Shenzhou-19 Crew Extends Spring Festival Greetings | China Space Station

Shenzhou-19 Crew Extends Spring Festival Greetings | China Space Station

Shenzhou-19 crew members aboard China's orbiting Tiangong Space Station extended their best wishes to the Chinese people as the 2025 Spring Festival, or China's New Year, is just around the corner.

The 2025 Spring Festival falls on Jan. 29, ushering in the Year of the Snake. As the most significant holiday on the Chinese calendar, it is a time for family reunions, festive celebrations, and reflecting on the year ahead.

In a video released on Monday, January 27, 2025, the Shenzhou-19 crew held a unique celebration by hanging up festive decorations inside the Tiangong space station.

Holding papercuts themed on the Year of the Snake, they sent their New Year greetings to Chinese people on Earth.

"We are in the space home of the Chinese people, wishing you all a happy Chinese New Year! We wish the people of the whole country good health and all the best in the Year of Snake! May our great motherland enjoy harmony and prosperity!" said the crew.

China launched the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship on Oct. 30 last year, sending three astronauts, Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, to the orbiting space station for a six-month mission.

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: 21 seconds
Release Date: Jan. 28, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #China #中国 #SpringFestival2025 #Shenzhou19 #神舟十九号 #Taikonauts #Astronauts #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

Black Holes can "Cook for Themselves" | NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory

Black Holes can "Cook for Themselves" | NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory

Astronomers have taken a crucial step in showing that the most massive black holes in the universe can create their own "meals." Data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT), an optical light telescope in Chile, provide new evidence that outbursts from black holes can cool down gas to feed themselves.

This study was based on observations of seven clusters of galaxies. The centers of galaxy clusters contain the universe’s most massive galaxies, which harbor huge black holes with masses ranging from millions to tens of billions of times that of the Sun. When feasting on gas these black holes power outbursts of particles in the form of jets.

Research study "Hα-X-ray Surface Brightness Correlation for Filaments in Cooling Flow Clusters":
https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.01902

The results support a theoretical model that astronomers have that shows that outbursts from the black holes trigger hot gas to cool and form narrow filaments of warm gas. Turbulence in the gas also plays an important role in this triggering process. According to this model, some of the warm gas in these filaments should then flow into the centers of the galaxies to feed the black holes, causing an outburst. The outburst causes more gas to cool and feed the black holes, leading to further outbursts.

This result also provides new understanding of these gas-filled filaments, which are important not just for feeding black holes but also for causing new stars to form.

Video Credit: NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory
Duration: 1 minute, 47 seconds
Release Date: Jan. 27, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #BlackHoles #Galaxies #GalaxyClusters #PerseusCluster #CentaurusCluster #Perseus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophysics #NASAChandra #ChandraObservatory #XrayAstronomy #SpaceTelescope #MSFC #SAO #CXC #UnitedStates #ESO #VLT #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

Spacecraft Makers: NASA SPHEREx—Intense Tests Preparing it for Space | JPL

Spacecraft Makers: NASA SPHEREx—Intense Tests Preparing it for Space | JPL

Go behind the scenes with the team working on NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope as they talk through their rigorous testing process.

Short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, SPHEREx aims to capture millions of stars and galaxies in 102 colors, creating a unique 3D map to uncover clues about the universe’s origins. 

This video features Farah Alibay, a SPHEREx systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Brian Pramann, SPHEREx program manager at BAE Systems. 

Learn about the special facilities required for SPHEREx’s critical environmental tests, including thermal, acoustic, vibration, and electromagnetic interference and compatibility testing. 

NASA is targeting late February 2025 for the launch of SPHEREx, which will lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg in California.

For more information on the mission, visit: jpl.nasa.gov/missions/spherex/

Credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech/BAE Systems
Duration: 4 minutes, 32 seconds
Release Date: Jan. 27, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Stars #Galaxies #3DMapping #SPHEREx #SpaceTelescope #Cosmos #Universe #JPL #Caltech #BAESystems #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video 

Wide-field view: The Fiddlehead Galaxy—NGC 772 in Aries | Digitized Sky Survey 2

Wide-field view: The Fiddlehead Galaxy—NGC 772 in Aries | Digitized Sky Survey 2

A wide-field view of the area around NGC 772, also known as Arp 78 or the Fiddlehead Galaxy by the Digitized Sky Survey 2.

Close-up view of NGC 772 by the Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i operated by the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab

A wide-field view of the area around NGC 772, also known as Arp 78 or the Fiddlehead Galaxy by the Digitized Sky Survey 2.

