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Using powerful telescopes, in space and on the ground, astronomers have now confirmed more than 5,000 exoplanets—planets beyond our solar system. However, it is just a fraction of the likely hundreds of billions of such planets in our Milky Way galaxy.
As current and future telescopes continue to make discoveries, we may someday find potentially habitable planets—or even inhabited worlds. Many more discoveries await.
Powerful laser beams leave Unit Telescope 4 at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), located in the Atacama Desert in Chile. Their destination? An upper layer of the Earth’s atmosphere, about 90 kilometers from the ground, rich in sodium atoms.
The color of the lasers is tuned to excite these atoms, making them shine brightly, like stars. Astronomers then use these artificial stars to calculate the blurring effect that Earth’s turbulent atmosphere creates on the light from astronomical objects. A deformable mirror uses this information to correct this blur in real time with a technique known as adaptive optics, which leads to much sharper observations.
This telescope, also known as Yepun, is the only one at the VLT equipped with a Laser Guide Star Facility. Each beam is 30 centimeters wide and packs 22 watts of power. For safety reasons, the system is equipped with cameras monitoring the part of the sky occupied by the lasers, so that when an airplane flying by is detected approaching this area, the lasers are promptly switched off.
This cosmic portrait—captured with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3—shows a stunning view of the spiral galaxy NGC 4571, which lies approximately 60 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Coma Berenices. This constellation—whose name translates as Bernice’s Hair—was named after an Egyptian queen who lived more than 2200 years ago.
As majestic as spiral galaxies like NGC 4571 are, they are far from the largest structures known to astronomers. NGC 4571 is part of the Virgo cluster, which contains more than a thousand galaxies. This cluster is in turn part of the larger Virgo supercluster, which also encompasses the Local Group which contains our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Even larger than superclusters are galaxy filaments—the largest known structures in the Universe.
This image comes from a large program of observations designed to produce a treasure trove of combined observations from two great observatories: Hubble and ALMA. ALMA, The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, is a vast telescope consisting of 66 high-precision antennas high in the Chilean Andes, which together observe at wavelengths between infrared and radio waves. This allows ALMA to detect the clouds of cool interstellar dust which give rise to new stars. Hubble’s razor-sharp observations at ultraviolet wavelengths, meanwhile, allows astronomers to pinpoint the location of hot, luminous, newly formed stars. Together, the ALMA and Hubble observations provide a vital repository of data to astronomers studying star formation, as well as laying the groundwork for future science with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team
NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center 75th Anniversary: Autonomy
NASA Armstrong’s Flight Research Center is honoring 75 years of advancing technology and science through flight. For the next year there will be monthly reoccurring videos released to help tell the past 75 years of NASA Armstrong. This month’s theme is autonomy!
Stay updated with NASA Armstrong’s 75th anniversary celebrations:
The NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) is an aeronautical research center. Its primary campus is located inside Edwards Air Force Base in California and is considered NASA's premier site for aeronautical research.
The majority of archival footage and sound used in this video are in the public domain and can be found in government records, the Internet Archive, or Wikimedia Commons.
Additional sources include:
"The Shape of Things to Come" (1984), Northrop Grumman Corporation
"X-29: Experiment in the Sky" (1989), Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, Apogee Productions
Credit: NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC)
NASA X-59 Supersonic Flight Mission Update | Armstrong Flight Research Center
In this edition of The Inside Scoop, you will learn about NASA's X-59 quiet supersonic mission, including the most recent assembly updates, its transport to Fort Worth, Texas, for critical ground testing, and Armstrong Flight Research Center's new flight simulator upgrades. Plus you will find out how you and your family and friends can add your name to the X-59's first flight!
NASA invites you, your family—even your friends and classmates—to sign up and add your name to our list of virtual passengers at: https://www.nasa.gov/flightlog
Your name can ride with us on our X-planes, drones, and other flights as NASA explores ways to improve aviation for everyone.
Print your personalized boarding passes, enter flights into your virtual flight log, and access activities, videos, and more!
The NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) is an aeronautical research center. Its primary campus is located inside Edwards Air Force Base in California and is considered NASA's premier site for aeronautical research.
Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
The Moon has inspired and beckoned generations to explore. NASA’s Artemis I mission will forge a new path to the Moon, charting a course for a new, diverse generation of explorers. We will develop the cutting-edge technology needed to venture even farther—to Mars and beyond. The Artemis I rocket and spacecraft are now combined and undergoing final testing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it will soon launch on the first in a series of increasingly ambitious missions. Thanks to the daily efforts of NASA and its international and industry team members, our dreams are poised to take flight. We are going.
Artemis I moon launch (uncrewed) is currently scheduled for spring 2022.
Artemis I will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration, and demonstrate NASA's commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond. 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.
NASA's Artemis I: Crawling Towards Launch | Kennedy Space Center
One of the many milestones in the leadup to the launch of Artemis is its rollout. This is when a crawler will carry the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion crew spacecraft and the European Service Module from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to Launchpad 39B. NASA's John Giles gives us a tour of the crawler and explains the adaptations made to this “wonderful piece of machinery” since it was first built for the Apollo program in the 1960s. The European Space Agency is playing a key role in NASA’s Artemis program, which will bring astronauts back to the Moon. The European Service Module—or ESM—will provide propulsion, power and thermal control for the Orion spacecraft.
