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Tuesday, May 07, 2024

Simulating Space to Test Europa Clipper Spacecraft Bound for Jupiter | NASA/JPL

Simulating Space to Test Europa Clipper Spacecraft Bound for Jupiter | NASA/JPL

How did the team working on NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft test whether the spacecraft will work properly in outer space? They put the spacecraft in a special chamber that mimics the kind of sunlight and airless environment the spacecraft will experience when it is in outer space.

In this video, Tony Licari—a mechanical systems engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California—shows how the team moved the main body of the largest spacecraft NASA has ever built for a planetary mission into JPL's historic 85-foot-tall, 25-foot-wide (26-meter-by-8-meter) thermal vacuum chamber. Inside the chamber, the team simulated the kinds of conditions the spacecraft will experience while flying through space, and practiced deploying instruments. Europa Clipper successfully completed those tests in March 2024.

Europa Clipper will explore Jupiter’s icy moon Europa to see if there are conditions suitable for life. 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.

Europa Clipper is expected to launch in October 2024 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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.

For more information on the mission go to: https://europa.nasa.gov/

Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

Duration: 3 minutes, 39 seconds

Release Date: May 7, 2024

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

Planet Jupiter’s Great Red Spot | NASA Juno Mission

Planet Jupiter’s Great Red Spot | NASA Juno Mission

This image of Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot and surrounding turbulent zones was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft. The color-enhanced image is a combination of three separate images taken on April 1, 2018, as Juno performed its 12th close flyby of Jupiter. At the time the images were taken, the spacecraft was 15,379 miles (24,749 kilometers) to 30,633 miles (49,299 kilometers) from the tops of the clouds of the planet.

The Great Red Spot, a swirling oval of clouds twice as wide as Earth, has been observed on the giant planet for more than 300 years. In 2021, findings from Juno showed that Jupiter’s storms are far taller than expected, with some extending 60 miles (100 kilometers) below the cloud tops and others, including the Great Red Spot, extending over 200 miles (350 kilometers).

Juno is a solar-powered spacecraft that spans the width of a basketball court and makes long, looping orbits around Jupiter. It seeks answers to questions about the origin and evolution of Jupiter, our solar system, and giant planets across the cosmos.

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 Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt / Seán Doran

Release Date: May 7, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Jupiter #Planet #Atmosphere #GreatRedSpot #JunoMission #JunoSpacecraft #NewHorizonsSpacecraft #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #JPL #MSFC #SwRI #UnitedStates #CitizenScience #GeraldEichstädt #SeánDoran #STEM #Education

Desde Tololo observan la “mano de Dios” emergiendo desde una nebulosa

Desde Tololo observan la “mano de Dios” emergiendo desde una nebulosa

Cosmoview Episodio 81: Esta estructura turbulenta y ominosa es CG 4, un glóbulo cometario conocido también como la “Mano de Dios”. Se trata de uno de los muchos glóbulos cometarios que hay en la Vía Láctea. La forma en la que estos objetos adquieren su forma particular, sigue siendo un tema de debate entre los astrónomos. Las características que clasifican a CG 4 como un glóbulo cometario se distinguen en esta imagen captada por la Cámara de Energía Oscura construida por DOE e instalada en el Telescopio de 4 metros Víctor M. Blanco del Observatorio Cerro Tololo, un Programa de NOIRLab de NSF. Su polvorienta cabeza y su larga y tenue cola tienen un leve parecido a un cometa, pero no tienen nada en común. Los astrónomos creen que los glóbulos cometarios adquieren su estructura a partir de los vientos estelares de estrellas cercanas masivas y calientes.

Imágenes y Vídeos: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/N. Bartmann

Procesamiento de imágenes: T.A. Rector (Universidad de Alaska Anchorage/NOIRLab de NSF), M. Zamani (NOIRLab de NSF) & D. de Martin (NOIRLab de NSF)

Duration: 1 minute, 12 seconds

Release Date: May 7, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #español #Stars #CometaryGlobules #GodsHand #CG4 #Puppis #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #VictorBlancoTelescope #DECam #CerroTololoObservatory #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #DOE #CTIO #CerroTololo #Chile #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

A Dress Rehearsal for the Next Commercial Crew Flight Test | This Week @NASA

A Dress Rehearsal for the Next Commercial Crew Flight Test | This Week @NASA

A dress rehearsal for the next commercial crew flight test, making room for another visitor at the International Space Station, and a mission to test a next-generation solar sail . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

Launch updates:

https://www.ulalaunch.com/missions/next-launch/atlas-v-starliner-cft

For more info on CFT and Starliner, visit:

boeing.com/starliner

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program works with the American aerospace industry to provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the International Space Station on American-made rockets and spacecraft launching from American soil.

