Shenzhou-18 Crew: Gardening in Space & New Duties | China Space Station

Shenzhou-18 Crew: Gardening in Space & New Duties | China Space Station

Watch gardening and research activities aboard the Tiangong Space Station. Since the Shenzhou-18 crew arrived, all work and life have been carried out in an orderly manner. Astronauts not only regularly maintain the experimental equipment of the space station and keep themselves healthy, but they also carefully take care of their space vegetable garden.

China's three astronauts on the Shenzhou-18 mission have been carrying out a series of scientific experiments over the past month since they entered the Tiangong space station on April 26.

The three Chinese astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu were sent to the orbiting Tiangong space station for a six-month mission on April 25.

Four zebrafish and hornwort were brought into orbit by the Shenzhou-18 spaceship for a life science and ecological experiment.

So far, the astronauts have successfully carried out two times of water sampling and one fish food container replacement. They have found some abnormal directional behaviors of the zebrafish in microgravity, such as making rotational movements, going in circles and even swimming upside-down.

The water samples, fish eggs, and videos recording spatial movement behaviors of the zebrafish will be sent back to Earth for scientists to study the influence of space environment on the growth and behaviors of vertebrates, which will provide reference for researches on material circulation of contained ecosystems in space.

The combustion experimental cabinet is one of the eight experimental cabinets carried by Mengtian, the second lab module of China's space station. It can help scientists carry out in-depth research on basic science problems of combustion, space propulsion, fire safety for spacecrafts, combustion pollution control and other basic and applied technologies.

Over the past month, the crew members have completed the installation of the conversion cable of the combustion solenoid valve, which can remotely controlled the switch of the solenoid valve, to accurately control the fuel flow during the experiment.

The Shenzhou-18 crew also carried out burner replacement, vacuumizing, exhausting waste gas and other operations on the combustion experimental cabinet.

The three astronauts also completed the mission to replace samples of the container-free material cabinet. Previously, a number of key research projects had been carried out in the container-free cabinet, and many batches of experimental samples had been brought back to Earth for further tests and research.

Shenzhou-18 astronauts also assembled and tested material extravehicular exposure of experiment equipment.

The astronauts in space face a series of physiological challenges brought about by the microgravity environment, including changes in the cardiovascular system, muscle atrophy and bone density loss.

They have performed regular weightlessness protection exercises, such as treadmill training and resistance training, so as to maintain good physical condition for the half-year mission.

Shenzhou-18 Crew:

Ye Guangfu (叶光富, commander)

Li Cong (李聪, mission specialist)

Li Guangsu (李广苏, mission specialist)\

Video Credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)

Duration: 3 minutes, 24 seconds

Release Date: May 26, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #China #中国 #Shenzhou18 #神舟十八 #Gardening #Farming #Agriculture #LifeSciences #Taikonauts #Astronauts #YeGuangfu #LiCong #LiGuangsu #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #CMSA #国家航天局 #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 4731 in Virgo | Hubble

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 4731 in Virgo | Hubble

This is an image of the broad and sweeping spiral galaxy NGC 4731. It lies among the galaxies of the Virgo cluster, in the constellation Virgo, and is located 43 million light-years from Earth. This highly detailed image was created using six different filters. The abundance of color illustrates the galaxy's billowing clouds of gas, dark dust bands, bright pink star-forming regions and, most obviously, the long, glowing bar with trailing arms.

Barred spiral galaxies outnumber regular spirals and elliptical galaxies put together, numbering around 60% of all galaxies. The visible bar structure is a result of orbits of stars and gas in the galaxy lining up, forming a dense region that individual stars move in and out of over time. This is the same process that maintains a galaxy's spiral arms, but it is somewhat more mysterious for bars: spiral galaxies seem to form bars in their centers as they mature, accounting for the large number of bars we see today, but can also lose them later on as the accumulated mass along the bar grows unstable. The orbital patterns and the gravitational interactions within a galaxy that sustain the bar also transport matter and energy into it, fueling star formation. Indeed, the observing program studying NGC 4731 seeks to investigate this flow of matter in galaxies.

