Sunday, March 09, 2025

Shenzhou-19 Crew Conducts Science Experiments | China Space Station

Shenzhou-19 Crew Conducts Science Experiments | China Space Station

The Shenzhou-19 crew members aboard China's Tiangong Space Station carried out a range of scientific experiments and tests, and completed environmental monitoring, station management and  other key tasks last week, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

For example, the astronauts used electroencephalogram (EEG) equipment to carry out tests for a number of experiments. Data collected will help ground-based researchers explore areas, such as the impact of gravity on visual motion processing and the effects of brainwave music intervention on regulating inhibitory control functions during long-duration space flights.

The crew also finished tests for several experiments, like fine motor control and visual motion gravity representation, as planned, with the use of fine motor measurement instruments, eye trackers and other equipment, as well as related experimental software.

Additionally, the trio used the plantar pressure collection equipment to obtain data under specific flight conditions, helping researchers explore and map relationships between various motion state parameters and plantar pressure.

Experimental projects in the field of microgravity physics science are progressing as planned.

The crew replaced experimental samples in the fluid physics experiment cabinet and the containerless experiment cabinet, and completed a set of associated tasks, including the vacuuming of exhaust gases in the combustion cabinet.

Additionally, the crew, together with China's first space station AI flight robot "Xiao Hang", finalized a number of experiments, along with research on multimodal interaction technology.

Furthermore, the astronauts performed environment monitoring, equipment inspection and maintenance and other tasks inside the space station.

They also conducted work involving medical checks and weightlessness protection exercises.

The Shenzhou-19 crew, including the country's first female space engineer, was sent into space on October 30, 2024, for a six-month mission. Their mission work includes 86 space science research and technology experiments.

Shenzhou-19 Crew:
Commander Cai Xuzhe (蔡旭哲)
Mission Specialist Wang Haoze (王浩泽)
Mission Specialist Song Lingdong (宋令东)

Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 1 minute, 52 seconds
Release Date: March 9, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #Shenzhou19 #神舟十九号 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #MicrogravityExperiments #MicrogravityResearch #CMSA #中国载人航天工程办公室 #LongDurationMissions #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The Secrets behind Earth's Multi-colored Airglow | NASA Goddard

The Secrets behind Earth's Multi-colored Airglow | NASA Goddard

What does our planet look like from space? Most are familiar with the beloved images of the blue marble or pale blue dot—Earth from 18,000 and 3.7 billion miles away, respectively. However, closer to home, within the nearest region of space, you might encounter an unfamiliar sight. If you peer down on Earth from just 300 miles above the surface, near the orbit of the International Space Station, you can see vibrant swaths of red and green or purple and yellow light emanating from the upper atmosphere. This is airglow. 

Airglow occurs when atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, excited by sunlight, emit light in order 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 day-to-day solar radiation.

For more information: https://www.nasa.gov/solar-system/why-nasa-watches-airglow-the-colors-of-the-upper-atmospheric-wind/


Video Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
Duration: 3 minutes, 18 seconds
Release Date: Oct. 22, 2018

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #ISS #Sun #SolarWind #Planet #Earth #Atmosphere #Sunlight #Airglow #Chemistry #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Thai 'Aurora' and Earth Airglow: Orbital View | International Space Station

Thai 'Aurora' and Earth Airglow: Orbital View | International Space Station

Expedition 72 flight engineer and NASA astronaut Don Pettit: "Known as Thai Aurora, fishing boats off the coast of Thailand use green lights to lure their catch. Striking view from orbit!" 

You will also notice orange, green and yellow airglow in this image. Airglow occurs when atoms and molecules in the Earth's 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 episodic and fleeting auroras, airglow shines constantly 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. 

