Friends of NASA

Saturday, March 30, 2024

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks over the High Tatra Mountains in Slovakia

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks over the High Tatra Mountains in Slovakia

Petr Horálek: "Shown above is Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks gracing the evening sky above the summits of Kežmarský štít (8,389 ft/2,557 m), at right, and Lomnický štít (8,635 ft/2,632 m), at left in the Tatra Mountains of Slovakia. I had planned this image for a very long time, but despite precise planning, hundreds of kilometers of driving, and high-quality equipment, bad weather seemed to accompany me on my previous photo expeditions. However, March 19, 2024, I finally succeeded!"

"If you take a close look at the summit of Lomnický štít, you'll notice a small domed building. This structure is the Skalnaté pleso Observatory, one of the highest astronomical observatories in central Europe. It's known for its success in visual comet hunting. In fact, between 1946 and 1959, when comet Pons-Brooks last visited our Solar System, several comets were discovered here."

12P/Pons–Brooks is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 71 years. It fits the classical definition of a Halley-type comet with an orbital period between 20 and 200 years. It is also one of the brightest known periodic comets, reaching an absolute visual magnitude ~5 in its approach to perihelion.

Comet Pons-Brooks was discovered at Marseilles Observatory in July 1812 by Jean-Louis Pons.

Equipment Details:

Canon Ra camera; Tamron 70-200 mm lens at 200 mm; 1.4 x Teleconverter; ISO 2000; 42x20 seconds exposures - comet tracked on Vixen Polarie U; plus 7x20 seconds exposures for foreground image.

Location: Veľká Lomnica, Slovakia

Coordinates: 49.133, 20.355

Image & Caption Credit: Petr Horálek - Institute of Physics in Opava

Petr’s Website: https://www.petrhoralek.com

Image Date: March 19, 2024

Release Date: March 29, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Sun #Earth #Comets #Comet #Comet12PPonsBrooks #Perihelion #Lacerta #Constellation #SolarSystem #Astrophotography #PetrHorálek #Astrophotographer #CitizenScience #VeľkáLomnica #Slovakia #Europe #STEM #Education #EPoD

Globular Cluster Omega Centauri: A New Ten Million Star View

Globular Cluster Omega Centauri: A New Ten Million Star View

Globular star cluster Omega Centauri, also known as NGC 5139, is 15,000 light-years away. The cluster is packed with about 10 million stars much older than the Sun within a volume about 150 light-years in diameter. It is the largest and brightest of 200 or so known globular clusters that roam the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Though most star clusters consist of stars with the same age and composition, the enigmatic Omega Cen exhibits the presence of different stellar populations with a spread of ages and chemical abundances. In fact, Omega Cen may be the remnant core of a small galaxy merging with the Milky Way. With a yellowish hue, Omega Centauri's red giant stars are easy to pick out in this sharp, color telescopic view.

Image Credit & Copyright: Massimo Di Fusco & Mirco Turra

Massimo Di Fusco's Website:

https://www.astrobin.com/users/massimo.difusco/

Release Date: March 28, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #StarClusters #GlobularCluster #OmegaCentauri #NGC5139 #Centaurus #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #CitizenScience #MassimoDiFusco #MircoTurra #STEM #Education #APoD

Volunteers Help NASA & European Space Agency Mission to Discover 5,000 Comets

Volunteers Help NASA & European Space Agency Mission to Discover 5,000 Comets

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA, has discovered its 5,000th comet, thanks to the help of volunteer comet hunters participating in the NASA-funded Sungrazer Project.

The sungrazing comet was spotted in SOHO images on March 25, 2024, by Hanjie Tan in the Czech Republic, who has participated in the Sungrazer Project since he was 13 years old. The comet is small and has a short orbital period around the Sun. It belongs to the “Marsden group” of comets, which are thought to be related to the larger comet 96P/Machholz. The group is named after the late scientist Brian Marsden, who first recognized the group using SOHO observations.