Beyond the bar, the spiral arms of NGC 4731 stretch out far past the confines of this close-in Hubble view. The galaxy’s elongated arms are thought to result from gravitational interactions with other, nearby galaxies in the Virgo cluster.

Image Description: A close-in view of a barred spiral galaxy. The bright, glowing bar crosses the center of the galaxy with spiral arms curving away from its ends and continuing out of view. It is surrounded by bright patches of light where stars are forming, as well as dark lines of dust. The galaxy’s clouds of gas spread out from the arms and bar, giving way to a dark background with some foreground stars and small, distant galaxies.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker

Release Date: May 27, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC4731 #SpiralGalaxy  #Virgo #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HST #HubbleSpaceTelescope #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Rocket Lab Launch of NASA Earth Science PREFIRE Mission in New Zealand

Rocket Lab Launch of NASA Earth Science PREFIRE Mission in New Zealand

Rocket Lab successfully launched the first of two NASA Earth science cubesats via an Electron rocket on May 25, 2024. The Electron rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 3:41 a.m. eastern time. It placed a 6U cubesat into a 525-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit. This is part of a NASA mission called Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment or PREFIRE.

NASA’s PREFIRE mission aims to improve global climate change predictions by expanding our understanding of heat loss at the polar regions. The Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment (PREFIRE) will send two shoebox-size satellites into space to study the Arctic and Antarctic. They will be the first to systematically measure heat in the form of far-infrared radiation emitted from those regions.

Earth absorbs much of the Sun’s energy at the tropics. Weather and ocean currents then move that heat toward the poles. This helps to regulate Earth’s climate by radiating that heat back into space. However, the Arctic is warming about three times faster than anywhere else on Earth. This is leading to increased ice sheet melt and sea level rise in coastal communities. The data from PREFIRE will help scientists better understand how Earth’s polar regions respond to climate change and what that might mean for the future.

For more information:

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/prefire 

Image Credit: Rocket Lab

Duration: 44 seconds

Image Dates: May 25, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Satellites #Earth #Planet #EarthScience #PolarRegions #Arctic #Antarctic #Meltwater #PREFIREMission #Infrared #Atmosphere #Oceans #Land #ClimateChange #GlobalHeating #EarthObservatory #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #RocketLab #ElectronRocket #RocketLaunch #NewZealand #STEM #Education #HD #Video

BBC Star Diary: Night shining noctilucent clouds return (May 27 to June 3, 2024)

BBC Star Diary: Night shining noctilucent clouds return (May 27 to June 3, 2024)

Noctilucent, or night shining, clouds sparkle from the edge of space in the twilight sky. Find out how you can see these for yourself as well as our usual stargazing highlights in this week’s podcast guide, Star Diary, May 27 to June 3, 2024.

Transcript: www.skyatnightmagazine.com/podcasts/star-diary-27-may-2024

How to photograph comets: www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astrophotography/astrophoto-tips/how-to-photograph-a-comet

Video Credit: BBC Sky at Night Magazine

Duration: 13 minutes

Release Date: May 26, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #NoctilucentCloud #Planets #SolarSystem #Comets #Stars #Constellations #StarClusters #MilkyWayGalaxy #Galaxies #Universe #Skywatching #BBC #UK #Britain #Europe #UnitedStates #Canada #NorthernHemisphere #STEM #Education #Podcast #HD #Video

Panning over Globular Cluster NGC 6397 | Euclid Space Telescope

Panning over Globular Cluster NGC 6397 | Euclid Space Telescope

The European Space Agency's new Euclid space telescope captured this sparkly image of a globular cluster called NGC 6397. Globular clusters are collections of hundreds of thousands of stars held together by gravity.

