SpaceX Crew-4: Launch Week Preparations | Kennedy Space Center

SpaceX Crew-4: Launch Week Preparations | Kennedy Space Center

Four commercial crew astronauts representing NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are scheduled to launch at 5:26 a.m. EDT on Saturday, April 23, 2022, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center inside the SpaceX Dragon Freedom crew ship and dock to the same port vacated by the Ax-1 mission on Sunday at 6 a.m. The quartet commanded by NASA’s Kjell Lindgren, with Pilot Robert Hines and Mission Specialists Jessica Watkins of NASA and ESA’s Samantha Cristoforetti, will live and work aboard the orbiting lab for just over four-and-a-half months. The Crew-4 astronauts will become Expedition 67 flight engineers after they open the hatches and enter the space station.

NASA Hosts Virtual Media Event for the Agency’s SpaceX Crew-4

From left, NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins, Bob Hines, and Kjell Lindgren, and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti smile during NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 virtual media engagement event at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 19, 2022. 

Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett | Image Date: April 19, 2022 

SpaceX Crew-4 Dress Rehearsal

From left to right, NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins, Robert Hines, and Kjell Lindgren, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, wearing SpaceX spacesuits, are seen as they prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for Launch Complex 39A during a dress rehearsal prior to the Crew-4 mission launch, Wednesday, April 20, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

Image Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani 

Image Date: April 20, 2022

#NASA #ESA #SpaceX #Falcon9 #Rocket #CrewDragon #Freedom #ISS #Earth #Science #Astronaut #Astronauts #KjellLindgren #JessicaWatkins #RobertHines #SamanthaCristoforetti #Minerva #Italy #Italia #Human #Spaceflight #Crew4 #CCP #LaunchComplex39A #Kennedy #KSC #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Axiom 1 Mission Farewell Ceremony | International Space Station

Axiom 1 Mission Farewell Ceremony | International Space Station

On Tuesday morning, April 19, 2022, Axiom Space and NASA held a farewell ceremony between the Ax-1 and Expedition 67 crews aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Ax-1 is the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. Ax-1 crew members are Commander Michael López-Alegría of Spain and the United States, Pilot Larry Connor of the United States, and Mission Specialists Eytan Stibbe of Israel, and Mark Pathy of Canada. During their 10-day mission, the crew spent over eight days on the International Space Station (ISS) conducting scientific research, outreach, and commercial activities. 

Learn more about Ax-1 at Axiom Space: https://www.axiomspace.com

Credit: Axiom Space

Duration: 9 minutes, 19 seconds

Release Date: April 19, 2022

#NASA #Space #ISS #Axiom #AxiomSpace #Ax1 #SpaceX #CrewDragon #Falcon9 #Rocket #Artemis #ArtemisI #Orion #Spacecraft #SLS #Private #Crew #Mission #Astronauts #MichaelLópezAlegría #Spain #Espana #LarryConnor #UnitedStates #EytanStibbe #Israel #MarkPathy #Canada #Science #Research #STEM #Education #HD #Video

SpaceX Crew-4 Dragon Rollout | NASA's Kennedy Space Center

 SpaceX Crew-4 Dragon Rollout | NASA's Kennedy Space Center

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon—named Freedom by the Crew-4 astronauts—atop the company’s Falcon 9 rocket, leaves the SpaceX integration hangar adjacent to NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A for rollout to the launch pad on April 19, 2022. 

NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, and Jessica Watkins, and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who arrived at Kennedy one day ago, will fly to the International Space Station on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission. Liftoff is targeted for Saturday, April 23, at 5:26 a.m. EDT. 

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission is the fourth crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. 

Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Image Date: April 19, 2022

#NASA #ESA #SpaceX #Falcon9 #Rocket #CrewDragon #ISS #Earth #Science #Astronaut #Astronauts #KjellLindgren #JessicaWatkins #RobertHines #SamanthaCristoforetti #Minerva #Italy #Italia #Human #Spaceflight #Crew4 #LaunchComplex39A #Kennedy #KSC #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

SpaceX Crew-4 Falcon 9 Rocket Rollout | NASA's Kennedy Space Center

SpaceX Crew-4 Falcon 9 Rocket Rollout | NASA's Kennedy Space Center

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard is seen as it is rolled out to the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Crew-4 mission, Tuesday, April 19, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission is the fourth crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, Jessica Watkins, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti are scheduled to launch on April 23 at 5:26 a.m. EDT, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. 

Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Image Date: April 19, 2022

#NASA #ESA #SpaceX #Falcon9 #Rocket #CrewDragon #ISS #Earth #Science #Astronaut #Astronauts #KjellLindgren #JessicaWatkins #RobertHines #SamanthaCristoforetti #Minerva #Italy #Italia #Human #Spaceflight #Crew4 #LaunchComplex39A #Kennedy #KSC #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Samantha’s Second Space Mission: Minerva | European Space Agency

Samantha’s Second Space Mission: Minerva | European Space Agency

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy will return to the International Space Station in April 2022. Her second space mission is known as Minerva. 

Inspired by Roman mythology, Samantha says the Minerva mission name and patch pay homage to the competence and sophisticated craftmanship of all those who make human spaceflight possible. 

Samantha will travel to the Station alongside NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob “Farmer” Hines and Jessica Watkins. Collectively known as Crew-4, the astronauts will be launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. 

When Samantha arrives at the Station, her Minerva mission officially begins. This will see her live and work aboard the orbital outpost for approximately five months. During this time, she will support over 35 European and many more international experiments in orbit.  

Samantha will also hold the role of US Orbital Segment (USOS) lead, responsible for operations within the US, European, Japanese and Canadian modules and components of the International Space Station (ISS).

As her launch draws closer, Samantha continues her training with International Space Station partners. 

Learn more about Mission Minerva: https://bit.ly/MissionMinerva

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)

Duration: 4 minutes, 41 seconds

Release Date: April 19, 2022

#NASA #ESA #SpaceX #ISS #Earth #Science #Astronaut #SamanthaCristoforetti #Minerva #Italy #Italia #Human #Spaceflight #Crew4 #Kennedy #KSC #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

A Group of Five Bright Galaxies to Celebrate Hubble's 32nd Birthday!

A Group of Five Bright Galaxies to Celebrate Hubble's 32nd Birthday!

NASA is celebrating the Hubble Space Telescope's 32nd birthday with a stunning look at an unusual close-knit collection of five galaxies, called The Hickson Compact Group 40. This menagerie includes three spiral-shaped galaxies, an elliptical galaxy, and a lenticular (lens-like) galaxy. Somehow, these different galaxies crossed paths in their evolution to create an exceptionally crowded and eclectic galaxy sampler. Caught in a leisurely gravitational dance, the whole group is so crowded that it could fit within a region of space that is less than twice the diameter of our Milky Way's stellar disk.

Though such cozy galaxy groupings can be found in the heart of huge galaxy clusters, these galaxies are notably isolated in their own small patch of the universe, in the direction of the constellation Hydra.

One possible explanation is that there is a lot of dark matter (an unknown and invisible form of matter) associated with these galaxies. If they come close together, then the dark matter can form a big cloud within which the galaxies are orbiting. As the galaxies plow through the dark matter they feel a resistive force due to its gravitational effects. This slows their motion and makes the galaxies lose energy, so they fall together. Therefore, this snapshot catches the galaxies at a very special moment in their lifetimes. In about 1 billion years they will eventually collide and merge to form a giant elliptical galaxy.

Astronomers have studied this compact galaxy group not only in visible light, but also in radio, infrared, and X-ray wavelengths. Almost all of them have a compact radio source in their cores, which could be evidence for the presence of supermassive black holes. X-ray observations show that the galaxies have been gravitationally interacting due to the presence of a lot of hot gas among the galaxies. Infrared observations reveal clues to the rate of new star formation.

