Liftoff of SpaceX's Starship on Sixth Flight Test

Liftoff of SpaceX's Starship on Sixth Flight Test

Starship’s sixth flight test was on November 19, 2024. Congratulations to the SpaceX team on the successful ocean landing of Starship! The launch window opened at 4pm Central Standard Time (CST). 

For 6th Flight Test updates and the full webcast, visit:

https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-6

In this 6th test flight, Starship’s upper stage flew the same suborbital trajectory as the previous flight test with splashdown targeted in the Indian Ocean. An additional objective for this flight was to attempt an in-space burn using a single Raptor engine, further demonstrating the capabilities required to conduct a ship deorbit burn prior to orbital missions.

Several thermal protection experiments and operational changes tested the limits of Starship’s capabilities and generated flight data to inform plans for ship catch and reuse. The flight test assessed new secondary thermal protection materials and had entire sections of heat shield tiles removed on either side of the ship in locations being studied for catch-enabling hardware on future vehicles. The ship also intentionally flew at a higher angle of attack in the final phase of descent, purposefully stressing the limits of flap control to gain data on future landing profiles. Finally, adjusting the flight’s launch window to the late afternoon at Starbase enabled the ship to reenter over the Indian Ocean in daylight, providing better conditions for visual observations.

Future ships, starting with the vehicle planned for the seventh flight test, will fly with significant upgrades including redesigned forward flaps, larger propellant tanks, and the latest generation tiles and secondary thermal protection layers as we continue to iterate towards a fully reusable heat shield. Learnings from this and subsequent flight tests will continue to make the entire Starship system more reliable as we close in on full and rapid reusability.

"Starship is essential to both SpaceX’s plans to deploy its next-generation Starship system as well as for NASA, which will use a lunar lander version of Starship for landing astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis III mission through the Human Landing System (HLS) program."

Key Starship Parameters:

Height: 121m/397ft

Diameter: 9m/29.5ft

Payload to LEO: 100 – 150t (fully reusable)

Download the Free Starship User Guide (PDF):

https://www.spacex.com/media/starship_users_guide_v1.pdf

Video Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)
Duration: 1 minute
Capture Date: Nov. 19, 2024

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Starship Daylight Splashdown in Indian Ocean on SpaceX's Sixth Flight Test

Starship Daylight Splashdown in Indian Ocean on SpaceX's Sixth Flight Test

Starship’s sixth flight test was on November 19, 2024. The launch window opened at 4pm Central Standard Time (CST). 

For 6th Flight Test updates and the full webcast, visit:

https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-6

In this 6th test flight, Starship’s upper stage flew the same suborbital trajectory as the previous flight test with splashdown targeted in the Indian Ocean. An additional objective for this flight was to attempt an in-space burn using a single Raptor engine, further demonstrating the capabilities required to conduct a ship deorbit burn prior to orbital missions.

Several thermal protection experiments and operational changes tested the limits of Starship’s capabilities and generated flight data to inform plans for ship catch and reuse. The flight test assessed new secondary thermal protection materials and had entire sections of heat shield tiles removed on either side of the ship in locations being studied for catch-enabling hardware on future vehicles. The ship also intentionally flew at a higher angle of attack in the final phase of descent, purposefully stressing the limits of flap control to gain data on future landing profiles. Finally, adjusting the flight’s launch window to the late afternoon at Starbase enabled the ship to reenter over the Indian Ocean in daylight, providing better conditions for visual observations.

Future ships, starting with the vehicle planned for the seventh flight test, will fly with significant upgrades including redesigned forward flaps, larger propellant tanks, and the latest generation tiles and secondary thermal protection layers as we continue to iterate towards a fully reusable heat shield. Learnings from this and subsequent flight tests will continue to make the entire Starship system more reliable as we close in on full and rapid reusability.

"Starship is essential to both SpaceX’s plans to deploy its next-generation Starship system as well as for NASA, which will use a lunar lander version of Starship for landing astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis III mission through the Human Landing System (HLS) program."

