NASA's Space to Ground: The Art of Space Science | Week of Nov. 22, 2024

NASA's Space to Ground: The Art of Space Science | Week of Nov. 22, 2024

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what is happening aboard the International Space Station. The Russian Progress 90 cargo spacecraft is orbiting Earth and on its way to resupply the International Space Station after it lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7:22 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, beginning its two-day journey to the space station. Packed inside Progress are nearly three tons of food, fuel, and supplies due to arrive at the orbital outpost when Progress automatically docks to the Poisk module at 9:36 a.m. EST on Saturday. Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner of Russia will be on duty Saturday monitoring the cargo ship during its automated approach and rendezvous maneuvers.

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)

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

Duration: 3 minutes, 21 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 22, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Earth #Progress90CargoSpacecraft #Astronauts #Astronaut #DonPettit #SpaceArt #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #InternationalCooperation #LongDurationMissions #SpaceLaboratory #HumanSpaceflight #UnitedStates #Expedition72 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Extratropical Cyclone Whips over Pacific Northwest | NOAA-20 Polar Satellite

Extratropical Cyclone Whips over Pacific Northwest | NOAA-20 Polar Satellite

A strong extratropical cyclone hit the Pacific Northwest on November 19, 2024, bringing damaging winds and rain to the region. The storm knocked over trees and left nearly 600,000 people without power in Washington state on November 20, according to news reports.

This image shows the storm system at 1:50 p.m. Pacific Time (21:50 p.m. Universal Time) on November 19. Extra-tropical cyclones are large rotating weather systems that occur in the midlatitudes (generally more than 30° latitude away from the equator). Mature extratropical cyclones like this often feature comma-shaped cloud patterns that are the product of “conveyor belt” circulation. Heavy precipitation is often present near the low-pressure head of the comma. This image was captured by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1), also known as NOAA-20.

On the evening of November 19, the storm’s central pressure dropped to levels on par with a storm in October 2021. This saw the lowest pressure in about 50 years of records for that region, according to Chris Dolce, a meteorologist at The Weather Channel. The pace of the storm’s intensification was more than double the criteria for bombogenesis—a popular term that describes a midlatitude cyclone that rapidly intensifies into a “bomb cyclone.”

The plunging atmospheric pressure in the center of the storm caused winds to increase quickly on November 19. The National Weather Service in Seattle reported wind gusts of up to 77 miles (124 kilometers) per hour in the mountains southeast of Seattle.

The cyclone kicked off a long-duration atmospheric river that forecasters expect will park over Northern California and southern Oregon through November 22. The National Weather Service estimates that these areas could see rainfall totals of 12 to 16 inches (30 to 41 centimeters) over the duration of the storm.

Damaging winds from the strong storm knocked out power for thousands of people in Washington state.

NOAA-20, designated JPSS-1 prior to launch, is the first of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's latest generation of U.S. polar-orbiting, non-geosynchronous, environmental satellites called the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS).

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin/VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE/Worldview/Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)

Article Credit: Emily Cassidy
Image Date: Nov. 19, 2024
Release Date: Nov. 21, 2024

#NASA #Space #Satellites #Science #Earth #Planet #WashingtonState #UnitedStates #BritishColumbia #Canada #PacificNorthwest #ClimateChange #GlobalHeating #Atmosphere #Weather #Meteorology #ExtratropicalCyclone #BombCyclone #AtmosphericRiver #PacificOcean #NOAA20 #JPSS1 #PolarSatellite #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #GSFC  #STEM #Education

NASA Voyager Missions to The Outer Solar System: Short Film (1977) | JPL

NASA Voyager Missions to The Outer Solar System: Short Film (1977) | JPL

From the archives of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), this short film from 1977 describes the mission of the two Voyager spacecraft before they launched on their journey to Jupiter and Saturn later that year. It features early computer graphics, artist’s concepts of the outer solar system, and vintage footage of the antennas from NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) at Goldstone, California, as well as mission control and a clean room at JPL.

