SpaceX Starship Crewed Mission to Mars: Animation

SpaceX Starship Crewed Mission to Mars: Animation

Landing on Mars: "Starship will enter Mars’ atmosphere at 7.5 kilometers per second and decelerate aerodynamically. The vehicle’s heat shield is designed to withstand multiple entries, but given that the vehicle is coming into Mars' atmosphere so hot, we still expect to see some ablation of the heat shield (similar to wear and tear on a brake pad)."

"Starship is essential to both SpaceX’s plans to deploy its next-generation Starship system as well as for NASA, which will use a lunar lander version of Starship for landing astronauts on the moon during the Artemis III mission through the Human Landing System (HLS) program."

SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket—collectively referred to as Starship—represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond. Starship will be the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, with the ability to carry up to 150 metric tonnes to Earth orbit reusable, and up to 250 metric tonnes expendable.

Key Starship Parameters:
Height: 120m/394ft
Diameter: 9m/29.5ft
Payload to LEO: 100 – 150t (fully reusable)

On-orbit Refilling
Starship leverages tanker vehicles (essentially the Starship spacecraft minus the windows) to refill the Starship spacecraft in low-Earth orbit prior to departing for Mars. Refilling on-orbit enables the transport of up to 100 tons all the way to Mars. And if the tanker ship has high reuse capability, the primary cost is just that of the oxygen and methane, which is extremely low.

Satellites: "Starship is designed to deliver satellites further and at a lower marginal cost per launch than our current Falcon vehicles. With a payload compartment larger than any fairing currently in operation or development, Starship creates possibilities for new missions, including space telescopes even larger than the James Webb."

Starship's Engines: Raptors

"The Raptor engine is a reusable methalox staged-combustion engine that powers the Starship launch system. Raptor engines began flight testing on the Starship prototype rockets in July 2019, becoming the first full-flow staged combustion rocket engine ever flown."

Raptor Engine Parameters:
Diameter: 1.3m/4ft
Height: 3.1m/10.2ft
Thrust: 230tf/500 klbf

First Lunar Private Mission
"Later this decade, Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa and the crew of dearMoon will become the first civilian passengers on a lunar Starship mission, featuring a fly-by of the Moon during their week-long journey. This flight is an important step toward enabling access for people who dream of traveling to space."

Download the Free Starship User Guide (PDF):
https://www.spacex.com/media/starship_users_guide_v1.pdf

Image Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX)
Duration: 5 minutes
Image Date: April 10, 2023

 

#NASA #SpaceX #Space #Earth #Mars #Moon #MoonToMars #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #Starship #Spacecraft #SuperHeavyRocket #ElonMusk #GwynneShotwell #Science #Technology #Engineering #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #HumanSpaceflight #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Thirteen Earth Volcanoes: The View from Space | European Space Agency

Thirteen Earth Volcanoes: The View from Space | European Space Agency

Have you ever wondered what a volcano looks like from space? Today, we are counting down our picks of the most impressive volcanoes around the world—captured by satellites. Our countdown includes Mount Fuji, Mount Mayon and Mount Vesuvius.

Credits: European Space Agency (ESA)
Duration: 12 minutes
Release Date: April 10, 2023

#NASA #ESA #Space #Science #Earth #Geology #Geoscience #Volcanoes #MountFuji #Japan #日本 #MountMayon #Philippines #MountVesuvius #Italy #Italia #Stratovolcano #Volcano #EarthFromSpace #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Artemis I Launch Director & Plaque Award Ceremony | Kennedy Space Center

Artemis I Launch Director & Plaque Award Ceremony | Kennedy Space Center

Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson (center) acknowledged and honored members of the Artemis team during the inaugural Artemis Launch Director Awards

Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, center. At left is Jeremy Graeber, Artemis assistant launch director. At right is Wes Mosedale, technical assistant to the launch director. Following tradition from the Apollo and Space Shuttle Programs, the Artemis I plaque was added to the wall in Firing Room 1 by Blackwell-Thompson.