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

See a close-up view of NGC 772 for comparison:

The overdeveloped spiral arm of the galaxy NGC 772 was created by tidal interactions with an unruly neighbor. It dominates this observation made by astronomers using the Gemini North telescope located near the summit of Maunakea in Hawai‘i. NGC 772’s peculiar appearance has earned it a place as the 78th entry in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies—a rogues’ gallery of weird and wonderful galaxy structures.

This impressive image shows the strangely lopsided spiral galaxy NGC 772. It lies over 100 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Aries. Captured by the Gemini North telescope in Hawai‘i, one half of the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab, the image shows NGC 772’s overdeveloped spiral arm. It stretches across toward the left-hand edge of the frame. This extra large arm is due to one of NGC 772’s unruly neighbors, the dwarf elliptical galaxy NGC 770. The tidal interactions between NGC 772 and its diminutive companion have distorted and stretched one of the spiral galaxy’s arms, giving it the lopsided appearance seen in this image.

NGC 772 also lacks a bright central bar. Other spiral galaxies, such as the Andromeda Galaxy or our own Milky Way, exhibit prominent central bars—large, linear structures composed of gas, dust, and countless stars. Without a bar, NGC 772’s spiral arms sweep out directly from the bright center of the galaxy. 

The galaxy’s unusual appearance has earned it the distinction of appearing in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, a careful curation by astronomer Halton Arp of some of the weird and wonderful galaxies populating the Universe. The 338 galaxies in the Atlas are a rogues’ gallery of strange and unusual galaxy shapes chosen to provide astronomers with a catalog of odd galaxy structures. Entries in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies include galaxies boasting trailing tidal tails, rings, jets, detached segments, and a host of other structural idiosyncrasies. NGC 772 is included as Arp 78.

Image Credits: STScI/DSS2/National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab)/Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)/National Science Foundation (NSF)
Release Dates: Jan. 23, 2025 & March 22, 2022

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Galaxies #Galaxy #NGC772 #Arp78 #FiddleHeadGalaxy #Aries #Constellation #Universe #STScI #GeminiNorth #NOIRLab #AURA #NSF #Maunakea #Hawaii #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Nordic Aurora Borealis

Nordic Aurora Borealis

The Nordic countries are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden; the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland; and the autonomous region of Åland.

The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, occurs in an upper layer of Earth’s atmosphere called the ionosphere, but they typically originate with activity on the Sun. Occasionally, during explosions called coronal mass ejections, the Sun releases charged particles that speed across the solar system. 

Auroras are produced when the Earth's magnetosphere is sufficiently disturbed by the solar wind that the trajectories of charged particles in solar wind and magnetospheric plasma, mainly in the form of electrons and protons, precipitate them into the upper atmosphere (thermosphere/exosphere) due to Earth's magnetic field, where their energy is lost. The resulting ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents emits light of varying color and complexity. [Wikipedia]

Solid Colored Aurora

Green is common at the upper latitudes, while red is rare. On the other hand, aurora viewed from lower latitudes tend to be red.

Element Emission Colors

Oxygen: The big player in the aurora is oxygen. Oxygen is responsible for the vivid green (wavelength of 557.7 nm) and also for a deep brownish-red (wavelength of 630.0 nm). Pure green and greenish-yellow aurorae result from the excitation of oxygen.

Nitrogen: Nitrogen emits blue (multiple wavelengths) and red light.

Other Gases: Other gases in the atmosphere become excited and emit light, although the wavelengths may be outside of the range of human vision or else too faint to see. Hydrogen and helium, for example, emit blue and purple. Although our eyes cannot see all of these colors, photographic film and digital cameras often record a broader range of hues.

Aurora Colors According to Altitude

Above 150 miles: red, oxygen

Up to 150 miles: green, oxygen

Above 60 miles: purple or violet, nitrogen

Up to 60 miles: blue, nitrogen

The Colors of the Aurora (National Park Service)

https://www.nps.gov/articles/-articles-aps-v8-i1-c9.htm

Image details: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, 20mm F1.4 DG HSM | Art 015

Image Credit: Marcel Weber
Marcel: "The further north I go, the more I feel at home"
Marcel's website: https://www.instagram.com/tales.of.the.north
Image Date: Oct. 2, 2022
Release Date: Jan. 26, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Sun #SolarSystem #SolarWind #CME #Planet #Earth #Aurora #AuroraBorealis #Magnetosphere #Atmosphere #Science #Physics #Photography #Astrophotography #Astrophotographer #MarcelWeber #CitizenScience #Scandanavia #NordicCountries #NorthernEurope #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS over New Zealand

Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS over New Zealand

C/2024 G3 ATLAS is a non-periodic comet. It reached perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on January 13, 2025, at a distance of 0.09 AU (13 million km) from the Sun. It is potentially the brightest comet of 2025, with an apparent magnitude reaching −3.8 on the day of its perihelion.

