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SWOT: NASA-CNES Satellite to Survey the World's Water—Mission Overview
NASA and CNES (French Space Agency) are collaborating to make the first global survey of Earth's surface fresh water and study fine-scale ocean currents with a new mission called SWOT, or Surface Water and Ocean Topography. SWOT will collect data on the height of Earth’s salt and fresh water—including oceans, lakes, and rivers—enabling researchers to track the location of water over time, which will help measure the effects of climate change.
SWOT is expected to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in central California in November 2022.
SWOT is a collaboration between NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Etudes Spatial (CNES), with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and United Kingdom Space Agency (UK Space Agency).
Earth from Orbit: First Imagery from New GOES-18 Weather Satellite | NOAA
On May 11, 2022, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shared the first images of the Western Hemisphere from its new GOES-18 satellite. The satellite’s Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) instrument recently captured stunning views of Earth.
GOES-18, NOAA’s newest geostationary satellite, launched on March 1, 2022. The ABI views Earth with sixteen different channels, each measuring energy at different wavelengths along the electromagnetic spectrum to obtain information about Earth’s atmosphere, land, and ocean.
GOES-18 orbits 22,236 miles above the equator at the same speed the Earth rotates. This allows the satellite to constantly view the same area of the planet and track weather conditions and hazards as they happen.
The ABI provides high-resolution imagery and atmospheric measurements for short-term forecasts and severe weather warnings. ABI data is also used for detecting and monitoring environmental hazards such as wildfires, dust storms, volcanic eruptions, turbulence, and fog.
Data from multiple ABI channels can be combined to create imagery that approximates what the human eye would see from space—a result known as GeoColor. Combining data from different channels in different ways also allows meteorologists to highlight features of interest.
Recently, GOES-18 observed a number of weather events, environmental phenomena, and striking views of our planet. Storms across east Texas produced large hail, strong wind gusts, and tornadoes. Farther west in New Mexico, strong winds resulted in large areas of blowing dust and expansion of large wildfires. Fog blanketed parts of Chile in South America, and clouds and some thunderstorms formed along sea breezes in the Yucatan and south Florida.
GOES-18 is currently undergoing post-launch testing, validation and calibration of its instruments and systems to prepare it for operations. The ABI cooling system is performing well, with no signs of the issue that affects its sister satellite, GOES-17. The ABI was redesigned for GOES-18 to reduce the likelihood of future cooling system anomalies. The new design uses a simpler hardware configuration that eliminates the filters that are susceptible to debris.
GOES-18 will assist GOES-17 with GOES West operations in late summer 2022 and again in early fall. NOAA plans for GOES-18 to replace GOES-17 as GOES West in early 2023. Imagery from GOES-18 during the post-launch testing phase should be considered preliminary and non-operational.
Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
NASA's SpaceX Crew-3 Dragon Undocking | International Space Station
The SpaceX Dragon Endurance crew ship carrying four Crew 3 astronauts back to Earth is pictured from a window on the International Space Station following its undocking from the Harmony module's forward port. Crew 3 Commander Raja Chari led Pilot Tom Marshburn and Mission Specialists Kayla Barron and Matthias Maurer inside Endurance as they reentered Earth's atmosphere and parachuted to a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa, Florida, United States, the following day.
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.
Experience Boeing Starliner's Rocket Rollout | NASA Kennedy
Experience rollout from the Starliner spacecraft's perspective with this time lapse video of Starliner making the journey from our Commercial Crew & Cargo Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center to United Launch Alliance's Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Starliner was secured atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for Boeing’s second Orbital Flight Test (OFT-2) to the International Space Station for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP).
Stay tuned for all dynamic phases of Starliner's Orbital Flight Test-2, beginning with launch on May 19.
Boeing's Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft have been developed and tested to fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station from U.S. soil.
Learn more about NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at:
Samantha & Jessica Talk with AP & ABC News | International Space Station
Aboard the International Space Station, NASA Expedition 67 Flight Engineer Jessica Watkins and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti discussed living and working in space during an in-flight interview May 10, 2022, with the Associated Press (AP) and ABC News. Watkins and Cristoforetti are in the midst of a six-month long mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions as part of NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration approach, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.
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.