Award recipients included Assistant Launch Director Jeremy Graeber, who directly supports and assists Blackwell-Thompson during launch countdown operations

 Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson (left) acknowledged and honored members of the Artemis team during the inaugural Artemis Launch Director Awards

 Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, at left, signs the back of the Artemis I plaque

The Arms and Umbilicals (AUS) engineering team gather for a photograph during the Artemis launch director awards and plaque ceremony

 

Artemis team members gather around Firing Room 1 of the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

 

Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Launch Director, Exploration Ground Systems at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

People Behind Artemis I Moon Mission Success

Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson acknowledged and honored members of the Artemis team during the inaugural Artemis Launch Director Awards, held March 24, 2023, inside Firing Room 1 of the Rocco A. Petrone Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Award recipients included members of the crawler transporter team, which using Crawler-Transporter 2, carried the agency’s mobile launcher with the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft 4.2 miles from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B for the launch of Artemis I. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I launched successfully at 1:47 a.m. EST on Nov. 16, 2022.

Charlie Blackwell-Thompson serves as launch director for NASA's Exploration Ground Systems Program, based at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. She oversaw the countdown and liftoff of NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft during its first flight test, called Artemis I. Named to the position in January 2016, Blackwell-Thompson is NASA's first female launch director. Her role includes leading and managing the launch operations planning and execution for the Exploration Ground Systems program and Exploration Systems Development Division, or ESD. She also serves as the cross-program lead to the Launch Integration team responsible for integration and coordination of launch operations across the three programs: SLS, Orion and EGS. In her role as launch director, she manages the development of all launch countdown plans, philosophy, and launch and scrub turnaround procedures and schedules, as well as training approaches.

Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Image Date: March 24, 2023

 

#NASA #ESA #Space #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisI #OrionSpacecraft #SLSRocket #DeepSpace  #MoonToMars #Science #Engineering #Technology #SpaceExploration #SolarSystem #KSC #KennedySpaceCenter #CharlieBlackwellThompson #LaunchDirector #ExplorationGroundSystems #EGS #Florida #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Animation: A Spiral Galaxy Experiencing Ram Pressure Stripping | NASA/ESA

Animation: A Spiral Galaxy Experiencing Ram Pressure Stripping | NASA/ESA

This artist's illustration shows a spiral galaxy as it moves through a massive cluster of galaxies. The galaxy is undergoing a process known as ram pressure stripping, where streaks of bright gas are being dragged out into space by the cluster it is passing through.

Credits: NASA, European Space Agency, and M. Kornmesser (HEIC) 

Acknowledgements: Ming Sun (UAH) and Serge Meunier

Duration: 23 seconds

Release Date: March 4, 2014

 

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #JellyfishGalaxy #JO204 #RamPressureStriping #GalaxyClusters #Galaxies #Constellation #Sextans #Cosmos #Universe #HST #SpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

Jellyfish Galaxy JO204: Shaped by Ram Pressure | Hubble

Jellyfish Galaxy JO204: Shaped by Ram Pressure | Hubble

Here we see JO204, a ‘jellyfish galaxy’ so named for the bright tendrils of gas that appear in this image to be drifting lazily below JO204’s bright central bulk. The galaxy lies almost 600 million light-years away in the constellation Sextans. This image was captured by the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope thanks to a survey in which observations were made of six fascinating jellyfish galaxies, including JO204. This survey was performed with the intention of better understanding star formation under extreme conditions. 

[Image Description: A spiral galaxy in the center is tilted almost edge-on. The bright core and spiral arms can just be seen from the top. A slight glow surrounds it. Below, strands made of bright blue patches trail down like tentacles. On the left it is just touched by a second, faint and dim galaxy. The background is very dark, with only a few other stars and tiny galaxies visible.]

Given the dreamy appearance of this image, it would be understandable to wonder why jellyfish galaxies should be such a crucible for star formation. The answer is that—as is often the case with astronomy—first appearances can be deceiving. While the delicate ribbons of gas beneath JO204 may look like floating jellyfish tentacles, they are in fact the outcome of an intense astronomical process known as ram pressure stripping.