Key Starship Parameters:

Height: 121m/397ft

Diameter: 9m/29.5ft

Payload to LEO: 100 – 150t (fully reusable)

Download the Free Starship User Guide (PDF):

https://www.spacex.com/media/starship_users_guide_v1.pdf

Video Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)
Duration: 18 seconds
Capture Date: Nov. 19, 2024

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New Mars Images: Nov. 17-19, 2024 | NASA's Mars Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

New Mars Images: Nov. 17-19, 2024 | NASA's Mars Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Mars 2020 - sol 1332

Mars 2020 - sol 1332

Mars 2020 - sol 1333

Mars 2020 - sol 1333

Mars 2020 - sol 1331

MSL - sol 4368

Mars 2020 - sol 1333

Support FriendsofNASA.org

Celebrating 12+ 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: Nov. 17-19, 2024

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NASA Artemis II Moon Mission Orion Spacecraft Lifted to Vacuum Chamber

NASA Artemis II Moon Mission Orion Spacecraft Lifted to Vacuum Chamber

NASA’s Orion spacecraft on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, inside the altitude chamber of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

A massive crane lifts NASA’s Orion spacecraft out of the Final Assembly and System Testing cell and moves it to the altitude chamber to complete further testing on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The altitude chamber simulates deep space vacuum conditions, and the testing will provide additional data to augment data gained during testing earlier this summer. 

The Orion spacecraft will carry NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Reid Wiseman, as well as CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back for the Artemis II test flight.

The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign. It will launch no earlier than September 2025.

For more information about NASA's Orion spacecraft:

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/orion-spacecraft/

Check the NASA Artemis II Mission page for updates:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett/Lockheed Martin/David Wellendorf

Image Date: Nov. 7, 2024

#NASA #ESA #CSA #Space #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIIMission #ArtemisII #OrionSpacecraft #VacuumTesting #LockheedMartin #DeepSpace #Astronauts #MoonToMars #Science #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #KSC #NASAKennedy #MerrittIsland #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #Canada #Europe #STEM #Education

Commander Williams+Astronauts Wilmore & Hague | International Space Station

Commander Williams+Astronauts Wilmore & Hague | International Space Station

Expedition 72 Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineers Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague, all three NASA astronauts, pose for a portrait together with the U.S. flag behind them aboard the International Space Station's Harmony module. The trio was honoring veteran members of the U.S. Armed Forces during Veterans Day on November 11, 2024. Williams is a retired U.S. Navy captain, Wilmore is a U.S. Navy test pilot, and Hague is U.S. Space Force colonel.

Another Expedition 72 crewmember is NASA astronaut and chemical engineer, Don Pettit. He is a civilian astronaut, although Pettit is also an Eagle Scout. Eagle Scout is the highest rank one can receive in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA).

Learn more here:

https://www.scouting.org/about/research/eagle-scouts/

Expedition 72 Updates:

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

Expedition 72 Crew
Station Commander: Suni Williams
Roscosmos (Russia): Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov
NASA: Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, Nick Hague

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.

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
Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Image Date: Nov. 11, 2024

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Japan's Mount Fuji Bare Again after Fleeting Snow | NASA Earth Observatory

Japan's Mount Fuji Bare Again after Fleeting Snow | NASA Earth Observatory

USGS Landsat 8 satellite image on November 9, 2024.

October 30, 2023

In November 2024, Japan’s iconic volcano and highest peak, Mount Fuji, still awaited the first snowfall of the season. When white did appear on its flanks on November 6, it was the latest in the year for the mountain’s first seasonal snowfall since records began 130 years ago. This exceeded the previous record of October 26 that occurred in both 1955 and 2016.

Ground and aerial photos from November 6 showed Mount Fuji with a fresh coating of snow on its peak. A local office of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) officially confirmed the presence of snow on November 7, according to news reports; clouds had obstructed their view of the mountain the previous day.

By the time the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite acquired this top image on November 9, the new snow appears to have melted. For comparison, an image from October 30, 2023 (bottom), acquired by the OLI-2 on Landsat 9, shows the mountain clad in white. That year, the first snow on Mount Fuji came on October 5, a more typical time for this annual milestone.

The snow’s late arrival follows periods of exceptional warmth in Japan. The average summer temperature, from June to August 2024, was 1.76 degrees Celsius (3.17 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the 1991–2020 average, according to JMA weather station observations. Those temperatures tied summer 2023 as the country’s hottest summer since comparable records began in 1898.