Expedition 72 Updates:

Expedition 72 Crew
Station Commander: Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin (Russia)
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov
NASA Flight Engineers: Suni Williams, 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)/D. Pettit
Release Date: March 4, 2025


#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Planet #Earth #Atmosphere #Airglow #Thailand #FishingBoats #GulfThailand #SouthChinaSea #PacificOcean #Astronauts #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #SpaceLaboratory #MicrogravityResearch #HumanSpaceflight #UnitedStates #InternationalCooperation #Expedition72 #STEM #Education

Saturday, March 08, 2025

SpaceX Starship Launch & Booster Catch: Eighth Flight Test | Starbase Texas

SpaceX Starship Launch & Booster Catch: Eighth Flight Test | Starbase Texas










Launch of a SpaceX Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy Booster on the launch pad at Starbase Texas on March 6, 2025, at 5:30 p.m Central Time (CT) for its eighth flight test. Mechazilla successfully caught the 23-story tall Super Heavy Booster for a record third time. Unfortunately, Starship lost attitude control later on and experienced a "rapid unscheduled disassembly."

Watch a replay of the SpaceX flight test with the latest official flight evaluation updates here:

SpaceX: "Developmental testing by definition is unpredictable. However, by putting flight hardware in a flight environment as frequently as possible, we’re able to quickly learn and execute design changes as we seek to bring Starship online as a fully and rapidly reusable vehicle."

SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket—collectively referred to as Starship—represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond. Starship is the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes fully reusable and 250 metric tonnes expendable.

Key Starship Parameters:
Height: 123m/403ft
Diameter: 9m/29.5ft
Payload to LEO: 100–150t (fully reusable)

"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."

Learn more about Starship:
Download the Free Starship User Guide (PDF):


Image Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX)
Capture Date: March 6, 2025

#NASA #SpaceX #Space #Earth #Mars #Moon #MoonToMars #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIII #Starship #Spacecraft #Starship8 #TestFlight8 #SuperHeavyBooster #Mechazilla #SuperHeavyRocket #ElonMusk #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #HumanSpaceflight #CommercialSpace #SpaceExploration #Starbase #BocaChica #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

China's Yutu-2 Moon Rover: New Far Side Image | Operating Since January 2019

China's Yutu-2 Moon Rover: New Far Side Image Operating Since January 2019


Since its arrival on January 3, 2019, China's Yutu-2 rover has traveled 1,630 meters on the mysterious far side of the Moon as of March 4, 2025. Yutu-2 or Jade Rabbit-2 has sent home this latest image showing diverse features on the lunar surface. China's Yutu-2 lunar rover has been working on the far side of the Moon for over six years as part of the China Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP). Yutu-2 is currently operational as humanity's longest-lived lunar rover and the first lunar rover traversing the far side of the Moon. This is well beyond its original 3-month design lifespan. 

Yutu-2 is the robotic lunar rover component of the China National Space Administration's Chang'e 4 Mission to the Moon, launched on December 7, 2018. Chang'e 4 soft landed in the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the Moon on January 3, 2019.

Yutu-2 has a radioisotope heater unit to maintain its subsystems during long and cold lunar nights. Electrical power is generated by the rover's solar panels during daylight.

In addition to Yutu-2, the Chang'e-3 probe and Chang'e-4 lander are also operational on the Moon. While certain scientific instruments continue to function and transmit data, researchers are also evaluating their long-term operational capabilities. 

"The Moon-based optical telescope onboard [the] Chang'e-3 lander is still operational, performing regular on-off cycles every month, though it is no longer conducting scientific observations. Chang'e-4 is also still active," said Zuo Wei, deputy chief designer of the Chang'e-4 mission.

In addition, the country's Queqiao and Queqiao-2 relay satellites are working in the orbit around the Moon. Queqiao mainly provides Earth-Moon relay communications for Chang'e-4 and Yutu-2. After completing its mission for Chang'e-6, Queqiao-2 is currently conducting scientific observations in orbit while awaiting the arrival of Chang'e-7, scheduled for launch around 2026.

Direct communication with Earth is impossible on the far side of the Moon, since transmissions are blocked by the Moon. Communications must pass through a communications relay satellite, placed at a location that has a clear view of a landing site and the Earth.

