NASA Unfurls Largest Solar Cruiser Sail Quadrant Ever Deployed

NASA Unfurls Largest Solar Cruiser Sail Quadrant Ever Deployed

Solar Cruiser is a NASA mission launching in 2025 to test a large solar sail at an artificial orbit between the Earth and Sun.

Solar sails use the gentle push of sunlight for propulsion, giving them unlimited fuel to reach unique orbits and perhaps one day visit other stars.

Solar Cruiser’s sail will be the largest ever tested in space, covering an area of more than six tennis courts.

NASA and industry partners used two 100-foot lightweight composite booms to stretch out a 4,300-square-foot (400-square-meter) prototype solar sail quadrant for the first time in Building 4316 at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on Oct. 13, 2022. Solar sails use the force of light—not rocket fuel—to fly in deep space. They get a gentle, constant push from sunlight particles, or photons, hitting their giant reflective surfaces. The fully deployed sail the covers an area larger than the surface of a tennis court with an aluminum-coated plastic material that’s thinner than a human hair. The full-scale prototype is only a quarter of the sail designed to fly the Solar Cruiser spacecraft towards the Sun and demonstrate orbits that would be difficult or impossible for conventional satellites to maintain.

Credit: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

Duration: 5 minutes

Release Date: Dec. 6, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Space #SolarCruiser #SolarSail #Sun #Earth #Asteroids #SolarSystem #Exploration #Artemis #Rideshare #DeepSpace #Science #Engineering #Technology #Exploration #HumanSpaceflight  #MSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Training for a New Moon Mission | NASA Johnson

Training for a New Moon Mission | NASA Johnson

While designers and engineers develop new spacecraft, astronauts who will fly the missions and the specialists who support their spaceflights get themselves ready the old fashioned way: practice, practice, practice. NASA teams have used simulations to prepare for every human spaceflight America has ever flown; take a closer look at today’s Mission Control Houston training team as they prepare for the Artemis flights that will return Americans to the surface of the Moon.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 2 minutes, 31 seconds

Release Date: Dec. 6, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Space #Earth #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisI #Orion #Spacecraft #DeepSpace #MoonToMars #JourneyToMars #Science #Engineering #Technology #Exploration #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #UnitedStates #Europe #International #STEM #Education

The South Pole of Mars | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

The South Pole of Mars | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Semper gelidus in Latin can be best translated as “always cold” or “always icy.” We are looking at a scene of the South Polar residual cap of Mars. It is termed that because of the persistence of ice even after the season changes. This is all carbon dioxide ice at this location.

The expansion and contraction of underground ice, along with the process of sublimation (when a solid transforms directly into a gaseous state) contribute to the weird and interesting patterns that we see here.

This is a non-narrated clip with ambient sound. The image is less than 5 km (3 mi) across and the spacecraft altitude was 245 km (152 mi). 

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

Duration: 3 minutes, 32 seconds

Release Date: Dec. 6, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Mars #Planet #RedPlanet #SouthPole #CarbonDioxideIce #Science #Geology #Landscape #Terrain #Geoscience #MRO #Reconnaissance #Orbiter #Spacecraft #HiRISE #Camera #JPL #Caltech #UniversityOfArizona #BallAerospace #MSSS #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Open Star Cluster NGC 376 in The Small Magellanic Cloud | Hubble

Open Star Cluster NGC 376 in The Small Magellanic Cloud | Hubble

A small portion of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is pictured in this image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. The SMC is a dwarf galaxy and one of the Milky Way’s nearest neighbors, lying only about 200,000 light-years from Earth. It makes a pair with the Large Magellanic Cloud, and both objects can be seen from the southern hemisphere, as well as from some northern latitudes.

Image Description: A large number of bright stars, each with a cross-shape extending from its center. In the center there is a dense collection of foreground stars. Five are orange and the rest are blue. The black background is filled with small stars—most of them, however, larger than a single point.

The Small Magellanic Cloud contains hundreds of millions of stars, but this image focuses on just a small fraction of them. These stars comprise the open cluster NGC 376, which has a total mass only about 3,400 times that of the Sun. Open clusters, as the name suggests, are loosely bound and sparsely populated. This distinguishes open clusters from globular clusters, which are often so thronged with stars that they have a continuous blur of starlight at their centers. In the case of NGC 376, individual stars can be picked out clearly even in the most densely populated parts of this image.

