NASA Astronauts Kayla Barron & Raja Chari | Expedition 66

NASA Astronauts Kayla Barron & Raja Chari | Expedition 66

The Expedition 66 crew has continued preparing for the first of two spacewalks set to begin next week to continue upgrading the International Space Station’s power system. NASA Flight Engineers Kayla Barron and Raja Chari are set to switch their U.S. spacesuits to battery power at 8:05 a.m. EST on Tuesday, March 15, 2022, and spend six-and-a-half hours installing a modification kit on the space station’s Starboard-3 truss structure. The new hardware will enable the upcoming installation of a third roll-out solar array increasing the station’s power output and augmenting the existing solar arrays.

NASA's Expedition 66 Flight Engineers Kayla Barron and Raja Chari harvest cotton cell samples grown for the Plant Habitat-05 space agriculture experiment that is exploring the genetic architecture of plant regeneration. Image Date: February 10, 2022

NASA astronaut and Expedition 66 Flight Engineer Kayla Barron poses for a portrait in front of the Advanced Plant Habitat inside the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory module. 

Image Date: March 1, 2022

NASA astronaut and Expedition 66 Flight Engineer Raja Chari tests using tools while wearing a spacesuit glove inside the International Space Station's U.S. Quest airlock. 

Image Date: February 19, 2022

NASA astronauts and Expedition 66 Flight Engineers Kayla Barron and Raja Chari pose for a portrait with Roscosmos cosmonaut and International Space Station Commander Anton Shkaplerov (background).

Image Date: November 21, 2021

NASA astronaut and Expedition 66 Flight Engineer Raja Chari is pictured at the end of the work day aboard the International Space Station's U.S. Destiny laboratory module.

Image Date: December 1, 2021

NASA spacewalker Kayla Barron is pictured during a six-hour and 32 minute spacewalk to replace a failed antenna system on the International Space Station's Port-1 truss structure.

Image Date: December 2, 2021

Expedition 66 Flight Engineer and NASA astronaut Kayla Barron is pictured inside the seven-windowed cupola, the International Space Station's "window to the world," as the orbital complex flew 263 miles above the Pacific Ocean.

Image Date: December 6, 2021

NASA Astronaut Kayla Barron Official Biography

https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/kayla-barron/biography

NASA Astronaut Raja Chari Official Biography

https://www.nasa.gov/content/astronaut-raja-chari/

Expedition 66 Crew:

Commander: Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov 

European Space Agency (ESA) Flight Engineer Matthias Maurer (DLR/German Aerospace Center)

NASA (U.S.) Flight Engineers: Thomas Marshburn, Raja Chari, Kayla Barron, and Mark Vande Hei.

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Image Credit: NASA/Johnson Space Center (JSC)

#NASA #Space #ISS #SolarArray #Astronauts #KaylaBarron #RajaChari #PlantHabitat #Veggie #Science #Spacewalk #EVA #Spacesuits #Research #Experiments #UnitedStates #Expedition66 #STEM #Education

NASA’s Exoplanet Superheroes!

NASA’s Exoplanet Superheroes!

It's time to put on your 3D red & blue glasses!

A superhero team of space telescopes has been working tirelessly to discover exoplanets and unveil their secrets. Now, a new superhero joins the team—the James Webb Space Telescope. What will it find?

Over the past few decades, a team of now legendary space telescopes has been on a mission of exploration. Hubble, Chandra, Spitzer, Kepler, TESS and now, the Webb telescope all have powers to discover exoplanets or to tell us more about them.

Many of their “super powers,” of course, go far beyond detecting exoplanets. Hubble can look deep into the cosmic past, seeing light from the early universe and some of the most distant stars and galaxies ever observed. The Chandra X-ray Observatory, like Hubble one of NASA’s “Great Observatories,” examines the universe in X-rays. That has allowed it to peer into the tatters of exploded stars and the edges of our galaxy’s central, supermassive black hole.

Another Great Observatory, the Spitzer Space Telescope, viewed the cosmos in infrared light, observing structural details of disks around stars and the faint glow of distant galaxies.

Kepler and TESS, meanwhile, took on exoplanets as their main mission, both employing the transit method—searching for tiny dips in starlight as a planet crosses, or “transits,” the face of its star. TESS is still looking for new worlds!