Video Credit: CNSA
Release Date: March 4, 2025


#NASA #CNSA #Space #Astronomy #Science #China #中国 #Moon #FarSide #Yuyu2 #玉兔二号 #LunarRover #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #Engineering #Change4Mission #嫦娥四号 #LunarLander #Queqiao1Satellite #Queqiao2Satellite #CLEP #History #STEM #Education

Planetary Nebula Abell 7 in Lepus

Planetary Nebula Abell 7 in Lepus

Very faint planetary nebula Abell 7 is about 1,800 light-years distant. It lies just south of Orion in planet Earth's skies toward the constellation Lepus, The Hare. Surrounded by Milky Way stars and near the line-of-sight to distant background galaxies its generally simple spherical shape, about 8 light-years in diameter, is revealed in this deep telescopic image. Within the cosmic cloud are beautiful and complex structures, enhanced by the use of long exposures and narrowband filters that capture emission from hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms. Otherwise Abell 7 would be much too faint to be appreciated by our eyes.

A planetary nebula represents a very brief final phase in stellar evolution that our own Sun will experience 5 billion years hence, as the nebula's central, once sun-like star shrugs off its outer layers. Abell 7 itself is estimated to be 20,000 years old. However, its central star, seen here as a fading white dwarf, is around 10 billion years old.


Image Credit & Copyright: Vikas Chander
Vikas' website: 


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Nebulae #PlanetaryNebula #Abell7 #Stars #WhiteDwarf #Lepus #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophotographers #VikasChander #Astrophotography #CitizenScience #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #APoD

NASA Espacio a Tierra | El poder del 10: 28 de febrero de 2025

NASA Espacio a Tierra | El poder del 10: 28 de febrero de 2025

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.

Aprende más sobre la ciencia a bordo de la estación espacial: https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/space-station-research-and-technology/ciencia-en-la-estacion/

Ciencia de la NASA: https://ciencia.nasa.gov

Para obtener más información sobre la ciencia de la NASA, suscríbete al boletín semanal: 
https://www.nasa.gov/suscribete

Video Credit: NASA en Español
Hosted by: Ana Cristina Olvera
Duration: 4 minutes, 36 seconds
Release Date: March 7, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Earth #NASAenespañol #español #ProgressMS30 #ISSProgress91 #ProgressCargoSpacecraft #SpaceXCrew10 #Astronauts #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #InternationalCooperation #SpaceLaboratory #MicrogravityResearch #HumanSpaceflight #UnitedStates #Expedition72 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Chinese Astronaut Sends International Women's Day Greetings | China Space Station

Chinese Astronaut Sends International Women's Day Greetings | China Space Station

Wang Haoze, China's first female space engineer to work at the country's space station, has sent International Women's Day greetings. She wished for women and girls around the world to shine like the bright moon and twinkling stars. Wang Haoze is a Shenzhou-19 crew member on the China Space Station. She is China's third woman in space after Liu Yang (2012) and Wang Yaping (2013).

Learn more about International Women's Day: 
https://www.internationalwomensday.com

The Shenzhou-19 astronauts entered the orbiting space station for a six-month spaceflight on October 30, 2024, last year. Their mission includes 86 space science research and technology experiments.

Shenzhou-19 Crew:
Commander Cai Xuzhe (蔡旭哲)
Mission Specialist Wang Haoze (王浩泽)
Mission Specialist Song Lingdong (宋令东)


Video Credit: Xinhua
Duration: 28 seconds
Release Date: March 8, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #HappyInternationalWomensDay #InternationalWomensDay #IWD2025 #China #中国 #Shenzhou19 #神舟十九号 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #WangHaoze #ChinaSpaceStation #中国空间站 #TiangongSpaceStation #SpaceLaboratory #MicrogravityResearch #CMSA #中国载人航天工程办公室 #LongDurationMissions #HumanSpaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Scientific Mission | International Space Station

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Scientific Mission | International Space Station

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission, with astronauts Nick Hague, Butch Wilmore, and Suni Williams, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia, is preparing to return to Earth following their science mission aboard the International Space Station. 

