Martian Barchan Dunes | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (2006-2024)

Martian Barchan Dunes | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (2006-2024)

On Jan. 16, 2020, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured this image of two types of sand dunes on Mars: barchan and linear dunes.

The small dots are called barchan dunes, and from their shape we can tell that they are upwind. The downwind dunes are long and linear. These two types of dune each show the wind direction in different ways: the barchans have a steep slope and crescent-shaped “horns” that point downwind, while the linear dunes are stretched out along the primary wind direction. Linear dunes, however, typically indicate at least two different prevailing winds, which stretch out the sand along their average direction.

Barchan and linear dunes are not just a Martian phenomenon. We also see them on Earth. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have snapped photos of them occurring in Brazil and Saudi Arabia.

This image was taken by the MRO spacecraft’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument. MRO was designed to study the geology and climate of Mars, to provide reconnaissance of future landing sites, and to relay data from surface missions back to Earth. It was launched on August 12, 2005, and reached Mars on March 10, 2006. This year marks its 18th anniversary at Mars.

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the HiRISE instrument, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

Release Date: Mars 8, 2024 

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #Planet #RedPlanet #Geology #Landscape #Terrain #Geoscience #SandDunes #BarchanDunes #LinearDunes #MRO #Orbiter #Spacecraft #HiRISE #HiRISECamera #JPL #Caltech #UArizona #BallAerospace #STEM #Education

"The Spaghetti Nebula": Supernova Remnant Simeis 147

"The Spaghetti Nebula": Supernova Remnant Simeis 147

It is easy to get lost following the intricate, looping, and twisting filaments of supernova remnant Simeis 147. Also cataloged as Sharpless 2-240, the filamentary nebula goes by the popular nickname the Spaghetti Nebula. Seen toward the boundary of the constellations of the Bull (Taurus) and the Charioteer (Auriga), the impressive gas structure covers nearly 3 degrees on the sky, equivalent to 6 full moons. This is about 150 light-years at the stellar debris cloud's estimated distance of 3,000 light-years. 

This composite image includes data taken through narrow-band filters isolating emission from hydrogen (red) and oxygen (blue) glowing gas. The supernova remnant has an estimated age of about 40,000 years, meaning light from this massive stellar explosion first reached the Earth when woolly mammoths roamed free. Besides the expanding remnant, this cosmic catastrophe left behind a pulsar, a spinning neutron star that is the remnant of the original star's core.

Image Credit & Copyright: Stéphane Vetter (Nuits sacrées)

Stéphane's Facebook page: 

https://www.facebook.com/stephane.vetter.nuitsacrees 

Release Date: Feb. 27, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #Star #NeutronStar #Pulsar #SupernovaRemnant #Simeis147 #Sharpless2240 #Taurus #Auriga #Constellations #Astronomers #Astrophotography #Astrophotographer #StéphaneVetter #Cosmos #Universe #STEM #Education #APoD

Planet Venus: Japan's Venus Climate Orbiter View | JAXA

Planet Venus: Japan's Venus Climate Orbiter View | JAXA

Planet Venus (ultraviolet view) - December 2, 2022

"Venus has long been referred to as Earth’s sister planet not only because its size and distance from the sun are similar to those of the Earth, but also because its formation is considered to like that of the Earth at the birth of the solar system." 

"However, Venus is actually very different from the Earth. It is veiled in high-temperature carbon dioxide and thick sulfuric-acid clouds. Moreover, above the surface of Venus, violent winds reach over 400 kilometers per hour. Venus’ whole atmosphere is rotating much faster than the surface below at the altitude of the cloud top (70 km), a unique situation called superrotation. Its mechanisms are still largely unclear."

"Clarification of the causes for such an environment will provide us with clues to understand the Earth better, especially to help understand climate change on Earth. Therefore, Venus is a very important subject for exploration in order to learn about the Earth’s environment."

Akatsuki (あかつき, 暁, "Dawn"), also known as the Venus Climate Orbiter (VCO), is a Japanese (JAXA) spacecraft tasked to study the atmosphere of Venus. By using five different cameras, working at several wavelengths, Akatsuki is studying the stratification of the atmosphere, atmospheric dynamics, and cloud physics. It was launched aboard an H-IIA 202 rocket on May 20, 2010.