Each telescope can reveal something different when studying the same planet. The James Webb Space Telescope will give us a closer look at exoplanets, and will be able to tell us new things. 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Duration: 3 minutes, 21 seconds

Release Date: March 9, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Exoplanets #Telescopes #JWST #JamesWebb #Hubble #Chandra #Spitzer #Kepler #TESS #Optical #Xray #Infrared #Stars #Galaxies #Cosmos #Universe #JPL #Caltech #Goddard #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Anaglyph #3D #RedBlue #Glasses #Animation #HD #Video

Monitoring Earth’s Climate | This Week at NASA

Monitoring Earth’s Climate | This Week at NASA

This Week @NASA – March 11, 2022: Showcasing our efforts to monitor Earth’s climate, a spacecraft for an asteroid mission is close to its final configuration, and assembly of our Europa Clipper spacecraft is underway . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

Psyche is both the name of an asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter—and the name of a NASA space mission to visit that asteroid, led by Arizona State University. Join the Psyche team to explore why this mission was selected for NASA’s Discovery Program, how we will get to the asteroid, what we hope to learn from Psyche, and the importance of scientific discovery. With its solar arrays installed, the spacecraft is close to its final configuration ahead of a planned August 2022 launch.

More About the Psyche Mission

Arizona State University leads the Psyche mission. the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies is providing the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. Psyche was selected in 2017 as the 14th mission under NASA’s Discovery Program.

For more information about NASA’s Psyche mission go to:

www.nasa.gov/psyche and psyche.asu.edu

Learn about NASA's Europa Clipper Mission:

https://europa.nasa.gov

Fly Your Name Around The Moon:

NASA.gov/wearegoing

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Producer: Andre Valentine

Editor: David Anderson

Music: Universal Production Music

Duration: 3 minutes, 19 seconds

Release Date: March 11, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Artemis #Artemis1 #Earth #Climate #Monitoring #EarthObservation #ClimateChange #Ames #Psyche #Asteroid #ASU #Spacecraft #Euopa #EuopaClipper #JPL #NICER #Telescope #Science #Engineering #Technology #UnitedStates #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video #TWAN

NASA's Space to Ground: Monitoring Earth's Water

NASA's Space to Ground: Monitoring Earth's Water

 

Week of March 11, 2022: NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. The Expedition 66 crew has continued preparing for the first of two spacewalks set to begin next week to continue upgrading the International Space Station’s power system. NASA Flight Engineers Kayla Barron and Raja Chari are set to switch their U.S. spacesuits to battery power at 8:05 a.m. EST on Tuesday and spend six-and-a-half hours installing a modification kit on the space station’s Starboard-3 truss structure. The new hardware will enable the upcoming installation of a third roll-out solar array increasing the station’s power output and augmenting the existing solar arrays.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science 

For more information about STEM on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) Education

Expedition 66 Crew:

Commander: Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov 

European Space Agency (ESA) Flight Engineer Matthias Maurer (DLR/German Aerospace Center)

NASA (U.S.) Flight Engineers: Thomas Marshburn, Raja Chari, Kayla Barron, and Mark Vande Hei.

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 2 minutes, 27 seconds

Release Date: March 11, 2022

#NASA #Space #ISS #Earth #EarthObservation #Water #SolarArray #Roscosmos #Cosmonauts #Astronauts #Роскосмос #Russia #Россия #ESA #DLR #Germany #Deutschland #Science #Spacewalk #EVA #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #Expedition66 #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA Psyche Mission: Journey to a Metal World

NASA Psyche Mission: Journey to a Metal World

Psyche is both the name of an asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter—and the name of a NASA space mission to visit that asteroid, led by Arizona State University. Join the Psyche team to explore why this mission was selected for NASA’s Discovery Program, how we will get to the asteroid, what we hope to learn from Psyche, and the importance of scientific discovery. 

With its solar arrays installed, the spacecraft is close to its final configuration ahead of a planned August 2022 launch.

More About the Psyche Mission

Arizona State University leads the Psyche mission. the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies is providing the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. Psyche was selected in 2017 as the 14th mission under NASA’s Discovery Program.