Above-average heat continued into the fall. Across Japan, over 120 million people experienced “unusual heat” in the first week of October 2024, reported Climate Central, when more than 70 Japanese cities recorded temperatures of 30°C (86°F) or higher. Warmth was also felt at Mount Fuji’s summit. According to news reports, it prevented early-season precipitation from falling as snow.

The volcano’s first snow of the season fell in early November 2024—the latest in a 130-year record—only to apparently vanish within a few days.

Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano located on the Japanese island of Honshu with a summit elevation of 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft 3 in). It is the tallest mountain in Japan, the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia and seventh-highest peak of an island on Earth. The mountain is located about 100 km (62 mi) southwest of Tokyo and is visible from the Japanese capital on clear days. Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, usually covered in snow for about five months of the year, is commonly used as a cultural icon of Japan and is frequently depicted in art and photography, as well as visited by sightseers, hikers and mountain climbers. Mount Fuji last erupted between 1707 and 1708.

Image Credit: Wanmei Liang/USGS Landsat 8 & 9
Article Credit: Lindsey Doermann    
Instruments: Landsat 8 — OLI, Landsat 9 — OLI-2
Release Date: Nov. 19, 2024

#NASA #Space #Earth #Atmosphere #Meteorology #Weather #Snow #MountFuji #富士山 #Honshu #本州 #Japan #日本 #Satellites #Landsat #Landsat8 #Landsat9 #Environment #GlobalHeating #Climate #ClimateChange #RemoteSensing #EarthObservation #USGS #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Tianzhou-7 Cargo Spacecraft Re-Enters Atmosphere | China Space Station

Tianzhou-7 Cargo Spacecraft Re-Enters Atmosphere | China Space Station

China's Tianzhou-7 cargo spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere in a controlled manner at 21:25 (Beijing Time) Sunday, November 17, 2024, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). Most of the spacecraft's components burned up during the re-entry, and a small amount of debris fell into the scheduled safe waters.

The Tianzhou-7 separated from the orbiting Tiangong Space Station on Nov. 10 and successfully released a scientific satellite during its independent flight.

Launched on Jan 17, 2024, from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern island province of Hainan, the Tianzhou-7 was loaded with materials, such as supplies for astronauts, propellants and devices for applications and experiments, according to the CMSA.

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: Nov. 18, 2024

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NASA Artemis II Moon Solid Rocket Booster Assembly | Kennedy Space Center

NASA Artemis II Moon Solid Rocket Booster Assembly | Kennedy Space Center

Engineers and technicians with the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program prepare to transfer one of the aft assemblies of the Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters for the Artemis II Moon Mission with an overhead crane inside the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. The booster segments are being transferred to the NASA Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building via a transporter for stacking operations in preparation for launch of the Artemis II mission.

Since the mobile launcher returned in October 2024 from Launch Pad 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, work has been underway for upcoming stacking operations of NASA's SLS Moon rocket. To prepare for the Artemis II Moon Mission launch, the mobile launcher is undergoing optical scans, system checkouts, and umbilical refurbishment, including installation of the aft skirt electrical umbilicals.

Meanwhile, segments of the Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters for the Artemis II Moon Mission will soon move from the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility to the VAB via a transporter. The aft assemblies, or bottom portions of the five segment boosters, will be situated in the facility's transfer aisle then lifted atop the mobile launcher in High Bay 3.

The examinations and preparations of the mobile launcher and rocket elements lay the groundwork for the Artemis II crewed test flight around the Moon.

The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign, sending NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Reid Wiseman, as well as Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back.

Artemis II will launch no earlier than September 2025.

For more information about SLS, visit: 

https://www.nasa.gov/sls

Check the NASA Artemis II Mission page for updates:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Image Date: Nov. 13, 2024

Release Date: Nov. 18, 2024

 #NASA #ESA #CSA #Space #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIIMission #ArtemisII #SLS #SRB #DeepSpace #Astronauts #MoonToMars #Science #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #KSC #NASAKennedy #Florida #UnitedStates #Canada #Europe #STEM #Education

SpaceX: Making Life Multi-Planetary | November 2024 Update

SpaceX: Making Life Multi-Planetary | November 2024 Update

"SpaceX was founded to increase access to space and [to] help make life multiplanetary. In just this year, we’ve launched 114 successful Falcon missions and counting for our commercial and government customers, deployed  ~1,700 Starlink satellites to provide high-speed Internet for millions of people all around the world, and made extraordinary strides developing Starship’s capability to return humanity to the Moon and ultimately send people to Mars."