Though over 100 such compact galaxy groups have been cataloged in sky surveys going back several decades, Hickson Compact Group 40 is one of the most densely packed. Observations suggest that such tight groups may have been more abundant in the early universe and provided fuel for powering black holes, known as quasars, whose light from superheated infalling material blazed across space. Studying the details of galaxies in nearby groups like this help astronomers sort out when and where galaxies assembled themselves, and what they are assembled from.

"I remember seeing this on a sky survey and saying, 'wow look at that!'" said Paul Hickson of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. "All that I was using at the time was a big plastic ruler and a magnifying glass while looking over sky survey prints." He re-discovered the group by browsing through a collection of peculiar galaxies first published by Halton Arp in 1966.

Hubble was deployed into orbit around Earth by NASA astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery, on April 25, 1990. The telescope has taken 1.5 million observations of approximately 50,000 celestial targets to date. This treasure trove of knowledge about the universe is stored for public access in the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes, at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.

Hubble's unique capabilities in observing visible and ultraviolet light are a critical scientific complement to the infrared-light observations of the recently launched Webb Space Telescope, which will begin science observations this summer.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, in Washington, D.C.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI; Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Release Date: April 19, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Hubble #Galaxies #HicksonCompactGroup40 #Elliptical #Spiral #Lenticular #Collision #Galactic #Hydra #Constellation #Science #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Orion Pines in Spain

Orion Pines in Spain

Taken with a camera fixed to a tripod, many short exposures were aligned with the stars to unveil this beautiful, dark night sky. Captured near the rural village of Albany`a at the northeastern corner of Spain, the three stars of Orion's belt stretch across top center in the starry frame. Alnitak, the easternmost (left) of the belt stars is seen next to the more diffuse glow of the Flame Nebula and the dark notch of the famous Horsehead. Easily visible to the naked-eye The Great Nebula of Orion is below the belt stars. A mere 1,500 light-years distant, it is the closest large stellar nursery to our fair planet. Best seen in photographs, the broad and faint arc of Barnard's Loop seems to embrace Orion's brighter stars and nebulae though. In the northern spring the familiar northern winter constellation is setting. Near the western horizon toward lower right Orion's apparently bright blue supergiant Rigel just touches the branches of a pine tree.

Image Credit & Copyright: Juan Carlos Casado

Juan's website: https://www.twanight.org/casado

Caption Credit: Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD)

Release Date: April 16, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Orion #Horsehead #Flame #Nebula #GreatNebula #BarnardsLoop #Stars #Alnitak #Rigel #Astrophotographer #JuanCarlosCasado #Astrophotography #Cosmos #Universe #Earth #Spain #España #STEM #Education #APoD

NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 Arrival | Kennedy Space Center

NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 Arrival | Kennedy Space Center

After months of training in Houston, Texas, NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 astronauts caught a flight to Florida before their April 23, 2022, launch to the International Space Station (ISS). Crew-4 consists of NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins, Kjell Lindgren, and Robert Hines, along with European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy. Until April 23, they will attend briefings, do a practice run of launch day, and spend time with family. They can be seen at the Launch and Landing Facility where they answered questions from members of the media at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, April 18, 2022.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission is the fourth crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP). Lindgren, Hines, Watkins, and Cristoforetti are scheduled to launch April 23 at 5:26 a.m. EDT, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. 

Samantha Cristoforetti is the third European astronaut to launch on SpaceX, after Thomas Pesquet in early 2021 and current ESA astronaut-in-space Matthias Maurer in late 2021. This is the second mission for Samantha who spent approximately 200 days in space in 2015 for her Futura mission.

NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins, left, Kjell Lindgren, second from left, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, second from right, and NASA astronaut Robert Hines, right.

NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren speaks to members of the media 

NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins speaks to members of the media 

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is seen after arriving at the Launch and Landing Facility 

    

NASA astronaut Robert Hines speaks to members of the media 

NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins is seen after arriving at the Launch and Landing Facility with fellow crewmates

Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Release Date: April 18, 2022

#NASA #ESA #SpaceX #ISS #Earth #Science #Astronaut #Astronauts #KjellLindgren #JessicaWatkins #RobertHines #SamanthaCristoforetti #Minerva #Italy #Italia #Human #Spaceflight #Crew4 #Kennedy #KSC #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Shenzhou 13 Astronauts Return to Earth After 6 months on China’s Space Station

Shenzhou 13 Astronauts Return to Earth After 6 months on China’s Space Station

Three Chinese astronauts safely returned to Earth aboard the Shenzhou 13 capsule on April 16, 2022, after ​​spending 182 days in orbit aboard China’s Tiangong space station. Astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu were all in good shape after landing in China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region. They were on China’s eighth manned space mission and longest to date for the nation.

Wang Yaping is China's second female astronaut or taikonaut. 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.

Tiangong is a space station being constructed by China in low Earth orbit between 340 and 450 km (210 and 280 mi) above the surface. Being China's first long-term space station, it is the goal of the "Third Step" of the China Manned Space Program. Once completed, Tiangong will have a mass of nearly 100 metric tonnes 100 t (220,000 lb), roughly one-fifth the mass of the International Space Station. It is hoped that the research conducted on the station will improve researchers' ability to conduct science experiments in space.

A telescope will also be sent into space to fly in the same orbit as the space station to provide observation data for astronomical and physical studies.

China will launch six more space missions this year. After completing the space station in 2022, China plans to carry out more extensive and in-depth international cooperation.

 

A telescope will also be sent into space to fly in the same orbit as the space station in 2023 to provide observation data for astronomical and physical studies.

Credit: South China Morning Post (SCMP)

Duration: 2 minutes, 19 seconds

Release Date: April 18, 2022

#Space #China #中国 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #NieHaisheng #YeGuangfu #Women #WangYaping #王亚平 #Tiangong #天宫 #SpaceStation #Shenzhou13 #UNOOSA #UnitedNations #CNSA #CMSA #国家航天局 #Science #Technology #InnerMongolia #内蒙古自治区 #Beijing #北京市 #STEM #Education #International #HD #Video

Satellite Galaxies of Our Milky Way Above ESO’s Telescopes

Satellite Galaxies of Our Milky Way Above ESO’s Telescopes

Floating in the sky above two of the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) Auxiliary Telescopes in Chile are a pair of ethereal shapes. These are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds—two of the 50 or so satellite galaxies that orbit our more massive Milky Way.

Despite being small compared to the Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds still contain billions of stars. The Large Magellanic Cloud, in the bottom-right of the image, has a diameter of 14,000 light-years, and the Small Magellanic Cloud in the top-center is 7,000 light-years across. At distances of about 160,000 light-years and 200,000 light-years respectively these satellite galaxies are much closer to the Milky Way than our nearest major galaxy, Andromeda, 2.5 million light-years away, making them some of our closest neighbors.

The faint red emission in the sky is called airglow, and its light naturally emitted by atoms and molecules high up in the atmosphere, oxygen in this case.

These ghostly galaxies can only be seen in the southern hemisphere, in skies that are unpolluted by light from cities. This is one of the reasons that European Southern Observatory (ESO) operates the VLT in the remote Chilean Atacama Desert—so that we can study such beguiling objects as the Magellanic Clouds.

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/M. Zamani

Release Date: April 18, 2022

#ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Galaxies #LargeMagellanic #SmallMagellanic #Clouds #Earth #Atmosphere #Airglow #Chile #Atacama #Desert #SouthAmerica #SouthernHemisphere #VLT #Telescope #Astrophotography #Photography #STEM #Education

Hubble Inspects a Set of Galactic Wings

Hubble Inspects a Set of Galactic Wings

Two merging galaxies in the VV689 system—nicknamed the Angel Wing—feature in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Unlike chance alignments of galaxies which only appear to overlap as seen from our vantage point on Earth, the two galaxies in VV689 are in the midst of a collision. The galactic interaction has left the VV689 system almost completely symmetrical, giving the impression of a vast set of galactic wings.

