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This short animation depicts a concept for a potential follow-on to NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter called Mars Chopper. It remains in early conceptual and design stages. In addition to scouting, such a helicopter could carry science instruments to study terrain rovers cannot reach. The concept was discussed by Chopper project manager Teddy Tzanetos of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, during a Dec. 11, 2024, briefing at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington.
NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center Year 2024 Project Highlights
NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center explores "the unknown in air and space, innovates for the benefit of humanity, and inspires the world through discovery."
To learn more about NASA Armstrong missions featured in this video, follow these links:
What happened at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in 2024? Check out this highlight reel with examples of our favorite moments!
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.
NASA's Artemis II Mission will launch no earlier than April 2026.
NASA Mars Report: New Year/New Mars | Martian Spring Activity Begins | JPL
Planetary scientists have recently marked a new year on Mars, a milestone that occurs every 687 days. Because the Martian new year coincides with spring in the planet’s northern hemisphere, it is a period of high activity, including avalanches and exploding jets of gas. JPL research scientist Serina Diniega explains changes to the Martian surface that scientists can track with spacecraft like NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
Circling Mars since 2006, MRO carries a suite of science instruments that collect data on the planet’s surface and atmosphere. Among them is the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera. It captured many of the detailed views seen here.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is a spacecraft designed to study the geology and climate of Mars, to provide reconnaissance of future landing sites, and to relay data from surface missions back to Earth. It was launched on August 12, 2005, and reached Mars on March 10, 2006.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) manages MRO for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Caltech, in Pasadena, manages JPL for NASA. The University of Arizona, in Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colorado. The Context Camera was built by, and is operated by, Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego.
Video Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech; north polar cap image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS; HiRISE images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona; erupting jets artist’s concept: ASU/Ron Miller
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most powerful explosions in the cosmos. They first came to the attention of astronomers in the 1970s when new satellites detected this surprising phenomenon. Over decades, scientists have found that these blasts could be detected in the sky almost every day, and that they were both extremely distant. The closest known GRB was over 100 million light-years away—and enormously powerful. Gamma-ray bursts are now linked to the explosive deaths of massive stars and to mergers of compact objects, like neutron stars and black holes. However, many puzzles remain.
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Producer: Scott Wiessinger (eMITS) Science writers: Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park) Jeanette Kazmierczak (University of Maryland College Park) Scientist: Brad Cenko (NASA/GSFC) Narrator: Scott Wiessinger (eMITS) Duration: 3 minutes Release Date: Dec. 20, 2024
NASA's "Space to Ground": Year 2024 in Review | International Space Station
The Year 2024 on the International Space Station was filled with excitement, challenges, and milestones as we marked 25 unbroken years of humans living, working, and flying in one of humanity's homes in low-earth orbit.
Update: Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner of Russia concluded their spacewalk on December 19, 2024, at 5:53 p.m. EST after seven hours and 17 minutes. Ovchinin and Vagner completed all of their major objectives, which included installing an experiment package designed to monitor celestial x-ray sources and new electrical connector patch panels and removing several experiments for disposal. The two cosmonauts were unable to complete their non-critical final objective due to time constraints. This was to relocate a control panel for the European robotic arm, attached to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module.
This was the second spacewalk in Ovinchin’s career, and the first for Vagner. It is the 272nd spacewalk for space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.
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.
NASA Artemis II Moon Rocket Core Stage Moves to High Bay 2 at Kennedy
The 212-foot-tall Space Launch System (SLS) core stage for NASA Artemis II is seen being moved from a horizontal position to a vertical position in High Bay 2 at the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. With the move to High Bay 2, NASA and Boeing technicians now have 360-degree access to the core stage internally and externally.
Artemis II will launch no earlier than April 2026.
Planet Saturn's rings can appear similar to the grooves of a vinyl record. The first 12-inch, 33-revolutions per minute (RPM) record was produced by the American company Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in 1948. Twelve-inch albums could hold an album’s worth of songs on each side. They arrived on the market when the postwar entertainment industry was booming. Consumers were ready to buy these 12-inch LP (long-play) records. They quickly became the industry standard. Instead of the hard shellac that 78s were made from, 12-inch LPs consisted of polyvinyl carbonate, the material that gives vinyl records their name.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft arrived in the Saturn system in 2004 and ended its mission in 2017 by deliberately plunging into Saturn's atmosphere. This method was chosen because it is necessary to ensure protection and prevent biological contamination to any of the moons of Saturn thought to offer potential habitability.