Voyager 1 and 2 are now the most distant human-made objects from Earth and the longest continually operating NASA spacecraft. After the twin Voyagers visited Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 2 went on to visit Uranus and Neptune as well. Both spacecraft are now in interstellar space, the space between stars.

For more information on NASA's Voyager missions visit: 
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Duration: 4 minutes, 30 seconds

Release Date: Nov. 21, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #VoyagerSpacecraft #Voyager1 #Voyager2 #Planets #Jupiter #Saturn #Uranus #Neptune #SolarSystem #InterstellarSpace #MilkyWayGalaxy #SpaceExploration #JPL #Caltech #History #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Hubble Space Telescope: Over Three Decades of Discovery (1990-2024)

The Hubble Space Telescope: Over Three Decades of Discovery (1990-2024)

This montage of more than 600 images from the Hubble Space Telescope celebrates the telescope’s 30 years of discovery. From our own cosmic neighborhood to the far reaches of the universe, Hubble has opened our eyes to breathtaking new views of the cosmos. The rapid sequence echoes Hubble’s fast pace of exploration. Though numerous, these images are just a glimpse of the data collected by Hubble over the past 30 years, and only a tiny sliver of our vast universe.

For more information about Hubble, visit: www.nasa.gov/hubble

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, D. Player, J. DePasquale, and M. Carruthers (STScI)

Duration: 2 minutes, 41 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 21, 2024

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Hubble #Planets #Stars #StarClusters #Nebulae #Supernovae #BlackHoles #Galaxies #GalaxyClusters #DarkEnergy #DarkMatter #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophysics #HubbleSpaceTelescope #HST #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #History #HD #Video

China Crewed Moon Lander Separation Test & Moon Rover Driving Test Clips

China Crewed Moon Lander Separation Test & Moon Rover Driving Test Clips

This is a short video of China's crewed "Embrace the Moon" lunar lander separation test, crewed lunar lander spacecraft, crewed lunar rover driving test and more released by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on Thursday, November 21, 2024. China's crewed lunar landing mission is expected by 2030. It aims to carry out lunar scientific exploration and related technological tests, striving for breakthroughs in key technologies, such as repeated crewed Earth-Moon round trips, short-term lunar surface stays, and integrated human-robotic exploration, according to the CMSA.

With objectives incorporating landing, roving, sampling, researching and returning, the project seeks to establish an independent capability for long-term crewed lunar exploration.

It will coordinate the use of pre-flight crew tests and crewed lunar missions to conduct large-scale space science experiments. Scientists have outlined preliminary goals across three key areas: lunar science, lunar station science, and resource exploration and utilization, covering nine major research directions.

Currently, the production of prototypes for Long March-10 carrier rockets, crewed spacecraft (named "Mengzhou"), the lunar landers (named "Lanyue"), the lunar spacesuits (named "Feitian") and crewed lunar rovers is progressing as planned, along with related ground tests. A series of ground facilities and equipment designed to support these production and testing activities have been completed and put into operation.

Meanwhile, the construction of the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China's island province of Hainan has been prioritized and is advancing smoothly in readiness for these ambitious upcoming missions.

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 11 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 21, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #China #中国 #Moon #LunarMissions #CrewModules #Mengzhou #LandingSpacecraft #MoonLanders #LunarLanders #Lanyue #MoonRovers #LongMarch10Rocket #Taikonauts #Astronauts #EVASpacesuits #HumanSpaceflight #CNSA #CMSA #国家航天局 #SpaceTechnology #Robotics #SpaceEngineering #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education #Video

China Crewed Moon Landing: Preview Animation Released

China Crewed Moon Landing: Preview Animation Released

The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on Thursday, November 21, 2024, released an animated demonstration of the country's planned crewed lunar landing mission, expected by 2030. The mission aims to carry out lunar scientific exploration and related technological tests, striving for breakthroughs in key technologies, such as repeated crewed Earth-Moon round trips, short-term lunar surface stays, and integrated human-robotic exploration, according to the CMSA.