Learn more about NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Video Producer & Editor: Andre Valentine

Narrator: Emanuel Cooper

Duration: 2 minutes, 39 seconds

Release Date: May 7, 2024

#NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #Boeing #Starliner #CST100 #AtlasVRocket #CommercialCrewProgram #CFT #Astronauts #SuniWilliams #BarryWilmore #HumanSpaceflight #Science #SpaceTechnology #Engineering #LaunchAmerica #NASAKennedy #ULA #SolarSail #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Zooming into Cometary Globule CG 4 in Puppis | Victor Blanco Telescope

Zooming into Cometary Globule CG 4 in Puppis | Victor Blanco Telescope

This cloudy, ominous structure is CG 4, a cometary globule nicknamed ‘God’s Hand’. CG 4 is one of many cometary globules present within the Milky Way, and how these objects get their distinct form is still a matter of debate among astronomers. This image was captured by the Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab. In it, the features that classify CG 4 as a cometary globule are hard to miss. Its dusty head and long, faint tail vaguely resemble the appearance of a comet, though they have nothing in common. Astronomers theorize that cometary globules get their structure from the stellar winds of nearby hot, massive stars.

Distance: 1,300 light years

Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA

Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab)

Duration: 1 minute

Release Date: May 6, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #CometaryGlobules #GodsHand #CG4 #Puppis #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #VictorBlancoTelescope #DECam #CerroTololoObservatory #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #DOE #CTIO #CerroTololo #Chile #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

A Cometary Globule Reaching for the Stars | Victor Blanco Telescope

A Cometary Globule Reaching for the Stars | Victor Blanco Telescope

Cosmoview Episode 81: This cloudy, ominous structure is CG 4, a cometary globule nicknamed ‘God’s Hand’. CG 4 is one of many cometary globules present within the Milky Way, and how these objects get their distinct form is still a matter of debate among astronomers. This image was captured by the Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab. In it, the features that classify CG 4 as a cometary globule are hard to miss. Its dusty head and long, faint tail vaguely resemble the appearance of a comet, though they have nothing in common. Astronomers theorize that cometary globules get their structure from the stellar winds of nearby hot, massive stars.

Distance: 1,300 light years

Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA

Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab)

Duration: 1 minute, 12 seconds

Release Date: May 6, 2024

Pan over Cometary Globule CG 4 in Puppis | Victor Blanco Telescope

Pan over Cometary Globule CG 4 in Puppis | Victor Blanco Telescope

Distance: 1,300 light years

Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA

Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab)

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: May 6, 2024

Cometary Globule CG 4 in Puppis: "God's Hand" | Victor Blanco Telescope

Cometary Globule CG 4 in Puppis: "God's Hand" | Victor Blanco Telescope

Distance: 1,300 light years

Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA

Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab)

Release Date: May 6, 2024

Planet Mars Images: May 2024 | NASA Mars Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Planet Mars Images: May 2024 | NASA Mars Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Mars 2020 - sol 837

Mars 2020 - sol 1140

Mars 2020 - sol 1137

Mars 2020 - sol 1138

Ingenuity Mars Helicopter - Mars 2020 - sol 1138

Mars 2020 - sol 0849

MSL - sol 4173

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: May 2-6, 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

Monday, May 06, 2024

Ready for Launch: Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test on ULA Atlas V Rocket

Ready for Launch: Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test on ULA Atlas V Rocket

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft are being readied for launch at Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) at Cape Canaveral for the Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

Starliner will head to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams on board.