This 'angelic' image comes from a set of Hubble observations inspecting the highlights of the Galaxy Zoo citizen science project. This crowdsourced astronomy project relied on hundreds of thousands of volunteers to classify galaxies and help astronomers wade through a deluge of data from robotic telescopes. In the process, volunteers discovered a rogues’ gallery of weird and wonderful galaxy types, some of which had not previously been studied. A similar, ongoing project called Radio Galaxy Zoo is using the same crowdsourcing approach to locate supermassive black holes in distant galaxies. 

Noteworthy objects from both projects were chosen for detailed follow-up observations with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. In keeping with the crowdsourced nature of the Galaxy Zoo project, the targets for follow-up observations with Hubble were chosen via roughly 18,000 votes cast by the public. The selected targets include ring-shaped galaxies, unusual spirals, and a striking selection of galaxy mergers such as VV689.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Keel.

Acknowledgement: J. Schmidt

Release Date: April 18, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Hubble #Galaxies #Collision #Galactic #VV689 #AngelWing #Leo #Constellation #Science #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #GalaxyZoo #RadioGalaxyZoo #CitizenScience #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover Arrives at Kodiak Hill | JPL

NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover Arrives at Kodiak Hill | JPL  

Kodiak Hill - Perseverance, sol 409 Mosaic of 9 pictures taken by Mastcam-Z Left camera aboard Perseverance rover on sol 409 (April 15th, 2022) at 10:06 am Martian local time. 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/Thomas Appéré 

The river delta in this area "is one of the best locations on Mars for the Perseverance rover to look for signs of past microscopic life. A delta forms when a sediment laden river runs into a body of standing water, and as it does so, slows and can no longer hold the sediment, so it drops the rocks, gravel and soil into the water body, which gently sinks to the bottom and forms a delta. Over time, the delta becomes a layered repository, like an book with pages, which one can turn over each day to learn more about the history of Mars."

"How does it achieve this? Well, the rocks and sediments had to come from somewhere. They were sourced in a region called the “watershed” of the delta. This is a much bigger area than Jezero crater (itself about 45km across), and the rocks we see in the delta will inform us about a wide range of Martian process, and some rocks may even be *older* than the Jezero crater itself (about 3.9 billion years old)."

"Another possibility is that we may find fossilized traces of ancient Martian life in these delta rocks. In one scenario, life might have got started in the early Noachian period (about 4 billion years old) when Mars was probably more friendly to life, and was preserved in the watershed until one fateful day when they were washed into the river system, and then the crater."

"So these interesting rocks will arrive somewhat randomly to us as we explore the delta, one can appreciate that everyday of the year-long “Delta campaign” will be exciting for every scientist on the team, because every day could be the day we hit it big. Real big."

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers.

Mission Name: Mars 2020

Rover Name: Perseverance

Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.

Launch: July 30, 2020    

Landing: Feb. 18, 2021, Jezero Crater, Mars

For more about Perseverance: nasa.gov/perseverance

For more information on NASA's Mars missions, visit: mars.nasa.gov

Story Credit: Adrian Brown, Deputy Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters

Image Release Date: April 15, 2022

Story Release Date: April 15, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #River #Delta #KodiakHill #Astrobiology #Geology #Jezero #Crater #Perseverance #Rover #Robotics #Technology #JPL #Pasadena #California #UnitedStates #JourneyToMars #STEM #Education

NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover Arrives at River Delta | JPL

NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover Arrives at River Delta | JPL

Kodiak Hill - Perseverance, sol 409: Mosaic of 4 pictures taken by Navcam Left camera aboard Perseverance rover on sol 409 (April 15th, 2022) at 3:20 pm Martian local time.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Thomas Appéré

Kodiak Hill - Perseverance, sol 409

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/Thomas Appéré

Roving along delta front - Perseverance, sol 406

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/Thomas Appéré

Roving along delta front - Perseverance, sol 406

Cropped version of the Mastcam-Z panorama taken on sol 406.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/Thomas Appéré

Roving along delta front - Perseverance, sol 406

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/Thomas Appéré

Roving along delta front - Perseverance, sol 406

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/Thomas Appéré

Roving along delta front - Perseverance, sol 406

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/Thomas Appéré

Roving along delta front - Perseverance, sol 406

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/Thomas Appéré

"This river delta is one of the best locations on Mars for the Perseverance rover to look for signs of past microscopic life. A delta forms when a sediment laden river runs into a body of standing water, and as it does so, slows and can no longer hold the sediment, so it drops the rocks, gravel and soil into the water body, which gently sinks to the bottom and forms a delta. Over time, the delta becomes a layered repository, like an book with pages, which one can turn over each day to learn more about the history of Mars."