Image Credits: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)/ISAS/DARTS

Image Processing: Kevin M. Gill

Processed using UV (365nm, 283nm) filtered images of Venus taken by Akatsuki's UVI

Caption Credits: JAXA, Wikipedia

Image Date: Dec. 2, 2022

Release Date: March 7, 2024

#NASA #JAXA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #Venus #Atmosphere #Meteorology #Weather #Clouds #Ultraviolet #VenusClimateOrbiter #VCO #Akatsuki #あかつき #PlanetC #Spacecraft #Japan #日本  #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #宇宙航空研究開発機構 #KevinGill #CitizenScience #STEM #Education

Planet Jupiter: Close Flyby Views | NASA's Juno Mission

Planet Jupiter: Close Flyby Views | NASA's Juno Mission

Jupiter & Galilean Moons (PJ57-21/12): From the left, the visible moons are Ganymede, Io, Europa, and Callisto. 

Jupiter - PJ57-57

Jupiter - PJ57-57

Jupiter - PJ57-60

Jupiter - PJ57-50

Jupiter - PJ57-28: Of the two moons visible, Europa is the the left and Callisto is to the right (just off the left limb of Jupiter).

Since it arrived at Jupiter in 2016, NASA’s Juno spacecraft has been probing beneath the dense, forbidding clouds encircling the giant planet—the first orbiter to peer so closely. It seeks answers to questions about the origin and evolution of Jupiter, our solar system, and giant planets across the cosmos.

The Juno orbiter has now performed over 57 flybys of Jupiter and documented close encounters with three of the gas giant’s four largest moons.

More About the Mission

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott J. Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built and operates the spacecraft.

Learn more about NASA's Juno mission:

https://www.nasa.gov/juno

https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/

Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

Image Processing: Kevin Gill

Image Release Dates: Jan. 5-Jan. 8, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Jupiter #Planet #Moons #Io #Europa #Ganymede #Callisto #Moons #Geology #JunoMission #JunoSpacecraft #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #JPL #Caltech #MSFC #SwRI #UnitedStates #KevinGill #CitizenScience #STEM #Education

The Hubble Space Telescope: Our Cosmic Time Machine | NASA Goddard

The Hubble Space Telescope: Our Cosmic Time Machine | NASA Goddard

The Hubble Space Telescope is many things. It is an observatory, a satellite, and an icon of cultural and scientific significance—but perhaps most interestingly, Hubble is also a time machine.

Hubble is not that far away, locked in a low-Earth orbit just a few hundred miles up that takes about 90 minutes to complete. However, with its position above Earth’s murky atmosphere, Hubble’s transformative view of our universe literally lets us witness our universe’s past.  It allows us to effectively travel back in time.

The answer is simply light! Watch this video to learn more about Hubble: Humanity’s cosmic time machine!

For more information, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble

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

Paul Morris: Lead Producer 

Elizabeth Tammi: Script

Release Date: March 10, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Stars #Planets #Exoplanets #Galaxies #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #Cosmos #Universe #Europe #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

Star-forming Region NGC 604 (Mid-infrared view) | James Webb Space Telescope

Star-forming Region NGC 604 (Mid-infrared view) | James Webb Space Telescope

This image from the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) of star-forming region NGC 604 shows how large clouds of cooler gas and dust glow at mid-infrared wavelengths. This region is a hotbed of star formation and home to more than 200 of the hottest, most massive kinds of stars, all in the early stages of their lives.

In the MIRI view of NGC 604, there are noticeably fewer stars than Webb’s NIRCam image. This is because hot stars emit much less light at these wavelengths. Some of the stars seen in this image are red supergiants—stars that are cool but very large, hundreds of times the diameter of our Sun. The blue tendrils of material signify the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs.

NGC 604 is located in the Triangulum Galaxy (M33), 2.73 million light-years away from Earth. In this image, cavernous bubbles and stretched-out filaments of gas etch a more detailed and complete tapestry of star birth than seen in the past. NGC 604 was discovered by William Herschel on September 11, 1784.