Launch Date and Time: May 6, 2024 at 10:34 p.m. EDT

Launch updates:

https://www.ulalaunch.com/missions/next-launch/atlas-v-starliner-cft

For more info on CFT and Starliner, visit:

boeing.com/starliner

Learn more about NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

Image Credit: United Launch Alliance (ULA)

Atlas V Image Dates: May 6, 2024

NASA Supercomputer Simulation’s Plunge into a Black Hole Explained

NASA Supercomputer Simulation’s Plunge into a Black Hole Explained

This new, immersive visualization produced on a NASA supercomputer represents a scenario where a camera—a stand-in for a daring astronaut—enters the event horizon, sealing its fate.

Goddard scientists created the visualizations on the Discover supercomputer at the NASA Center for Climate Simulation.

The destination is a supermassive black hole with 4.3 million times the mass of our Sun, equivalent to the monster located at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. To simplify the complex calculations, the black hole is not rotating.

A flat, swirling cloud of hot, glowing gas called an accretion disk surrounds the black hole and serves as a visual reference during the fall. So do glowing structures called photon rings, which form closer to the black hole from light that has orbited it one or more times. A backdrop of the starry sky as seen from Earth completes the scene.

The project generated about 10 terabytes of data—equivalent to roughly half of the estimated text content in the Library of Congress—and took about 5 days running on just 0.3% of Discover’s 129,000 processors. The same feat would take more than a decade on a typical laptop.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center /J. Schnittman and B. Powell

Producer: Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)

Visualizer: Jeremy Schnittman (NASA/GSFC)

Science writer: Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park)

Computer support: Brian Powell (NASA/GSFC)

Editor: Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)

Duration: 4 minutes, 19 seconds

Release Date: May 6, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Galaxies #BlackHoles #EventHorizon #BlackHole #Simulation #Supercomputers #Astrophysics #Physics #Cosmos #Universe #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Art #Illustration #Animation #Visualization #HD #Video

Preparing for Launch: Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test on ULA Atlas V Rocket

Preparing for Launch: Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test on ULA Atlas V Rocket

Starliner will head to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams on board.

Launch Date and Time: May 6, 2024 at 10:34 p.m. EDT

Launch updates:

https://www.ulalaunch.com/missions/next-launch/atlas-v-starliner-cft

For more info on CFT and Starliner, visit:

boeing.com/starliner

Learn more about NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

Image Credit: United Launch Alliance (ULA)

Image Date: May 4, 2024

Panning over Dwarf Galaxy IC 776 in Virgo | Hubble

Panning over Dwarf Galaxy IC 776 in Virgo | Hubble

This is the dwarf galaxy IC 776. It is a swirling collection of stars new and old located in the constellation Virgo—in fact, in the Virgo galaxy cluster—100 million light-years from Earth. While a dwarf galaxy, it is also been classified as an SAB-type or ‘weakly barred’ spiral, one study naming it a “complex case” in morphology. This highly detailed view from Hubble demonstrates that complexity well. IC 776 has a ragged, disturbed disc that nevertheless looks to spiral around the core, and arcs of star-forming regions.

This image is from an observation program dedicated to the study of dwarf galaxies in the Virgo cluster, searching for sources of X-rays in such galaxies. X-rays are often emitted by accretion discs, where material that is drawn into a compact object by gravity crashes together and forms a hot, glowing disc. The compact object can be a white dwarf or neutron star in a binary pair, stealing material from its companion star, or it can be the supermassive black hole at the heart of a galaxy, devouring all around it. Dwarf galaxies like IC 776, travelling through the Virgo cluster, experience a pressure from the intergalactic gas which can both stimulate star formation and feed the central black hole in a galaxy. That can create energetic accretion discs, hot enough to emit X-rays.

While Hubble is not able to see X-rays, it can coordinate with X-ray telescopes, such as NASA’s Chandra, revealing the sources of this radiation in high resolution using visible light. Dwarf galaxies are thought to be very important for our understanding of cosmology and the evolution of galaxies. As with many areas of astronomy, the ability to examine these galaxies across the electromagnetic spectrum is critical to their study.

Image Description: A spiral galaxy viewed tilted at a diagonal angle. The core and the disc of the galaxy are different colors, but are otherwise difficult to tell apart, with the disc having wispy, ragged edges and many arcs of glowing star-forming patches. A few distant galaxies can be seen in the background around the spiral galaxy, as well as several foreground stars.