"How does it achieve this? Well, the rocks and sediments had to come from somewhere. They were sourced in a region called the “watershed” of the delta. This is a much bigger area than Jezero crater (itself about 45km across), and the rocks we see in the delta will inform us about a wide range of Martian process, and some rocks may even be *older* than the Jezero crater itself (about 3.9 billion years old)."

"Another possibility is that we may find fossilized traces of ancient Martian life in these delta rocks. In one scenario, life might have got started in the early Noachian period (about 4 billion years old) when Mars was probably more friendly to life, and was preserved in the watershed until one fateful day when they were washed into the river system, and then the crater."

"So these interesting rocks will arrive somewhat randomly to us as we explore the delta, one can appreciate that everyday of the year-long “Delta campaign” will be exciting for every scientist on the team, because every day could be the day we hit it big. Real big."

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers.

Mission Name: Mars 2020

Rover Name: Perseverance

Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.

Launch: July 30, 2020    

Landing: Feb. 18, 2021, Jezero Crater, Mars

For more about Perseverance: nasa.gov/perseverance

For more information on NASA's Mars missions, visit: mars.nasa.gov

Story Credit: Adrian Brown, Deputy Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters

Image Release Dates: April 12-15, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #River #Delta #KodiakHill #Astrobiology #Geology #Jezero #Crater #Perseverance #Rover #Robotics #Technology #JPL #Pasadena #California #UnitedStates #JourneyToMars #STEM #Education

NASA's Apollo 16 Lands in the Lunar Highlands: 50th Anniversary (1972-2022)

NASA's Apollo 16 Lands in the Lunar Highlands: 50th Anniversary (1972-2022)

Thanks to data provided by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission, we are able to visualize the Apollo 16 landing site in the Descartes highlands on the nearside of the Moon, where the astronauts landed in April 1972. The mission was crewed by Commander John Young, Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke, and Command Module Pilot Thomas K. Mattingly. This visualization contains audio transmissions from portions of the mission between the astronauts and CapCom James Irwin, and a view of the 3 extravehicular activity (EVA) routes the astronauts took over the course of three days, including their visit to North Ray crater. The experiments conducted and lunar samples collected by the crew are still providing valuable data about our Moon to scientists today.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched in 2009. Its Exploration Mission was focused on supporting the extension of human presence in the solar system. LRO continues to help identify sites close to potential resources with high scientific value, favorable terrain and the environment necessary for safe future robotic and human lunar missions. The LRO mission has been extended to continue lunar science and exploration. 

The orbiter has made a 3-D map of the Moon's surface at 100-meter resolution and 98.2% coverage (excluding polar areas in deep shadow), including 0.5-meter resolution images of Apollo landing sites. In polar shadowed regions, LRO found the coldest spots measured (below 30 K) in the solar system. It discovered significant subsurface hydrogen deposits in regions cold enough for water ice to survive, as well as in additional hydrogen deposits in warmer areas where surface water ice is not thermally stable. 

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Data visualization by: Ernie Wright (USRA) 

Produced and Edited by: David Ladd (AIMM)

Music Provided by Universal Production Music: “The Orion Arm” - Christian Telford, David Travis Edwards, Matthew St. Laurent, & Robert Anthony Navarro.