For more information about NASA’s Psyche mission go to:

www.nasa.gov/psyche and psyche.asu.edu

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University/Peter Rubin/SSL

Duration: 5 minutes, 18 seconds

Release Date: April 3, 2018

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Asteroid #Science #Psyche #Spacecraft #Solar #Arrays #MaxarTechnologies #Maxar #Technology #Earth #Planets #SolarSystem #Exploration #JPL #Caltech #Pasadena #California #Arizona #ASU #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

United Arab Emirates-Bahrain Light-1 CubeSat | International Space Station

United Arab Emirates-Bahrain Light-1 CubeSat | International Space Station

A view of the deployed Light-1 CubeSat. The Light-1 CubeSat focuses on the detection of Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs) coming from the Earth’s atmosphere. This feat is achieved by utilizing two detectors that are integrated onboard a compact 3-Unit (3U) satellite bus, proving to be extremely efficient in terms of cost, manufacturing and assembly time. Light-1 is deployed as a part of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Small Satellite Orbital Deployer-20 (J-SSOD-20) micro-satellite deployment mission, and launches to the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX-24 Dragon Cargo Vehicle.

GT-1 is a 1.14 kg 1U CubeSat with experimental deployable solar panels and a deployable UHF radio antenna. The GT-1 mission demonstrates a rapid cradle-to-grave lifecycle of a university level CubeSat.

Light-1 CubeSat is a collaborative initiative of the UAE Space Agency, Bahrain’s National Space Science Agency, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, and New York University (NYU) Abu Dhabi.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) coordinated the launch from Tsukuba Space Centre (TKSC) in Japan.

The UAE-Bahraini Light-1 CubeSat successfully launched into orbit from the International Space Station, in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center

Image Date: February 3, 2022

#NASA #Space #ISS #CubeSat #Light1 #TGF #Satellite #UAE #UnitedArabEmirates #Bahrain #Science #Technology #Engineering #LEO #Earth #Japan #日本 #JAXA #宇宙航空研究開発機構 #UnitedStates #NYUAD #NYU #STEM #Education    

Female Taikonaut Wang Yaping Sends Women's Day Greetings from Space

Female Taikonaut Wang Yaping Sends Women's Day Greetings from Space

Wang Yaping, China's second female astronaut, who is presently aboard China's Tiangong space station on a six-month mission, recently recorded a video message for the United Nations office in Geneva, Switzerland, sending her greetings to women around the world in honor of International Women's Day on March 8, 2022.

Credit: China Global Television Network (CGTN)

Duration: 4 minutes, 28 seconds

Release Date: March 8, 2022

#Space #China #中国 #Women #WangYaping #王亚平 #Taikonaut #Astronaut #Leadership #Career #Future #InternationalWomensDay #Equality #Equity #Gender #International #Tiangong #SpaceStation #UNOOSA #UnitedNations #CNSA #国家航天局 #Science #Technology #STEM #Education

Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys 20th Anniversary!

Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys 20th Anniversary! 

The Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) forever changed our view of the universe. Two decades into its epic mission, ACS continues to deliver ground-breaking science and stunning images. ACS has taken over 125,000 pictures and spawned numerous discoveries.

When astronauts installed the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on March 7, 2002, the Hubble Space Telescope was already famous for taking deep images of the distant universe. ACS went even deeper, pushing humanity's view of the universe back to within 435 million years of the Big Bang and capturing images of the earliest objects in the cosmos. It also helps map the distribution of dark matter, searches for massive planets and studies the evolution of clusters of galaxies. The longevity and consistency of ACS is critical for monitoring cosmic phenomena over time. 

Credit: NASA, ESA, Danielle Kirshenblat (STScI)

Music Credit:  Associated Production Music (APM)

Song: Heartwood

Artist: Josh Lewis Wynter, PRS

Album: Non Classical (BOS-1043)

Duration: 3 minutes, 17 seconds

Release Date: March 7, 2022

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #Galaxies #Stars #Planets #Constellations #Stars #Cosmos #Universe #SolarSystem #Exploration #Camera #ACS #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA’s Psyche Gets Huge Solar Arrays for Trip to Metal-Rich Asteroid

NASA’s Psyche Gets Huge Solar Arrays for Trip to Metal-Rich Asteroid

March 7, 2022: One of two solar arrays on NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is successfully deployed in JPL’s storied High Bay 2 clean room. The twin arrays will power the spacecraft and its science instruments during a mission to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

With its solar arrays installed, the spacecraft is close to its final configuration ahead of a planned August launch.