European Space Agency Astronaut Matthias Maurer Returns to Germany
European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer is back in Cologne, Germany, after 177 days in space and 175 days aboard the International Space Station for his first mission ‘Cosmic Kiss’.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying Matthias and his Crew-3 crewmates, NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron, splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa, Florida, USA on Friday, May 6, 2022. The journey from the International Space Station to splashdown took just over 23 hours.
After its water landing, the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft was hoisted aboard a recovery boat where the hatch was opened, and the astronauts were welcomed home.
Matthias underwent initial medical checks aboard the boat before being flown by helicopter to shore and boarding a plane to Cologne. He will spend the next weeks participating in debriefings, providing samples for scientific evaluation and readapting to Earth’s gravity at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) and the German Aerospace Centre’s (DLR) ‘Envihab’ facility.
Galaxies are the visible foundation of the universe; each one a collection of stars, planets, gas, dust, and dark matter held together by gravity. Hubble’s observations give us insight into how galaxies form, grow, and evolve through time.
Hubble’s namesake, astronomer Edwin Hubble, pioneered the study of galaxies based simply on their appearance. He divided galaxies into three basic forms.
This “Field Guide” will quickly teach you those three basic forms, and some new ones that astronomers have added over the years!
Images of Edwin Hubble via Edwin P. Hubble Papers of the Huntington Library, San Mario, California.
Music Credits:
“Gravity Cruise - Underscore” by Jon Buster Cottam [PRS], and Samuel William John Walker [PRS] via Ninja Tune Production Music, and Universal Production Music
NASA Astronaut Jessica Watkin's View of Earth | International Space Station
NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins floats in the International Space Station’s cupola, a direct nadir viewing window from which Earth and celestial objects are visible.
Watkins reported for duty in August 2017 and completed two years of training as an astronaut candidate. Her astronaut candidate training included scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in space station's systems, spacewalks, robotics, physiological training, T-38 flight training, water and wilderness survival training, geology training, and expeditionary skills training.
Watkins also served as an aquanaut crew member in the Aquarius underwater habitat for the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations, or NEEMO, 23 mission in 2019.
Watkins is currently serving as a mission specialist on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station, which launched on April 27, 2022.
NASA's Psyche Asteroid Mission Spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center
Mission Launch Expected: August 2022
Since its arrival on April 29, 2022, on a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III large military transport aircraft, the Psyche spacecraft has moved into the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where technicians removed it from its protective shipping container, rotated it to vertical, and have begun the final steps to prepare the spacecraft for launch. In the coming months, crews will perform a range of work including re-installing its solar arrays, re-integrating a radio, testing the telecommunications system, loading propellants, and encapsulating the spacecraft inside payload fairings before it leaves the facility and moves to the launch pad.
The Psyche spacecraft will explore a metal-rich asteroid between Mars and Jupiter, made largely of nickel-iron metal. The mission is targeting an Aug. 1, 2022 launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy. After arriving in 2026, the spacecraft will spend 21 months orbiting its namesake asteroid, mapping and gathering data, potentially providing insights on how planets with a metal core, including Earth, formed. The spacecraft will use solar-electric propulsion to travel approximately 1.5 billion miles to rendezvous with its namesake asteroid in 2026.
The Psyche mission is led by Arizona State University (ASU). NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and testing, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP), based at Kennedy, is managing the launch. Psyche will be the 14th mission in the agency's Discovery program and LSP’s 100th primary mission.
For more information about NASA’s Psyche mission go to:
Comparison: New James Webb Space Telescope vs. Spitzer Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope is aligned across all four of its science instruments, as seen in a previous engineering image showing the observatory’s full field of view. Now, we take a closer look at that same image, focusing on Webb’s coldest instrument: the Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI.
The MIRI test image (at 7.7 microns) shows part of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). This small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way provided a dense star field to test Webb’s performance.
Here, a close-up of the MIRI image is compared to a past image of the same target taken with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope’s Infrared Array Camera (at 8.0 microns). The retired Spitzer was the first observatory to provide high-resolution images of the near- and mid-infrared Universe. The Spitzer Space Telescope was launched in 2003 and science operations ended in 2020. Webb, by virtue of its significantly larger primary mirror and improved detectors, will allow us to see the infrared sky with improved clarity, enabling even more discoveries.