Comet C/2024 G3 was found by the automated Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on April 5, 2024, in images obtained with a 0.5-m reflector telescope located in Río Hurtado, Chile. ATLAS is funded by NASA's Planetary Defense Office. ATLAS was developed and is operated by the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy.

Learn more:
https://fallingstar.com
https://science.nasa.gov/planetary-defense-overview/

Image Details: Meade ACF 400mm Hyperstar, Risingcam IMX571C. Single 15 second exposure.

Image Credit: Jonathan Davey

Capture Location: Ararimu, south of Auckland, New Zealand

Capture Date: Jan. 24, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #Earth #Comets #Comet #CometC2024G3ATLAS #C2024G3 #OortCloud #SolarSystem #Astrophotography #Astrophotographer #JonathanDavey #Ararimu #Auckland #NewZealand #JPL #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS over Colombia

Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS over Colombia

Astrophotographer Andres Molina: "Taken last night, January 18, 2025, from Bogotá, Colombia, between 18:38 and 18:53 local time . . . The comet was clearly visible to the naked eye, and the clean skies made this my best capture of this celestial body so far."

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuela to the east and northeast, Brazil to the southeast, Peru and Ecuador to the south and southwest, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and Panama to the northwest. The Capital District of Bogotá is also the country's largest city hosting the main financial and cultural hub.

C/2024 G3 ATLAS is a non-periodic comet. It reached perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on January 13, 2025, at a distance of 0.09 AU (13 million km) from the Sun. It is potentially the brightest comet of 2025, with an apparent magnitude reaching −3.8 on the day of its perihelion.

Comet C/2024 G3 was found by the automated Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on April 5, 2024, in images obtained with a 0.5-m reflector telescope located in Río Hurtado, Chile. ATLAS is funded by NASA's Planetary Defense Office. ATLAS was developed and is operated by the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy.

Learn more:
https://fallingstar.com
https://science.nasa.gov/planetary-defense-overview/

Image Credit: Andres Molina

Andres' website: 

https://www.instagram.com/andresastrophoto/
Capture Location: Bogota, Colombia
Capture Date: Jan. 18, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #Earth #Comets #Comet #CometC2024G3ATLAS #C2024G3 #OortCloud #SolarSystem #Astrophotography #Astrophotographer #AndresMolina #UH #ATLAS #Bogotá #Columbia #SouthAmerica #JPL #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Planet Mars Images: Jan. 25-26, 2025 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Planet Mars Images: Jan. 25-26, 2025 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Mars 2020 - sol 1398

MSL - sol 4434

MSL - sol 4434

MSL - sol 4434

Mars 2020 - sol 1399

MSL - sol 4432

MSL - sol 4432

MSL - sol 4432

Support FriendsofNASA.org

Celebrating 12+ Years on Mars (2012-2024)

Mission Name: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)

Rover Name: Curiosity

Main Job: To determine if Mars was ever habitable to microbial life. 

Launch: Nov. 6, 2011

Landing Date: Aug. 5, 2012, Gale Crater, Mars

Celebrating 3+ Years on Mars

Mission Name: Mars 2020

Rover Name: Perseverance

Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for return to Earth.

Launch: July 30, 2020    

Landing: Feb. 18, 2021, Jezero Crater, Mars

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

Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Processing: Kevin M. Gill

Image Release Dates: Jan. 25-Jan. 26, 2025

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

China Long March 2D Rocket Launch: Earth Observation Satellite for Pakistan

 China Long March 2D Rocket Launch: Earth Observation Satellite for Pakistan

A China Long March 2D (CZ2D) rocket blasted off at 12:07 p.m. Beijing time on Jan. 17, 2025, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert located in northwest China under clear blue skies. This launch successfully sent three satellites into orbit, including Pakistan's PRSC-EO1 Earth observation satellite, alongside the Tianlu-1 & Lantan-1 commercial satellites. PRSC-EO1 is the first satellite for Pakistan's new remote sensing satellite constellation.