Image Description: At the center of the image is a nebula on the black background of space. The nebula is composed of wispy filaments of light blue clouds. At the center-right of the blue clouds is a large cavernous bubble. The bottom left edge of this cavernous bubble is filled with hues of pink and white gas. Hundreds of dim stars fill the area surrounding the nebula.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Release Date: March 9, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StellarNursery #Nebulae #NGC604 #Nebula #TriangulumGalaxy #Triangulum #Constellation #JamesWebb #SpaceTelescope #JWST #Infrared #Cosmos #Universe #UnfoldTheUniverse #CSA #GSFC #STSc #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Panning over Star-forming Region NGC 604 | James Webb Space Telescope

Panning over Star-forming Region NGC 604 | James Webb Space Telescope

Two new images from the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) showcase the star-forming region NGC 604, located in the Triangulum Galaxy (M33), 2.73 million light-years away from Earth. In these images, cavernous bubbles and stretched-out filaments of gas etch a more detailed and complete tapestry of star birth than seen in the past. NGC 604 was discovered by William Herschel on September 11, 1784.

Sheltered among NGC 604’s dusty envelopes of gas are more than 200 of the hottest, most massive kinds of stars, all in the early stages of their lives. These types of stars are known as B-types and O-types, the latter of which can be more than 100 times the mass of our own Sun. It is quite rare to find this concentration of them in the nearby Universe. In fact, there is no similar region within our own Milky Way galaxy.

This concentration of massive stars, combined with its relatively close distance, means NGC 604 gives astronomers an opportunity to study these objects at a fascinating time early in their life.

NGC 604 is estimated to be around 3.5 million years old. The cloud of glowing gases extends to about 1,300 light-years across.

Video Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb)  

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: March 9, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StellarNursery #Nebulae #NGC604 #Nebula #TriangulumGalaxy #Triangulum #Constellation #JamesWebb #SpaceTelescope #JWST #Infrared #Cosmos #Universe #UnfoldTheUniverse #CSA #GSFC #STSc #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Star-forming Region NGC 604 in Triangulum | James Webb Space Telescope

Star-forming Region NGC 604 in Triangulum | James Webb Space Telescope

This is the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) image of the star-forming region NGC 604, located in the Triangulum Galaxy (M33), 2.73 million light-years away from Earth. In this image, cavernous bubbles and stretched-out filaments of gas etch a more detailed and complete tapestry of star birth than seen in the past. NGC 604 was discovered by William Herschel on September 11, 1784.

Sheltered among NGC 604’s dusty envelopes of gas are more than 200 of the hottest, most massive kinds of stars, all in the early stages of their lives. These types of stars are known as B-types and O-types, the latter of which can be more than 100 times the mass of our own Sun. It is quite rare to find this concentration of them in the nearby Universe. In fact, there is no similar region within our own Milky Way galaxy.

This concentration of massive stars, combined with its relatively close distance, means NGC 604 gives astronomers an opportunity to study these objects at a fascinating time early in their life.

In this Webb near-infrared NIRCam image, the most noticeable features are tendrils and clumps of emission that appear bright red, extending out from areas that look like clearings, or large bubbles in the nebula. Stellar winds from the brightest and hottest young stars have carved out these cavities, while ultraviolet radiation ionizes the surrounding gas. This ionized hydrogen appears as a white and blue ghostly glow.

The bright orange streaks in this Webb near-infrared image signify the presence of carbon-based molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. This material plays an important role in the interstellar medium and the formation of stars and planets, but its origin is a mystery. As you travel further from the immediate clearings of dust, the deeper red signifies molecular hydrogen. This cooler gas is a prime environment for star formation.

NGC 604 is estimated to be around 3.5 million years old. The cloud of glowing gases extends to about 1,300 light-years across.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Release Date: March 9, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StellarNursery #Nebulae #NGC604 #Nebula #TriangulumGalaxy #Triangulum #Constellation #JamesWebb #SpaceTelescope #JWST #Infrared #Cosmos #Universe #UnfoldTheUniverse #CSA #GSFC #STSc #Cosmos #Universe #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

View Shenzhou-17 Astronauts on Spacewalk | China Space Station

View Shenzhou-17 Astronauts on Spacewalk | China Space Station

The Shenzhou-17 crew members aboard China's space station completed their second extravehicular mission on Saturday, March 2, 2024, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). Their first extravehicular mission was on Dec. 21, 2023. This mission, lasting about eight hours, was conducted by the trio, Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin with the assistance of a ground team and the China Space Station's robotic arm. The primary objective of this mission was to carry out maintenance on the solar wing of the Tianhe core module, eliminating impacts from collision by microparticles in space.