The Cassini-Huygens mission was a cooperative project of NASA, European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter. The Cassini radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the U.S. and several European countries.
Planet Mars: 'Texoli' Butte on Mount Sharp | NASA Curiosity Mars Rover
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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 information on NASA's Mars missions, visit: mars.nasa.gov
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used its right Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to capture this panorama on Nov. 26, 2024, the 4,375th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Made from 251 individual images containing 393 million pixels, the panorama's color has been adjusted to match lighting conditions as the human eye would see them on Earth. This is one of the largest high-resolution panoramas Curiosity has taken during its mission.
Curiosity is making its way up the foothills of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain found within Mars' Gale Crater. Dominating the scene in this image is a butte on Mount Sharp nicknamed "Texoli". It has many stratigraphic layers that scientists can study to learn more about the formation of this region of Mars. Texoli stands about 525 feet (160 meters) tall.
A butte is "an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top."
To the right of Texoli is another butte nicknamed "Wilkerson." It is 262 feet (80 meters) tall. Curiosity will travel between the two buttes as it drives away from Gediz Vallis channel. It has been investigating this area for the past year, and from Gediz Vallis (Gediz valley) itself, where it has been for four years.
On the horizon beyond Texoli on the left side of the image is the Yardang Unit—a higher-elevation geologic region that Curiosity's scientists hope to visit in the years to come. On the horizon on the right side of the image, beyond Wilkerson, is the floor of Gale Crater and, visible through a dusty haze, the crater's distant northern rim.
Curiosity was built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam.
Cosmic Jingles: "Listen" to Euclid Space Telescope’s Image of Nebula M78 in Orion
An ethereal dance of misty clouds of interstellar dust with a myriad of distant stars and galaxies speckled like paint drops over a black canvas. This is a sonification of a breathtaking image taken by the European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope of the young star-forming region Messier 78.
The sonification offers a unique representation of the data collected by Euclid. It lets us explore the stellar nurseries in M78 through sound. Close your eyes and listen to let the cosmic image be drawn by your mind’s eye, or watch as the traceback line in this video follows the sounds to color the image from left to right.
The twinkling sounds of pitches and volumes represent the galaxies and stars in the frame. The pitch of the sound points towards where we see the dot of light in the image. Higher pitches tell us that a star or galaxy appears further at the top in the image along the traceback line.
The brightness of these objects in and around M78 are represented by the volume of the twinkles. Whenever we hear a particularly loud clink, the star or galaxy that Euclid observed appears particularly bright in the image.
Underlying these jingling sounds, we can hear a steady undertone, made up of two chords which represent regions in Messier 78. This sound intensifies as the traceback line approaches first the brightest, and later the densest regions in the nebula.
The first two deeper crescendos in this undertone indicate two patches in the image where the most intense color is blue/purple. These appear as two ‘cavities’ in M78, where newly forming stars carve out and illuminate the dust and gas in which they were born.
The chords intensify a third time at a slightly higher pitch corresponding to the red-orange colors in the image, as the sound draws over the densest star-forming region of the frame. This stellar nursery is hidden by a layer of dust and gas that is so thick that it obscures almost all the light of the young stars within it.
As the sound traces over the entire Euclid image, these different tones together form a cosmic symphony that represents the image of Messier 78, and the stars and galaxies that lie behind and within it.
Image Description: A filamentary orange veil covers a bright region of star formation. The background is dark, stippled with stars and galaxies ranging from small bright dots to starry shapes. The foreground veil spans from upper left to the bottom right and resembles a seahorse. Bright stars light up the ‘eye’ and ‘chest’ regions of the seahorse with purple light. Within the tail, three bright spots sit in a traffic-light like formation.
Many thanks to Klaus Nielsen (DTU Space/Maple Pools) for making the sonification in this video. If you would like to hear more sonifications and music by this artist, please visit: https://linktr.ee/maplepools
Credits: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA Image Processing: J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay) and G. Anselmi, sonification by K. Nielsen (DTU Space/Maple Pools)
Aurora Australis in Antarctica | European Space Agency
A mesmerizing display of Aurora Australis (southern lights) glows over the Concordia research station in Antarctica with yellow hues shimmering near the horizon and red lights stretching upwards into the vast polar sky.