To learn more about the discovery and SOHO, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/esa-nasa-solar-observatory-discovers-its-5000th-comet/

Since the early 2000s, the Sungrazer Project has allowed anyone with a computer to search for comets in images taken by the SOHO spacecraft.

To learn more about the Sungrazer Project, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/citizen-science/the-sungrazer-project/

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

Producer & Editor: Lacey Young (MORI Associates)

Videographer: Joy Ng (National Institute of Aerospace)

Advisor: Beth Anthony (MORI Associates)

Scientist: Karl Battams (U.S. Naval Research Laboratory)

Duration: 2 minutes, 43 seconds

Release Date: March 27, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Space #Astronomy #Hubble #Sun #Comet #Comets #OortCloud #Science #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #Cosmos #Universe #SOHO #Europe #GSFC #NRL #UnitedStates #SungrazerProject #CitizenScience #Volunteers #STEM #Education #HD #Video

New Residents on The International Space Station | This Week @NASA

New Residents on The International Space Station | This Week @NASA

Week of March 29, 2024: A NASA astronaut is one of the International Space Station’s newest residents, planning for the upcoming total solar eclipse, and a notable award for an historic asteroid sample return mission . . . a few of the stories to tell you about–This Week at NASA!

NASA Astronaut Tracy Dyson and Belarusian cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of Russia, were the newest visitors to the orbital outpost after docking to the Prichal docking module on March 25, 2024, aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-25 crew ship.

This is the first space mission for a citizen of the Eastern European nation of Belarus.

The arrival of three new crew members to the existing seven people already aboard for Expedition 70 temporarily increases the station’s population to 10.

Dyson, Novitskiy, and Vasilevskaya joined NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and Alexander Grebenkin of Russia, already living and working aboard the space station.

Dyson will spend six months aboard the station as an Expedition 70 and 71 flight engineer, returning to Earth in September with Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Roscosmos (Russia), who will complete a year-long mission on the laboratory.

Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya will be aboard the station for 12 days, providing the ride home for O’Hara on Saturday, April 6, aboard Soyuz MS-24 for a parachute-assisted landing on steppe of Kazakhstan. O’Hara will have spent 204 days in space when she returns.

Follow Expedition 70 Updates:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 70 Crew

Station Commander: Oleg Kononenko (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia), Oleg Novitskiy (Russia), Marina Vasilevskaya (Belarus)

NASA: Loral O'Hara, Matthew Dominik, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps

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: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Video Producer & Editor: Andre Valentine

Narrator: Emanuel Cooper

Duration: 2 minutes, 48 seconds

Release Date: March 30, 2024

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Astronauts #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #Belarus #Беларусь #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Expedition70 #Expedition71 #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Friday, March 29, 2024

Cosmonaut Vasilevskaya, NASA Astronauts Epps, Dyson & O'Hara on Space Station

Cosmonaut Vasilevskaya, NASA Astronauts Epps, Dyson & O'Hara on Space Station

Posing for a portrait aboard the International Space Station (from left) are, NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, Tracy C. Dyson, and Loral O'Hara of the United States, and Cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus. Dyson and Vasilevskaya, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of Russia (out of frame), were the newest visitors to the orbital outpost after docking to the Prichal docking module on March 25, 2024, aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-25 crew ship.

This is the first space mission for a citizen of the Eastern European nation of Belarus. Vasilevskaya, Epps, and O'Hara are on their first spaceflight missions.

Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest.

The arrival of three new crew members to the existing seven people already aboard for Expedition 70 temporarily increases the station’s population to 10.

Follow Expedition 70 Updates:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 70 Crew

Station Commander: Oleg Kononenko (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia), Oleg Novitskiy (Russia), Marina Vasilevskaya (Belarus)

NASA: Loral O'Hara, Matthew Dominik, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Date: March 25, 2024

China's 2nd Relay Satellite Queqiao-2 Enters Orbit around The Moon | CGTN

China's 2nd Relay Satellite Queqiao-2 Enters Orbit around The Moon | CGTN

Chinese relay satellite Queqiao-2 has successfully performed a near-moon braking procedure and entered its circumlunar orbit, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) reported on March 25, 2024. After about 112 hours of flight, the satellite began to perform a near-moon braking at a distance of about 440 km from the lunar surface at 12:46 a.m. Beijing Time on March 25, entered its circumlunar orbit later.