Ram pressure is a particular type of pressure exerted on a body when it moves relative to a fluid. An intuitive example is the sensation of pressure you experience when you are standing in an intense gust of wind—the wind is a moving fluid, and your body feels pressure from it. An extension of this analogy is that your body will remain whole and coherent, but the more loosely bound things—like your hair and your clothes—will flap in the wind. The same is true for jellyfish galaxies. They experience ram pressure because of their movement against the intergalactic medium that fills the spaces between galaxies in a galaxy cluster. The galaxies experience intense pressure from that movement, and as a result their more loosely bound gas is stripped away. This gas is mostly the colder and denser gas in the galaxy—gas which, when stirred and compressed by the ram pressure, collapses and forms new stars in the jellyfish’s beautiful tendrils.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Gullieuszik and the GASP team
Release Date: April 10, 2023

 

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #JellyfishGalaxy #JO204 #RamPressure #GalaxyClusters #Galaxies #Constellation #Sextans #Cosmos #Universe #HST #SpaceTelescope #ESA #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Aurora Borealis over Scotland

Aurora Borealis over Scotland

On Earth, auroras are mainly created by particles originally emitted by the Sun in the form of solar wind. When this stream of electrically charged particles gets close to our planet, it interacts with the magnetic field, which acts as a gigantic shield. While it protects Earth’s environment from solar wind particles, it can also trap a small fraction of them. Particles trapped within the magnetosphere—the region of space surrounding Earth in which charged particles are affected by its magnetic field—can be energized and then follow the magnetic field lines down to the magnetic poles. There, they interact with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the upper layers of the atmosphere, creating the flickering, colorful lights visible in the polar regions here on Earth.

Earth auroras have different names depending on which pole they occur at. Aurora Borealis, or the northern lights, is the name given to auroras around the north pole and Aurora Australis, or the southern lights, is the name given for auroras around the south pole.

Learn more:
The Colors of the Aurora (National Park Service)
https://www.nps.gov/articles/-articles-aps-v8-i1-c9.htm

NASA - About Aurora
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/aurora-news-stories/index.html
    
Image Credit & Copyright: Alan Tough
Location: Scotland, United Kingdom
Image Dates: March 15-23, 2023

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #Planet #Aurora #AuroraBorealis #NorthernLights #MagneticField #Magnetosphere #SolarWind #Sun #Astrophotography #Astrophotographer #AlanTough #Scotland #UK #UnitedKingdom #STEM #Education #International

The Crab Nebula: A New View | NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer

The Crab Nebula: A New View | NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer

The Crab Pulsar is a famous astronomical object, about 6,500 light-years from Earth, that originated with the explosion of a massive star. The nebula around the Crab contains a donut-shaped magnetic field, which NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) has observed.

IXPE data show that the Crab Nebula’s magnetic field resembles that of the Vela Pulsar Wind Nebula, which is also donut-shaped. However, at the Crab, scientists were surprised that areas of magnetic field turbulence were more patchy and asymmetrical than expected.

A favorite object of study among astronomers, the Crab Nebula resulted from a supernova documented in the year 1054. The explosion left behind a dense object called the Crab Pulsar, about the diameter of Huntsville, Alabama, or the length of Manhattan, but with as much mass as about two Suns. The chaotic mess of gases, shock waves, magnetic fields and high-energy light and particles coming from the rotating pulsar is collectively called a “pulsar wind nebula.” These extreme conditions make for a bizarre environment that is not yet thoroughly understood.

About the IXPE mission: Launched in 2021, it now orbits 370 miles, or roughly 595 kilometers, above Earth’s equator. The mission is a partnership between NASA and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), with partners and science collaborators in 13 countries. Ball Aerospace, headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, manages spacecraft operations.

Learn more about IXPE here:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ixpe/index.html

The Backstory

On Feb. 22, 1971, a sounding rocket lifted off from Wallops Island, Virginia, with specialized sensors aimed at the Crab Nebula, a bright cosmic object 6,500 light-years away. In those days, before recovering physical tapes from the experiment, scientists first received scientific data on a strip chart recorder, a device that printed signals on paper. Astronomer Martin Weisskopf and his colleagues began their analysis on launch day by measuring the distance between signals using a ruler and pencil.    

“What makes science so beautiful and exciting is that for those few moments, you're seeing something that no one has ever seen before,” said Weisskopf, now an emeritus astronomer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Decades later, Weisskopf proposed the development of an Earth-orbiting satellite with powerful instruments that could gather much more detailed measurements of the same kind about the Crab Nebula and other mysterious cosmic objects. That satellite became NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), which launched on December 9, 2021.