The primary goal of SpaceX is to build a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.

"Starship is essential to both SpaceX’s plans to deploy its next-generation Starship system as well as for NASA, which will use a lunar lander version of Starship for landing astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis III mission through the Human Landing System (HLS) program."

If you want to join the team and help build a more exciting future, check out the latest job openings across the company → https://www.spacex.com/careers

Video Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)
Duration: 1 minute, 24 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 18, 2024

#NASA #SpaceX #Space #Earth #Mars #Moon #MoonToMars #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #Starship #Spacecraft #HeavyBooster #SuperHeavyRocket #ElonMusk #GwynneShotwell #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #SpaceExploration #Starbase #Texas #Careers #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Takes a Last Look at Mysterious Sulfur | JPL

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Takes a Last Look at Mysterious Sulfur | JPL

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this panorama using its Mastcam while heading west away from Gediz Vallis channel on Nov. 2, 2024

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this last look at a field of bright white sulfur stones on Oct. 11, before leaving Gediz Vallis channel. The field was where the rover made the first discovery of pure sulfur on Mars. Scientists are still unsure exactly why theses rocks formed here.

Scientists think that ancient groundwater formed this weblike pattern of ridges, called boxwork, that were captured by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Dec. 10, 2006. The agency’s Curiosity rover will study ridges similar to these up close in 2025.

NASA’s Curiosity rover is preparing for the next leg of its journey, a monthslong trek to a formation called the boxwork. It is a set of weblike patterns on Mars’ surface that stretches for miles. It will soon leave Gediz Vallis channel. How the channel formed so late during a transition to a drier climate remains a key question for the science team. Another interesting find is the field of white sulfur stones the rover discovered this past summer.

The rover is searching for evidence that ancient Mars had the right ingredients to support microbial life, if any formed billions of years ago, when the Red Planet held lakes and rivers. Located in the foothills of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain, Gediz Vallis channel may help tell a related story—what the area was like as water was disappearing on Mars. Although older layers on the mountain had already formed in a dry climate, the channel suggests that water occasionally coursed through the area as the climate was changing.

Scientists are still piecing together the processes that formed features within the channel, including the debris mound nicknamed “Pinnacle Ridge." It appears that rivers, wet debris flows, and dry avalanches all left their mark. The science team is now constructing a timeline of events from Curiosity’s observations.

The science team is also trying to answer important questions about the sprawling field of sulfur stones. Images of the area from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) showed what looked like an unremarkable patch of light-colored terrain. It turns out that the sulfur stones were too small for MRO’s High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) to see, and Curiosity’s team was intrigued to find them when the rover reached the patch. They were even more surprised after Curiosity rolled over one of the stones, crushing it to reveal yellow crystals inside.

Science instruments on the rover confirmed the stone was pure sulfur—something no mission has seen before on Mars. The team cannot yet explain why the sulfur formed there. On Earth, it is associated with volcanoes and hot springs, and no evidence exists of Mount Sharp having either of those causes present.

“We looked at the sulfur field from every angle—from the top and the side—and looked for anything mixed with the sulfur that might give us clues as to how it formed. We’ve gathered a ton of data, and now we have a fun puzzle to solve,” said Curiosity’s project scientist Ashwin Vasavada at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

Spiderwebs on Mars

Curiosity has traveled about 20 miles (33 kilometers) since landing in 2012. It is now driving along the western edge of the Gediz Vallis channel, gathering a few more panoramas to document the region before traveling to the boxwork.

Viewed by MRO, the boxwork looks like spiderwebs stretching across the surface. It is believed to have formed when minerals carried by Mount Sharp’s last pulses of water settled into fractures in surface rock and then hardened. As portions of the rock eroded away, what remained were the minerals that had cemented themselves in the fractures, leaving the weblike boxwork.