The data in this image come from two different astronomical investigations which relied on two of Hubble’s instruments: the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The first investigation used the ACS to explore a handful of star clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud and help astronomers explore topics including the abundance of low- and high-mass stars in different environments. The second investigation used both the WFC3 and ACS, and aimed to answer fundamental questions about the lives of stars and help astronomers understand precisely where, when, why and how stars form.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, A. Nota, G. De Marchi

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: Dec. 5, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #StarCluster #OpenStarCluster #NGC376 #NGC1376 #Tucana #Constellation #Galaxy #SmallMagellanicCloud #SMC #DwarfGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Moon Views: Orion's Lunar Flyby | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

Moon Views: Orion's Lunar Flyby | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

On Dec. 5, 2022, NASA's Orion spacecraft completed its return powered flyby burn, in which the spacecraft harnessed the Moon’s gravity and accelerated back toward Earth. Orion is expected to splashdown off the coast of San Diego at 12:40 p.m. EST (17:30 UTC) on Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022.

Orion launched on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. Artemis I is an uncrewed flight test of our SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, and exploration ground systems for future Artemis missions—which will provide the foundation to send humans to the lunar surface, develop a long-term presence on and around the Moon, and pave the way for humanity to set foot on Mars.

More on Artemis I: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Release Date: Dec. 5, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Space #Earth #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisI #Orion #Spacecraft #DeepSpace #MoonToMars #JourneyToMars #Science #Engineering #Technology #Exploration #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #UnitedStates #Europe #International #STEM #Education

New Mars Images: Dec. 2022 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers | JPL

New Mars Images: Dec. 2022 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers | JPL

Mars2020 - sol 635 - MastCam-Z

Mars2020 - sol 615 - Mastcam-Z

MSL - sol 3669 - Mastcam

MSL - sol 3662 - Mastcam - Cropped

MSL - sol 3662 - Mastcam

Mars2020 - sol 635 - MastCam-Z

MSL - sol 3664 - Mastcam

MSL - sol 3667 - Mastcam

Celebrating 10 Years on Mars! (2012-2022)

Mission Name: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)

Rover Name: Curiosity

Main Job: To determine if Mars was ever habitable to microbial life. 

Launch: Nov. 6, 2011

Landing Date: Aug. 5, 2012, Gale Crater, Mars

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

Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill

Image Release Dates: Dec. 1-5, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Astrobiology #Geology #CuriosityRover #MSL #MountSharp #GaleCrater #PerseveranceRover #Mars2020 #JezeroCrater #Robotics #Technology #Engineering #JPL #UnitedStates #JourneyToMars #MoonToMars #CitizenScience #KevinGill #STEM #Education

Orion Prepares for Lunar Flyby | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

Orion Prepares for Lunar Flyby | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

On flight day 20, Dec. 5, 2022, NASA's Orion spacecraft can be seen preparing for its return powered flyby and closest approach to the Moon. This video was captured prior to the spacecraft’s 3 minute, 27 second, return powered flyby burn, committing Orion to a return to Earth and a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off California on Dec. 11, 2022.

Orion launched on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. Artemis I is an uncrewed flight test of our SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, and exploration ground systems for future Artemis missions—which will provide the foundation to send humans to the lunar surface, develop a long-term presence on and around the Moon, and pave the way for humanity to set foot on Mars.

More on Artemis I: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Duration: 2 minutes, 5 seconds

Capture Date:  Dec. 5, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Space #Earth #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisI #Orion #Spacecraft #DeepSpace #MoonToMars #JourneyToMars #Science #Engineering #Technology #Exploration #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #UnitedStates #Europe #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Orion Sees Earth after Lunar Flyby | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

Orion Sees Earth after Lunar Flyby | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

On Dec. 5, 2022, NASA's Orion spacecraft completed its return powered flyby burn, in which the spacecraft harnessed the Moon’s gravity and accelerated back toward Earth. It began at 11:43 a.m. (16:43 UTC). Orion is expected to splashdown off the coast of San Diego at 12:40 p.m. EST (17:30 UTC) on Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022.

Orion launched on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. Artemis I is an uncrewed flight test of our SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, and exploration ground systems for future Artemis missions—which will provide the foundation to send humans to the lunar surface, develop a long-term presence on and around the Moon, and pave the way for humanity to set foot on Mars.

More on Artemis I: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Duration: 1 minute, 11 seconds

Release Date:  December 5, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Space #Earth #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisI #Orion #Spacecraft #DeepSpace #MoonToMars #JourneyToMars #Science #Engineering #Technology #Exploration #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #UnitedStates #Europe #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Orion Spacecraft: Earth in Sight | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

Orion Spacecraft: Earth in Sight | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

On Dec. 5, 2022, NASA's Orion spacecraft completed its return powered flyby burn, in which the spacecraft harnessed the Moon’s gravity and accelerated back toward Earth. It began at 11:43 a.m. (16:43 UTC). Orion is expected to splashdown off the coast of San Diego at 12:40 p.m. EST (17:30 UTC) on Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022.