Located about 7,800 light-years from Earth, NGC 6397 is the second-closest globular cluster to us. Together with other globular clusters it orbits in the disc of the Milky Way, where the majority of stars are located.

Globular clusters are among the oldest objects in the Universe. This is why they contain many clues about the history and evolution of their host galaxies, like this one for the Milky Way.

The challenge is that it is typically difficult to observe an entire globular cluster in just one sitting. Their centers contain large volumes of stars, so many that the brightest ‘drown out’ the fainter ones. Their outer regions extend a long way out and contain mostly low-mass, faint stars. It is the faint stars that can tell us about previous interactions with the Milky Way.

Image Description: This square astronomical image is speckled with hundreds of thousands of stars visible across the black expanse of space. The stars vary in size and color, from blue to white to yellow/red. Blue stars are younger and red stars are older. More stars are located at the center of the image, where they are bound together by gravity into a spheroid conglomeration—also called a globular cluster. Several stars are a bit larger than the rest, with six diffraction spikes.

Video Credit: ESA / Euclid /Euclid Consortium / NASA 

Image Processing: J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi

Duration: 38 seconds

Release Date: Nov. 7, 2023

#NASA #ESA #ESAEuclid #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarClusters #GlobularStarClusters #NGC6397 #Ara #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #EST #EuclidSpaceTelescope #Infrared #SpaceTelescope #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Globular Cluster NGC 6397 in Ara | Euclid Space Telescope

Globular Cluster NGC 6397 in Ara | Euclid Space Telescope

The European Space Agency's new Euclid space telescope captured this sparkly image of a globular cluster called NGC 6397. Globular clusters are collections of hundreds of thousands of stars held together by gravity.

Located about 7,800 light-years from Earth, NGC 6397 is the second-closest globular cluster to us. Together with other globular clusters it orbits in the disc of the Milky Way, where the majority of stars are located.

Globular clusters are among the oldest objects in the Universe. This is why they contain many clues about the history and evolution of their host galaxies, like this one for the Milky Way.

The challenge is that it is typically difficult to observe an entire globular cluster in just one sitting. Their centers contain large volumes of stars, so many that the brightest ‘drown out’ the fainter ones. Their outer regions extend a long way out and contain mostly low-mass, faint stars. It is the faint stars that can tell us about previous interactions with the Milky Way.

Image Description: This square astronomical image is speckled with hundreds of thousands of stars visible across the black expanse of space. The stars vary in size and color, from blue to white to yellow/red. Blue stars are younger and red stars are older. More stars are located at the center of the image, where they are bound together by gravity into a spheroid conglomeration—also called a globular cluster. Several stars are a bit larger than the rest, with six diffraction spikes.

Image Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA 

Image Processing: J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi

Release Date: Nov. 7, 2024

#NASA #ESA #ESAEuclid #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #StarClusters #GlobularStarClusters #NGC6397 #Ara #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #EST #EuclidSpaceTelescope #Infrared #SpaceTelescope #Europe #STEM #Education

Panning across Irregular Galaxy NGC 6822 in Sagittarius | Euclid Space Telescope

Panning across Irregular Galaxy NGC 6822 in Sagittarius | Euclid Space Telescope

To create a 3D map of the Universe,  the European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope will observe the light from galaxies out to 10 billion light-years. Most galaxies in the early Universe do not look like the quintessential neat spiral, but are irregular and small. They are the building blocks for bigger galaxies like our own, and we can still find some of these galaxies relatively close to us. This first irregular dwarf galaxy that Euclid observed is called NGC 6822 and is located close by, just 1.6 million light-years from Earth. 