These beautiful colors result from the interaction of charged particles from the Sun with gases in our atmosphere, guided by Earth's magnetic field to the polar regions. Green aurorae, the most common display, form at altitudes between 100 and 200 km, where oxygen atoms are highly concentrated and require less energy to emit light. During periods of high solar activity, charged particles become more energetic and can interact with oxygen at higher altitudes above 200 km, where oxygen atoms are less concentrated and need more energy to emit light. This higher energy corresponds to light with a longer wavelength, producing the stunning red aurorae. The beautiful yellow hues seen on the horizon occur when green and red aurorae mix in areas of overlap.
Standing beneath this incredible natural phenomenon is Jessica Studer, the European Space Agency-sponsored medical doctor for Concordia's 2024 winter-over. Jessica lived with a small team in complete isolation during the harsh Antarctic winter where the Sun does not rise for four months and temperatures plunge as low as –85°C. Concordia is one of the most remote places on Earth; the closest humans are at Russia's Vostok research station 600 km away, making it more isolated than the International Space Station. The station is an unique platform for research in fields like astronomy, glaciology, and human physiology, offering insights into how humans adapt to extreme isolation, cold, and darkness—conditions that mirror those faced by astronauts in space.
The aurorae visible here were captured in May 2024, during a period of heightened solar activity associated with the ongoing solar activity maximum, a phase in the Sun’s 11-year cycle that increases the intensity and frequency of auroral displays. These vibrant skies are just one of the benefits of living and working in Concordia, alongside the opportunity to contribute to groundbreaking science in a challenging environment.
Would you like to experience these breathtaking sights yourself? The European Space Agency (ESA) is currently accepting applications for a medical doctor to spend the winter of 2026 at Concordia station—apply here: https://bit.ly/3P4WXWc
NASA "Espacio a Tierra" | Un satélite de madera: 13 de diciembre de 2024
Espacio a Tierra, la versión en español de las cápsulas Space to Ground de la NASA, te informa semanalmente de lo que está sucediendo en la Estación Espacial Internacional.
Shenzhou-19 Crew Sets New Record for Longest Spacewalk by Chinese Astronauts
Shenzhou-19 crew members aboard China's orbiting Tiangong Space Station successfully completed a marathon nine-hour spacewalk at 21:57 Beijing Time on Tuesday, December 17, 2024, setting a new long duration record for Chinese astronauts' extravehicular activities (EVAs).
The previous record for the longest spacewalk in Earth orbit was set by the Russian space agency Roscosmos after its cosmonauts completed a spacewalk lasting 8 hours and 13 minutes in 2018. It was set by Expedition 54 Commander Alexander Misurkin and Flight Engineer Anton Shkaplerov of the International Space Station.
Astronauts Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong were assigned the EVA duty, while Wang Haoze assisted the pair throughout the mission from inside the space station. It was the 17th spacewalk carried out by Chinese astronauts.
At the end of the mission, before closing the hatch, the Shenzhou-19 crew expressed their joy at completing the mission and their gratitude to the ground team.
"Congratulations to 02 for completing your first spacewalk and moreover, for becoming the first Chinese astronaut born after 1990 to carry out EVAs. My appreciation also goes to the full collaboration of 03 inside the module, and to the extensive support of Shuguang and the entire technical team. From the assigned tasks to the more flexible assignments, we feel greater and greater confidence in conducting extravehicular activities. China's space station will always remain something to look forward to," said Cai, commander of Shenzhou-19 spaceflight mission crew.
"I express my gratitude to 01, Shuguang, and all the ground staff. Today, our crew and the ground team worked together to make the extravehicular activities a success. As I admired the spectacular view in space, I felt deep in my heart how important and great a cause the manned spaceflight is. I want to take this opportunity to thank all those who dedicate themselves to this cause—those who were here before us and who are with us along the way. Thank you all for your hard work, so that we were given the chance to conduct a spacewalk. The cause of the manned spaceflight is a relay race, and we are in it every step of the way. Let us keep striving and head for the future together," said Song.
