NASA Tests Swimming Robots for Exploring Oceans on Icy Moons | JPL

NASA Tests Swimming Robots for Exploring Oceans on Icy Moons | JPL

A futuristic NASA mission concept envisions a swarm of dozens of self-propelled, cellphone-size robots exploring the oceans beneath the icy shells of moons like Jupiter’s Europa and Saturn’s Enceladus, looking for chemical and temperature signals that could point to life. A series of prototypes for the concept, called SWIM (Sensing With Independent Micro-swimmers), braved the waters of a competition swim pool at Caltech in Pasadena, California, for testing in 2024. 

The prototype used in most of the pool tests was about 16.5 inches (42 centimeters) long, weighing 5 pounds (2.3 kilograms). As conceived for spaceflight, the robots would have dimensions about three times smaller—tiny compared to existing remotely operated and autonomous underwater scientific vehicles. 

Led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the SWIM project was supported by NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts program under the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). Work on the project took place from spring 2021 to fall 2024.

More information about SWIM can be found at: https://go.nasa.gov/4eDCuSO

Video Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: Nov. 20, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planets #Moons #IcyMoons #OceanMoons #Jupiter #Europa #UnderwaterRobots #SWIM #Robotics #OuterSolarSystem #SpaceTechnology #SpaceEngineering #NASASTMD #SpaceExploration #SolarSystem #JPL #Caltech #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Flame-Throwing' Guitar Nebula | NASA's Chandra & Hubble Tune In

The Flame-Throwing' Guitar Nebula | NASA's Chandra & Hubble Tune In

Normally found only in heavy metal bands or certain post-apocalyptic films, a “flame-throwing guitar” has now been spotted moving through space. Astronomers have captured movies of this extreme cosmic object using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope.

The new video of Chandra data helps break down what is playing out in the Guitar Nebula. X-rays from Chandra show a filament of energetic matter and antimatter particles, about two light-years or 12 trillion miles long, blasting away from the pulsar.

Astronomers have nicknamed the structure connected to the pulsar PSR B2224+65 as the “Guitar Nebula” because of its distinct resemblance to the instrument in glowing hydrogen light. The guitar shape comes from bubbles blown by particles ejected from the pulsar through a steady wind as it travels through space.

At the tip of the guitar is the pulsar, a rapidly rotating neutron star left behind after the collapse of a massive star. As it hurtles through space it is pumping out a flame-like filament of particles and X-ray light that astronomers have captured with Chandra.

How does space produce something so bizarre? 

The combination of two extremes—fast rotation and high magnetic fields of pulsars—leads to particle acceleration and high-energy radiation that creates matter and antimatter particles, as electron and positron pairs. In this situation, the usual process of converting mass into energy, famously determined by Albert Einstein's E = mc2 equation, is reversed. Here, energy is being converted into mass to produce the particles.

Particles spiraling along magnetic field lines around the pulsar create the X-rays that Chandra detects. As the pulsar and its surrounding nebula of energetic particles has flown through space, they have collided with denser regions of gas. This allows the most energetic particles to escape the confines of the guitar nebula and fly to the right of the pulsar, creating the filament of X-rays as they fly through space. When those particles escape, they latch onto magnetic field lines in the interstellar medium, that is, the space in between stars. They spiral around and flow along the magnetic field lines, in this case to the right of the pulsar.

Astronomers will continue to tune into the Guitar Nebula to see what plays out next.

Video Credit: NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory
Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Stanford Univ./M. de Vries et al.; Optical: (Hubble) NASA/ESA/STScI and (Palomar) Hale Telescope/Palomar/CalTech
Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare
Duration: 3 minutes

Release Date: Nov. 20, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space#Science #Hubble #Nebula #GuitarNebula #Star #NeutronStar #Pulsar #StarB222465 #Cepheus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #ChandraObservatory #XrayAstronomy #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's Artemis III Moon Mission: SpaceX Starship Crew Lander Concept Art

NASA's Artemis III Moon Mission: SpaceX Starship Crew Lander Concept Art

SpaceX: "Starship will be used to land astronauts on the lunar surface on NASA's Artemis III mission, which will put the first humans on the Moon since 1972."