Also known as Barnard’s Galaxy, NGC 6822 is one of the Milky Way’s galactic neighbors. This dwarf galaxy has no shortage of stellar splendor and pyrotechnics. Reddish nebulae in this image reveal regions of active star formation, wherein young, hot stars heat up nearby gas clouds. Also prominent in this image are striking bubble-shaped nebulae. At each nebula’s center, a clutch of massive, scorching stars send waves of matter smashing into surrounding interstellar material, generating a glowing structure that appears ring-like from our perspective. Other similar ripples of heated matter thrown out by feisty young stars are dotted across Barnard’s Galaxy.

Image Description: This square astronomical image is speckled with numerous stars visible across the black expanse of space. Most stars are visible only as pinpoints. More stars are crowding the center of the image, visible as an irregular round shape. This is an irregular galaxy. The center of the galaxy appears whiter and the edges yellower. Several pink bubbles are visible spread throughout the galaxy, these are star forming regions. The stars across the entire image range in color from blue to white to yellow/red, across a black background of space. Blue stars are younger and red stars are older. A few of the stars are a bit larger than the rest, with six diffraction spikes.

Video Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA 

Image Processing: J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Duration: 42 seconds

Release Date: Nov. 7, 2023

#NASA #ESA #ESAEuclid #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC6822 #IrregularGalaxy #LowMetallicity #InterstellarDust #Sagittarius #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #EST #EuclidSpaceTelescope #SpaceTelescope #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Nearby Irregular Galaxy NGC 6822 in Sagittarius | Euclid Space Telescope

Nearby Irregular Galaxy NGC 6822 in Sagittarius | Euclid Space Telescope

To create a 3D map of the Universe,  the European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope will observe the light from galaxies out to 10 billion light-years. Most galaxies in the early Universe do not look like the quintessential neat spiral, but are irregular and small. They are the building blocks for bigger galaxies like our own, and we can still find some of these galaxies relatively close to us. This first irregular dwarf galaxy that Euclid observed is called NGC 6822 and is located close by, just 1.6 million light-years from Earth. 

Also known as Barnard’s Galaxy, NGC 6822 is one of the Milky Way’s galactic neighbors. This dwarf galaxy has no shortage of stellar splendor and pyrotechnics. Reddish nebulae in this image reveal regions of active star formation, wherein young, hot stars heat up nearby gas clouds. Also prominent in this image are striking bubble-shaped nebulae. At each nebula’s center, a clutch of massive, scorching stars send waves of matter smashing into surrounding interstellar material, generating a glowing structure that appears ring-like from our perspective. Other similar ripples of heated matter thrown out by feisty young stars are dotted across Barnard’s Galaxy.

Image Description: This square astronomical image is speckled with numerous stars visible across the black expanse of space. Most stars are visible only as pinpoints. More stars are crowding the center of the image, visible as an irregular round shape. This is an irregular galaxy. The center of the galaxy appears whiter and the edges yellower. Several pink bubbles are visible spread throughout the galaxy, these are star forming regions. The stars across the entire image range in color from blue to white to yellow/red, across a black background of space. Blue stars are younger and red stars are older. A few of the stars are a bit larger than the rest, with six diffraction spikes.

Image Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA 

Image Processing: J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Release Date: Nov. 7, 2023

#NASA #ESA #ESAEuclid #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC6822 #IrregularGalaxy #LowMetallicity #InterstellarDust #Sagittarius #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #EST #EuclidSpaceTelescope #SpaceTelescope #Europe #STEM #Education

The Horsehead Nebula: Close-up View | Euclid Space Telescope

The Horsehead Nebula: Close-up View | Euclid Space Telescope

This is a view of the Horsehead Nebula by the European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope using its Near Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP) cameras.

Euclid shows us a spectacularly panoramic and detailed view of the Horsehead Nebula, also known as Barnard 33 and part of the constellation Orion.

At approximately 1,375 light-years away, the Horsehead—visible as a dark cloud shaped like a horse’s head—is the closest giant star-forming region to Earth. It sits just to the south of star Alnitak, the easternmost of Orion’s famous three-star belt, and is part of the vast Orion molecular cloud.