NASA’s Psyche mission is almost ready for its moment in the Sun—a 1.5-billion-mile (2.4-billion-kilometer) solar-powered journey to a mysterious, metal-rich asteroid of the same name. Twin solar arrays have been attached to the spacecraft body, unfolded lengthwise, and then restowed. This test brings the craft that much closer to completion before its August launch.

“Seeing the spacecraft fully assembled for the first time is a huge accomplishment; there’s a lot of pride,” said Brian Bone, who leads assembly, test, and launch operations for the mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “This is the true fun part. You’re feeling it all come together. You feel the energy change and shift.”

At 800 square feet (75 square meters), the five-panel, cross-shaped solar arrays are the largest ever installed at JPL, which has built many spacecraft over the decades. When the arrays fully deploy in flight, the spacecraft will be about the size of a singles tennis court. After a 3 ½-year solar-powered cruise, the craft will arrive in 2026 at the asteroid Psyche, which is 173 miles (280 kilometers) at its widest point and thought to be unusually rich in metal. The spacecraft will spend nearly two years making increasingly close orbits of the asteroid to study it.

Venturing to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, far from the Sun, presents challenges for this mission, which adapted standard Earth-orbiting commercial satellite technology for use in the cold and dark of deep space. Near Earth, the solar arrays generate 21 kilowatts—enough electricity to power three or four average U.S. homes. But at Psyche, they will produce only about 2 kilowatts—sufficient for little more than a hair dryer.

The underlying technology isn’t much different from solar panels installed on a home, but Psyche’s are hyper-efficient, lightweight, radiation resistant, and able to provide more power with less sunlight, said Peter Lord, Psyche technical director at Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, where the arrays and solar electric propulsion chassis were built. “These arrays are designed to work in low-light conditions, far away from the Sun,” he added.

After the successful installation and deployment of the three center panels inside a clean room at JPL, Psyche’s arrays were folded back against the chassis and stowed for additional spacecraft testing. The arrays will return to Maxar, which has specialized equipment to test the deployment of the two perpendicular cross panels. Later this spring, the arrays will be reunited with the spacecraft at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and stowed for launch from Cape Canaveral.

About an hour after launch, the arrays will deploy and latch into place in a process that will take 7 ½ minutes per wing. They will then provide all the power for the journey to asteroid Psyche, as well as the power needed to operate the science instruments: a magnetometer to measure any magnetic field the asteroid may have, imagers to photograph and map its surface, and spectrometers to reveal the composition of that surface. The arrays also power the Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration that will test high-data-rate laser communications.

What those instruments relay to scientists will help them better understand the mysterious asteroid. One possible explanation for Psyche’s unusually high metal content is that it formed early in our solar system’s history, either as remnant core material from a planetesimal—one of the building blocks of rocky planets—or as primordial material that never melted. This mission aims to find out, and to help answer fundamental questions about Earth’s own metal core and the formation of our solar system.

More About the Psyche Mission

Arizona State University leads the Psyche mission. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. Maxar is providing the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. Psyche was selected in 2017 as the 14th mission under NASA’s Discovery Program.

For more information about NASA’s Psyche mission go to:

www.nasa.gov/psyche and psyche.asu.edu

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Releasde Date: March 7, 2022

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Asteroid #Science #Psyche #Spacecraft #Solar #Arrays #MaxarTechnologies #Maxar #Technology #Earth #Planets #SolarSystem #Exploration #JPL #Caltech #Pasadena #California #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Testing Spacecraft Solar Arrays for Asteroid Trip | NASA Psyche

Testing Spacecraft Solar Arrays for Asteroid Trip | NASA Psyche

NASA’s Psyche mission is preparing for a 1.5 billion-mile (2.4 billion-kilometer) solar-powered trip to the metal-rich asteroid of the same name.  

In a cleanroom at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in February 2022, twin solar arrays were attached to the spacecraft body, unfolded lengthwise, and then re-stowed as tests on Psyche continue. The five-panel, cross-shaped solar arrays are the largest ever installed on a spacecraft at JPL, so engineers had to test them one at a time.