This was 556th launch of China's Long March rocket family. Orange exhaust billowed out as the hypergolic launcher ignited its engines on the rocket's first stage. 

Note: The tiles visibly detaching are insulation tiles for keeping upper stage rocket propellants cold on the launch pad. Once the rocket launches, this unnecessary mass is safely discarded above the spaceport.

PRSC-EO1 is the first of a series of three optical remote sensing satellites for Pakistan. It joined the country’s existing remote sensing satellites, PRSS-1 and PakTES-1A, in orbit. These satellites provide data for the fields of land mapping, agriculture classification and assessment, urban and rural planning, environmental monitoring, natural disaster monitoring and management, surveying, natural resources protection and others uses, according to Pakistan's space agency, SUPARCO.

The China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC), under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), arranged the combination of the international and domestic payloads. CGWIC signed a multi-launch service contract with Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) for launch of a remote sensing satellite constellation in 2022.

China and Pakistan are close space partners. For example, Pakistan joined China’s International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) Moon project in October 2023.

This mission carried two Chinese commercial satellites: the DAO-1 (Tianlu-1) satellite, developed by Galaxy Space for the Jianghuai Frontier Innovation Technology Center, and the Blue Carbon-1 (Lantan-1) satellite, developed by Geespace, also known as Zhejiang Shikong Daoyu Technology Co., Ltd., for Hangzhou Dianzi University.

The launch was China’s third orbital launch of the year at that time. It followed the launch of the Shijian-25 spacecraft servicing satellite Jan. 6, and the sea launch of 10 navigation augmentation satellites Jan. 13.

As of Jan. 17, 2025, CASC had not yet published an overview of China’s overall plans for the year, but it may once again attempt to reach around 100 launches, as targeted for 2024. Major missions for 2025 include crewed Shenzhou-20 and -21 missions and Tianzhou cargo spacecraft to the Tiangong space station and the Tianwen-2 near-Earth asteroid sample return mission. The latter is expected to launch around May.

China aims to debut a number of new Long March and potentially reusable commercial rockets during 2025. These include the Long March 8A and 12A, and Zhuque-3 (Landspace), Tianlong-3 (Space Pioneer), Pallas-1 (Galactic Energy) and Kinetica-2 (CAS Space) from commercial entities.

Image Credit: CGTN

Article Credit: Space News/Andrew Jones
Release Date: Jan. 17, 2025

#NASA #Space #Satellites #Science #Earth #China #中国 #LongMarch2DRocket #Pakistan #PRSCEO1 #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #Tianlu1 #Lantan1 #CommercialSpace #CASC #CGWIC #InternationalCooperation #STEM #Education

China Long March 2D Rocket Launches Earth Observation Satellite for Pakistan

China Long March 2D Rocket Launches Earth Observation Satellite for Pakistan

A China Long March 2D (CZ2D) rocket blasted off at 12:07 p.m. Beijing time on Jan. 17, 2025, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert located in northwest China under clear blue skies. This launch successfully sent three satellites into orbit, including Pakistan's PRSC-EO1 Earth observation satellite, alongside the Tianlu-1 & Lantan-1 commercial satellites. PRSC-EO1 is the first satellite for Pakistan's new remote sensing satellite constellation.

This was 556th launch of China's Long March rocket family. Orange exhaust billowed out as the hypergolic launcher ignited its engines on the rocket's first stage. 

Note: The tiles visibly detaching are insulation tiles for keeping upper stage rocket propellants cold on the launch pad. Once the rocket launches, this unnecessary mass is safely discarded above the spaceport.

PRSC-EO1 is the first of a series of three optical remote sensing satellites for Pakistan. It joined the country’s existing remote sensing satellites, PRSS-1 and PakTES-1A, in orbit. These satellites provide data for the fields of land mapping, agriculture classification and assessment, urban and rural planning, environmental monitoring, natural disaster monitoring and management, surveying, natural resources protection and others uses, according to Pakistan's space agency, SUPARCO.

The China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC), under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), arranged the combination of the international and domestic payloads. CGWIC signed a multi-launch service contract with Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) for launch of a remote sensing satellite constellation in 2022.

China and Pakistan are close space partners. For example, Pakistan joined China’s International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) Moon project in October 2023.

This mission carried two Chinese commercial satellites: the DAO-1 (Tianlu-1) satellite, developed by Galaxy Space for the Jianghuai Frontier Innovation Technology Center, and the Blue Carbon-1 (Lantan-1) satellite, developed by Geespace, also known as Zhejiang Shikong Daoyu Technology Co., Ltd., for Hangzhou Dianzi University.