Weisskopf and colleagues were hoping to understand this extreme environment in a new way by measuring the polarization of X-rays from the Crab Nebula, which shines brightly in X-rays. X-ray polarization gives scientists clues to the direction where the magnetic field points in different parts of a cosmic object, as well as how well ordered the magnetic field is. The magnetic field’s geometry and turbulence determines how particles get catapulted toward the speed of light.

In the five minutes that the 1971 sounding rocket experiment spent above Earth’s atmosphere, it produced the world’s first X-ray polarization measurements.

Scientists followed up with a satellite called OSO-8 in 1975, which also measured the X-ray polarization of the Crab Nebula. The rocket and the satellite produced generally the same result: That the Crab Nebula has an average polarization of about 20%.

As project scientist of NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory, which launched in 1999, Weisskopf continued his exploration of the Crab Nebula in new ways. With Chandra, “we took beautiful images of the nebula and pulsar, and we could see the jets and the various structures,” he said. Chandra’s X-ray imaging revealed wisp-like structures that move in the nebula, and helped scientists to further understand the relationship between the pulsar’s energy and X-ray emissions.

Nearly every recent large telescope has pointed to the Crab Nebula to better understand this mysterious supernova remnant. But only IXPE can study X-rays from Crab in terms of polarization, a measure of the organization of electromagnetic fields.

Across the entire nebula, IXPE found about the same average polarization as Weisskopf and colleagues did in the 1970s. With more sophisticated instruments, IXPE was able to refine the angle of polarization and examine the differences in polarization across the entire object. Scientists see areas of much polarization in the outer regions of the nebula, light-years away from the pulsar, where polarization is lower.

This enabled scientists to investigate not just X-rays from the Crab Nebula but also those coming from the pulsar itself, or the sphere of magnetic fields around it. The findings suggest that those X-rays originate in the outer magnetic field region, called the “wind” region, although exactly where and how is still unknown. Within the magnetic field, shocks generated by the pulsar’s “wind” are propelling particles close to the speed of light.

“I'm very proud of everybody associated with IXPE,” said Weisskopf, who was the mission’s first principal investigator. “Everybody has worked so hard, and it works as advertised.” Reflecting on his work on the 1971 experiment that laid the groundwork for the new results, Weisskopf says, “It's like somebody said to me, ‘Martin, you did good.’”

Image Credits: X-ray (IXPE: NASA), (Chandra: NASA/CXC/SAO) Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/K. Arcand & L. Frattare
Story Credit: Elizabeth Landau, NASA HQ
Release Date: April 7, 2023

 

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebula #CrabNebula #CrabPulsar #MagneticField #Taurus #Constellation #Universe #SpaceTelescopes #IXPE #Xray #Hubble #ChandraObservatory #Spitzer #STScI #GSFC #MSFC #JPL #UnitedStates #Italy #Italia #ASI #STEM #Education

NASA Details Strategy Behind Blueprint for Moon to Mars Exploration

NASA Details Strategy Behind Blueprint for Moon to Mars Exploration

Download NASA's Moon to Mars Document Free Adobe PDF (78 pages): go.nasa.gov/3zzSNhp

The Moon to Mars Strategy and Objectives Development document details NASA’s Moon to Mars strategy and top-level goals and objectives, designed to achieve the vision to create a blueprint for sustained human presence and exploration throughout the solar system.

As NASA evolves its blueprint for shaping exploration throughout the solar system, the agency is detailing its process to develop a sustainable, resilient path forward for exploration. In a document published Wednesday, April 5, 2023, the agency explains its methodology behind developing NASA’s Moon to Mars Objectives that drive its architecture, plans, and efforts to enable long-term human presence and exploration throughout the solar system.

NASA’s Moon to Mars Strategy and Objectives Development provides insight into how NASA developed and refined its Moon to Mars Objectives released in 2022, and describes how the agency is establishing an objectives-driven architectural review process to ensure efforts to develop, build, and achieve exploration activities at the Moon and Mars are resilient for decades to come.

NASA’s overall Moon to Mars strategy seeks to develop a roadmap with input from a wide variety of U.S. and global stakeholders to define overarching exploration goals to enable the agency and others to build capabilities to meet those goals, a shift from a capabilities-driven approach to exploration.

Under Artemis, NASA has set a vision to explore more of the Moon than ever before. With the crew for Artemis II recently named, the agency plans to return humans to the Moon and establish a cadence of missions including at the lunar south polar region. These missions set up a long-term presence to inform future exploration of farther destinations, including Mars, and other potential future destinations in the solar system.

