/JPL
Release Date: July 13, 2018

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Mars #Mars2018 #Planet #RedPlanet #Earth #Sun #Opposition #SolarSystem #Exploration #JourneyToMars #SLS #Rocket #Orion #Insight #Spacecraft #Telescope #Binoculars #Skywatching #Summer #Infographic #STEM #Education

Major Galactic Mergers | Hubble

At first glance, it may seem as though this image was taken through a faulty lens, but the mind-bending distortions visible in this Hubble Wide Field Camera 3 impressive image are actually caused by a cosmic phenomenon.

The bright object at the center of the frame is the galaxy cluster SDSS J1336-0331. The enormous gravitational influence of the cluster warps the very shape and fabric of its environment (the spacetime around it) creating an effect known as strong gravitational lensing. Through this the light from background galaxies in the line of sight to the observer are bent into fantastic arcs. This effect is very useful for studying distant background galaxies.

Moreover SDSS J1336-0331 is interesting in itself: the cluster was part of a study of star formation within 42 of the Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs — the brightest galaxies within their host clusters, as the name would suggest). Typically located in the centers of their clusters, BCGs are among the most massive and luminous galaxies in the Universe. They are generally huge elliptical galaxies and are likely to host active galactic nuclei (AGN) in their cores. The study found evidence to suggest that BCGs are fueled by cold gas from the galaxy. It also showed that star formation in older BCGs no longer significantly contributes to the galaxy’s growth; instead, the stellar growth occurs through mergers, the collision of two galaxies. Violent, gas-rich major mergers can trigger intense bursts of star formation in their aftermath.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Release Date: July 16, 2018

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #Cluster #ClusterSDSSJ13360331 #Gravitational #Lensing #AGN #BCG #Mergers #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #STScI #STEM #Education

Shanghai, China | Earth from Space | ESA

The European Space Agency's Sentinel-3A satellite takes us over eastern China in this episode of "Earth from Space"—presented by Kelsea Brennan-Wessels from the ESA Web TV virtual studios.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Duration: 2 minutes, 54 seconds
Capture 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 #HD #Video

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