"Congratulations to 01 and 02 for successfully completing your talks. Both of you made breakthroughs and I'm proud of your excellent performance. Meanwhile, my thanks also go to Shuguang and all the staff who worked day and night on this mission. Everybody up in space and on Earth work as one in our exploration and joint efforts for a promising tomorrow. I wish everyone sweet dreams tonight," Wang said.
China launched the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship on Oct. 30, 2024, sending three astronauts—including the country's first female space engineer—to its orbiting space station for a six-month mission.
Russian Cosmonaut Spacewalk: Walkthrough Animation | International Space Station
[No Audio]: NASA coverage is underway for today’s spacewalk with Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner of Russia. The duo are venturing outside the station’s Poisk airlock to install an experiment package designed to monitor celestial x-ray sources and new electrical connector patch panels, remove several experiments for disposal, and relocate a control panel for the European Robotic Arm that is attached to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. Additionally, the two cosmonauts will relocate a control panel for the European robotic arm, which is attached to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexsandr Gorbunov will operate the arm during the spacewalk from inside the station.
The spacewalk is scheduled to last about six hours and 45 minutes. Roscosmos spacewalk 63 will be the second for Ovchinin and the first for Vagner. Ovchinin will wear an Orlan spacesuit with red stripes, and Vagner will wear a spacesuit with blue stripes. It will be the 272nd spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.
It will be the 272nd spacewalk in support of station maintenance and upgrades, the second for Ovchinin and the first for Vagner.
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.
Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) Duration: 9 minutes Release Date: Dec. 19, 2024
Transition video: Hubble & Webb views of Spiral Galaxy NGC 2566 in Puppis
Spiral galaxy NGC 2566 sits 76 million light-years away in the constellation Puppis.
The first view of the galaxy shown is a new image that is a combination of data from the James Webb Space Telescope's MIRI and NIRCam instruments. It shows off NGC 2566’s well-defined spiral arms, long central bar and delicate tracery of gas, dust and stars.
The second image is an also-new image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope and shows the galaxy’s star clusters and star-forming regions, bright in visible and ultraviolet light.
Credit: ESA/Webb/Hubble, NASA & CSA, A. Leroy, D. Thilker, N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb) Duration: 30 seconds Release Date: Dec. 18, 2024
Spiral Galaxy NGC 2566: NirCam+MIRI views | James Webb Space Telescope
The galaxy filling the frame in this NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope picture is NGC 2566, a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Puppis. The image combines observations from two of Webb’s instruments, the Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI), to show off NGC 2566’s well-defined spiral arms, long central bar and delicate tracery of gas, dust and stars.
At 76 million light-years away, NGC 2566 is considered a nearby galaxy, making it an excellent target for studying fine details like star clusters and gas clouds. The new Webb images of NGC 2566 were collected as part of an observing program (#3707) dedicated to understanding the connections between stars, gas and dust in nearby star-forming galaxies. NGC 2566 is just one of the 55 galaxies in the local Universe examined by Webb for this program.
The mid-infrared wavelengths captured by MIRI highlight NGC 2566’s warm interstellar dust, including complex, sooty molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The near-infrared NIRCam data give a detailed view of the galaxy’s stars, even those that are deeply embedded within clouds of gas. The NIRCam data also captured light from the hydrocarbon molecules.
To gain a full understanding of the star-formation process in nearby galaxies, astronomers will combine Webb data with observations from other telescopes. At the long-wavelength end of the electromagnetic spectrum, the 66 radio dishes of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) provide a detailed view of the cold, turbulent clouds where stars are born.
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has also cast its gaze on NGC 2566, and a new Hubble image of this galaxy was released earlier this week. The Hubble data will help researchers take a census of the stars in nearby galaxies, especially the young stars that are bright at the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths to which Hubble is sensitive. Together, the Webb, Hubble and ALMA data provide a rich view of the cold gas, warm dust and brilliant stars in NGC 2566.
Image Description: An oval-shaped spiral galaxy, seen close-up. Its core is a compact, pale spot that glows brightly, filling the disc with bluish light. Faint strands of pale reddish dust swirl out from the core to the far sides of the disc. They each join up with an arm of thick, cloudy, red dust with brighter orange patches, that follows the edge of the disc around to the opposite end and a little off the galaxy.
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