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Release Date: April 5, 2023

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Moon #Mars #ArtemisProgram #MoonToMars #Strategy #Roadmap #Science #Technology #Engineering #Robotics #DeepSpace #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #UnitedStates #ForAllHumanity #AdobePDF #FreeDownload #Document #STEM #Education

Planet Mars: Martian Dust Devil Detected | NASA's Perseverance Rover | JPL

Planet Mars: Martian Dust Devil Detected | NASA's Perseverance Rover | JPL

 

 

Can you spot it? "A dust devil is something that happens both on Earth and on Mars and looks somewhat like a mini-tornado. As with tornadoes, dust devils are spinning columns of air. Such a column is called a vortex—you might see the same effect when you let water run down a bathtub drain . . . Unlike tornadoes, dust devils aren't usually associated with storms."
—Dr. Ken Edgett, a staff scientist at Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, California

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.
Mars Helicopter (Ingenuity)
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
Processing: Kevin M. Gill
Image Release Date: April 6, 2023


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

NASA's Artemis II Crew Discusses Upcoming Moon Mission | The TODAY Show

NASA's Artemis II Crew Discusses Upcoming Moon Mission | The TODAY Show

Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—the astronauts selected for NASA's upcoming moon mission—talk renewing an interest in space for a whole new generation. "We have global problems . . . we need global solutions and this is going to be a shining example of how we could do better as a human race," Hansen says.

Credit: NBC's The TODAY Show
Duration: 6 minutes
Release Date: April 6, 2023

#NASA #ESA #CSA #Space #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisII #OrionSpacecraft #DeepSpace #Astronauts #VictorGlover #ChristinaKoch #JeremyHansen #ReidWiseman #Americans #Canadians #MoonToMars #Science #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #UnitedStates #Canada #Europe #ForAllHumanity #STEM #Education #TODAYShow #HD #Video

Our Milky Way Galaxy: How Big is Space? | NASA/JPL

Our Milky Way Galaxy: How Big is Space? | NASA/JPL

When we talk about the enormity of the cosmos, it is easy to toss out big numbers—but far more difficult to wrap our minds around just how large, how far, and how numerous celestial bodies really are. How big is our Milky Way Galaxy and how far away are exoplanets, the planets beyond our solar system? 

Learn more: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/faq/26/what-is-a-light-year/

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Duration: 1 minute, 46 seconds

Release Date: April 2, 2019
 

#NASA #Space #Science #Astronomy #Earth #Sun #Planets #SolarSystem #Stars #ProximaCentauri #Exoplanets #ProximaB #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Physics #LightYear #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer Mission: Launch Prep | European Space Agency

Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer Mission: Launch Prep | European Space Agency

The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, JUICE, will make detailed observations of the giant gas planet and its three large ocean-bearing moons—Ganymede, Callisto and Europa—with a suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments. The mission will characterize these moons as both planetary objects and possible habitats, explore Jupiter’s complex environment in depth, and study the wider Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giants across the Universe.
The launch is scheduled for no earlier than April 13, 2023.

Follow the JUICE Mission: www.esa.int/juice

Launch location: Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, South America

Launch vehicle: Ariane 5 rocket

NASA's Europa Clipper Mission will complement the European Space Agency's JUICE Mission. JUICE will fly-by Europa twice and Callisto multiple times before moving into orbit around Ganymede.

Image Credits: European Space Agency/M. Pédoussaut/CNES/Arianespace 

Image Dates: March 24-April 6, 2023

#NASA #ESA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #Jupiter #Moons #Europa #Callisto #Ganymede #JUICEMission #Spacecraft #Ariane5 #Rocket #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #KourouSpaceport #FrenchGuiana #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education

The Overview Effect: Seeing Earth in Perspective | NASA's Artemis II Moon Crew

The Overview Effect: Seeing Earth in Perspective | NASA's Artemis II Moon Crew

NASA astronaut Christina Koch, appearing with her Artemis II mission crewmates Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hansen of Canada, tells Stephen about the flood of emotions that can accompany an astronaut’s view of Earth from space, a sensation that is known as The Overview Effect.