Queqiao-2, or Magpie Bridge-2, will serve as a relay platform for the fourth phase of China's lunar exploration program, providing Earth-Moon communications services for Chang'e-4, Chang'e-6, Chang'e-7, and Chang'e-8 missions. It is another key step for supporting future lunar exploration missions, such as retrieving samples from the far side of the moon.

Due to the Moon's perpetual one-sided facing away from Earth, probes landing on its far side are obstructed by the Moon itself, hindering direct measurement, control communication, and data transmission with Earth.

As the fourth phase of China's lunar exploration project focuses on landing exploration and sampling sites primarily situated in the Moon's South Pole and far side areas, the need arises for more versatile and robust relay satellites. These satellites will serve as a new relay communication station on the Moon for communication.

"As for now, following the successful launch of Queqiao-2, it is poised to fulfill subsequent missions including Chang'e-6, Chang'e-7, Chang'e-8, and other related endeavors," said Ge, China National Space Administration's spokesman for Queqiao-2's launch.

The main goal of the fourth phase is to carry out scientific exploration on the Moon's South Pole and set up a fundamental type of lunar scientific research station. The fourth phase will be carried out in three steps, with the Chang'e-6, Chang'e-7 and Chang'e-8 probes being launched before 2030.

The Chang'e-6 is expected to be launched in the first half of 2024. The Chang'e-8 will constitute, together with Chang'e-7, the basic model of a lunar research station.

Queqiao-1 was launched in 2018 and supported the Chang'e 4 lunar farside mission.

Video Credit: China Global Television Network (CGTN)

Duration: 1 minute

Release Date: March 26, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Satellites #Earth #China #中国 #Moon #LunarCommunicationSatellites #Queqiao2 #鹊桥二号中继星 #Change6 #Change7 #Change8 #CNSA #CASC #SpaceTechnology #SpaceExploration #SolarSystem #STEM #Education #HD #Video

"Celebrating the Legacy of The US Delta Rocket Program" | United Launch Alliance

"Celebrating the Legacy of The US Delta Rocket Program" | United Launch Alliance

"Following more than 60 years of lifting historic missions to space and becoming a pillar in American rocketry, the Delta program is coming to a close with its final launch. Here is a look back at examples of its groundbreaking firsts and iconic missions launched on Delta rockets."

"Delta quickly established its record of excellence in the 1960s launching Ekko—the world's first communication satellite, Tyros, the first space-based weather observatory, and NASA's Pioneer and Explorer scientific spacecraft."

"The introduction of the Delta 2 rocket on Valentine's Day 1989 ushered in the GPS era—a capability that improves life on Earth every day from navigation to banking, agriculture and beyond. The Beloved Delta 2 earned its place in history with 155 flights with eight of those missions to Mars for NASA including the Spirit and Opportunity rovers."

"The Delta program's commitment to vehicle improvement to meet customer needs culminated in the Delta 4 family of launch vehicles with a wide range of increased capabilities delivering missions for the space force, the national reconnaissance office, NASA, and commercial clients."

"Every Delta 4 launch has been successful as America's trusted heavy lifter. The triple barrel Delta 4 heavy launched NASA's first Orion spacecraft on an uncrewed Moon mission and sent NASA's Parker Solar Probe to surf the atmosphere of our Sun."

"The 16th and final flight of the Delta 4 heavy rocket carries the National Reconnaissance Office's NROL70, capping off the incredible legacy of this program."