Psyche is expected to launch no earlier than August 2022. About an hour after launch, the arrays will deploy and latch into place in a sequential process that will take 7½ minutes per array. They will then provide power for the journey to Psyche and for operating the three science instruments. In total, the solar arrays are 37 feet (11.3 meters) long. Only the three center panels can be deployed at JPL; the two cross panels on each wing are deployed using specialized equipment at Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, where the arrays and spacecraft chassis were built. When they deploy fully in flight, the spacecraft will be about the size of a singles tennis court. 

Psyche is scheduled to arrive at the asteroid in 2026 and spend nearly two years making increasingly close orbits? Scientists think the asteroid Psyche could be part of the core of a planetesimal, the building block of an early rocky planet, which would provide a unique opportunity to study how planets like our own Earth formed.

For more information about NASA’s Psyche mission go to: 

nasa.gov/psyche and psyche.asu.edu

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Duration: 1 minute, 26 seconds

Release Date: March 7, 2022

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Asteroid #Science #Psyche #Spacecraft #Solar #Arrays #MaxarTechnologies #Maxar #Technology #Earth #Planets #SolarSystem #Exploration #JPL #Caltech #Pasadena #California #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Spot the Supernova | European Southern Observatory

Spot the Supernova | European Southern Observatory

Around 500 million light-years away in the constellation Sculptor lies a rather peculiar looking galaxy, known as the Cartwheel galaxy. It was once a normal spiral galaxy that underwent a head-on interaction with a smaller companion galaxy several million years ago, giving it its signature cartwheel appearance. However, there are other curious things about this object. Something interesting is taking place in the lower left corner of the right image, captured in December 2021 with the European Southern Observatory’s New Technology Telescope (NTT): a supernova. The image on the left, taken in August 2014 by the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) mounted on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), shows the galaxy before this supernova took place.

This event, called SN2021afdx, is a type II supernova, which occurs when a massive star reaches the end of its evolution. Supernovae can cause a star to shine brighter than its entire host galaxy and can be visible to observers for months, or even years—a blink of an eye on astronomical timescales. Supernovae are one of the reasons astronomers say we are all made of stardust: they sprinkle the surrounding space with heavy elements forged by the progenitor star, which may end up being part of later generations of stars, the planets around them and life that may exist in those planets. 

Detecting and studying these unpredictable events requires international collaboration. The first time SN2021afdx was spotted was in November 2021 by the ATLAS survey, and it was then followed up by ePESSTO+, the advanced Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey for Transient Objects. ePESSTO+ is designed to study objects that are only in the night sky for very short periods of time, such as this supernova. It does this by using the EFOSC2 and SOFI instruments on the NTT, located at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. EFOSC2 not only took this beautiful image, but also spectra that allowed the PESSTO team to identify this event as a type II supernova.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Release Date: March 7, 2022

#ESO #Astronomy #Space #Astrophysics #Galaxy #Cartwheel #Supernova #SN2021afdx #Star #Sculptor #Constellation #VLT #NTT #Telescope #Cosmos #Universe #Earth #LaSilla #Observatory #Chile #Europe #Astrophotography #STEM #Education

Hubble Snaps a Star's Supersonic Gas Jet

Hubble Snaps a Star's Supersonic Gas Jet

An energetic outburst from an infant star streaks across this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This stellar tantrum—produced by an extremely young star in the earliest phase of formation—consists of an incandescent jet of gas travelling at supersonic speeds. As the jet collides with material surrounding the still-forming star, the shock heats this material and causes it to glow. The result is the colourfully wispy structures, which astronomers refer to as Herbig–Haro objects, billowing across the lower left of this image. 

Herbig–Haro objects are seen to evolve and change significantly over just a few years. This particular object, called HH34, was previously captured by Hubble between 1994 and 2007, and again in glorious detail in 2015. HH34 resides approximately 1250 light-years from Earth in the Orion Nebula, a large region of star formation visible to the unaided eye. The Orion Nebula is one of the closest sites of widespread star formation to Earth, and as such has been pored over by astronomers in search of insights into how stars and planetary systems are born. 