Many other telescopes have taken images of the Horsehead Nebula, but none of them are able to create such a sharp and wide view as Euclid can with just one observation. Euclid captured this image of the Horsehead in about one hour, which showcases the mission's ability to very quickly image an unprecedented area of the sky in high detail.

In Euclid’s new observation of this stellar nursery, scientists hope to find many dim and previously unseen Jupiter-mass planets in their celestial infancy, as well as young brown dwarfs and baby stars.

“We are particularly interested in this region, because star formation is taking place in very special conditions,” explains Eduardo Martin Guerrero de Escalante of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias in Tenerife and a legacy scientist for Euclid.

These special conditions are caused by radiation coming from the very bright star Sigma Orionis, which is located above the Horsehead, just outside Euclid’s field-of-view (the star is so bright that the telescope would see nothing else if it pointed directly towards it).

Ultraviolet radiation from Sigma Orionis causes the clouds behind the Horsehead to glow, while the thick clouds of the Horsehead itself block light from directly behind it; this makes the head look dark. The nebula itself is made up largely of cold molecular hydrogen. It gives off very little heat and no light. Astronomers study the differences in the conditions for star formation between the dark and bright clouds.

The star Sigma Orionis itself belongs to a group of more than a hundred stars, called an open cluster. However, astronomers do not have the full picture of all the stars belonging to the cluster. “Gaia has revealed many new members, but we already see new candidate stars, brown dwarfs and planetary-mass objects in this Euclid image, so we hope that Euclid will give us a more complete picture,” adds Eduardo.

Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Release Date: Nov. 7, 2023

#NASA #ESA #ESAEuclid #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #HorseheadNebula #Barnard33 #Star #SigmaOrionis #Orion #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #EST #EuclidSpaceTelescope #SpaceTelescope #Europe #STEM #Education

Galaxy Cluster Abell 2764: Close-up View | Euclid Space Telescope

Galaxy Cluster Abell 2764: Close-up View | Euclid Space Telescope

The European Space Agency's new Euclid space telescope captured this high resolution, close-up cutout from a larger frame featuring the galaxy cluster Abell 2764. All the galaxies seen here show signs of interacting with their outer regions and halos of stars appearing quite disrupted. This indicates that some intense dynamic changes are taking place within Abell 2764. Abell 2764 lies around a billion light-years away in the direction of the Phoenix constellation.

Image Description: The image shows tens of galaxies against a background dotted with stars. The galaxies have different shapes. A number are very round and look like haloes of light around bright centers. Other galaxies look smaller or like elongated structures. There are also a couple of spiral galaxies and a handful of stars with diffraction spikes.

Credits: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA 

Image Processing: J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi

Release Date: May 23, 2024

#NASA #ESA #ESAEuclid #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxy #Galaxies #GalaxyClusters #Abell276 #Phoenix #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #EST #EuclidSpaceTelescope #Infrared #SpaceTelescope #Europe #STEM #Education

Galaxy Cluster Abell 2390: Over 50,000 Galaxies | Euclid Space Telescope

Galaxy Cluster Abell 2390: Over 50,000 Galaxies | Euclid Space Telescope

The European Space Agency's new Euclid space telescope captured this image of Abell 2390—a galaxy cluster, a giant conglomeration of many galaxies like the Milky Way. More than 50,000 galaxies are seen here. The distances can be measured thanks to these new observations. Such clusters contain huge amounts of mass (up to 10 trillion times that of the Sun), with much of this being in the form of dark matter—a form of matter that we cannot observe directly, but is purported to together with dark energy make up the bulk of the contents of the Universe. Abell 2390 lies 2.7 billion light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus.

Galaxy clusters like Abell 2390 are large repositories of dark matter, making them ideal astrophysical laboratories for studying its properties. Once Euclid begins its main survey it will capture many thousands of galaxy clusters over around one-third of the sky, obtaining information we can use to make unprecedented constraints on the dark Universe. 