For example, Webb’s MIRI image shows the interstellar gas in unprecedented detail. Here, you can see the emission from ‘polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons’—molecules of carbon and hydrogen that play an important role in the thermal balance and chemistry of interstellar gas. When Webb is ready to begin science observations, studies such as these with MIRI will help give astronomers new insights into the birth of stars and protoplanetary systems.
In the meantime, the Webb team has begun the process of setting up and testing Webb’s instruments to begin science observations this summer. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is now experiencing all seasons—from hot to cold—as it undergoes the thermal stability test. Meanwhile, activities are underway for the final phase of commissioning: digging into the details of the science instruments, the heart of Webb. To complete commissioning, we will measure the detailed performance of the science instruments before we start routine science operations in the summer.
Webb is an international partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). MIRI is part of Europe’s contribution to the Webb mission. It is a partnership between Europe and the USA; the main partners are ESA, a consortium of nationally funded European institutes, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the tattered remnant of a supernova—a titanic explosion marking the end of the life of a dying star. This object—known as DEM L249—is thought to have been created by a Type 1a supernova during the death throes of a white dwarf. While white dwarfs are usually stable, they can slowly accrue matter if they are part of a binary star system. This accretion of matter continues until the white dwarf reaches a critical mass and undergoes a catastrophic supernova explosion, ejecting a vast amount of material into space in the process.
DEM L249 lies in the constellation Mensa and is within the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way only 160,000 light-years from Earth. The LMC is an ideal natural laboratory where astronomers can study the births, lives, and deaths of stars, as this region is nearby, oriented towards Earth, and contains relatively little light-absorbing interstellar dust. The data in this image were gathered by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 instrument, and were obtained during a systematic search of the LMC for the surviving companions of white dwarf stars which have gone supernova.
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, Y. Chu
Friends of NASA (FoN) is an independent non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to building international support for peaceful space exploration, commerce, scientific discovery, and STEM education.
The interacting galaxy pair NGC 1512 and NGC 1510 take center stage in this image from the US Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera, a state-of-the-art wide-field imager on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. NGC 1512 has been in the process of merging with its smaller galactic neighbor for 400 million years, and this drawn-out interaction has ignited waves of star formation.
Credit:
Images and Videos: Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA S. Brunier/Digitized Sky Survey 2, E. Slawik.
Image processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), J. Miller (Gemini Observatory/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab)
NASA Astronaut Sunita Williams: Spacewalks—Sensory Overload
In episode two of Down to Earth: Conversations, veteran astronaut Sunita Williams and environmental studies student Adrien Prouty explore what it is like to conduct a spacewalk on the International Space Station.
Expedition 14/15 (December 9, 2006 to June 22, 2007):
Sunita performed four spacewalks on the International Space Station totaling 29 hours and 17 minutes.
Expedition 32/33 (July 14 to November 18, 2012):
Sunita conducted three spacewalks to replace a component that relays power from the International Space Station's solar arrays to its systems, and to repair an ammonia leak on a station radiator.
Perseverance May 4, 2022 Update: One of the prime objectives of NASA's Mars Perseverance rover mission is to collect a diverse cache of rock samples for eventual return to Earth. Among the highest priority rocks to sample are those that make up the well-preserved delta located on the western side of Jezero crater. This delta was one of the key attributes that made this landing site so appealing in our search for ancient Martian life. Close examination of deltaic rocks is critical for interpreting their depositional environment and establishing whether this paleoenvironment may have been habitable.
Since landing in Jezero crater last year, the rover has been investigating and drilling crater floor rocks to add to the sample cache. However, the rover has not yet had access to coveted deltaic rocks—until now, that is. After conducting a “rapid traverse” toward the delta, Perseverance finally arrived at the delta front. Last week the rover parked at a site called Enchanted Lake, where the team was hopeful we might sample deltaic rocks for the very first time.
Unfortunately, the rover can only collect a finite number of samples so the team has to carefully weigh all options, keeping in mind what has already been sampled and also trying to anticipate what we might encounter along the rest of the traverse. Although we are eager to drill into the delta, we have to be judicious.