Learn more Artemis I and the European Service Module:
NASA's Moon Rocket Rolls to the Launchpad for the First Time
On March 17, 2022, the Orion spacecraft atop NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket rolled out to Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center ahead of its wet dress rehearsal to test rocket operations. Upon completion of the tests, the rocket will return to the vertical assembly building for final checks before its historic launch for Artemis I later this spring.
Orion will conduct critical tests during the Artemis I mission to pave the way for future missions that will take human passengers back to the Moon for the first time since 1972.
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 NASA's commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond. 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.
China's Space Station: Gender Equality Today—A Sustainable Tomorrow | United Nations
Wang Yaping (China): Astronaut and Space Teacher at China's Manned Space Agency (CMSA)
Speaking from outer space on a 6-month mission, Wang Yaping encourages women and girls to pursue their space dreams: "May every woman be able to reach for the brightest stars!"
Wang Yaping, China's second female astronaut or taikonaut, 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.
On November 7, 2021, Wang Yaping became China's first female spacewalker. Wang became China's second female spacefarer as a member of the Shenzhou 10 spaceship crew when it orbited the Earth in June 2013.
Credit: United Nations/United Nations Office For Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)
Expedition 66-67 Soyuz Hatch Opening | International Space Station
March 18, 2022: Three Russian cosmonauts boarded the International Space Station March 18 after docking their Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft a little more than three hours after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov docked the Soyuz to the Prichal module on the ISS for the start of a planned six-month mission and were later greeted by members of the Expedition 66 crew.
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.
Expedition 66-67 Soyuz MS-21 Docking | International Space Station
March 18, 2022: Three Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) March 18 a little more than three hours after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on their Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft. Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov docked to the Prichal module on the ISS for the start of a planned six-month mission as part of both the Expedition 66 and 67 crews.
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.
Preparing for Station Solar Array Upgrades | This Week @NASA
Week of March 18, 2022: Preparing the space station for solar array upgrades, rolling out the spacecraft for our Artemis I mission, and the Webb Space Telescope team reaches another milestone . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!
Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
The Chinese Zhurong rover landed on Mars in May 2021. This NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) HiRISE camera image, acquired on March 11, 2022, from an altitude of 288 km, shows how far the rover has traveled in the 10 months since it landed. China is the first country to carry out a Mars orbiting, landing, and rover mission successfully on its initial attempt.
In fact, the Zhurong rover's exact path on Mars can be traced from the wheel tracks left on the surface. It has traveled south for roughly 1.5 kilometers (about 1 mile). This cutout highlights the rover and the rover’s path (with contrast enhanced to better reveal the tracks).
The Zhurong rover is part of the Tianwen-1 Mission to Mars conducted by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The Tianwen-1 spacecraft was launched on July 23, 2020 and inserted into Martian orbit on February 10, 2021. The lander, carrying the rover, performed a successful Mars soft-landing on May 14, 2021, making China the third country to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on Mars and to establish communications from the surface, after the Soviet Union (Russia) and the United States.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado.
NASA Artemis I Moon Rocket by Spotlight | Kennedy Space Center
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen illuminated by spotlights atop a mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B, Friday, March 18, 2022, after being rollout out to the launch pad for the first time at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ahead of NASA’s Artemis I flight test, the fully stacked and integrated SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft will undergo a wet dress rehearsal at Launch Complex 39B to verify systems and practice countdown procedures for the first launch. Artemis I moon launch (uncrewed) is currently scheduled for spring 2022.
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 NASA's commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond. 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.
Week of March 18, 2022: NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. A new trio awaits its launch to join the Expedition 66 crew on Friday while two astronauts are preparing for next week’s spacewalk. Human research rounded out the science schedule aboard the International Space Station on Thursday.
Three cosmonauts are counting down to their lift off aboard the Soyuz MS-21 crew ship at 11:55 a.m. EDT on Friday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Soyuz Commander Oleg Artemyev will lead first-time space-flyers Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov on a three-hour and 10-minute ride to the Prichal module where they will dock beginning a six-and-a-half-month mission aboard the station. NASA TV, on the app and the website, will begin its live mission coverage of the crew launch and docking activities at 11:15 a.m. on Friday: nasa.gov/nasatv
Meanwhile, a second spacewalk is scheduled for Wednesday, March 23, for more upgrades at the orbiting lab. Flight Engineers Raja Chari of NASA and Matthias Maurer of ESA (European Space Agency) will set their spacesuits to battery power at 8:50 a.m. signifying the start of their spacewalk. The duo will spend about six-and-a-half-hours installing new thermal system and electronics components. NASA TV will begin its live spacewalk coverage at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday
Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
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.
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
NASA Artemis I Rocket by Moonlight | Kennedy Space Center
The Moon is seen rising behind NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard atop a mobile launcher as it rolls out to Launch Complex 39B for the first time, Thursday, March 17, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ahead of NASA’s Artemis I flight test, the fully stacked and integrated SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft will undergo a wet dress rehearsal at Launch Complex 39B to verify systems and practice countdown procedures for the first launch.
At the pad, NASA will conduct a final prelaunch test known as wet dress rehearsal, which includes loading the SLS propellant tanks and conducting a launch countdown. The rollout involves a 4-mile journey between the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and the launch pad, expected to take between six and 12 hours. Artemis I moon launch (uncrewed) is currently scheduled for spring 2022.
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 NASA's commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond. 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.
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