Following evaluation and analysis, it was determined that the power generation of repaired solar wing was back to normal. This marks the first time that Chinese astronauts have conducted extravehicular maintenance activities on external spacecraft facilities.

Wu Dawei, deputy chief designer of China's manned space program astronaut system commended the astronauts' impeccable performance during the mission.

"The astronauts' performance were flawless. Although it was Jiang Xinlin's first time engaging in extravehicular activities on the robotic arm, he showed composure and remained calm. The coordination between him and fellow astronauts, and with the ground team, was perfect. The mission was completed perfectly following our designed procedures and plans in the whole process," Wu said.

The Shenzhou-17 crew, who arrived at the space station on Oct 26, 2023 for a six-month mission, will continue to carry out a range of space science experiments and technological tests as planned.

Shenzhou-17 is the sixth crew of three astronauts on a mission to the China Space Station. Shenzhou-17 is also the twelfth crewed and seventeenth flight overall of China's Shenzhou spaceflight program.

Shenzhou-17 Crew:

Hongbo Tang (Commander)

Shengjie Tang (Mission Specialist)

Xinlin Jiang (Mission Specialist)

Video Credit: China Manned Space Agency (CMSA)/CCTV

Duration: 2 minutes, 26 seconds

Release Date: March 9, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #Shenzhou17 #神舟十七号 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #Spacewalk #EVA #SolarPanels #HongboTang #ShengjieTang #XinlinJiang #SpaceLaboratory #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #TiangongSpaceStation #中国空间站 #CMSA #国家航天局  #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Panning over Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1559 | James Webb Space Telescope

Panning over Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1559 | James Webb Space Telescope

This image features the barred spiral galaxy galaxy NGC 1559 as seen by the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope. The galaxy hosts a visible central region with a distinct open pattern in the loosely-wound spiral arms. NGC 1559 resides approximately 35 million light-years away in the little-observed southern constellation Reticulum (The Reticule).

The data featured in this portrait make use of two of Webb’s instruments: the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) and Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam). Here MIRI captures the glow of interstellar dust grains that traces out the interstellar medium, the fuel for future star formation. NIRCam shows the light from stars, even young stars hidden behind prodigious amounts of dust. NIRCam also captures emission from ionized nebulae around young stars.

NGC 1559 has massive spiral arms that abound with star formation, and it is receding from us at a speed of about 1300 kilometers per second. Although NGC 1559 appears to sit near one of our nearest neighbors in the sky—the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). This is just a trick of perspective. In reality, NGC 1559 is physically nowhere near the LMC in space; in fact it truly is a loner, lacking the company of any nearby galaxies or membership of any galaxy cluster.

NGC 1559 may be alone in space, but with Webb we are admiring from far away.

Image Description: A barred spiral galaxy on a dark, nearly empty background. The whole galaxy glows with a pale light, particularly along the galaxy’s bar which runs from top to bottom through the galactic core. It is speckled with tiny stars. The center is surrounded by rich clouds of hot gas and dust along the arms. The arms are loosely wound and a bit ragged, and contain a few star-forming regions that shine brightly.

Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Leroy, J. Lee and the PHANGS Team, N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb)  

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: Feb. 27, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #PHANGSGalaxies #Galaxy #NGC1559 #BarredGalaxy #SpiralGalaxy #Reticulum #Constellation #JamesWebb #SpaceTelescope #JWST #Infrared #Cosmos #Universe #UnfoldTheUniverse #CSA #GSFC #STSc #Cosmos #Universe  #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1559 | James Webb Space Telescope

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1559 | James Webb Space Telescope

This image features the barred spiral galaxy galaxy NGC 1559 as seen by the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope. The galaxy hosts a visible central region with a distinct open pattern in the loosely-wound spiral arms. NGC 1559 resides approximately 35 million light-years away in the little-observed southern constellation Reticulum (The Reticule).