The data in this image are from a set of Hubble observations of four nearby bright jets with the Wide Field Camera 3 taken to help pave the way for future science with the NASA, European Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency supported James Webb Space Telescope. Webb—which will observe at predominantly infrared wavelengths—will be able to peer into the dusty envelopes surrounding still-forming protostars, revolutionising the study of jets from these young stars. Hubble’s high-resolution images of HH34 and other jets will help astronomers interpret future observations with Webb.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, B. Nisini

Release Date: March 7, 2022

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #Galaxies #Jet #Gas #Star  #HerbigHaroObjects #HH34 #Nebula #Orion #Constellation #Stars #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Earth and Moon through Saturn's Rings | NASA Cassini

Earth and Moon through Saturn's Rings | NASA Cassini

What are those dots between Saturn's rings? Our Earth and Moon. Just over five years ago, because the Sun was temporarily blocked by the body of Saturn, the robotic Cassini spacecraft was able to look toward the inner Solar System. There, it spotted our Earth and Moon—just pin-pricks of light lying about 1.4 billion kilometers distant. Toward the right of the featured image is Saturn's A ring, with the broad Encke Gap on the far right and the narrower Keeler Gap toward the center. On the far left is Saturn's continually changing F Ring. From this perspective, the light seen from Saturn's rings was scattered mostly forward , and so appeared backlit. 

Learn more about the Cassini Mission:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/index.html

After 20 years in space—13 of those years exploring Saturn—Cassini exhausted its fuel supply. And so, to protect moons of Saturn that could have conditions suitable for life, Cassini was sent on a daring final mission that would seal its fate. After a series of nearly two dozen nail-biting dives between the planet and its icy rings, Cassini plunged into Saturn’s atmosphere on Sept. 15, 2017, returning science data to the very end.

Image Credit: 

NASA, ESA, JPL-Caltech, Space Science Institute (SSI), Cassini Imaging Team; Processing & License: Kevin M. Gill

Release Date: June 2, 2020

#NASA #Astronomy #Science #Space #Saturn #Planet #Rings #Earth #Moon #SolarSystem #Exploration #Cassini #Spacecraft #JPL #California #SSI #UnitedStates #ESA #KevinGill #History #STEM #Education

Nancy Grace Roman: NASA's First Chief Astronomer, The Mother of Hubble

Nancy Grace Roman: NASA's First Chief Astronomer, The Mother of Hubble  

In a time when women were discouraged from studying math and science, Nancy Grace Roman became a research astronomer and the first Chief of Astronomy at NASA. Known today as the "Mother of Hubble," she was instrumental in taking the Hubble Space Telescope from an idea to reality and establishing NASA's program of space-based astronomical observatories. Celebrate Women's History Month by listening to more of her story.

The Roman Space Telescope is a NASA observatory designed to settle essential questions in the areas of dark energy, exoplanets, and infrared astrophysics. The telescope has a primary mirror that is 2.4 meters in diameter (7.9 feet), and is the same size as the Hubble Space Telescope's primary mirror. The Roman Space Telescope will have two instruments, the Wide Field Instrument, and the Coronagraph Instrument.

The Wide Field Instrument will have a field of view that is 100 times greater than the Hubble infrared instrument, capturing more of the sky with less observing time. As the primary instrument, the Wide Field Instrument will measure light from a billion galaxies over the course of the mission lifetime. It will perform a microlensing survey of the inner Milky Way to find ~2,600 exoplanets. The Coronagraph Instrument will perform high contrast imaging and spectroscopy of individual nearby exoplanets.

The Roman Space Telescope will have a primary mission lifetime of 5 years, with a potential 5 year extended mission. It is set for launch in the mid-2020s.

Leaarn more about the Roman Space Telescope:

https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Katrina Jackson

Duration: 6 minutes, 21 seconds

Release Date: Feb 11, 2018

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Women #Leaders #Pioneers #NancyGraceRoman #Astronomer #RomanSpaceTelescope #WomensHistoryMonth #Exoplanets #Planets #SolarSystem #Galaxy #Constellations #Stars #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #History #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Cislunar Highway Patrol System (CHPS) | US Space Force

Cislunar Highway Patrol System (CHPS) | US Space Force

"Until now, the United States Space Missions extended 22,000 miles above Earth. That was then, this is now."