Euclid’s new view of the cluster showcases one of the telescope’s key techniques for exploring this dark Universe: indirectly measuring the amount and distribution of dark matter in a galaxy cluster via gravitational lensing, a phenomenon where the light traveling to us from more distant galaxies is bent and distorted by this mysterious matter. Thanks to Euclid’s advanced instruments we can see an especially beautiful display of lensing in Abell 2390, with multiple giant curved arcs, some of which are actually multiple views of the same distant object.

Alongside understanding more about dark matter, scientists are using Euclid data to measure how the masses and number of galaxy clusters on the sky change over cosmic time, revealing more about the evolution of the Universe (and by extension more about dark energy, which is thought to influence this evolution). Euclid’s cutout view of Abell 2390 also shows the faint ‘intracluster light’ emitted by stars that have been ripped away from their parent galaxies into intergalactic space (the light has been enhanced in the cutout image to make it more clearly visible). Viewing this light is a specialty of Euclid, and these stellar orphans may allow us to ‘see’ where dark matter lies.

Euclid captures light ranging from the visible to the near-infrared using its VIS (visible) and NISP (near-infrared) cameras. These can operate simultaneously, imaging wide areas of the sky to create images hundreds of times larger than comparable ones from other space telescopes. This wide field-of-view lets us take pictures of extended objects like Abell 2390 in a single shot, rather than having to take many pictures and stitch them together.

Observing a galaxy cluster in both visible and infrared light allows us to see galaxies at a greater range of distances than using either visible or infrared alone—crucial if we want to observe both the galaxies in a relatively nearby cluster and the galaxies lying behind it (far further from us). Euclid can take these types of deep, wide, high-resolution images hundreds of times faster than other telescopes.

Image Description: Thousands of stars and galaxies dot the image against a pitch-black background.  Bright stars show six diffraction spikes coming from a central light-halo. Other stars and galaxies are just tiny bright dots, like specks of paint distributed over the image. The brightest star sits in the upper left corner. In the center of the image, the tiny bright dots are more abundant.

Credits: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA 

Image Processing: J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi

Release Date: May 23, 2024

#NASA #ESA #ESAEuclid #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxies #GalaxyCluster #Abell2390 #GravitationalLenses #Pegasus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #EST #EuclidSpaceTelescope #Infrared #SpaceTelescope #Europe #STEM #Education

Rocket Lab Launch of NASA Earth Science PREFIRE Mission in New Zealand

Rocket Lab Launch of NASA Earth Science PREFIRE Mission in New Zealand

Rocket Lab successfully launched the first of two NASA Earth science cubesats via an Electron rocket on May 25, 2024. The Electron rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 3:41 a.m. eastern time. It placed a 6U cubesat into a 525-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit. This is part of a NASA mission called Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment or PREFIRE.

NASA’s PREFIRE mission aims to improve global climate change predictions by expanding our understanding of heat loss at the polar regions. The Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment (PREFIRE) will send two shoebox-size satellites into space to study the Arctic and Antarctic. They will be the first to systematically measure heat in the form of far-infrared radiation emitted from those regions.

Earth absorbs much of the Sun’s energy at the tropics. Weather and ocean currents then move that heat toward the poles. This helps to regulate Earth’s climate by radiating that heat back into space. However, the Arctic is warming about three times faster than anywhere else on Earth. This is leading to increased ice sheet melt and sea level rise in coastal communities. The data from PREFIRE will help scientists better understand how Earth’s polar regions respond to climate change and what that might mean for the future.