Video Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, M. Sun, N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble)

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: April 29, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxies #Galaxy #IC776 #DwarfGalaxy #SAB #Virgo #Constellation #VirgoGalaxyCluster #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #HST #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Panning across Spiral Galaxy UGC 9684 | Hubble

Panning across Spiral Galaxy UGC 9684 | Hubble

The celestial object showcased in this picture is the spiral galaxy UGC 9684. It lies around 240 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Boötes. This image shows an impressive example of several classic galactic features, including a clear bar in the galaxy's center, and a halo surrounding its disc.

The impetus for this Hubble image was a study into the host galaxies of Type-II supernovae. These cataclysmic stellar explosions take place throughout the Universe, and are of great interest to astronomers, so automated surveys scan the night sky and attempt to catch sight of them. The supernova that brought UGC 9684 to Hubble's attention occurred during 2020. It has faded from view in this image taken in 2023.

Remarkably, the 2020 supernova in this galaxy is not the only one that has been seen there—four supernova-like events have been spotted in UGC 9684 since 2006, putting it up there with the most active supernova-producing galaxies. It turns out that UGC 9684 is a quite active star-forming galaxy, calculated as producing one solar mass worth of stars every few years! This level of stellar formation makes UGC 9684 a veritable supernova factory, and a galaxy to watch for astronomers hoping to examine these exceptional events.

Image Description: A spiral galaxy in the center of a dark background, surrounded by a few distant galaxies and nearby stars. The galaxy is tilted diagonally and partially towards the viewer. Its disc is cloudy and threaded with dust, without clear arms. A bar of light extends across the disc from the glowing core. A faint halo of gas surrounds the disc.

Video Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Kilpatrick, N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble)

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: May 6, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Galaxies #Galaxy #UGC9684 #Spiral #StarFormation #Supernovae #Boötes #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #SpaceTelescope #HST #STScI #GSFC #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Spiral Galaxy UGC 9684: A Star Forming Factory | Hubble

Spiral Galaxy UGC 9684: A Star Forming Factory | Hubble

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Kilpatrick

Release Date: May 6, 2024

Sunday, May 05, 2024

Polaris Dawn: Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Spacesuit Training | SpaceX

Polaris Dawn: Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Spacesuit Training | SpaceX

A member of the Polaris Dawn Crew wearing their new EVA spacesuit in a Crew Dragon mock-up at SpaceX Headquarters in Hawthorne, California

The Polaris Dawn crew wearing their new EVA spacesuits in a Crew Dragon mock-up at SpaceX Headquarters in Hawthorne, California

The Polaris Dawn Crew at SpaceX Headquarters in Hawthorne, California

Scott Poteet, Polaris Dawn Mission Pilot

At ~700 km above Earth, the extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuit will support the Polaris Dawn crew in the vacuum of space during the first-ever commercial astronaut spacewalk. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Polaris Dawn mission from Florida. Dragon and the Polaris Dawn crew will spend up to five days in orbit. This Dragon mission will take advantage of Falcon 9 and Dragon’s maximum performance, flying higher than any Dragon mission to date by reaching the highest Earth orbit ever flown. Orbiting through portions of the Earth's Van Allen radiation belt, Polaris Dawn will conduct research with the aim of better understanding the effects of spaceflight and space radiation on human health.

Evolved from the Intravehicular Activity (IVA) suit, the EVA suit provides greater mobility, a state-of-the-art helmet Heads-Up Display (HUD) and camera, new thermal management textiles, and materials borrowed from Falcon’s interstage and Dragon’s trunk.

Building a base on the Moon and a city on Mars will require millions of spacesuits. The development of this suit and the execution of the spacewalk will be important steps toward a scalable design for spacesuits on future long-duration missions as life becomes multiplanetary.

Polaris Dawn Crew

Jared Isaacman - Mission Commander

Scott Poteet - Mission Pilot

Sarah Gillis - Mission Specialist

Anna Menon - Mission Specialist & Medical Officer

Learn about the Polaris Dawn Mission:

https://polarisprogram.com/dawn/

Image & Caption Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)

Release Date: May 5, 2024

#NASA #Space #Earth #SpaceX #ElonMusk #SpaceXDragon #Spacecraft #PolarisProgram #PolarisDawn #PolarisDawnCrew #EVA #Spacewalk #Spacesuit #HumanSpaceflight #Science #SpaceTechnology #Engineering #MoonToMars #UnitedStates #CommercialSpace #STEM #Education

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