The International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Iron 'Fingerprints' Point Astronomers to Supernova Suspects

Iron 'Fingerprints' Point Astronomers to Supernova Suspects

Ariane 5’s second launch of 2015

Ariane 5’s second launch of 2015

Selfies with Earth

Selfies with Earth

Sunday, May 24, 2015

HEIST TESTED AT ARMSTRONG FLIGHT RESEARCH CENTER

FROM:  NASA 

Leading Edge Asynchronous Propeller Technology (LEAPTech) project researchers at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center are performing ground testing of a 31-foot-span, carbon composite wing section with 18 electric motors. The LEAPTech project will test the premise that tighter propulsion-airframe integration, made possible with electric power, will deliver improved efficiency and safety, as well as environmental and economic benefits. The experimental wing, called the Hybrid-Electric Integrated Systems Testbed (HEIST), is mounted on a specially modified truck. Testing on the mobile ground rig assembly will provide valuable data and risk reduction applicable to future flight research. Instead of being installed in a wind tunnel, the HEIST wing section will remain attached to load cells on a supporting truss while the vehicle is driven at speeds up to 70 miles per hour across a dry lakebed at Edwards Air Force Base. LEAPTech to Demonstrate Electric Propulsion Technologies Image Credit: Joby Aviation.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Four decades of tracking European spacecraft

Four decades of tracking European spacecraft

Magnetic Orion

Magnetic Orion

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Bumps on road to Mars

Bumps on road to Mars

Tracking Japan’s asteroid impact mission

Tracking Japan’s asteroid impact mission

GARDEN CITY MINERAL VEINS ON MOUNT SHARP, MARS

FROM:  NASA 


This view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows a network of two-tone mineral veins at an area called "Garden City" on lower Mount Sharp.  The veins combine light and dark material. The veins at this site jut to heights of up to about 2.5 inches (6 centimeters) above the surrounding rock, and their widths range up to about 1.5 inches (4 centimeters). Figure 1 includes a 30-centimeter scale bar (about 12 inches).  Mineral veins such as these form where fluids move through fractured rocks, depositing minerals in the fractures and affecting chemistry of the surrounding rock. In this case, the veins have been more resistant to erosion than the surrounding host rock. This scene is a mosaic combining 28 images taken with Mastcam's right-eye camera, which has a telephoto lens with a focal length of 100 millimeters. The component images were taken on March 18, 2015, during the 929th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars. The color has been approximately white-balanced to resemble how the scene would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates the rover's Mastcam. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. Feature: Curiosity Eyes Prominent Mineral Veins on Mars.   Image Credit-NASA-JPL-Caltech-MSSS.