Hague, Williams, and Wilmore completed more than 900 hours of research between over 150 unique scientific experiments and technology demonstrations during their stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Learn more: https://go.nasa.gov/41Hgi6V 

Expedition 72 Updates:

Expedition 72 Crew
Station Commander: Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin (Russia)
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov
NASA Flight Engineers: Suni Williams, 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.


Credit: NASA
Producer: Nicole Rose
Duration: 2 minutes, 39 seconds
Release Date: March 7, 2025


#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Planet #Earth #MicrogravityExperiments #Astronauts #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #SpaceLaboratory #MicrogravityResearch #HumanSpaceflight #UnitedStates #InternationalCooperation #Expedition72 #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Friday, March 07, 2025

NOAA Earth Satellites Monitor Hazardous Early Spring U.S. Storm

NOAA Earth Satellites Monitor Hazardous Early Spring U.S. Storm

NOAA weather satellites have been tracking a major spring storm system pushing across the central United States this week. The system has prompted NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) to issue widespread weather alerts for everything from blizzard warnings to wind advisories and tornado watches across much of the country.


Video Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Duration: 2 minutes, 14 seconds
Release Date: March 7, 2025

#NASA #Space #Satellites #Science #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #Weather #Meteorology #Storm #Precipitation #Rain #Snow #BlizzardWarnings #TornadoWatches #UnitedStates #ClimateChange #GlobalHeating #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #GSFC #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Final Update: Intuitive Machines Lunar Landing and NASA Payload Operations

Final Update: Intuitive Machines Lunar Landing and NASA Payload Operations

Intuitive Machines Update: "Our lunar delivery initiative is high risk–with the potential for high reward. Shortly after landing in a crater near the lunar South Pole, Intuitive Machines’ Athena lander collected data and called an early end of mission at 1:15am ET (0615 UTC) March 7, 2025."

Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 captured this image on March 6, 2025, after landing in a crater from the Moon’s South Pole. The lunar lander is on its side about 820 feet from the intended landing site, Mons Mouton. In the center of the image between the two lander legs is the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 suite that shows the drill deployed.

NASA Update: Shortly after touching down inside a crater on the Moon, carrying NASA technology and science on its IM-2 mission, Intuitive Machines collected data for the agency before calling an early end of mission at 12:15 a.m. CST Friday.

As part of the company’s second Moon delivery for NASA under the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and Artemis campaign, the IM-2 mission included a drill to bring lunar soil to the surface and a mass spectrometer to look for the presence of volatiles, or gases, that could one day help provide fuel or breathable oxygen to future Artemis explorers.

Planned to land at Mons Mouton, IM-2 touched down at approximately 11:30 a.m. March 6, 2025, more than 1,300 feet (400 meters) from its intended landing site. Intuitive Machines said images collected later confirmed the lander was on its side, preventing it from fully operating the drill and other instruments before its batteries were depleted.

The IM-2 mission landed closer to the lunar South Pole than any previous lander.

“Our targeted landing site near the lunar South Pole is one of the most scientifically interesting, and geographically challenging locations, on the Moon,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Each success and setback are opportunities to learn and grow, and we will use this lesson to propel our efforts to advance science, exploration, and commercial development as we get ready for human exploration of Mars.”

The Nova-C lander, named Athena, captured and transmitted images of the landing site before activating the technology and science instruments. Among the data collected, NASA’s Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 (PRIME-1) suite. This includes the lunar drill known as The Regolith and Ice Drill for Exploring New Terrain (TRIDENT), successfully demonstrated the hardware’s full range of motion in the harsh environment of space. The Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO) as part of the PRIME-1 suite of instruments, detected elements likely due to the gases emitted from the lander’s propulsion system.

“While this mission didn’t achieve all of its objectives for NASA, the work that went into the payload development is already informing other agency and commercial efforts,” said Clayton Turner, associate administrator for space technology, NASA Headquarters. “As we continue developing new technologies to support exploration of the Moon and Mars, testing technologies in-situ is crucial to informing future missions. The CLPS initiative remains an instrumental method for achieving this.”