Credit: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Duration: 3 minutes, 20 seconds
Release Date: April 6, 2023 

#NASA #ESA #CSA #Space #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisII #OrionSpacecraft #DeepSpace #Astronauts #VictorGlover #ChristinaKoch #JeremyHansen #ReidWiseman #MoonToMars #Science #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #UnitedStates #Canada #Europe #ForAllHumanity #OverviewEffect #OrbitalPerspective #STEM #Education #Colbert #HD #Video

 

Multi-Generational Globular Star Cluster NGC 2419 | Hubble

Multi-Generational Globular Star Cluster NGC 2419 | Hubble

This image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope shows the globular star cluster NGC 2419. Globular clusters are both beautiful and fascinating. They are spherical groups of stars that orbit the center of a galaxy, and in the case of NGC 2419, that galaxy is our own Milky Way. NGC 2419 is around 300,000 light-years from the solar system, in the constellation Lynx.

Image Description: Black background. Image is filled with a spherical grouping of blue-white, orange, and red stars. The density of stars is greatest at the center of the sphere. Star numbers taper off toward the image's edges.

The stars populating globular clusters are very similar because they formed at roughly the same time. Astronomers can determine a star’s relative age by its chemical makeup, a property called its metallicity. Because stars in a globular cluster all formed at around the same time, they tend to display similar properties. Astronomers believed this similarity included their stellar helium content. They thought that all stars in a globular cluster would contain similar amounts of helium.

However, Hubble’s observations of NGC 2419 revealed that this is not always the case. This globular cluster holds two separate populations of red giant stars, and one is unusually helium rich. NGC 2419’s stars hold other elements that vary too. In particular, their nitrogen content varies. To make things even more interesting, the helium-rich stars are predominantly in the center of the globular cluster and are rotating. Hubble’s observations raised questions about the formation of globular clusters; did these two drastically different groups of stars form together? Or did this globular cluster come into being by a different route entirely?

Image Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, S. Larsen et al.

Text Credit: ESA

Release Date: Feb. 25, 2019

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #StarCluster #GlobularStarCluster #NGC2419 #Lynx #Constellation #Galaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Russian Soyuz MS-23 Crew Ship Relocation | International Space Station

Russian Soyuz MS-23 Crew Ship Relocation | International Space Station

The Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft, with Expedition 69 crew members Frank Rubio of NASA, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev (Russia) and Dmitri Petelin (Russia) aboard, successfully docked to the Prichal module on the Earth-facing side of the International Space Station at 5:22 a.m. EDT on April 6, 2023.

This was the 26th spacecraft relocation in space station history. The move makes room for the arrival of the uncrewed Roscosmos Progress 84 cargo spacecraft (Russia) later this year and frees the Poisk airlock for the upcoming Roscosmos spacewalks in April and May.

Rubio, Prokopyev, and Petelin are scheduled to return to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft upon undocking Sept. 27.

Follow Expedition 69 updates here:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 69 Crew (March 2023)
Station Commander: Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos (Russia)
Roscosmos (Russia): Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin & Andrey Fedyaev
Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
NASA: Flight Engineers Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science

For more information about STEM on Station:
https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Capture Date: April 6, 2023


#NASA #Space #Earth #Science #SoyuzMS23 #Союз #CrewSpacecraft #Astronauts #Cosmonauts #HumanSpaceflight #Europe #Canada #Japan #日本 #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #UAE #MicrogravityResearch #SpaceResearch #SpaceLaboratory #UNOOSA #InternationalCooperation #Expedition69 #STEM #Education

Introducing NASA's Artemis II Moon Mission Crew | This Week @NASA

Introducing NASA's Artemis II Moon Mission Crew | This Week @NASA

Introducing the crew of NASA's Artemis II Moon mission, lighting up an Artemis rocket engine, and a new image of a distant planet. A few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

Learn more about the Artemis II mission: https://nasa.gov/specials/artemis-ii

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Video Producer, Editor, Narrator: Andre Valentine

Duration: 2 minutes, 36 seconds

Release Date: April 7, 2023

 

#NASA #ESA #CSA #Space #Astronomy #JWST #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisII #OrionSpacecraft #DeepSpace #Astronauts #VictorGlover #ChristinaKoch #JeremyHansen #ReidWiseman #MoonToMars #Science #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #UnitedStates #Canada #Europe #ForAllHumanity #STEM #Education #HD #Video