The data featured in this portrait make use of two of Webb’s instruments: the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) and Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam). Here MIRI captures the glow of interstellar dust grains, which trace out the interstellar medium, the fuel for future star formation. NIRCam shows the light from stars, even young stars hidden behind prodigious amounts of dust. NIRCam also captures emission from ionized nebulae around young stars.

The data were collected by the PHANGS team as part of an observing program that Webb will observe 55 galaxies that have also been mapped by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio telescope, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and more. By combining Webb’s unprecedented view of the dust and stars with data from these other facilities, the team aims to obtain a new, highly detailed view of how stars are born, live, and die in galaxies across the Universe. This is also a Treasury program, meaning that the data will have no exclusive access period and so the scientific community (and others, including the general public) can access the data immediately. This has the advantage that more research can be done with the data more quickly.

NGC 1559 has massive spiral arms that abound with star formation, and it is receding from us at a speed of about 1300 kilometers per second. Although NGC 1559 appears to sit near one of our nearest neighbors in the sky—the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). This is just a trick of perspective. In reality, NGC 1559 is physically nowhere near the LMC in space; in fact it truly is a loner, lacking the company of any nearby galaxies or membership of any galaxy cluster.

NGC 1559 may be alone in space, but with Webb we are admiring from far away.

Image Description: A barred spiral galaxy on a dark, nearly empty background. The whole galaxy glows with a pale light, particularly along the galaxy’s bar which runs from top to bottom through the galactic core. It is speckled with tiny stars. The center is surrounded by rich clouds of hot gas and dust along the arms. The arms are loosely wound and a bit ragged, and contain a few star-forming regions that shine brightly.

Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Leroy, J. Lee and the PHANGS Team

Release Date: Feb. 27, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #PHANGSGalaxies #Galaxy #NGC1559 #BarredGalaxy #SpiralGalaxy #Reticulum #Constellation #JamesWebb #SpaceTelescope #JWST #Infrared #Cosmos #Universe #UnfoldTheUniverse #CSA #GSFC #STSc #Cosmos #Universe  #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

A New Crew Launches to the International Space Station | This Week @NASA

A New Crew Launches to the International Space Station | This Week @NASA

Week of March 8, 2024: A new crew launches to the International Space Station, graduating a new class of Artemis astronauts, and a group of tiny lunar-roving robots are ready to roll . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Video Producer & Editor: Andre Valentine

Narrator: Emanuel Cooper

Release Date: March 9, 2024

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Astronauts #SpaceX #SpaceCrewDragon #Crew8 #LoralOHara #JasminMoghbeli #UnitedStates #AndreasMogensen #Europe #ESA #SatoshiFurukawa #JAXA #Japan #日本 #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition70 #InternationalCooperation #STEM #Education #HD #Video

New Rockets & Satellites Boost Commercial Space Growth in China | CGTN

New Rockets & Satellites Boost Commercial Space Growth in China | CGTN

The commercial space market in China is expected to rapidly expand due to technological advances and increasing market demand. CGTN reporter Wu Lei visits rocket and satellite companies to see how commercial space enterprises are seizing the moment.

Video Credit: China Global Television Network (CGTN)

Duration: 3 minutes, 40 seconds

Release Date: March 6, 2024

#NASA #Space #Satellites #SatelliteConstellations #SatelliteInternet #CubeSats #Earth #China #中国 #SpacePioneer #Tianlong3Rocket #LandSpace #GalacticEnergy #LaunchVehicles #JSLC #JiuquanSatelliteLaunchCenter #InnerMongolia #WCSLS #Wenchang #Hainan #CommercialSpace #CommercialSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Planet Mars: Hebes Chasma | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Planet Mars: Hebes Chasma | NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

This image covers a small section of Hebes Chasma. Hebes Chasma is an isolated chasma just north of the Valles Marineris canyon system of Mars. It is centered at 1 degree southern latitude and 76 degrees western longitude, just between the Martian equator and the Valles Marineris system, just east of the Tharsis region. A chasma is a deep, elongated, steep-sided depression.