On Earth, boxwork formations have been seen on cliffsides and in caves. However, Mount Sharp’s boxwork structures stand apart from those because they formed as water was disappearing from Mars and because they are so extensive, spanning an area of 6 to 12 miles (10 to 20 kilometers).

“These ridges will include minerals that crystallized underground, where it would have been warmer, with salty liquid water flowing through,” said Kirsten Siebach of Rice University in Houston, a Curiosity scientist studying the region. “Early Earth microbes could have survived in a similar environment. That makes this an exciting place to explore.”

More About Curiosity

Curiosity was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by BAE Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.), in Boulder, Colorado. JPL manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more about these missions:
science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity
science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-reconnaissance-orbiter

Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech/MSSS/University of Arizona

Release Date: Nov. 18, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Astrobiology #Geology #CuriosityRover #MSL #GedizVallisChannel #Sulphur #MountSharp #GaleCrater #MROSpacecraft #HiRISE #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Leaves Gediz Vallis Channel: 360 View | JPL

NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Leaves Gediz Vallis Channel: 360 View | JPL

Support FriendsofNASA.org: Drag your mouse or move your phone to explore this 360-degree panorama provided by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover. This view was captured just before the rover exited Gediz Vallis channel. It was likely formed by ancient floodwaters and landslides.

Visible in this scene is the field of sulfur stones where the rover rolled over a rock and cracked it open, revealing yellow crystals inside and marking the first time scientists have seen pure sulfur on Mars. Note: The rover has discovered lots of sulfur-based minerals in the past, however, not pure sulfur. In this video, a close-up of the sulfur field is embedded roughly where it is located in the landscape.

Also look for rover tracks, a dusty view of Gale Crater’s rim in the distance, and the route Curiosity is taking away from the channel toward new adventures.

The rover used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to take this panorama on Sept. 21 and 22, 2024, the 4,311st and 4,312nd Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity’s surface mission. It is made up of 341 individual images that were stitched together. The color has been adjusted to match lighting conditions as the human eye would see them on Earth. 

Note on best viewing: Not all browsers support 360-degree videos. YouTube supports playback on computers using Chrome, Firefox, MS Edge, and Opera browsers. For the best experience on a mobile device, play this video in the YouTube app. To improve the resolution, open the video settings (using the gear icon) and select the highest quality available.

Celebrating 12+ 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

For more about Curiosity, visit: 

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity/

For more information on NASA's Mars missions, visit: mars.nasa.gov

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Duration: 2 minutes, 14 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 18, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #RedPlanet #Planet #Astrobiology #Geology #CuriosityRover #MSL #GedizVallisChannel #Sol4311 #Sol4312 #MountSharp #GaleCrater #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #360Video #HD #Video

New Shenzhou-19 Crew Adapts to Work & Living Conditions | China Space Station

New Shenzhou-19 Crew Adapts to Work & Living Conditions | China Space Station 

China's Shenzhou-19 crew aboard the orbiting Tiangong Space Station have adapted to their new environment and have started to engage in their daily routines after they boarded the station over 2 weeks ago, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

The crew members, Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong, and Wang Haoze, were launched to the China Space Station on Oct. 30, 2024, for a six-month mission.

In close coordination with ground researchers, the Shenzhou-19 crew have completed their first full-system pressure emergency drill and in-orbit medical training since their arrival.

The drill simulated the process of the crew members responding to an internal depressurization scenario at the space station. This involves astronauts and ground personnel collaborating in emergency response throughout the entire process.

The in-orbit medical training simulated the procedures for providing medical assistance in the event of sudden illness or injury among astronauts. This is aimed to help the crew become more familiar with the locations of medical devices in the space station, to review usage methods, and to reinforce operational processes and skills.

During the mission, the crew will carry out extravehicular activities—spacewalks, including the installation of space debris protection devices.

Last week, the three astronauts completed routine checks and maintenance of their spacesuits, and confirmed their storage conditions, ensuring that the suits are in good condition.

While in orbit, the crew are required to regularly conduct environmental monitoring and equipment maintenance within the space station.

Last week, Shenzhou-19 commander Cai Xuzhe inspected the cabin's acoustic environment.

Additionally, the crew completed inspections and maintenance of the regenerative life support system equipment.