Therefore, our first action item at Enchanted Lake was to examine the rocks there using the rover’s remote science instruments in order to decide whether they fit the desired criteria for sampling. The rocks at this site displayed many distinct—and interesting—characteristics compared to the others we have studied thus far in Jezero. Yet, after a thorough assessment, the team decided to forego sampling at this location. It was a difficult decision to make, but we feel optimistic about the opportunities that lie ahead. The data collected at Enchanted Lake will be used instead to build context for future investigations of the delta.
The rover is now headed east toward a location called Hawksbill Gap, another promising location for sampling the delta. While traversing along the delta front, Perseverance will continue to collect data to help characterize the contact between the crater floor and deltaic rocks before ascending onto the delta itself. What about our long-awaited sample of delta rocks? For that, we will have to wait a bit longer.
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
Mission Name: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)
Rover Name: Curiosity
Main Job: To determine if Mars was ever habitable to microbial life.
Launch: November 6, 2011
Landing: August 5, 2012, Gale Crater, Mars
For more information on NASA's Mars missions, visit mars.nasa.gov
Caption Credit: Mariah Baker, Planetary Scientist at Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum
Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Kevin M. Gill/Elisabetta Bonora & Marco Faccin
The Landsat program conceived of in the 1960s, has been running longer than any remote sensing program. The idea was simple: position a satellite in a nearly polar orbit fixed to the solar angle so that each daytime pass would cross the equator at roughly the same local time.
Data representing bands of the spectrum are captured and processed into grayscale recordings, which can be combined to create natural looking views like this or false color views like this. Nine Landsat satellites have been launched in partnership with NASA since 1972.
Expectations were high when Landsat 1 carried two sensors into orbit. This view of Dallas, Texas, was the first cloudless image received. Landsat 1 data led to immediate and fundamental changes to practices of the cartographic and geographic communities. Country borders were redrawn and entire islands were discovered.
Imagery was received and processed at the new USGS EROS Center in South Dakota, which would become the hub of the Landsat archive for the next 50 years. The first three Landsats added a wealth of insight to many areas of science, from forestry and hydrology to cartography, environmental pollution and more.
Landsat 3 data was used in over 400 programs in 31 countries. Groups in Bolivia leaned on Landsat to discover new lithium deposits. Officials in Kenya monitored the relationship between cheetahs and cattle, and engineers in Pakistan studied silt patterns in the data to plan for a new seaport.
The second generation of Landsat was one of great technical innovation. The new thematic mapper sensor offered higher spatial resolution and additional bands, including a thermal band. Landsat 5 launched less than two years after Landsat 4. Landsat 5 was a workhorse for the program, contributing over 2.5 million scenes to the archive.
The Guinness Book of World Records took notice in 2013, marking it the world's longest operating Earth observation satellite. Landsat 7 added to the observation record with years of science value monitoring water quality, glacier recession, fire progression, flooding, population growth and more.
Landsat 8 launched in February 2013. A rapid expansion of science applications included fire observation, permafrost research, desert management, iceberg tracking, volcanic activity, lithium mining and much more. Landsat 9 launched in 2021. The Landsat satellites perform technical wonders in orbit.
However, without a global partnership on the ground, the data they collect would never make it to users. From the beginning, data collection and distribution was directed by the EROS Center in South Dakota. For 50 years, the USGS team at EROS has served the Landsat program by innovating through generations of technology and science.
The archive at EROS is currently home to over 10 million Landsat scenes and growing rapidly. To receive data from the satellite's EROS partners with global ground stations. The current Landsat 8 and 9 ground network consists of five receiving stations in four countries.
These stations download science and telemetry data, which eventually make their way to EROS. Ground stations can also upload commands. Further enriching Landsat's global partnership is the International Cooperative Network. An international cooperator is an international governmental organization with which the USGS enters into a formal agreement for the direct reception of Landsat data.
International cooperators serve their user community by providing direct access to Landsat data in real time and are integral to the Landsat program. Today, the network includes 13 active stations from ten organizations around the world and has contributed over 6.5 million Landsat scenes to the Landsat archive through the Landsat Global Archive Consolidation Initiative.
The USGS meets with the international cooperators twice a year to discuss operational management and technical matters. It is a valuable learning opportunity for every partner involved with Landsat. Together engineers, scientists, community managers and users across the globe have been central to the 50 year success of Landsat.
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