With objectives incorporating landing, roving, sampling, researching and returning, the project seeks to establish an independent capability for long-term crewed lunar exploration.

It will coordinate the use of pre-flight crew tests and crewed lunar missions to conduct large-scale space science experiments. Scientists have outlined preliminary goals across three key areas: lunar science, lunar station science, and resource exploration and utilization, covering nine major research directions.

Currently, the production of prototypes for Long March-10 carrier rockets, crewed spacecraft (named "Mengzhou"), the lunar landers (named "Lanyue"), the lunar spacesuits (named "Feitian") and crewed lunar rovers is progressing as planned, along with related ground tests. A series of ground facilities and equipment designed to support these production and testing activities have been completed and put into operation.

Meanwhile, the construction of the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China's island province of Hainan has been prioritized and is advancing smoothly in readiness for these ambitious upcoming missions.

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 1 minute, 47 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 21, 2024

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #China #中国 #Moon #LunarMissions #CrewModules #Mengzhou #LandingSpacecraft #MoonLanders #LunarLanders #Lanyue #MoonRovers #LongMarch10Rocket #Taikonauts #Astronauts #HumanSpaceflight #CNSA #CMSA #国家航天局 #SpaceTechnology #Robotics #SpaceEngineering #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

Journey to Close-up View of Red Supergiant Star WOH G64 in LMC Galaxy | ESO

Journey to Close-up View of Red Supergiant Star WOH G64 in LMC Galaxy | ESO

This video zooms into WOH G64, a dying star in the Large Magellanic Cloud, 160,000 light-years from us. This is the first close-up image of a star outside our galaxy.

The images shown here were taken with a range of telescopes at different times. They have been blended together to create this zoom.

At the end of the video, we see an image of the dusty cocoon that surrounds the star, taken with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer, and an artist’s impression that illustrates this.

Astronomers have known about this star for decades and have appropriately dubbed it the ‘behemoth star’. With a size roughly 2,000 times that of our Sun, WOH G64 is classified as a red supergiant.

Video Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Directed by: Angelos Tsaousis and Martin Wallner
Editing: Angelos Tsaousis
Written by: Hanna Huysegoms, Alejandro Izquierdo Lopez
Footage and Photos: ESO / Luis Calçada, Martin Kornmesser, Cristoph Malin, Babak Tafreshi, Keiichi Ohnaka et al
Scientific Consultant: Paola Amico, Mariya Lyubenova

Duration: 50 seconds
Release Date: Nov. 21, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Star #WOHG64 #RedSupergiant #Galaxy #LMC #Cosmos #Universe #VLT #ParanalObservatory #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Close-up Image of Star WOH G64 in Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy | ESO

Close-up Image of Star WOH G64 in Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy | ESO

This image shows a bright oval structure, surrounded by a fainter larger ring, against a black background. The oval corresponds to the light coming from the star WOH G64 and the dust cocoon around it, while the ring may be the inner side of a torus of dust around them.

This image shows an artist’s reconstruction of the star WOH G64, the first star outside our galaxy to be imaged in close-up. It is located at a staggering distance of over 160,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud. This artistic impression showcases its main features: an egg-shaped cocoon of dust surrounding the star and a ring or torus of dust. The existence and shape of the latter require more observations to be confirmed.

Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, at a staggering distance of over 160,000 light-years from us, WOH G64 is a dying star roughly 2,000 times the size of the Sun. This image of the star (left) is the first close-up picture of a star outside our galaxy. This breakthrough was possible thanks to the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (ESO’s VLTI), located in Chile. The image on the right shows an artist’s reconstruction of the star WOH G64.

The first image shows a close-up view of the star WOH G64, taken by the GRAVITY instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (ESO’s VLTI). It is the first close-up picture of a star outside our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The star is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, over 160,000 light-years away. The bright oval at the center of this image is a dusty cocoon that enshrouds the star. A fainter elliptical ring around it could be the inner rim of a dusty torus, but more observations are needed to confirm this feature. 