Despite the lander’s configuration, Intuitive Machines, responsible for launch, delivery, and surface operations under its CLPS contract, was able to complete a partial number of instrument checkouts and to collect 250 megabytes of data for NASA.

“Empowering American companies to deliver science and tech to the Moon on behalf of NASA both produces scientific results and continues development of a lunar economy,” said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for Exploration in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. “While we’re disappointed in the outcome of the IM-2 mission, we remain committed to supporting our commercial vendors as they navigate the very difficult task of landing and operating on the Moon.”

NASA’s Laser Retroreflector Array, a passive instrument meant to provide a reference point on the lunar surface and does not power on, will remain affixed to the top deck of the lander. Although Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C Hopper and Nokia’s 4G/LTE Tipping Point technologies, funded in part by NASA, were only able to complete a portion of their objectives, they provided insight into maturing technologies ready for infusion into a commercial space application including some checkouts in flight and on the surface.

Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission launched at 6:16 p.m., Feb. 26, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Intuitive Machines has two more deliveries on the books for NASA in the future, with its IM-3 mission slated for 2026, and IM-4 mission in 2027.

To date, five vendors have been awarded a total of 11 lunar deliveries under CLPS and are sending more than 50 instruments to various locations on the Moon, including the Moon’s far side and South Pole region. CLPS contracts are indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts with a cumulative maximum contract value of $2.6 billion through 2028.


Learn more about NASA’s CLPS initiative at:
https://www.nasa.gov/clps

Image Credit: Intuitive Machines
Release Date: March 7, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Earth #Moon #SouthPole #MonsMouton #ArtemisProgram #IntuitiveMachines #IM2 #IM2Mission #IM2Spacecraft #AthenaLunarLander #CommercialSpace #CLPS #Robotics #SpaceTechnology #MSFC #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

NASA Payload Drills Down to Take Moon’s Temperature | Blue Ghost Mission 1

NASA Payload Drills Down to Take Moon’s Temperature | Blue Ghost Mission 1

A technology demonstration instrument aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 is a robotic planetary subsurface thermal probe. The Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity, or LISTER, is a NASA payload aboard Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 lander as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. In this video, LISTER can be seen activating its specialized drill to measure the flow of heat from the Moon’s interior. So far, the gas-powered drill has probed about 3 feet (1 meter) into the surface. LISTER’s pneumatic drill is designed to go as deep as three meters (9 feet). Every half meter, the drilling system will pause so that a thermal probe can gauge the temperature of the Moon. 

LISTER, along with the ten other NASA science and technology instruments aboard the lander, will operate on the Moon, near a volcanic featured called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium, for 14 Earth days, or roughly one lunar day. 

Texas Tech University in Lubbock and Honeybee Robotics, a Blue Origin company of Altadena, California, jointly developed LISTER. The Planetary Missions Program Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the development for seven of the ten CLPS payloads aboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander, including LISTER.

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1 lander successfully touched down on March 2, 2025.

Follow along for more Blue Ghost Mission 1 updates: 
https://fireflyspace.com/news/blue-ghost-mission-1-live-updates/
Learn more about the mission: 

This is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and Artemis campaign to establish a long-term lunar presence. Blue Ghost Mission 1 will perform science and technology demonstrations, including lunar subsurface drilling, sample collection, and X-ray imaging of Earth’s magnetic field to advance research for future human missions on the Moon and provide insights into how space weather impacts the planet. Mare Crisium is a lunar mare located in the Moon's Crisium basin, just northeast of Mare Tranquillitatis. It was formed by the flooding of basaltic lava that filled an ancient asteroid impact.