Video Description: On flight day 17, Dec. 2, 2022, of the 25.5-day Artemis I mission, a camera mounted on the tip of one of Orion’s four solar arrays captured this video of Earth as the spacecraft was over 220,000 miles away from our home planet.

Orion launched on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. Artemis I is an uncrewed flight test of our SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, and exploration ground systems for future Artemis missions—which will provide the foundation to send humans to the lunar surface, develop a long-term presence on and around the Moon, and pave the way for humanity to set foot on Mars.

More on Artemis I: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i

Credit: NASA

Duration: 1 minute, 11 seconds

Release Date:  December 5, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Space #Earth #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisI #Orion #Spacecraft #DeepSpace #MoonToMars #JourneyToMars #Science #Engineering #Technology #Exploration #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #UnitedStates #Europe #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Flight Directors of The Artemis I Moon Mission | NASA

Flight Directors of The Artemis I Moon Mission | NASA

Artemis I, the first flight of a human-rated spacecraft to orbit the Moon in almost 50 years, is being controlled at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston by specialists who have trained for years to execute this vital test flight in the Artemis program to return American astronauts to the Moon. They’re doing that work under the leadership and guidance of flight directors who built the mission plan and now have the responsibility to execute that plan safely and successfully. Join Rick LaBrode and Judd Frieling for a quick explanation of the roles and the mission goals they’re executing right now.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 3 minutes, 24 seconds

Release Date: Dec. 5, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Space #Earth #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisI #FlightDirectors #Orion #Spacecraft #DeepSpace #MoonToMars #JourneyToMars #Science #Engineering #Technology #Exploration #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #UnitedStates #Europe #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Orion Completes Engine Burn for Earth Return | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

Orion Completes Engine Burn for Earth Return | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

NASA's Artemis I Orion spacecraft  successfully completed its return powered flyby burn on Dec. 5, 2022. Orion passed within 80 miles of the lunar surface ahead of its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 11, 2022.

Orion launched on the SLS rocket from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. Artemis I is an uncrewed flight test of our SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, and exploration ground systems for future Artemis missions—which will provide the foundation to send humans to the lunar surface, develop a long-term presence on and around the Moon, and pave the way for humanity to set foot on Mars.

More about Artemis I: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i/

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Date: Dec. 5, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Space #Earth #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisI #Orion #Spacecraft #DeepSpace #MoonToMars #JourneyToMars #Science #Engineering #Technology #Exploration #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #UnitedStates #Europe #International #STEM #Education

The 50th Anniversary of Apollo 17 (1972-2022) | NASA

The 50th Anniversary of Apollo 17 (1972-2022) | NASA

This video celebrates the 50th anniversary of Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) by talking with Lunar Module Pilot Jack Schmitt about the significance of that mission and how it laid the groundwork for future human exploration of the Moon. Jack also discusses how the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which launched in 2009, has helped reinterpret Apollo-era data and given us new information about the lunar terrain that will help pave the way for the upcoming Artemis missions.

Apollo 17 was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison "Jack" Schmitt walked on the Moon, while Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans orbited above. Schmitt was the only professional geologist to land on the Moon

Video Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Produced and Edited by: David Ladd (AIMM)

Data Visualizations by: Ernie Wright (USRA)

LRO spacecraft animations by: Adriana Manrique Gutierrez (KBRwyle)

Duration: 10 minutes 

Release Date: Dec. 5, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Moon #LRO #Artemis #ArtemisI #Apollo #Apollo17 #Spacecraft #JackSchmitt #Geologist #Pilot #Astronauts #HumanSpaceflight #MoonToMars #Technology #Engineering #GSFC #UnitedStates #History #DeepSpace #SolarSystem #Exploration #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Historic Night Landing for China’s Shenzhou-14 Crew | China Space Station

Historic Night Landing for China’s Shenzhou-14 Crew | China Space Station

China’s Shenzhou-14 crew landed on Earth on December 4, 2022, after accomplishing two historic firsts for the Chinese space program. During their 183 days in space, the three-astronaut crew—Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe—lived and worked on the Tiangong complex for 183 days on a mission to complete assembly of the permanent orbiting space station. They oversaw the final construction stage of the basic structure of the Tiangong space station. Before heading home, they also handed over control of the station to the three members of Shenzhou-15 who had arrived days earlier for the nation’s first in-orbit crew handover.