Elon Musk: This is "a special version of Starship: delete heat shield & flaps, add landing legs. This could (of course) only be used between trans lunar orbit and lunar surface, given no heat shield or flaps."

"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."

Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman, the first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the Moon, paving the way for long-term lunar exploration and serving as a steppingstone for astronaut missions to Mars. 

Learn more about NASA's Artemis III Mission + HLS:

https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/artemis-iii/ 

Key Starship Parameters:
Height: 121m/397ft
Diameter: 9m/29.5ft
Payload to LEO: 100 – 150t (fully reusable)

Learn more about Starship:
https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/

Download the Free Starship User Guide (PDF):

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

Image Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)
Release Date: Nov. 20, 2024

#NASA #SpaceX #Space #Earth #Mars #Moon #MoonToMars #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #Starship #CrewSpacecraft #CrewLander #MoonLander #Astronauts #ElonMusk #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #R&D #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #UnitedStates #Art #Illustration #STEM #Education

Detecting Gamma Ray Bursts | NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Mission 2024 Update

Detecting Gamma Ray Bursts | NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Mission 2024 Update

After two decades in space, NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is performing better than ever thanks to a new operational strategy implemented earlier this year. Since its launch on Nov. 20, 2004, the spacecraft has made great scientific strides in exploring gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe.

Gamma-ray bursts occur all over the sky without warning with about one a day detected on average. Astronomers generally divide these bursts into two categories. Long bursts produce an initial pulse of gamma rays for two seconds or more and occur when the cores of massive stars collapse to form black holes. Short bursts last less than two seconds and are caused by the mergers of dense objects like neutron stars. 

Originally called the Swift Observatory for its ability to quickly point at cosmic events, like gamma-ray bursts, the mission team renamed the spacecraft in 2018 after its first principal investigator Neil Gehrels. 

Swift uses several methods for orienting and stabilizing itself in space. 

Sensors that detect the Sun’s location and the direction of Earth’s magnetic field provide the spacecraft with a general sense of its location. Then, a device called a star tracker looks at stars and tells the spacecraft how to maneuver to keep the observatory precisely pointed at the same position during long observations. 

Swift uses three spinning gyroscopes, or gyros, to carry out those moves along three axes. The gyros were designed to align at right angles to each other, but once in orbit the mission team discovered they were slightly misaligned. The flight operations team developed a strategy where one of the gyros worked to correct the misalignment while the other two pointed Swift to achieve its science goals. 

The team wanted to be ready in case one of the gyros failed, however, so in 2009 they developed a plan to operate Swift using just two. Any change to the way a telescope operates once in space carries risk, however. Since Swift was working well, the team sat on their plan for 15 years. 

Then, in July 2023, one of Swift’s gyros began working improperly. Because the telescope could not hold its pointing position accurately, observations got progressively blurrier until the gyro failed entirely in March 2024. The team was able to quickly shift to the new operational strategy, and the spacecraft is now performing better than ever. 

Video Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Duration: 2 minutes, 41 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 20, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #GammaRayBursts #GRB #GRBExplosions #BlackHoles #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophysics #Physics #NeilGehrelsSwiftObservatory #NeilGehrelsSwiftMission #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

How Did Mars Get Its Moons? | NASA's Ames Research Center

How Did Mars Get Its Moons? | NASA's Ames Research Center

A NASA study using a series of supercomputer simulations reveals a potential new solution to a longstanding Martian mystery: How did Mars get its moons? The first step, the findings say, may have involved the destruction of an asteroid. 

The research team, led by Jacob Kegerreis, a postdoctoral research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, found that an asteroid passing near Mars could have been disrupted—a nice way of saying “ripped apart”—by the Red Planet’s strong gravitational pull.

The team’s simulations show the resulting rocky fragments being strewn into a variety of orbits around Mars. More than half the fragments would have escaped the Mars system, but others would have stayed in orbit. Tugged by the gravity of Mars and the Sun, in the simulations the remaining asteroid pieces are set on paths to collide with one another with every encounter further grinding them down and spreading additional debris. 

Many collisions later, smaller chunks and debris from the former asteroid could have settled into a disk encircling the planet. Over time, some of this material is likely to have clumped together, possibly forming Mars’ two small moons, Phobos and Deimos.

Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/solar-system/planets/mars/making-mars-moons-supercomputers-offer-disruptive-new-explanation-2/

Video Credit: NASA's Ames Research Center
Duration: 1 minute, 48 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 20, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Sun #SolarSystem #Planets #RedPlanet #Planet #Mars #Moon #Phobos #Deimos #Geology #Asteroids #AsteroidCollisions #Astrophysics #Supercomputers #SupercomputerSimulations #NASAAmes #MoffetField #California #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video    

Launch of SpaceX's Starship & Super Heavy Rocket on Sixth Flight Test

Launch of SpaceX's Starship & Super Heavy Rocket 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 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)

Learn more about Starship:
https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/

Download the Free Starship User Guide (PDF):
https://www.spacex.com/media/starship_users_guide_v1.pdf

Image Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)
Capture Date: Nov. 19, 2024

#NASA #SpaceX #Space #Earth #Mars #Moon #MoonToMars #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #Starship #Spacecraft #Starship6 #TestFlight6 #HeavyBooster #SuperHeavyRocket #ElonMusk #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #SpaceExploration #Starbase #Mechazilla #BocaChica #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Europe's Solar Orbiter: New Higher-resolution Full Views of The Sun | ESA

Europe's Solar Orbiter: New Higher-resolution Full Views of The Sun | ESA

Join us on a unique video tour of the Sun's mesmerising surface. Thanks to its innovative instrumentation and a ‘daring’ trajectory passing close to the Sun, the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft has obtained the highest-resolution full views of the Sun’s surface to date.    

Watching the Sun in visible light, Solar Orbiter reveals a grainy surface and dark sunspots. On the same day, the spacecraft mapped the Sun's magnetic field, tracked how fast and in which direction scorching hot material on the surface is moving, and snapped a hypnotizing image in ultraviolet light of the Sun’s upper atmosphere, the corona. All taken on the same day, the four new images shown in this video let us peel away the Sun's many layers.

The images were taken when Solar Orbiter was less than 74 million kilometres from the Sun. Being so close meant each high-resolution image only covers a small portion of the Sun. To obtain the full-disc views showcased in the video, 25 images were stitched together like a mosaic. The Sun has a diameter of around 8000 pixels in the full mosaics, revealing an extraordinary amount of detail.

Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA, operated by ESA.

Read more: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Solar_Orbiter/New_full_Sun_views_show_sunspots_fields_and_restless_plasma

Video Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Duration: 2 minutes, 12 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 20, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Science #Space #Star #Sun #Corona #Atmosphere #Plasma #Physics #Astrophysics #Heliophysics #Ultraviolet #SolarOrbiter #Satellite #Spacecraft #Earth #Europe #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Pre-Launch: SpaceX's Starship & Super Heavy Rocket Before Sixth Flight Test

Pre-Launch: SpaceX's Starship & Super Heavy Rocket Before 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 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)

Learn more about Starship:

https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/

Download the Free Starship User Guide (PDF):
https://www.spacex.com/media/starship_users_guide_v1.pdf

Image Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)
Capture Dates: Nov. 18-19, 2024

#NASA #SpaceX #Space #Earth #Mars #Moon #MoonToMars #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #Starship #Spacecraft #Starship6 #TestFlight6 #HeavyBooster #SuperHeavyRocket #ElonMusk #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #SpaceExploration #Starbase #Mechazilla #BocaChica #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

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

#NASA #SpaceX #Space #Earth #Mars #Moon #MoonToMars #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #Starship #Spacecraft #Starship6 #TestFlight6 #HeavyBooster #SuperHeavyRocket #ElonMusk #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #SpaceExploration #Starbase #Mechazilla #BocaChica #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

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

#NASA #SpaceX #Space #Earth #Mars #Moon #MoonToMars #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #Starship #Spacecraft #Starship6 #TestFlight6 #HeavyBooster #SuperHeavyRocket #ElonMusk #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #SpaceExploration #Starbase #Mechazilla #BocaChica #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

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

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

NASA 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

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Earth #Astronauts #SuniWilliams #ButchWilmore #NickHague #VeteransDay #DonPettit #EagleScout #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #InternationalCooperation #LongDurationMissions #SpaceLaboratory #HumanSpaceflight #CivilSpaceProgram #CivilSpaceflight #UnitedStates #Expedition72 #STEM #Education

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

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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

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