For more information:

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/prefire 

Image Credit: Rocket Lab

Image Dates: May 25, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Satellites #Earth #Planet #EarthScience #PolarRegions #Arctic #Antarctic #Meltwater #PREFIREMission #Infrared #Atmosphere #Oceans #Land #Climate #ClimateChange #GreenhouseGases #GlobalHeating #EarthObservatory #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #RocketLab #ElectronRocket #RocketLaunch #NewZealand #STEM #Education

NASA’s Europa Clipper Spacecraft Arrives at Kennedy Space Center

NASA’s Europa Clipper Spacecraft Arrives at Kennedy Space Center

NASA’s largest planetary mission spacecraft, Europa Clipper, arrives at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, May 23, 2024. 

Technicians offload NASA’s largest planetary mission spacecraft, Europa Clipper, from a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 23.

A United States Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft carrying NASA’s largest planetary mission spacecraft, Europa Clipper, arrives at the Launch and Landing Facility at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, May 23, 2024. 

NASA’s Europa Clipper, a spacecraft designed to investigate Jupiter’s icy moon Europa and its potential to support life, arrived in Florida on Thursday, May 23, 2024. The spacecraft, assembled at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, landed aboard a United States Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft at the Launch and Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

The mission aims to gather detailed measurements of the moon’s surface, interior, and space environment by performing approximately 50 close flybys, some as low as 16 miles (25 kilometers) from the surface of Europa. This moon holds a global ocean underneath its ice shell.

“My job for Europa Clipper is to ensure the team meets all the ground and flight requirements to place the spacecraft in the proper orbit to initiate the long journey to Jupiter,” said Armando Piloto, Europa Clipper mission manager for NASA’s Launch Services Program. “The team is excited that the spacecraft is in Florida for processing. We’re pairing Europa Clipper with a fully expendable SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket to ensure it provides the required performance to explore a destination very far away from Earth.”

Teams at Kennedy spent several hours offloading Europa Clipper before transferring it to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, where they will process the spacecraft and perform final checkouts as part of prelaunch preparations.

Europa Clipper joins the spacecraft’s two five-panel solar arrays that arrived at Kennedy in March. The arrays, each 46.5 feet (14.2 meters) long, will collect enough sunlight to power the spacecraft on its way to Jupiter’s moon. Technicians will install the arrays on the spacecraft before launch.

The spacecraft was designed to withstand the pummeling of radiation from Jupiter and gather the measurements needed to investigate Europa’s surface, interior, and space environment.

Europa Clipper has nine dedicated science instruments, including cameras, spectrometers, a magnetometer, and an ice-penetrating radar. These instruments will study Europa’s icy shell, the ocean beneath, and the composition of the gases in the moon’s atmosphere and surface geology, and provide insights into the moon’s potential habitability. The spacecraft also will carry a thermal instrument to pinpoint locations of warmer ice and any possible eruptions of water vapor. Strong evidence shows the ocean beneath Europa’s crust is twice the volume of all the Earth’s oceans combined.

The Europa Clipper mission demonstrates NASA’s commitment to exploring our solar system and searching for habitability beyond Earth. The data will contribute to our understanding of the Jovian system and will help pave the way for potential future missions to study Europa and other potentially habitable worlds.

Europa Clipper is expected to reach the Jupiter system in April 2030, and it will accomplish a few milestones along the way, including a Mars flyby in February 2025 that will help propel the spacecraft toward Jupiter’s moon through a Mars-Earth gravity assist trajectory.

“After two years of painstaking work on the spacecraft here at JPL, with the help of our partners, it was bittersweet to see the spacecraft encased in its shipping container and on its way to Florida,” said Jordan Evans, Europa Clipper project manager at JPL. “But we already have Europa Clipper engineers and technicians at Kennedy who are welcoming this precious cargo and are set to accomplish the final assembly and testing so that we’re ready for launch.”

NASA and SpaceX are targeting launch aboard a Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy later this year. The launch period opens on Oct. 10. After testing and final preparations are complete, the spacecraft will be encapsulated in a protective payload fairing and moved to the SpaceX hangar at the launch complex.

Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, JPL leads the development of the Europa Clipper mission in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The main spacecraft body was designed by APL 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.

NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, manages the launch service for the Europa Clipper spacecraft.

For more information on the mission, visit: https://europa.nasa.gov/

Image Credit: NASA/Isaac Watson

Image Date: May 23, 2024

Release Date: May 24, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Jupiter #Europa #Moon #Ocean #Astrobiology #Biosignatures #Habitability #Radiation #EuropaClipper #Spacecraft #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #APL #MSFC #GSFC #JPL #KSC #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

China Long March 2D Rocket Successfully Completes Grid Fin Controlled Re-entry

China Long March 2D Rocket Successfully Completes Grid Fin Controlled Re-entry

A new grid fin landing zone control system carried by China's Long March 2D (two-stage orbital) rocket for satellite launches has successfully completed a series of actions, such as unlocking, unfolding, and controlling commands during the re-entry and return phase of the rocket's first stage, once again achieving precise landing zone control to ensure environmental safety. The grid fin used this time is a whole fin with a backward bending and rear-swept type. This significantly reduces drag and further improves the attitude control ability of the grid fin. The Long March 2D is a two-stage version of the Long March 4 launch vehicle.

Video Credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)

Duration 30 seconds

Release Date: May 24, 2024

#NASA #Space #China #中国 #LongMarch2DRocket #长征二号丁火箭 #ReusableRocket #VTVL #SpaceTechnology #Spaceflight #JiuquanSatelliteLaunchCenter #JSLC #GansuProvince #CommercialSpace #Satellites #TiangongSpaceStation #ChinaSpaceStation  #CSS #SAST #Shanghai #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Getting Ready to Image Faraway Planets | This Week @NASA

Getting Ready to Image Faraway Planets | This Week @NASA

Getting ready to image faraway planets, discussing artificial intelligence at NASA, and a milestone for our supersonic X-plane . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

For more information about the Roman Coronagraph Instrument, visit: 

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/coronagraph/

Learn about Dr. Nancy Grace Roman

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

Learn more about NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope:

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

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Video Producer & Editor: Andre Valentine

Narrator: Emanuel Cooper

Duration: 3 minutes

Release Date: May 24, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #RomanSpaceTelescope #Coronagraph #Exoplanets #Planets #SolarSystem #NancyGraceRoman #Astronomer #MilkyWayGalaxy #Stars #Universe #SpaceTelescope #ESA #GSFC #STScI #ArtificialIntelligence #X59 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Sierra Space Dream Chaser Spaceplane Arrives at NASA's Kennedy Space Center

Sierra Space Dream Chaser Spaceplane Arrives at NASA's Kennedy Space Center

Dream Chaser has arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of its first flight to the International Space Station.

The Dream Chaser, spaceplane, named Tenacity, arrived at Kennedy on May 18, 2024, and joined its companion Shooting Star cargo module, where they will undergo final testing and prelaunch processing ahead of launch scheduled for later this year.

Upon arrival at NASA Kennedy, teams moved Tenacity to the high bay inside the Space Systems Processing Facility (SSPF).

The remaining pre-flight activities at Kennedy include acoustic and electromagnetic interference and compatibility testing, completion of work on the spaceplane’s thermal protection system, and final payload integration.

“The last several years have required an enormous amount of tenacity by our team and no other name would have been more appropriate for our first Dream Chaser spaceplane.” 

—Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice

Learn more about the Dream Chaser spaceplane:

https://www.sierraspace.com/dream-chaser-spaceplane/

Sierra Space: https://www.sierraspace.com

Video Credit: Sierra Space

Duration: 1 minute

Release Date: May 24, 2024

#NASA #Space #ISS #CommercialCargo #CRS #SierraSpace #DreamChaser #DC100 #ReusableSpacecraft #DreamChaserSpacecraft #Tenacity #VulcanCentaurRocket #ULA #Spaceflight #Science #SpaceTechnology #Engineering #CommercialSpace #NASAKennedy #KSC #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video