Furthermore, the crew regularly carried out tasks, such as cleaning, supplies arranging and transfer, and garbage transfer and storage to maintain a clean environment in the space station.

Moreover, the astronauts also underwent regular medical checks to monitor their health and they performed routine physical exercises.

Shenzhou-19 Crew:

Commander Cai Xuzhe (蔡旭哲)
Mission Specialist Wang Haoze (王浩泽)
Mission Specialist Song Lingdong (宋令东)

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 2 minutes, 11 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 18, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #Shenzhou19 #神舟十九号 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #CSS #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #MicrogravityExperiments #CMSA #国家航天局 #LongDurationMissions #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Pan of Spiral Galaxy UGC 10043 in Serpens | Hubble Space Telescope

Pan of Spiral Galaxy UGC 10043 in Serpens | Hubble Space Telescope

What kind of astronomical object is this? It does not look quite like the kinds of galaxies, nebulae, star clusters or galaxy clusters that Hubble normally brings us images of. In fact, this is a spiral galaxy, named UGC 10043—we just happen to be seeing it directly from the side. Located roughly 150 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Serpens, UGC 10043 is one of the rare spiral galaxies that are seen edge-on from our perspective.

From this point of view, we see the galaxy’s disc as a sharp line through space, overlain with a prominent dust lane. This dust is spread across the spiral arms of UGC 10043, but it looks very thick and cloudy when viewed from the side. You can even see the lights of active star-forming regions in the arms, shining out from behind the dust. Strikingly, we can also see that the center of the galaxy sports a glowing, almost egg-shaped ‘bulge’, rising far above and below the disc. 

All spiral galaxies have a bulge like this one as part of their structure, containing stars that orbit the galactic center on paths above and below the whirling disc; it is a feature that is not normally obvious in pictures of galaxies. The unusually large size of this bulge compared to the galaxy’s disc is possibly thanks to UGC 10043 siphoning material from a nearby dwarf galaxy. This may also be why the disc is warped, bending up at one end and down at the other.

Like most full-color Hubble images, this is a composite, made up of several individual snapshots capturing unique light wavelengths. 

Image Description: A spiral galaxy seen directly from the side, such that its disc looks like a narrow diagonal band across the image. A band of dark dust covers the disc in the center most of the way out to the ends, and the disc glows around that. In the center a whitish circle of light bulges out above and below the disc. The tips of the disc are a bit bent. The background is black and mostly empty.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, R. Windhorst, W. Keel

Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 18, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #Galaxies #Galaxy #UGC10043 #SpiralGalaxy #GalacticBulge #InteractingGalaxies #DwarfGalaxy #SerpensCaput #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Spiral Galaxy UGC 10043 in Serpens: Side Profile & Central Bulge | Hubble

Spiral Galaxy UGC 10043 in Serpens: Side Profile & Central Bulge | Hubble

What kind of astronomical object is this? It does not look quite like the kinds of galaxies, nebulae, star clusters or galaxy clusters that Hubble normally brings us images of. In fact, this is a spiral galaxy, named UGC 10043—we just happen to be seeing it directly from the side. Located roughly 150 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Serpens, UGC 10043 is one of the rare spiral galaxies that are seen edge-on from our perspective.

From this point of view, we see the galaxy’s disc as a sharp line through space, overlain with a prominent dust lane. This dust is spread across the spiral arms of UGC 10043, but it looks very thick and cloudy when viewed from the side. You can even see the lights of active star-forming regions in the arms, shining out from behind the dust. Strikingly, we can also see that the center of the galaxy sports a glowing, almost egg-shaped ‘bulge’, rising far above and below the disc. 

All spiral galaxies have a bulge like this one as part of their structure, containing stars that orbit the galactic center on paths above and below the whirling disc; it is a feature that is not normally obvious in pictures of galaxies. The unusually large size of this bulge compared to the galaxy’s disc is possibly thanks to UGC 10043 siphoning material from a nearby dwarf galaxy. This may also be why the disc is warped, bending up at one end and down at the other.

Like most full-color Hubble images, this is a composite, made up of several individual snapshots capturing unique light wavelengths. 