The launch was China’s third orbital launch of the year at that time. It followed the launch of the Shijian-25 spacecraft servicing satellite Jan. 6, and the sea launch of 10 navigation augmentation satellites Jan. 13.

As of Jan. 17, 2025, CASC had not yet published an overview of China’s overall plans for the year, but it may once again attempt to reach around 100 launches, as targeted for 2024. Major missions for 2025 include crewed Shenzhou-20 and -21 missions and Tianzhou cargo spacecraft to the Tiangong space station and the Tianwen-2 near-Earth asteroid sample return mission. The latter is expected to launch around May.

China aims to debut a number of new Long March and potentially reusable commercial rockets during 2025. These include the Long March 8A and 12A, and Zhuque-3 (Landspace), Tianlong-3 (Space Pioneer), Pallas-1 (Galactic Energy) and Kinetica-2 (CAS Space) from commercial entities.

Video Credit: CGTN

Duration: 26 seconds
Article Credit: Space News/Andrew Jones
Release Date: Jan. 17, 2025

#NASA #Space #Satellites #Science #Earth #China #中国 #LongMarch2DRocket #Pakistan #PRSCEO1 #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #Tianlu1 #Lantan1 #CommercialSpace #CASC #CGWIC #InternationalCooperation #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Do Not Look "Down" . . . | International Space Station

Do Not Look "Down" . . .  | International Space Station

International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 72 flight engineer and NASA astronaut Nick Hague: "Here is another view of last week's spacewalk - I see this photo and think, wow, that is a 250-mile drop!"

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Nick Hague concluded a spacewalk on Thursday, January 16, 2025. It was the fourth spacewalk for Hague and the eighth for Williams, and it was the 273rd spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.

Williams and Hague completed their primary objectives, including removing and replacing a rate gyro assembly, installing patches to cover damaged areas of light filters on the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) x-ray telescope, and replacing a reflector device on one of the international docking adapters. The pair also checked access areas and connector tools that astronauts will use for future Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer maintenance.

Expedition 72 Updates:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 72 Crew
Station Commander: Suni Williams
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov
NASA Flight Engineers: 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)/Nick Hague
Capture Date: Jan. 16, 2025
Release Date: Jan. 24, 2025

#NASA #Space #Science #ISS #Earth #Spacewalk #EVA #EVA273 #Astronauts #NickHague #SuniWilliams #AstronautPhotography #Cosmonauts #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #InternationalCooperation #LongDurationMissions #SpaceLaboratory #HumanSpaceflight #UnitedStates #Expedition72 #STEM #Education

Artemis II Moon Mission: Solid Rocket Booster Stacking | Kennedy Space Center

Artemis II Moon Mission: Solid Rocket Booster Stacking | Kennedy Space Center

Engineers and technicians with NASA's Exploration Ground Systems Program transfer the right forward center segment to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The booster segment is shown attached to a lifting beam on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025 ahead of integration onto the Mobile Launcher 1.

In January 2025, NASA's Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) team made significant progress stacking NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters (SRBs) for the Artemis II Moon Mission inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Comprising 10 segments total—five segments for each booster—the SLS solid rocket boosters arrived via train to NASA Kennedy in September 2023 from Northrop Grumman’s manufacturing facility in Utah. The booster segments underwent processing in the spaceport’s Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility before being transferred to the NASA’s iconic VAB for stacking operations.

The first components of the Artemis II Moon rocket to be stacked, the solid rocket boosters will help support the remaining rocket segments and the Orion spacecraft during final assembly. At launch, the 177-foot-tall twin solid rocket boosters provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS thrust during liftoff from NASA Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B.

Artemis II will launch no earlier than April 2026.

For more information about SLS, visit: 

https://www.nasa.gov/sls

Check the NASA Artemis II Mission page for updates:

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

Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Image Date: Jan. 19, 2025

#NASA #ESA #CSA #Space #Moon #ArtemisProgram #ArtemisIIMission #ArtemisII #SLSRocket #SRB #SolidRocketBoosters #Astronauts #DeepSpace #MoonToMars #Science #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #VAB #EGS #KSC #NASAKennedy #MerrittIsland #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #Canada #Europe #STEM #Education

Our Beautiful Home Planet | Blue Ghost Moon Mission View | Firefly Aerospace

Our Beautiful Home Planet | Blue Ghost Moon Mission View | Firefly Aerospace

Firefly Aerospace: "Our GhostRiders captured the beauty of our home planet during another Earth orbit burn. This second engine burn (and first critical burn) adjusted Blue Ghost's apogee (the furthest point from Earth) using just our Spectre RCS thrusters. With just over two weeks left in Earth orbit before our Trans Lunar Injection, our team will continue operating NASA payloads onboard and capturing science data along the way!"