Credit: South China Morning Post (SCMP)

Duration: 2 minutes, 27 seconds

Release Date: Dec. 5, 2022

#NASA #Space #China #中国 #Mengtian #梦天 #Wentian #问天实验舱 #Laboratory #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #Tianhe #天和核心舱 #Shenzhou14 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #ChenDong #LiuYang #CaiXuzhe #王亚平 #天宫 #CNSA #CMSA #国家航天局 #Science #Technology #Engineering #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Open Star Cluster NGC 376 in The Small Magellanic Cloud | Hubble

Open Star Cluster NGC 376 in The Small Magellanic Cloud | Hubble

A small portion of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is pictured in this image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. The SMC is a dwarf galaxy and one of the Milky Way’s nearest neighbors, lying only about 200,000 light-years from Earth. It makes a pair with the Large Magellanic Cloud, and both objects can be seen from the southern hemisphere, as well as from some northern latitudes.

Image Description: A large number of bright stars, each with a cross-shape extending from its center. In the center there is a dense collection of foreground stars. Five are orange and the rest are blue. The black background is filled with small stars—most of them, however, larger than a single point.

The Small Magellanic Cloud contains hundreds of millions of stars, but this image focuses on just a small fraction of them. These stars comprise the open cluster NGC 376, which has a total mass only about 3,400 times that of the Sun. Open clusters, as the name suggests, are loosely bound and sparsely populated. This distinguishes open clusters from globular clusters, which are often so thronged with stars that they have a continuous blur of starlight at their centers. In the case of NGC 376, individual stars can be picked out clearly even in the most densely populated parts of this image.

The data in this image come from two different astronomical investigations which relied on two of Hubble’s instruments: the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The first investigation used the ACS to explore a handful of star clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud and help astronomers explore topics including the abundance of low- and high-mass stars in different environments. The second investigation used both the WFC3 and ACS, and aimed to answer fundamental questions about the lives of stars and help astronomers understand precisely where, when, why and how stars form.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, A. Nota, G. De Marchi

Release Date: Dec. 5, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #StarCluster #OpenStarCluster #NGC376 #NGC1376 #Tucana #Constellation #Galaxy #SmallMagellanicCloud #SMC #DwarfGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Orion Approaches The Moon & Earth | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

Orion Approaches The Moon & Earth | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

On Dec. 4, 2022, the 19th day of the Artemis I Mission, the Moon grows larger in the frame as Orion prepares for its return powered flyby on Dec. 5, 2022. Orion will pass approximately 79 miles above the lunar surface before its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 11, 2022.

Orion launched on the SLS rocket from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. Artemis I is an uncrewed flight test of our SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, and exploration ground systems for future Artemis missions—which will provide the foundation to send humans to the lunar surface, develop a long-term presence on and around the Moon, and pave the way for humanity to set foot on Mars.

More about Artemis I: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i/

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center

Image Dates: Dec. 3-4, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Space #Earth #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisI #Orion #Spacecraft #DeepSpace #MoonToMars #JourneyToMars #Science #Engineering #Technology #Exploration #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #UnitedStates #Europe #International #STEM #Education

Ride Along with Orion Around The Moon | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

Ride Along with Orion Around The Moon | NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission

Cameras on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft give us amazing views of our adventure around the Moon. See up close views of the Moon from external cameras as well as the view from inside the capsule.

Orion is the only spacecraft capable of carrying humans from Earth on Artemis missions to deep space and bringing them back to Earth from the vicinity of the Moon. More than just a crew module, Orion has a launch abort system to keep astronauts safe if an emergency happens during launch, and a European-built service module that is the powerhouse that fuels and propels Orion and keeps astronauts alive with water, oxygen, power, and temperature control, as well as a heat shield that can handle high-speed returns from deep space. SLS is the most powerful rocket in the world and the only rocket capable of launching Orion with astronauts and their supplies on Artemis missions to the Moon.

Orion launched on the SLS rocket from Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. Artemis I is an uncrewed flight test of our SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, and exploration ground systems for future Artemis missions—which will provide the foundation to send humans to the lunar surface, develop a long-term presence on and around the Moon, and pave the way for humanity to set foot on Mars.

More about Artemis: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i/

Credit: NASA

Duration: 1 minute, 36 seconds

Release Date: Nov. 30, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Space #Earth #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisI #Orion #Spacecraft #SLS #Rocket #DeepSpace #MoonToMars #JourneyToMars #Science #Engineering #Technology #Exploration #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #UnitedStates #Europe #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video