Mr. K, or Yll, is a character in Ray Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles”. This terrain would have been very difficult and lengthy to traverse in his fateful meeting with Captain Nathaniel York. 

This is a non-narrated clip with ambient sound. Image is less than 5 km (3 mi) across and the spacecraft altitude was 266 km (165 mi).

The image was taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) instrument.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a spacecraft designed to study the geology and climate of Mars, to provide reconnaissance of future landing sites, and to relay data from surface missions back to Earth. It was launched on August 12, 2005, and reached Mars on March 10, 2006. 

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the HiRISE instrument, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colorado. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter 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.

Video Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

Duration: 3 minutes, 21 seconds

Release Date: Mars 5, 2024 

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #Planet #RedPlanet #Geology #Landscape #Terrain #Geoscience #HebesChasma #RayBradbury #ScienceFiction #MRO #Orbiter #Spacecraft #HiRISE #HiRISECamera #JPL #Caltech #UArizona #BallAerospace #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA Design for Humanity's Message to Jupiter’s Moon Europa | JPL

NASA Design for Humanity's Message to Jupiter’s Moon Europa | JPL

There is a legacy of NASA spacecraft carrying inspirational messages into the cosmos. Europa Clipper will continue this tradition when it launches in October 2024 to Europa—a moon of Jupiter that shows strong evidence of an ocean under its icy crust. A triangular plate seals an opening in the spacecraft’s vault. This protects Europa Clipper’s electronics from Jupiter’s radiation. The plate will carry a special message into the cosmos.

At the heart of the artifact is an engraving of U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s handwritten “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa,” along with a silicon microchip stenciled with more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public. The microchip will be the centerpiece of an illustration of a bottle amid the Jovian system—a reference to NASA’s “Message in a Bottle” campaign, that invited the public to send their names with the spacecraft. 

Learn more about the vault plate: 

https://europa.nasa.gov/spacecraft/vault-plate/

Download Europa Clipper Ocean World poster:

go.nasa.gov/3Gsjzt5

More information on the Europa Clipper mission: 

https://europa.nasa.gov/

Missions such as Europa Clipper contribute to the field of astrobiology, the interdisciplinary research on the variables and conditions of distant worlds that could harbor life as we know it. While Europa Clipper is not a life-detection mission, it will conduct detailed reconnaissance of Europa and investigate whether the icy moon, with its subsurface ocean, has the capability to support life. 

Understanding Europa’s habitability will help scientists better understand how life developed on Earth and the potential for finding life beyond our planet. The spacecraft needs to be hardy enough to survive a 1.6 billion-mile, six-year journey to Jupiter—and sophisticated enough to perform a detailed science investigation of Europa once it arrives at the Jupiter system in 2030.

Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with APL for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. APL designed the main spacecraft body in collaboration with JPL and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, executes program management of the Europa Clipper mission.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Duration: 3 minutes

Release Date: March 8, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Jupiter #Europa #Moon #Ocean #Astrobiology #Biosignatures #Habitability #Radiation #EuropaClipper #EuropaClipperSpacecraft #VaultPlate #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #JHUAPL #GSFC #MSFC #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Celebrating the Women Who Bring NASA Technology to Life

Celebrating the Women Who Bring NASA Technology to Life

Meet just a few of the women who are bringing NASA technologies to life. These women are helping shape the future by contributing to exciting NASA missions. Their work also impacts life here on Earth. Join us as we celebrate Women's History Month and honor women who are making a difference in our world. 

For more inspiring stories, visit: 

https://www.nasa.gov/women-at-nasa/

Women's History Month is an annual observance to highlight the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. Celebrated during March in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, corresponding with International Women's Day on March 8,

Video Credit: NASA Space Tech

Duration: 2 minutes

Release Date: March 8, 2024

#NASA #Space #Aerospace #Earth #WomensHistoryMonth #InternationalWomensDay #Moon #ArtemisProgram #Mars #MoonToMars #Women #Pioneers #Leaders #Leadership #Diversity #Science #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #America #UnitedStates #ArtemisGeneration #History #STEM #Education #HD #Video