Learn more about NASA's CLPS Program:
https://www.nasa.gov/content/commercial-lunar-payload-services


Video Credit: Firefly Aerospace
Duration: 15 seconds
Release Date: March 7, 2025


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #Earth #ArtemisProgram #Moon #LunarLanders #FireflyAerospace #BlueGhostLunarLander #BlueGhostMission1 #BGM1 #Geology #LISTER #LunarDrill #HoneybeeRobotics #MSFC #UnitedStates #Robotics #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education #HD #Video

We Landed on the Moon! Blue Ghost Week 7 Update | Firefly Aerospace

We Landed on the Moon! Blue Ghost Week 7 Update | Firefly Aerospace

Firefly Aerospace: "Hear from our Ghost Riders as they react right after Blue Ghost successfully landed on the Moon! This weekly update captures the moment we'll never forget, when our Chief Engineer Will Coogan announced on console, "Y'all stuck the landing, we're on the Moon."

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1 lander successfully touched down on March 2, 2025, near a volcanic feature within Mare Crisium on the near-side of the Moon with ten NASA science and technology instruments onboard. 

Follow along for more Blue Ghost Mission 1 updates: 
https://fireflyspace.com/news/blue-ghost-mission-1-live-updates/
Learn more about the mission: 

This is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and Artemis campaign to establish a long-term lunar presence. Blue Ghost Mission 1 will perform science and technology demonstrations, including lunar subsurface drilling, sample collection, and X-ray imaging of Earth’s magnetic field to advance research for future human missions on the Moon and provide insights into how space weather impacts the planet. Mare Crisium is a lunar mare located in the Moon's Crisium basin, just northeast of Mare Tranquillitatis. It was formed by the flooding of basaltic lava that filled an ancient asteroid impact.

Learn more about NASA's CLPS Program:
https://www.nasa.gov/content/commercial-lunar-payload-services


Video Credit: Firefly Aerospace
Duration: 8 minutes, 31 seconds
Release Date: March 7, 2025


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #Earth #ArtemisProgram #Moon #LunarLanders #FireflyAerospace #BlueGhostLunarLander #BlueGhostMission1 #BGM1 #UnitedStates #Robotics #Engineering #SpaceTechnology #SolarSystem #SpaceExploration #STEM #Education #HD #Video

New Star System Lynds 483 in Serpens: Detailed Views | James Webb Space Telescope

New Star System Lynds 483 in Serpens: Detailed Views | James Webb Space Telescope

Shimmering ejections emitted by two actively forming stars make up Lynds 483 (L483). High-resolution near-infrared light captured by the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope shows incredible new detail and structure within these lobes, including asymmetrical lines that appear to run into one another. L483 is 650 light-years away in the constellation Serpens.

Over tens of thousands of years, the central protostars have periodically ejected portions of their gas and dust, spewing it out as tight, fast jets and slightly slower outflows that “trip” across space. When more recent ejections hit older ones, the material can crumple and twirl based on the densities of what is colliding. Over time, chemical reactions within these ejections and the surrounding cloud have produced a range of molecules, like carbon monoxide, methanol, and several other organic compounds.

Dust-encased stars
The two protostars responsible for this scene are at the center of the hourglass shape, in an opaque horizontal disk of cold gas and dust that fits within a single pixel. Much farther out, above and below the flattened disk where dust is thinner, the bright light from the stars shines through the gas and dust, forming large semi-transparent orange cones.

It is equally important to notice where the stars’ light is blocked—look for the exceptionally dark, wide V-shapes offset by 90 degrees from the orange cones. These areas may look like there is no material, but it is actually where the surrounding dust is the densest, and little starlight penetrates it. If you look carefully at these areas, Webb’s sensitive Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) has picked up distant stars as muted orange pinpoints behind this dust. Where the view is free of obscuring dust, stars shine brightly in white and blue.

Image Description: At the center is a thin vertical cloud known as Lynds 483 (L483) that is roughly shaped like an hourglass with irregular edges. The lower lobe is slightly cut off. The top lobe is seen in full, petering out at the top.


Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Duration: 1 minute, 23 seconds
Release Date: March 7, 2025

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #JWST #JamesWebb #WebbTelescope #Stars #Lynds483 #L483 #StarSystem #Serpens #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #UnfoldTheUniverse #Europe #CSA #Canada #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Close-up: New Star System Lynds 483 in Serpens | James Webb Space Telescope

Close-up: New Star System Lynds 483 in Serpens | James Webb Space Telescope

Shimmering ejections emitted by two actively forming stars make up Lynds 483 (L483). High-resolution near-infrared light captured by the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope shows incredible new detail and structure within these lobes, including asymmetrical lines that appear to run into one another. L483 is 650 light-years away in the constellation Serpens.

Over tens of thousands of years, the central protostars have periodically ejected portions of their gas and dust, spewing it out as tight, fast jets and slightly slower outflows that “trip” across space. When more recent ejections hit older ones, the material can crumple and twirl based on the densities of what is colliding. Over time, chemical reactions within these ejections and the surrounding cloud have produced a range of molecules, like carbon monoxide, methanol, and several other organic compounds.

Dust-encased stars
The two protostars responsible for this scene are at the center of the hourglass shape, in an opaque horizontal disk of cold gas and dust that fits within a single pixel. Much farther out, above and below the flattened disk where dust is thinner, the bright light from the stars shines through the gas and dust, forming large semi-transparent orange cones.

It is equally important to notice where the stars’ light is blocked—look for the exceptionally dark, wide V-shapes offset by 90 degrees from the orange cones. These areas may look like there is no material, but it is actually where the surrounding dust is the densest, and little starlight penetrates it. If you look carefully at these areas, Webb’s sensitive Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) has picked up distant stars as muted orange pinpoints behind this dust. Where the view is free of obscuring dust, stars shine brightly in white and blue.

Image Description: At the center is a thin vertical cloud known as Lynds 483 (L483) that is roughly shaped like an hourglass with irregular edges. The lower lobe is slightly cut off. The top lobe is seen in full, petering out at the top.


Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Duration: 30 seconds
Release Date: March 7, 2025

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #JWST #JamesWebb #WebbTelescope #Stars #Lynds483 #L483 #StarSystem #Serpens #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #UnfoldTheUniverse #Europe #CSA #Canada #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Actively Forming Star System Lynds 483 in Serpens | James Webb Space Telescope

Actively Forming Star System Lynds 483 in Serpens | James Webb Space Telescope


Shimmering ejections emitted by two actively forming stars make up Lynds 483 (L483). High-resolution near-infrared light captured by the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope shows incredible new detail and structure within these lobes, including asymmetrical lines that appear to run into one another. L483 is 650 light-years away in the constellation Serpens.

Over tens of thousands of years, the central protostars have periodically ejected portions of their gas and dust, spewing it out as tight, fast jets and slightly slower outflows that “trip” across space. When more recent ejections hit older ones, the material can crumple and twirl based on the densities of what is colliding. Over time, chemical reactions within these ejections and the surrounding cloud have produced a range of molecules, like carbon monoxide, methanol, and several other organic compounds.

Dust-encased stars
The two protostars responsible for this scene are at the center of the hourglass shape, in an opaque horizontal disk of cold gas and dust that fits within a single pixel. Much farther out, above and below the flattened disk where dust is thinner, the bright light from the stars shines through the gas and dust, forming large semi-transparent orange cones.

It is equally important to notice where the stars’ light is blocked—look for the exceptionally dark, wide V-shapes offset by 90 degrees from the orange cones. These areas may look like there is no material, but it is actually where the surrounding dust is the densest, and little starlight penetrates it. If you look carefully at these areas, Webb’s sensitive Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) has picked up distant stars as muted orange pinpoints behind this dust. Where the view is free of obscuring dust, stars shine brightly in white and blue.

Image Description: At the center is a thin vertical cloud known as Lynds 483 (L483) that is roughly shaped like an hourglass with irregular edges. The lower lobe is slightly cut off. The top lobe is seen in full, petering out at the top.


Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Release Date: March 7, 2025


#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #JWST #JamesWebb #WebbTelescope #Stars #Lynds483 #L483 #StarSystem #Serpens #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #UnfoldTheUniverse #Europe #CSA #Canada #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education