Duration: 1 minute 16 seconds

Release Date: April 15, 2022 

#NASA #Space #Apollo #Moon #Lunar #Highlands #Landing #Astronauts #JohnYoung #CharlesDuke #ThomasMattingly #Apollo16 #EVA #Crater #NorthRay #History #50thAnniversary #Pioneers #LRO #Orbiter #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education  #Visualization #HD #Video

Night Skies & National Parks | NASA's Earth Observatory

Night Skies & National Parks | NASA's Earth Observatory

NASA and the National Park Service in the United States worked together to create a web-based tool: http://vms.seas.umich.edu that helps park managers better understand the impact of outdoor lighting and noise on animal species in national parks.

The website allows park managers to choose a time period, such as the spring or winter seasons, and then zoom into a particular park to see sound and nighttime lights data and determine which animal species might be at risk from those sensory stimuli.

Observations from space, such as nighttime light data from the NASA/NOAA Suomi NPP satellite used to produce this United States map, help to better gauge the impact of outdoor lighting on animal species in national parks.

April 16-24, 2022, is National Park Week. Parks across the country are hosting events virtually and in-person: 

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/npscelebrates/national-park-week.htm

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

Release Date: April 15, 2022

#NASA #Space #Satellite #SuomiNPP #Earth #LightPollution #DarkSkies #NASAMarshall #NOAA #NationalParks #NPS #NationalParkWeek #sParkConnections #Map #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

NASA’s High Altitude ER-2 Aircraft Returns to Flight

NASA’s High Altitude ER-2 Aircraft Returns to Flight

NASA's ER-2 No. 806 returns to flying high-altitude on April 7, 2022 with NASA pilot Greg "Coach" Nelson, after three years of heavy maintenance. NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in California operates two ER-2 aircraft to collect information about Earth resources, celestial observations, atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, and oceanic processes. NASA's ER-2 set a world-altitude record for the class of aircraft with a takeoff weight between 26,455 and 35,275 lb on Nov. 19, 1998, when the aircraft reached 68,700 feet.

The Lockheed Martin ER-2 was developed for NASA to serve as a high-altitude scientific research aircraft. The ER-2 operates at altitudes from 20,000 feet to 70,000 feet, which is above 99 percent of the Earth's atmosphere. Depending on aircraft weight, the ER-2 reaches an initial cruise altitude of 65,000 feet within 20 minutes. Typical cruise speed is 410 knots. The range for a normal eight-hour mission is 3,000 nautical miles yielding seven hours of data collection at altitude. The aircraft is capable of longer missions in excess of 10 hours and ranges in excess of 6,000 nautical miles. The ER-2 can carry a maximum payload of 2,600 lb (1,179 kilograms) distributed in the equipment bay, nose area, and wing pods.

The aircraft has four large pressurized experiment compartments and a high capacity AC/DC electrical system, permitting it to carry a variety of payloads on a single mission. The modular design of the aircraft permits rapid installation or removal of payloads to meet changing mission requirements.

Flying from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703, the ER-2 conducted its first low-level flight on March 21 since it was disassembled in October 2018.

During the maintenance period, pilot safety was enhanced through the Cockpit Altitude Reduction Effort, or CARE. The modification allows the pilot to safely operate the ER-2 by reducing effective cockpit altitude from 29,000 feet to 15,000 feet altitude when operating at 65,000 feet. Changing the altitude in the cockpit significantly reduces the possibility of decompression sickness.

Another important modification to the ER-2 utilizes the Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) technology. The installation of the ADS-B system makes flying the ER-2 safer by allowing the pilot increased traffic situational awareness. The ADS-B system also brings the ER-2 in compliance with the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to operate in the national and international airspace.

Following a series of check flights on April 7, the ER-2 will resume flying missions for NASA’s Earth Science Division. The end of life estimate of 2030 for the ER-2 aircraft is coincident with the end of the Air Force U-2 program. 

For more information on the ER-2 aircraft, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-046-DFRC.html

For more information on NASA's Airborne Science Program: http://airbornescience.nasa.gov

The Lockheed Martin U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is an American single-jet engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). It provides day and night, high-altitude (70,000 feet, 21,300 meters), all-weather intelligence gathering.

Caption Credit: NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC)

Image Credit: NASA/Carla Thomas

Image Capture Date: April 7, 2022

Release Date:  April 15, 2022

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