Credit: ESO/K. Ohnaka et al., L. Calçada
Release Date: Nov. 21, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Star #WOHG64 #RedSupergiant #ExtragalacticStar #Galaxy #LMC #Cosmos #Universe #VLT #VLTI #ParanalObservatory #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #Art #Illustration #Infographic #STEM #Education

First Close-up Picture of an Extragalactic Star: WOH G64 in LMC Galaxy | ESO

First Close-up Picture of an Extragalactic Star: WOH G64 in LMC Galaxy | ESO

Thanks to the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer, astronomers have taken the first close-up picture of a star outside our galaxy, more than 160,000 light-years from us. The star is surrounded by a giant cocoon of dust, revealing it is in the last stages before becoming a supernova. This video summarizes the discovery. The newly imaged star, WOH G64, lies within the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the small galaxies that orbits the Milky Way. Astronomers have known about this star for decades and have appropriately dubbed it the ‘behemoth star’. With a size roughly 2,000 times that of our Sun, WOH G64 is classified as a red supergiant.

Video Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Directed by: Angelos Tsaousis and Martin Wallner
Editing: Angelos Tsaousis
Written by: Hanna Huysegoms, Alejandro Izquierdo Lopez
Footage and Photos: ESO / Luis Calçada, Martin Kornmesser, Cristoph Malin, Babak Tafreshi, Keiichi Ohnaka et al
Scientific Consultant: Paola Amico, Mariya Lyubenova
Release Date: Nov. 21, 2024

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Star #WOHG64 #RedSupergiant #Galaxy #LMC #Cosmos #Universe #VLT #ParanalObservatory #Chile #SouthAmerica #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Close-up: Super Heavy Rocket Engines on SpaceX Starship's Sixth Flight Test

Close-up: Super Heavy Rocket Engines on SpaceX Starship's Sixth Flight Test

Starship's Super Heavy Rocket is powered by thirty-three Raptor engines that use liquid oxygen and methane as propellants. Each Raptor rocket engine produces twice as much thrust as all 4 engines on a Boeing 747 long-range wide-body airliner. Starship’s sixth flight test was on November 19, 2024.

Congratulations to the SpaceX team on the successful ocean landing of Starship!

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

City Lights of Florida with Earth Airglow | International Space Station

City Lights of Florida with Earth Airglow | International Space Station

As the International Space Station soared 257 miles above, Expedition 72 Commander and NASA astronaut Suni Williams captured this image of Florida at night. City lights illuminate the state and both the Gulf and Atlantic coasts are visible in this image.

Airglow occurs when atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, excited by sunlight, emit light to shed their excess energy. Or, it can happen when atoms and molecules that have been ionized by sunlight collide with and capture a free electron. In both cases, they eject a particle of light—called a photon—in order to relax again. The phenomenon is similar to auroras, but where auroras are driven by high-energy particles originating from the solar wind, airglow is energized by ordinary, day-to-day solar radiation.

Unlike auroras, which are episodic and fleeting, airglow constantly shines throughout Earth’s atmosphere, and the result is a tenuous bubble of light that closely encases our entire planet. (Auroras, on the other hand, are usually constrained to Earth’s poles.) Just a tenth as bright as all the stars in the night sky, airglow is far more subdued than auroras, too dim to observe easily except in orbit or on the ground with clear, dark skies and a sensitive camera. However, it is a marker nevertheless of the dynamic region where Earth meets space . . .

Florida is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Straits of Florida and Cuba to the south. About two-thirds of Florida occupies a peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. It has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States, spanning approximately 1,350 miles (2,170 km), not including its many barrier islands. It is the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.

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.

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)/S. Williams
Image Date: Nov. 17, 2024

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Stars #Earth #Florida #CityLights #AtlanticOcean #GulfOfMexico #Airglow #Astronauts #AstronautPhotography #SuniWilliams #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #InternationalCooperation #LongDurationMissions #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #UnitedStates #Expedition72 #STEM #Education

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

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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

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