Image Description: A spiral galaxy seen directly from the side, such that its disc looks like a narrow diagonal band across the image. A band of dark dust covers the disc in the center most of the way out to the ends, and the disc glows around that. In the center a whitish circle of light bulges out above and below the disc. The tips of the disc are a bit bent. The background is black and mostly empty.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, R. Windhorst, W. Keel
Release Date: Nov. 18, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Hubble #Galaxies #Galaxy #UGC10043 #SpiralGalaxy #GalacticBulge #InteractingGalaxies #DwarfGalaxy #SerpensCaput #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education

Leonids Meteor Shower Peaks November 18-24, 2024 | BBC Star Diary

Leonids Meteor Shower Peaks November 18-24, 2024 | BBC Star Diary

The Leonids meteor shower reaches the peak of activity this week. It might not be the best year for the shower, but fortunately we are on hand with many more stargazing highlights in this week’s Star Diary podcast, from the makers of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.

The Leonids, peaking during mid-November each year, are considered to be a major shower though meteor rates are often as low as about 15 meteors per hour. The Leonids are bright meteors and can also be colorful. They are also fast: Leonids travel at speeds of 44 miles (71 kilometers) per second, and they are considered to be some of the fastest meteors.

Every 33 years, or so, viewers on Earth may experience a Leonid storm that can peak with hundreds to thousands of meteors seen per hour depending on the location of the observer.

A meteor storm versus a shower is defined as having at least 1,000 meteors per hour. Viewers in 1966 experienced a spectacular Leonid storm: thousands of meteors per minute fell through Earth's atmosphere during a 15-minute period. There were so many meteors seen that they appeared to fall like rain. The last Leonid meteor storm took place in 2002.

Leonids are also known for their fireballs and Earth-grazer meteors. Fireballs are larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than an average meteor streak. This is due to the fact that fireballs originate from larger particles of cometary material. Fireballs are also brighter with magnitudes brighter than -3. Earth-grazers are meteors that streak close to the horizon and are known for their long and colorful tails.

Where Do Meteors Come From?

Meteors come from leftover comet particles and bits from broken asteroids. When comets come around the Sun, the dust they emit gradually spreads into a dusty trail around their orbits. Every year the Earth passes through these debris trails, which allows the bits to collide with our atmosphere where they disintegrate to create fiery and colorful streaks in the sky.

The Comet

The pieces of space debris that interact with our atmosphere to create the Leonids originate from comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. It takes comet Tempel-Tuttle 33 years to orbit the sun once.

Comet Tempel-Tuttle was discovered twice independently—in 1865 and 1866 by Ernst Tempel and Horace Tuttle, respectively. Tempel-Tuttle is a small comet—its nucleus measures only about 2.24 miles (3.6 kilometers) across.

Learn more about the Leonids Meteor Shower:

https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/leonids/

Video Credit: BBC Sky at Night Magazine

Caption Credit: NASA Goddard/BBC
Duration: 16 minutes
Release Date: Nov. 17, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Meteors #Fireballs #MeteorShowers #Leonids #LeonidMeteorShower #Leo #Constellations #Planets #SolarSystem #Stars #StarClusters #MilkyWayGalaxy #Universe #Skywatching #BBC #UK #Britain #Europe #UnitedStates #Canada #NorthernHemisphere #STEM #Education #Podcast #HD #Video

Wide-field view: Cosmic Bat Nebula (NGC 1788) in Orion | Digitized Sky Survey 2

Wide-field view: Cosmic Bat Nebula (NGC 1788) in Orion | Digitized Sky Survey 2

The delicate nebula NGC 1788 is located in a dark and often neglected corner of the constellation Orion. Although this ghostly cloud is rather isolated from Orion’s bright stars, their powerful winds and light have a strong impact on the nebula, forging its shape and making it a home to a multitude of infant suns. This image from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 covers a field of view of 3 x 2.9 degrees, and shows that the Bat Nebula is part of much larger nebulosity.

Distance: 1,300 light years

The Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) is a ground-based imaging survey of the entire sky in several colors of light produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute through its Guide Star Survey group.

Image Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/Digitized Sky Survey 2

Acknowledgement: Davide de Martin
Release Date: March 3, 2010

#NASA #ESO #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #Nebula #NGC1788 #ReflectionNebula #Orion #Cosmos #Universe #Chile #Europe #DSS2 #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education