Learn more about the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 heavy rocket:

https://www.ulalaunch.com/rockets/delta-iv

Video Credit: United Launch Alliance (ULA)

Duration: 1 minute, 51 seconds

Release Date: March 28, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Moon #Mars #Sun #ULA #DeltaIVRocket #Satellites #PioneerSpacecraft #ExplorerSpacecraft #NASAOrion #ArtemisProgram #MarsOpportunityRover #MarsSpiritRover #KSC #JPL #GSFC #SpaceExploration #SolarSystem #USAF #GPS #NROL #UnitedStates #History #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's Space to Ground: A Very Busy Week of March 29, 2024

NASA's Space to Ground: A Very Busy Week of March 29, 2024

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

Follow Expedition 70 Updates:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 70 Crew

Station Commander: Oleg Kononenko (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia), Oleg Novitskiy (Russia), Marina Vasilevskaya (Belarus)

NASA: Loral O'Hara, Matthew Dominik, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps

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

Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 3 minutes, 25 seconds

Release Date: March 29, 2024

New Expedition 70 Crew Photos: March 2024 | International Space Station

New Expedition 70 Crew Photos: March 2024 | International Space Station

Expedition 70 Flight Engineers Loral O'Hara and Matthew Dominick, both NASA astronauts, are pictured as Dominick receives a haircut from O'Hara who is using an electric razor with a vacuum attached that collects the loose hair.

Expedition 70 Flight Engineers (from left) Mike Barratt, Matthew Dominick, and Jeanette Epps enjoy breakfast on a Sunday morning inside the International Space Station's Unity Module.

Expedition 70 Flight Engineer and NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps prepares tubes to collect samples from the crew for the Immunity Assay investigation. Immunity Assay looks at the impact of spaceflight on cellular immune functions in blood samples, tests that could only previously be conducted on Earth.

Expedition 70 Flight Engineer and NASA astronaut Mike Barratt shows off an Astrobee robotic free-flyer that will be controlled by student-written code in a competition to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers.

Expedition 70 Flight Engineers Matthew Dominick and Loral O'Hara, both NASA astronauts, smile for a portrait shortly after the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft docked to the International Space Station.

Expedition 70 Flight Engineer and NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara shows off the Advanced Space Experiment Processor-2, or ADSEP-2. The scientific device can interface with the Dragon and Cygnus cargo craft and houses cassettes that process samples for biology and physics research including cell and tissue culturing, protein crystal growth, microorganism and bacteria studies, and materials science research.

Expedition 70 Flight Engineer and NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick is pictured relaxing inside the International Space Station's Unity module during an orbital weekend.

The official Expedition 71 crew portrait with (bottom row from left) Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin of Russia and NASA astronauts Mike Barratt, Matthew Dominick, and Jeanette Epps. In the back row (from left) are, NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Oleg Kononenko of Russia.

Follow Expedition 70 Updates:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 70 Crew

Station Commander: Oleg Kononenko (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia), Oleg Novitskiy (Russia), Marina Vasilevskaya (Belarus)

NASA: Loral O'Hara, Matthew Dominik, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Dates: March 6-11, 2024

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Crew & Cargo Spacecraft Views | International Space Station

Crew & Cargo Spacecraft Views | International Space Station

The Soyuz MS-25 crew ship carrying NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of Russia, and Belarusian cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya approaches the International Space Station 262 miles above the Croatian coast on the Adriatic Sea.

The Soyuz MS-24 crew ship that carried NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Russia to the International Space Station is pictured docked to the Rassvet module.

The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft, on NASA's 30th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-30) mission, is pictured docked to the space-facing port on the International Space Station's Harmony module.

The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft, on NASA's 30th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-30) mission, approaches the International Space Station for a docking to the Harmony module's space-facing port.

NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and Belarusian cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya on the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station on March 25, 2024.

Dyson will spend six months aboard the station as an Expedition 70 and 71 flight engineer, returning to Earth in September with Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of Roscosmos, who will complete a year-long mission on the laboratory.

A SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft autonomously docked to station’s Harmony module on March 23, 2024. The Dragon launched on SpaceX’s 30th contracted commercial resupply mission for NASA on March 21, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. After Dragon spends about one month attached to the space station, the spacecraft will return to Earth with cargo and research.

Follow Expedition 70 Updates:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 70 Crew

Station Commander: Oleg Kononenko (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub (Russia), Alexander Grebenkin (Russia), Oleg Novitskiy (Russia), Marina Vasilevskaya (Belarus)

NASA: Loral O'Hara, Matthew Dominik, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps, Tracy C. Dyson

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Dates: March 20-25, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #ISS #Science #Earth #SoyuzSpacecraft #SoyuzMS24 #SoyuzMS25 #DragonSpacecraft #CRS30 #Astronauts #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #Belarus #Беларусь #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition70 #SpaceLaboratory #InternationalCooperation #STEM #Education

NOAA Satellites Detect Severe Solar Storm

NOAA Satellites Detect Severe Solar Storm

Between March 23–24, 2024, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites, and others operated by international partners, observed numerous flares erupt from the sun, including a powerful X-class solar flare. Additionally, a surge of extremely hot plasma, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), raced toward Earth resulting in geomagnetic storms and auroras.

This CME reached our planet at 10:37 a.m. EDT (1437 GMT) on Sunday, March 24, 2024, triggering a severe G4-class geomagnetic storm, marking the most potent solar storm since 2017. However, according to a Geomagnetic Storm Watch from NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, there was no reason for the public to be alarmed.

Video Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA)

Duration: 1 minute, 45 seconds

Release Date: March 28, 2024

#NASA #NOAA #CIRA #Space #SpaceWeather #Earth #Sun #Science #CME #GeomagneticStorm #G4class #SolarFlare #Xclass #Aurora #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

A Tribute to Dr. Nancy Grace Roman: NASA’s First Chief of Astronomy

A Tribute to Dr. Nancy Grace Roman: NASA’s First Chief of Astronomy

As NASA’s first Chief of Astronomy, the late Dr. Nancy Grace Roman paved the way for space telescopes and for women in the sciences. She is credited with making NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope a reality. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, a groundbreaking, wide-field survey telescope named in her honor, will launch by May 2027 and greatly expand our view of the universe.

This video paints an intimate picture of Dr. Roman, the person. We learn from her close friend Dr. Joan Gordon, astronomer Rachael Beaton, and Dr. Roman herself about her inspiration, passion, trailblazing nature, and what she might have thought about having a space telescope named after her.

Scheduled to launch in the mid-2020s, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will function as Hubble’s wide-eyed cousin. While just as sensitive as Hubble's cameras, the Roman Space Telescope's 300-megapixel Wide Field Instrument will image a sky area 100 times larger. This means a single Roman image will hold the equivalent detail of 100 pictures from Hubble.

Learn more about Dr. Nancy Grace Roman

https://science.nasa.gov/people/nancy-roman/

Learn about NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope:

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/the-nancy-grace-roman-space-telescope

Video Credit: Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)

Video Editor: Danielle Kirshenblat

Writer: Ann Jenkins

Story Editors: Martha Saladino, Alexander Cotnoir

Additional Footage and Images:

NASA

NASA Goddard

NASA’s Incredible Discovery Machine: The Story of the Hubble Space Telescope

NASA SM-2 Media Guide

AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Roman Collection

Dr. Joan Gordon

Maia Weinstock

U.S. Census

University of Chicago Library, Special Collection Research Center

VOA News

Duration: 7 minutes, 32 seconds

Release Date: March 27, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Women #Leaders #Pioneers #NancyGraceRoman #Astronomer #History #RomanSpaceTelescope #Exoplanets #Planets #SolarSystem #MilkyWayGalaxy #Stars #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #ESA #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education #HD #Video

New Mars Images: March 2024 | NASA Mars Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

New Mars Images: March 2024 | NASA Mars Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Mars 2020 - sol 1100

