Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Artemis I: NASA’s Plans to Travel Beyond the Moon

Artemis I: NASA’s Plans to Travel Beyond the Moon 

Artemis I will be the first integrated test of NASA’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the ground systems at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will be an uncrewed flight test that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration, and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond. Artemis I is currently scheduled to launch spring 2022.

 

During this flight, the spacecraft will launch on the most powerful rocket in the world and fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown. It will travel 280,000 miles from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the Moon over the course of about a three-week mission. Orion will stay in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before.

 

With this first exploration mission, NASA is leading the next steps of human exploration into deep space where astronauts will build and begin testing the systems near the Moon needed for lunar surface missions and exploration to other destinations farther from Earth, including Mars. 


Learn more about Artemis I at: 

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-1


NASA's Artemis Program:

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis


NASA's Space Launch System (SLS)

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html


NASA's Orion Spacecraft

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/orion/about/index.html


Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 

Duration: 2 minutes, 51 seconds

Release Date: April 7, 2021


#NASA #ESA #CSA #Space #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisI #Orion #Spacecraft #SLS #Boeing #Rocket #DeepSpace #LockheedMartin #Orion #Spacecraft #Astronauts #Mars #JourneyToMars #Science #Engineering #Technology #Exploration #SolarSystem #KSC #Kennedy #UnitedStates #Europe #Canada #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video


Orbital Sunrise | International Space Station

Orbital Sunrise | International Space Station

The first rays of an orbital sunrise illuminate the Earth's atmosphere in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 262 above the Pacific Ocean south of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.

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.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station: 

For more information about STEM on Station: https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation
STEM is an acronym for the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Date: February 22, 2022


#NASA #ESA #ISS #Earth #Planet #Science #Sunrise #Orbit #Atmosphere #Sun #Star #Starlight #Russia #Россия #Kamchatka #Peninsula #Камча́тка #PacificOcean #EarthObservation #Astronaut #Expedition66 #Technology #Photography #JSC #OverviewEffect #OrbitalPerspective #STEM #Education

Monday, March 14, 2022

NASA's Artemis I Moon Rocket Rollout Trailer

NASA's Artemis I Moon Rocket Rollout Trailer 

Twin solid rocket boosters that will produce a combined 7.2 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, a towering core stage, and the only human-rated spacecraft in the world capable of deep-space travel—together, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft stand ready to usher in a new chapter of exploration. Now fully assembled at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, SLS and Orion will soon roll to the launch pad. This rocket will be used for the Artemis I mission, which is an uncrewed flight test of SLS and Orion around the Moon—currently scheduled to launch spring 2022.


Learn more:

NASA's Artemis Program:

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis


NASA's Space Launch System (SLS)

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html


NASA's Orion Spacecraft

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/orion/about/index.html


Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 

Duration: 58 seconds

Release Date: March 14, 2022


#NASA #ESA #CSA #Space #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisI #Orion #Spacecraft #SLS #Boeing #Rocket #DeepSpace #LockheedMartin #Orion #Spacecraft #Astronauts #Mars #JourneyToMars #Science #Engineering #Technology #Exploration #SolarSystem #KSC #Kennedy #UnitedStates #Europe #Canada #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video

A Hypnotic Golden Spiral | European Southern Observatory

A Hypnotic Golden Spiral | European Southern Observatory

This image features the spectacular galaxy NGC 4254, also known as Messier 99. It is an example of a grand design spiral galaxy, featuring strong, prominent, well-defined arms that wrap clearly around the galaxy’s center. Messier 99 is located 49 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Coma Berenices. Here it was imaged in exquisite detail by the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). It is a combination of observations conducted in different colors, or wavelengths, of light, showing clouds of gas ionized by newly born stars. Hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur gas are shown in red, blue and orange respectively.


The image was taken as part of the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) project, which is making high-resolution observations of nearby galaxies across all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum to understand the life-cycle of star formation in galaxies.


Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/PHANGS

Release Date: March 14, 2022


#ESO #Astronomy #Space #Astrophysics #Galaxy #NGC4254 #Messier99 #Spiral #ComaBerenices #Constellation #VLT #MUSE #Telescope #PHANGS #Cosmos #Universe #Earth #LaSilla #Observatory #Chile #Europe #Astrophotography #STEM #Education


Eye of the Galaxy | Hubble

Eye of the Galaxy | Hubble


This finely detailed image shows the heart of NGC 1097, a barred spiral galaxy that lies about 48 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Fornax. This picture reveals the intricacy of the web of stars and dust at NGC 1097’s center, with the long tendrils of dust picked out in a dark red hue. The extent to which the galaxy’s structure is revealed is thanks to two instruments on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope: the Wide Field Camera 3  (WFC3) and the Advanced Camera for Surveys  (ACS).

The idea that a single image can be taken using two different cameras is not very intuitive. However, it makes far more sense after delving into how beautiful astronomical images like this one are composed. A helpful starting point is to consider what color is, exactly. Our eyes can detect light waves at optical wavelengths between roughly 380 and 750 nanometers, using three types of receptors, each of which is sensitive to just a slice of that range. Our brain interprets these specific wavelengths as colors. By contrast, a telescope camera like the WFC3 or ACS is sensitive to a single, broad range of wavelengths to maximize the amount of light collected. Raw images from telescopes are always in greyscale, only showing the amount of the light captured across all those wavelengths.

Color images from telescopes are indirectly possible, however, with the help of filters. By sliding a filter over the aperture of an instrument like the WFC3 or ACS, only light from a very specific wavelength range is let through—one such filter used in this image is for green light around 555 nanometres. This yields a greyscale image showing only the amount of light with that wavelength. This multicolor image of NGC 1097 is composed of images using seven different filters in total. 


Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Sand, K. Sheth

Release Date: March 14, 2022


#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #Galaxies #NGC1097 #Spiral #Barred #Fornax #Constellation #Stars #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #WFC3 #ACS #Color #Filters #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Sunday, March 13, 2022

NASA Astronaut Kayla Barron | SpaceX Crew-3 Mission Specialist

NASA Astronaut Kayla Barron | SpaceX Crew-3 Mission Specialist

One NASA astronaut is learning first-hand if serving on a submarine was good preparation for a trip to space. NASA’s Kayla Barron had three submarine patrol missions in the Navy, and now she has put that background to use as a flight engineer on the International Space Station. The Naval Academy graduate from Richland, Washington, began her first space mission on Nov. 10, 2021, and has completed one spacewalk so far on a planned six-month-long mission as part of Expedition#66.

NASA Astronaut Kayla Barron Official Biography

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

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)

Release Date: February 1, 2022

Duration: 3 minutes, 29 seconds


#NASA #Space #SpaceX #ISS #Astronaut #KaylaBarron #MissionSpecialist #FlightEngineer #Dragon #Spacecraft #CrewDragon #DragonCrew3 #Science #Technology #USNavy #Submariner #Engineer #Washington #UnitedStates #Expedition66 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA Astronaut Raja Chari | SpaceX Dragon Crew-3 Commander

NASA Astronaut Raja Chari | SpaceX Dragon Crew-3 Commander

It is not every day that an astronaut commands a new spacecraft on his first-ever spaceflight, but NASA’s Raja Chari showed he was the man for the job. Watch as Chari tells his own story of an Iowa childhood and Air Force career that led him to become an astronaut. Chari led a multinational crew on the third SpaceX Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station. Chari and his crewmates launched Nov. 10, 2021 for a roughly six-month-long mission.

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.


Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 3 minutes, 4 seconds

Release Date: February 1, 2022


#NASA #Space #SpaceX #ISS #Astronaut #Commander #RajaChari #Dragon #Spacecraft #CrewDragon #DragonCrew3 #Science #Technology #AirForce #USAF #Pilot #Engineer #Iowa #UnitedStates #Expedition66 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Saturday, March 12, 2022

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

Friday, March 11, 2022

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-scienc

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



Thursday, March 10, 2022

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

Wednesday, March 09, 2022

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    

Tuesday, March 08, 2022

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

Monday, March 07, 2022

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