The Blue Ghost lander is currently on its 45-day journey to the Moon. Firefly Aerospace intends to land it in Mare Crisium for NASA’s payloads to perform numerous 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.

The Blue Ghost lander flight will deliver ten NASA science instruments and technology demonstrations to the Moon.

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.

Mare Crisium is 556 km (345 mi) in diameter, and 176,000 square kilometres (68,000 sq mi) in area. It has a very flat floor, with a ring of wrinkle ridges (dorsa) toward its outer boundaries.

Learn more about Firefly's Blue Ghost Lander

https://fireflyspace.com/blue-ghost/

NASA's Commercial Lunar Payloads Services (CLPS)

https://www.nasa.gov/commercial-lunar-payload-services/

Image Credit: Firefly Aerospace

Duration: 2 seconds

Release Date: Jan. 24, 2025

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

Planetary Parade over Arizona: January 2025

Planetary Parade over Arizona: January 2025

Astrophotographer Jeremy Perez: " . . . a planet lineup said, hey, how about us? They're pretty spread out, but worth a look currently—Saturn & Venus in the west after sundown, Jupiter roughly overhead, and Mars rising bright in the east. Neptune & Uranus are hiding in there too . . ."

Image details: Canon EOS R5, Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM @ 16mm, 5 x 13 sec., f/2.8, ISO 800, SQM 21.35 mag/arcsec^2

Image Credit: Jeremy Perez 

Jeremy's website: https://www.perezmedia.net
Capture location: San Francisco Volcanic Field, Arizona, United States
Image Date: Jan. 22, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planets #Earth #Venus #Mars #Jupiter #Saturn #Uranus #Neptune #SolarSystem #MilkyWayGalaxy #Galaxies #Universe #Arizona #UnitedStates #Astrophotography #Astrophotographer #JeremyPerez #Infographic #STEM #Education

Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS over Chile's Atacama Desert

Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS over Chile's Atacama Desert

Astrophotographer Daniele Gasparri: "The long tail of Comet ATLAS, set against the dark sky of the Atacama Desert, appears to fan out and stretch across several degrees. This image is the result of averaging 11 exposures of 30 seconds each, captured with a Sony A7s camera and a 105 mm lens stopped down to f/4.5."

C/2024 G3 ATLAS is a non-periodic comet. It reached perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on January 13, 2025, at a distance of 0.09 AU (13 million km) from the Sun. It is potentially the brightest comet of 2025, with an apparent magnitude reaching −3.8 on the day of its perihelion.

Comet C/2024 G3 was found by the automated Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on April 5, 2024, in images obtained with a 0.5-m reflector telescope located in Río Hurtado, Chile. ATLAS is funded by NASA's Planetary Defense Office. ATLAS was developed and is operated by the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy.

Learn more:
https://fallingstar.com
https://science.nasa.gov/planetary-defense-overview/

Image Credit: Daniele Gasparri 

Daniele's website: https://www.danielegasparri.com
Image Date: Jan. 25, 2025

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Stardust in Perseus Molecular Cloud

Stardust in Perseus Molecular Cloud

Clouds of stardust drift through this deep skyscape, across the Perseus molecular cloud some 850 light-years away. Dusty nebulae reflecting light from embedded young stars stand out in the nearly 4 degree wide field of view. With a characteristic bluish color reflection nebula NGC 1333 is prominent near center. Hints of contrasting red emission from Herbig-Haro objects, the jets and shocked glowing gas emanating from recently formed stars, are scattered across the dusty expanse. Herbig–Haro objects are glowing clumps found around some newborn stars, and are created when jets of gas thrown outwards from these young stars collide with surrounding gas and dust at incredibly high speeds.

While many stars are forming in the molecular cloud, most are obscured at visible wavelengths by the pervasive dust. The chaotic environment surrounding NGC 1333 may be similar to how our own Sun formed over 4.5 billion years ago. At the estimated distance of the Perseus molecular cloud, this cosmic scene would span about 80 light-years.

Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Schilling

Jeff's website: 

https://www.astrobin.com/users/Space_Man_Spiff/collections/

Release Date: Jan. 25, 2025

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