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.
Featured here is the conjunction of Jupiter, Moon and Venus, aligned above Monte Pelmo—one of the most spectacular mountains in the Dolomites of northern Italy. Jupiter is at top, above the waxing crescent Moon. Monte Pelmo, also called the throne of God due to its characteristic shape, stands 10,394 ft (3168 m) above sea level and has an impressive prominence of 3,907 ft (1,191 m). The Dolomites Range is recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Image Data:
Canon R6 camera; Canon 70/300 lens; 207 mm.
Panorama: 3 vertical photos for sky (ISO 640, 207 mm, f 6.3, 1 second exposure) and 3 vertical photos for Dolomites (ISO 125, 207 mm, f 7.1, 1.3 second exposure)
Image & Caption Credit: Alessandra Masi
Location: Cadore, Dolomites, Monte Pelmo, Italy Coordinates: 46.41972, 12.13472
The Hunt for Space Rocks | NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and The Space Age
Asteroids and comets are among the oldest objects in our solar system. They mostly reside at safe distances from Earth, but some find their way into our planetary backyard.
Every day, the Earth receives visitors from outer space: tons of space debris that mostly goes unnoticed. Some of these “shooting stars,” however, do survive the fiery descent through the atmosphere. That’s what happened to the dinosaurs 65 million years ago when a massive asteroid—or comet—struck Earth. However, as the saying goes: "The dinosaurs didn't have a space agency. Fortunately, we do."
“The Hunt for Space Rocks” chronicles the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's pioneering work to understand asteroids and comets as part of NASA’s larger effort to protect our planet from cosmic marauders. From JPL’s effort to mount a mission to study the most famous comet of all—Halley’s comet—to the lab’s current role in planetary defense with its Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). The documentary drives home a clear message: We need to find the asteroids and comets before they find us.
This is the 16th episode in the documentary series “JPL and the Space Age,” which uses rare archival footage and interviews to help tell the story of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s trailblazing role in space exploration.
Video Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
Planet Mars: A Dune Field near Nili Patera | NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
The orientation of these dunes tell us the direction of the prevailing wind. This image was acquired on Sept. 29, 2018, by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument at an altitude of 270.5 km from the planet's surface. Black and white images are 5 km across; enhanced color images are 1 km.
The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
“For 17 years, MRO has been revealing Mars to us as no one had seen it before,” said the mission’s project scientist, Rich Zurek of JPL.
Using data collected by NASA’s Cassini mission, an international team of scientists has discovered phosphorus—an essential chemical element for life—locked inside salt-rich ice grains ejected into space from Enceladus.
The small moon is known to possess a subsurface ocean, and water from that ocean erupts through cracks in Enceladus' icy crust as geysers at its south pole, creating a plume. The plume then feeds Saturn's E ring (a faint ring outside of the brighter main rings) with icy particles.
During its mission at the gas giant from 2004 to 2017, Cassini flew through the plume and E ring numerous times. Scientists found that Enceladus' ice grains contain a rich array of minerals and organic compounds—including the ingredients for amino acids—associated with life as we know it.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute (SSI)
Planet Mars: The Foothills of Mount Sharp | NASA's Curiosity Rover | JPL
Support FriendsofNASA.org: A sweep over the foothills of Mount Sharp in Gale Crater on Mars using a MastCam observation by NASA's Curiosity rover on sol 2287.
Celebrating 10 Years+ on Mars (2012-2023)
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
For more information on NASA's Mars missions, visit: mars.nasa.gov
Tropical Cyclone Biparjoy over The Arabian Sea | International Space Station
These are photos of Tropical Cyclone Biparjoy over the Arabian Sea captured by United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi this past week. Cyclone Biparjoy made landfall near the border of India and Pakistan on Thursday evening, June 15, 2023, with winds of up to 78 miles per hour. After lingering over the Arabian Sea for days, the storm brought heavy rain and flooding in coastal areas of both India and Pakistan.
The Arabian Sea is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden, and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and on the southeast by the Laccadive Sea and the Maldives, on the southwest by Somalia. [Source: Wikipedia]
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
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)/UAE astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi
NASA Astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli Prepares for First Spaceflight
Official portrait of NASA Astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli
NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli poses for a portrait in the Blue Flight Control Room at Johnson Space Center
NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli wears a spacesuit prior to underwater spacewalk training at NASA Johnson Space Center’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory
NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli is helped into a spacesuit prior to underwater spacewalk training
NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli wears a Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment prior to underwater spacewalk training. The cooling garment runs water throughout the suit to keep her cool during training.
These are portraits and views of NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli during her astronaut training. Moghbeli will be the spacecraft commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission—the agency’s seventh rotational mission to the International Space Station. Moghbeli is a naval aviator, test pilot, and aerospace engineer. This will be the first spaceflight for Moghbeli, who became a NASA astronaut in 2017.
Astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli Official NASA Biography:
NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli will join European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen and astronaut Satoshi Furukawa from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). An additional crew member will be assigned at a later date.
NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than mid-August 2023 for the launch of Crew-7, aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The four astronauts will join an expedition crew aboard the International Space Station.
Image Credits: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)/Bill Stafford/Bill Ingalls/Josh Valcarcel
International Space Station Receives Major Power Boost | This Week @NASA
Equipping the International Space Station to produce more power, our newest experimental X-plane, and preparing to test a new laser communications system . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!
Expedition 69 Flight Engineers Woody Hoburg and Steve Bowen of NASA concluded their spacewalk on June 15, 2023, at 2:17 p.m. EDT after 5 hours and 35 minutes. Hoburg and Bowen completed their major objective to install an IROSA (International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array) to augment power generation for the 1B power channel on the station’s starboard truss structure. The new array is 60 feet long by 20 feet wide (18.2 meters by 6 meters) and is shading a little more than half of the original array, which is 112 feet long by 39 feet wide. Each new IROSA produces more than 20 kilowatts of electricity and together enable a 30% increase in power production over the station’s current arrays.
Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
NASA Astronaut Frank Rubio Talks to Iberoamérica | International Space Station
Aboard the International Space Station, NASA Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Frank Rubio discussed in Spanish living and working in space during an in-flight event June 12, 2023, with Mexican Public Television networks that belong to the Asociación de las Televisiones Educativas y Culturales Iberoamericanas (Association of Ibero-American Educational and Cultural Televisions.)
Rubio is in the midst of a science mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies. Such research benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis missions, which will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future expeditions to Mars
The American flag on the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida serves as a backdrop for an osprey as it flies near a wind direction pole on Jun 7, 2023.
Two osprey are perched in their nest atop a marshalling area sign in front of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 7, 2023. In the background, the NASA meatball and Amercian flag are in view. The center shares a border with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. More than 330 native and migratory bird species, along with 65 amphibian and reptile species, call Kennedy and the wildlife refuge home.
The osprey (Pandion haliaetus) also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than 60 cm (24 in) in length and 180 cm (71 in) across the wings. It is brown on the upperparts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts. [Source: Wikipedia]
NASA’s X-59 Supersonic Aircraft: The Quiet Crew | A Profile of Stephanie Simerly
In this episode of The Quiet Crew, you’ll meet Stephanie Simerly, a wind tunnel test engineer supporting the Quesst mission. Stephanie grew up in the foothills of east Tennessee and has always aspired to work at NASA. She loves her work and is passionate about travel, family, and caring for her two dogs. She is part of the crew on a mission to transform aviation as NASA and communities work together to verify that the X-59’s quiet, supersonic design can turn a sonic boom into a sonic thump. This new technology, along with a potential change in regulations, will allow airliners to fly faster over land, cutting passenger travel time in half without disturbing people on the ground.
The NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) is an aeronautical research center. Its primary campus is located inside Edwards Air Force Base in California and is considered NASA's premier site for aeronautical research.
NASA's Space to Ground: On a Roll | Week of June 16, 2023
NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. Expedition 69 Flight Engineers Woody Hoburg and Steve Bowen of NASA concluded their spacewalk on June 15, 2023, at 2:17 p.m. EDT after 5 hours and 35 minutes. Hoburg and Bowen completed their major objective to install an IROSA (International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array) to augment power generation for the 1B power channel on the station’s starboard truss structure. The new array is 60 feet long by 20 feet wide (18.2 meters by 6 meters) and is shading a little more than half of the original array, which is 112 feet long by 39 feet wide. Each new IROSA produces more than 20 kilowatts of electricity and together enable a 30% increase in power production over the station’s current arrays.
NASA and Boeing have a plan in place for a fourth set of roll-out arrays to further augment the International Space Station’s power supply. These arrays, which would be the seventh and eighth installed on space station, are targeted for delivery to the orbital outpost in 2025.
It was the 265th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, upgrades, and maintenance. The spacewalk marked the second for Hoburg and tenth for Bowen, tying him for the most spacewalks by a U.S. astronaut along with Mike Lopez-Alegria, Bob Behnken, Peggy Whitson, and Chris Cassidy.
Hoburg and Bowen are in the midst of a science mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.
Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:
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
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.
Meet two of the Martian samples that have been collected and are awaiting return to Earth as part of the Mars Sample Return campaign. As of June 2023, NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover has collected and sealed 19 scientifically selected samples inside pristine tubes. The next stage is to get them back for study.
Considered one of the highest priorities by the scientists in the Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032, Mars Sample Return would be the first mission to return samples from another planet and provides the best opportunity to reveal the early evolution of Mars, including the potential for ancient life. NASA is partnering with the European Space Agency (ESA) on this important endeavor.
Learn more about Samples No. 12 and 13—“Hazeltop” and “Bearwallow”—a pair of rock cores from a fine-grained sedimentary rock that scientists believe could have good characteristics for preserving signs of ancient microbes, if they were ever present.
A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, as well as be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
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.
From Sunset to Sunrise over the Baltic Sea | Earth Science
This serene view from the coast of Sweden looks across the Baltic Sea and compresses time, presenting the passage of one night in a single photograph. From sunset to sunrise, moonlight illuminates the creative sea and skyscape. Fleeting clouds, fixed stars, and flowing northern lights leave their traces in planet Earth's sky. To construct the timelapse image, 3296 video frames were recorded on the night of June's Full Moon between 7:04pm and 6:35am local time. As time progresses from left to right, a single column of pixels was taken from the corresponding individual frame and combined in sequence into a single digital image 3296 pixels wide.
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
NASA Artemis V Moon Rocket Engine Exhaust Explained
NASA test engineer Derek Zacher discusses the exhaust generated by the testing of the Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 rocket engine for the Artemis Moon missions.
For information about NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), visit:
Artemis II Crewed Moon Mission: European Service Module | Kennedy Space Center
Teams are performing final checkouts of the Orion spacecraft’s service module before integrating the crew and service modules for Artemis II, the first Artemis mission with crew. In parallel, technicians from Airbus will conduct inspections of the solar array wings following the successful completion of service module acoustic testing in May, which ensured the service module can withstand the speed and vibration it will experience during launch and throughout the mission. During the inspections, each of the four panels will be fully redeployed and reexamined. The crew module also will undergo acoustic testing ahead of joining with the service module.
Provided by the European Space Agency (ESA), the service module is the powerhouse that will fuel, propel, and provide in-space maneuvering capability, and is responsible for life support commodities such as water and breathable air for astronauts onboard Orion in support of future Artemis missions.
.jpg)
%20%5BApoD%5D.jpg)
RD.jpg)