Mars 2020 - sols 1093/1094

Mars 2020 - sol 1085

Mars 2020 - sol 1092

MSL - sol 4127

MSL - sol 4135

MSL - sol 4123

Mars 2020 - sol 1099

Support FriendsofNASA.org

Celebrating 11+ Years on Mars (2012-2024)

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

Celebrating 3+ Years on 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 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

Processing: Kevin M. Gill

Image Release Dates: March 11-25, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Astrobiology #Geology #CuriosityRover #MSL #MountSharp #GaleCrater #PerseveranceRover #Mars2020 #JezeroCrater #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #CitizenScience #KevinGill #STEM #Education

NASA Astronaut Loral O’Hara—Exploring Science | International Space Station

NASA Astronaut Loral O’Hara—Exploring Science | International Space Station

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara is returning home after six months aboard the International Space Station. During her time on the orbiting laboratory, O’Hara contributed to dozens of scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to prepare for future space exploration missions and generate innovations and benefits for humanity on Earth.

Here is a look at some of the scientific activities O’Hara conducted during her mission: https://go.nasa.gov/3IQ5uJJ

Astronaut Loral O'Hara's Official NASA Biography:

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/astronauts/loral-ohara/

Follow Expedition 70 Updates:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 70 Crew

Station Commander: Oleg Kononenko (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub (Russia), Alexander Grebenkin (Russia), Oleg Novitskiy (Russia), Marina Vasilevskaya (Belarus)

NASA: Loral O'Hara, Matthew Dominik, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps, Tracy C. Dyson

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Duration: 2 minutes, 23 seconds

Release Date: March 28, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #ISS #Science #Earth #Moon #FirstQuarterMoon #ArtemisProgram #Astronauts #LoralOHara #UnitedStates #Cosmonauts #Belarus #Беларусь #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition70 #SpaceLaboratory #MicrogravityExperiments #InternationalCooperation #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Collins Aerospace Zero G Spacesuit Milestone Test with Former NASA Astronauts

Collins Aerospace Zero G Spacesuit Milestone Test with Former NASA Astronauts

Danny Olivas and Dan Burbank, two former NASA astronauts, discuss how their experiences with tests have shaped their opinions regarding the next generation spacesuit designed by Collins Aerospace and the direction of commercial space travel.

Learn more: https://collins.aero/3QSLRoU

Former NASA Astronaut John Daniel “Danny” Olivas Official Biography

https://www.nasa.gov/people/dr-john-daniel-danny-olivas-pe/

Former NASA Astronaut Dan Burbank Official Biography (PDF)

https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/burbank.pdf

Video Credit: Collins Aerospace

Duration: 1 minute

Release Date: March 27, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #ISS #Microgravity #Moon #ArtemisProgram #Astronauts #DannyOlivas #DanBurbank #Spacesuits #NextGenSpacesuit #xEVAS #EVA #Spacewalks #Moonwalks #Marswalks #HumanSpaceflight #CollinsAerospace #MoonToMars #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #SpaceTechnology #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Our Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole Sagittarius A* in Polarized Light

Our Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole Sagittarius A* in Polarized Light

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, who produced the first ever image of our Milky Way black hole released in 2022, has captured a new view of the massive object at the center of our Galaxy: how it looks in polarized light. This is the first time astronomers have been able to measure polarization, a signature of magnetic fields, this close to the edge of Sagittarius A*. This image shows the polarized view of the Milky Way black hole. The lines overlaid on this image mark the orientation of polarization, which is related to the magnetic field around the shadow of the black hole.

Image Description: "An orange donut-shaped object against a black background. Three blobs on the donut are particularly bright. Thin swirling lines overlaid on the donut spiral around the donut’s central hole."

Image Credit: EHT Collaboration/European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Release Date: March 27, 2024

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #BlackHoles #SagittariusA #SgrA #PolarizedLight #Sagittarius #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #ALMA #Chajnantor #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #EHT #EHTCollaboration #STEM #Education

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