ROVER SELF-PORTRAIT

 

FROM:  NASA
Curiosity Self-Portrait, Wide View
On the 84th and 85th Martian days of the NASA Mars rover Curiosity's mission on Mars (Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, 2012), NASA's Curiosity rover used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to capture dozens of high-resolution images to be combined into self-portrait images of the rover.

The mosaic shows the rover at "Rocknest," the spot in Gale Crater where the mission's first scoop sampling took place. Four scoop scars can be seen in the regolith in front of the rover. A fifth scoop was collected later.

Self-portraits like this one document the state of the rover and allow mission engineers to track changes over time, such as dust accumulation and wheel wear. Due to its location on the end of the robotic arm, only MAHLI (among the rover's 17 cameras) is able to image some parts of the craft, including the port-side wheels.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

THE DIRT ON MARS

FROM: NASA

A Sampling of Martian Soils
This collage shows the variety of soils found at landing sites on Mars. The elemental composition of the typical, reddish soils were investigated by NASA's Viking, Pathfinder and Mars Exploration Rover missions, and now with the Curiosity rover, using X-ray spectroscopy. The investigations found similar soil at all landing sites. In addition, the soil was usually unchanged over the traverse across the Martian terrain made by both Mars Exploration Rovers.

The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's landing region in Gusev Crater is seen in both pictures at top; Viking's landing site is shown at lower left; and a close-up of Curiosity's Gale Crater soil target called "Portage" is at lower right.

In Gusev Crater, several white subsurface deposits were excavated with Spirit’s wheels and found to be either silica-rich or hydrated ferric sulfates.

Image credit-NASA-JPL-Caltech

NASA - Researchers Identify Water Rich Meteorite Linked to Mars Crust

NASA - Researchers Identify Water Rich Meteorite Linked to Mars Crust

NASA Green Aviation Project to Move Into Next Phase of Research

NASA Green Aviation Project to Move Into Next Phase of Research

¿Cuántas lunas?

¿Cuántas lunas?

EARTH AT NIGHT

FROM:  NASA
This view of Earth at night is a cloud-free view from space as acquired by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Satellite. A joint program by NASA and NOAA, Suomi NPP captured this nighttime image by the day-night band of the satellite's Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite VIIRS. It combines the Earth at night view created by NASA's Earth Observatory with data processed by NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center with the EO Blue Marble: Next Generation.

Credit-NASA Goddard-NASA's Earth Observatory-NOAA-DOD

ISS WEEKLY RECAP FOR DEC. 28, 2012

FROM: NASA

 

NEW ION THRUSTERS MAY TAKE US TO THE EDGE OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

FROM: NASA
While the Dawn spacecraft is visiting the asteroids Vesta and Ceres, NASA Glenn has been developing the next generation of ion thrusters for future missions. NASA's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) Project has developed a 7-kilowatt ion thruster that can provide the capabilities needed in the future. An ion thruster produces small levels of thrust relative to chemical thrusters, but does so at higher specific impulse (or higher exhaust velocities), which means that an ion thruster has a fuel efficiency of 10-12 times greater than a chemical thruster. The higher the rocket's specific impulse (fuel efficiency), the farther the spacecraft can go with a given amount of fuel. Given that an ion thruster produces small levels of thrust relative to chemical thrusters, it needs to operate in excess of 10,000 hours to slowly accelerate the spacecraft to speeds necessary to reach the asteroid belt or beyond. The NEXT ion thruster has been operated for over 43,000 hours, which for rocket scientists means that the thruster has processed over 770 kilograms of xenon propellant and can provide 30 million-newton-seconds of total impulse to the spacecraft. This demonstrated performance permits future science spacecraft to travel to varied destinations, such as extended tours of multi-asteroids, comets, and outer planets and their moons. Image Credit: NASA

A REALLY BIG BLACK HOLE

FROM:  NASA, BLACK HOLE

The black hole at the center of this galaxy is part of a survey of 18 of the biggest black holes in the universe. This large elliptical galaxy is in the center of the galaxy cluster PKS 0745-19, which is located about 1.3 billion light years from Earth.. X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory are shown in purple and optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope are in yellow.

The researchers found that these black holes may be about ten times more massive than previously thought, with at least ten of them weighing between 10 and 40 billion times the mass of the sun.

All of the potential "ultramassive" black holes found in this study lie in galaxies at the centers of galaxy clusters containing huge amounts of hot gas. This hot gas produces the diffuse X-ray emission seen in the image. Outbursts powered by the central black holes create cavities in the gas preventing it from cooling and forming enormous numbers of stars. To generate the outbursts, the black holes must swallow large amounts of mass. Because the largest black holes can swallow the most mass and power the biggest outbursts, ultramassive black holes had already been predicted to exist to explain some of the most powerful outbursts seen. Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Stanford/Hlavacek-Larrondo, J. et al; Optical: NASA/STScI

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

A Cosmic Holiday Ornament, Hubble-Style

'Tis the season for holiday decorating and tree-trimming. Not to be left out, astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have photographed a festive-looking nearby planetary nebula called NGC 5189. The intricate structure of this bright gaseous nebula resembles a glass-blown holiday ornament with a glowing ribbon entwined.

Planetary nebulae represent the final brief stage in the life of a medium-sized star like our sun. While consuming the last of the fuel in its core, the dying star expels a large portion of its outer envelope. This material then becomes heated by the radiation from the stellar remnant and radiates, producing glowing clouds of gas that can show complex structures, as the ejection of mass from the star is uneven in both time and direction.

A spectacular example of this beautiful complexity is seen in the bluish lobes of NGC 5189. Most of the nebula is knotty and filamentary in its structure. As a result of the mass-loss process, the planetary nebula has been created with two nested structures, tilted with respect to each other, that expand away from the center in different directions.

Image Credit: NASA/Hubble

MOON-WATER

FROM: U.S. DOD/NASA

The Clementine spacecraft is launched aboard a Titan II missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., in this Jan. 25, 1994, file photograph. The recent interpretation of data from the Clementine spacecraft mission, a joint Ballistic Missile Defense Organization/NASA venture, has revealed that deposits of ice could exist in permanently dark regions near the South Pole of the Moon. Initial estimates suggest that the ice deposit area is the size of small lake (60 to 120 thousand cubic meters), and that the lunar crater containing the ice deposit has a depth greater than the height of Mount Everest, and a rim circumference twice the size of Puerto Rico. The discovery of ice on the Moon has enormous implications for the potential return of humans to the Moon's surface and the establishment of a permanent lunar station. The lunar ice could be mined and dissociated into hydrogen and oxygen by electric power provided by solar panels or a nuclear generator, providing both breathable oxygen and potable water for the permanent station on the Moon. Hydrogen and oxygen are also prime components of rocket motor fuel and could potentially result in the establishment of a lunar filling station transport to or from the Moon more economical by at least a factor of ten. The Clementine spacecraft's primary military mission was to qualify lightweight sensor and camera technology for possible application for ballistic missile defense programs, but it also demonstrated a capability for low-cost, high-value space exploration missions. (Released)

U.S. Department of Defense Armed with Science Update

U.S. Department of Defense Armed with Science Update

GROUND SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONS PROGRAM

FROM: NASA
GSDO: Exploration Begins Here

NASA's Ground Systems Development and Operations Program is developing the technologies and innovations to launch the next generation of rockets and spacecraft.

Incubation à Redu de jeunes pousses à orientation spatiale

Incubation à Redu de jeunes pousses à orientation spatiale

Sept lancements réussis pour Ariane 5 en 2012

Sept lancements réussis pour Ariane 5 en 2012