The Cislunar Highway Patrol System (CHPS), is here to improve the United States Space Force's ability to track and identify artificial objects around the moon and beyond.

The United States Space Force (USSF) is tasked with protecting and defending US interests in space. Until now, the limits of that mission have been in near Earth, out to approximately geostationary (GEO) range.  With new US public and private sector operations extending into cislunar space, the reach of USSF’s sphere of interest will also extend to the Moon and beyond. There are a number of technical challenges to overcome with cislunar domain awareness operations, including the effects of a three-body gravitational environment. The large range of trajectories can have periods anywhere from hours to a month, and the new region encompasses a volume 1000x larger than is traditionally monitored by the USSF. Finally, the Moon creates observational challenges simply due to exclusion zones created by varying lighting conditions that occur due to the Moon’s orbit around the Earth. This creates a substantial observational challenge that can only be overcome by observations from orbits beyond GEO, such as halo orbits around Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 1.

As part of an overarching research program addressing these challenges, the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Cislunar Highway Patrol System (CHPS) will demonstrate core competencies for conducting space domain awareness (SDA) operations in the cislunar regime. The CHPS project will demonstrate sensing techniques and methods for detection and tracking in the region near the Moon that cannot be viewed optically from the Earth or traditional orbits like GEO.

The CHPS Other Transaction Authority (OTA) is being sought to mature and deliver this novel capability to the USSF. The primary mission objectives are to search for and maintain custody of objects down to 18th and 21st visual magnitudes, respectively. To support this mission, the vehicle must facilitate precise pointing, position, navigation, and timing in the cislunar operational environment. CHPS is seeking solutions to maximize on-board image processing, orbit determination, and catalog maintenance in conjunction with necessary communications to the ground. It is expected that the vehicle fit in a form factor of The Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Secondary Payload Adaptor (ESPA) and leverage commercial off the shelf (COTS) parts to the extent feasible.

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research organization operated by the United States Air Force Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of aerospace warfighting technologies, planning and executing the Air Force science and technology program, and providing warfighting capabilities to United States air, space, and cyberspace forces. It controls the entire Air Force science and technology research budget.

Credit: Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)/National Security Technology Accelerator (NSTXL)

Release Date: March 1, 2022

#Space #Earth #Moon #Lunar #Satellite #GEO #LEO #SpaceForceDoD #USSF #AFResearchLab #CHPS #USAF #AWS22 #AFRL #AFRLSpace #AFRLTech #NSTXL #Science #Technology #Engineering #Military #Defense #NationalSecurity #Aerospace #UnitedStates #SDA #STEM #Education #HD #Video

BREEZE: Ray-inspired Airship Concept for Venus Exploration | NASA

BREEZE: Ray-inspired Airship Concept for Venus Exploration | NASA

Venus is home to one of the most extreme environments in the solar system. It is permanently shrouded in dense, toxic clouds and its surface is nearly 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Researchers are working on a concept that could change the way we explore the intense environment of Earth’s closest planetary neighbor. Studying Venus will help us better understand why it harbors such an extreme environment and unlock the mysteries of how planets evolve, including Earth.

NASA 360 takes a look at the NASA Innovative Advanced Concept (NIAC) called BREEZE, the Bio-inspired Ray for Extreme Environments and Zonal Exploration. 

To learn more visit: https://go.nasa.gov/2PT0PyB

Read the BREEZE NIAC Phase I Final Report (PDF): 

https://go.nasa.gov/3Cirtor

To watch the in-depth presentation about this topic please visit the 2019 NIAC Symposium Livestream site: https://bit.ly/2KHdVfD

This video represents a research study within the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. NIAC is a visionary and far-reaching aerospace program, one that has the potential to create breakthrough technologies for possible future space missions. However, such early stage technology developments may never become actual NASA missions.

Credit: NASA Space Tech/NASA 360

Duration: 1 minute, 24 seconds

Release Date: Feb. 25, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Engineering #Technology #Kinematics #Venus #Atmosphere #BREEZE #Airship #Concept #Extreme #Environment #NIAC #Research #SolarSystem #Planet #Planetary #Exploration #Robotics #UAV #Inflatable #AI #UnitedStates #NASA360 #STEM #Education #HD #Video