Happy Mother's Day! | International Space Station

This unique orbital view of the Earth's aurora was captured by Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, on Expedition 55.

Oleg: The aurora is "one of the most beautiful light and colorful phenomena of nature."

Credit: Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev
Release Date: April 23, 2018

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High Above Jupiter's Clouds | NASA's Juno Mission

NASA’s Juno spacecraft was a little more than one Earth diameter from Jupiter when it captured this mind-bending, color-enhanced view of the planet’s tumultuous atmosphere.

Jupiter completely fills the image, with only a hint of the terminator (where daylight fades to night) in the upper right corner, and no visible limb (the curved edge of the planet).

Juno took this image of colorful, turbulent clouds in Jupiter’s northern hemisphere on Dec. 16, 2017 at 9:43 a.m. PST (12:43 p.m. EST) from 8,292 miles (13,345 kilometers) above the tops of Jupiter’s clouds, at a latitude of 48.9 degrees.

The spatial scale in this image is 5.8 miles/pixel (9.3 kilometers/pixel).

Citizen scientists Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran processed this image using data from the JunoCam imager.

JunoCam's raw images are available for the public to peruse and process into image products at: www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam

Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRI/MSSS/SPICE/Gerald Eichstädt/Seán Doran
Image Date: December 16, 2017
Release Date: January 4, 2018

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Mars 2020 Rover's Copter Companion | This Week @NASA

May 11, 2018: Sending a helicopter to Mars, a busy week for our new Administrator, and showcasing how technology enables exploration – a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 3 minutes, 29 seconds
Release Date: May 11, 2018

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Mars Helicopter to Fly on NASA's Next Rover | JPL

May 11, 2018: The Mars Helicopter, a small, autonomous rotorcraft, will travel with NASA's Mars 2020 rover, currently scheduled to launch in July 2020, to demonstrate the viability and potential of heavier-than-air vehicles on the Red Planet.

NASA is sending a helicopter to Mars.

The Mars Helicopter, a small, autonomous rotorcraft, will travel with the agency's Mars 2020 rover mission, currently scheduled to launch in July 2020, to demonstrate the viability and potential of heavier-than-air vehicles on the Red Planet.

"NASA has a proud history of firsts," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "The idea of a helicopter flying the skies of another planet is thrilling. The Mars Helicopter holds much promise for our future science, discovery, and exploration missions to Mars."

The Mars Helicopter is a technology demonstration that will travel to the Red Planet with the Mars 2020 rover. It will attempt controlled flight in Mars' thin atmosphere, which may enable more ambitious missions in the future.

U.S. Rep. John Culberson of Texas echoed Bridenstine's appreciation of the impact of American firsts on the future of exploration and discovery.

"It's fitting that the United States of America is the first nation in history to fly the first heavier-than-air craft on another world," Culberson said. "This exciting and visionary achievement will inspire young people all over the United States to become scientists and engineers, paving the way for even greater discoveries in the future."

Started in August 2013 as a technology development project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Mars Helicopter had to prove that big things could come in small packages. The result of the team's four years of design, testing and redesign weighs in at little under four pounds (1.8 kilograms). Its fuselage is about the size of a softball, and its twin, counter-rotating blades will bite into the thin Martian atmosphere at almost 3,000 rpm—about 10 times the rate of a helicopter on Earth.

"Exploring the Red Planet with NASA's Mars Helicopter exemplifies a successful marriage of science and technology innovation and is a unique opportunity to advance Mars exploration for the future," said Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency headquarters in Washington. "After the Wright Brothers proved 117 years ago that powered, sustained, and controlled flight was possible here on Earth, another group of American pioneers may prove the same can be done on another world."

The helicopter also contains built-in capabilities needed for operation at Mars, including solar cells to charge its lithium-ion batteries, and a heating mechanism to keep it warm through the cold Martian nights. But before the helicopter can fly at Mars it has to get there. It will do so attached to the belly pan of the Mars 2020 rover.

"The altitude record for a helicopter flying here on Earth is about 40,000 feet. The atmosphere of Mars is only one percent that of Earth, so when our helicopter is on the Martian surface, it's already at the Earth equivalent of 100,000 feet up," said Mimi Aung, Mars Helicopter project manager at JPL. "To make it fly at that low atmospheric density, we had to scrutinize everything, make it as light as possible while being as strong and as powerful as it can possibly be."

Once the rover is on the planet's surface, a suitable location will be found to deploy the helicopter down from the vehicle and place it onto the ground. The rover then will be driven away from the helicopter to a safe distance from which it will relay commands. After its batteries are charged and a myriad of tests are performed, controllers on Earth will command the Mars Helicopter to take its first autonomous flight into history.

"We don't have a pilot and Earth will be several light minutes away, so there is no way to joystick this mission in real time," said Aung. "Instead, we have an autonomous capability that will be able to receive and interpret commands from the ground, and then fly the mission on its own."

The full 30-day flight test campaign will include up to five flights of incrementally farther flight distances, up to a few hundred meters, and longer durations as long as 90 seconds, over a period. On its first flight, the helicopter will make a short vertical climb to 10 feet (3 meters), where it will hover for about 30 seconds.

As a technology demonstration, the Mars Helicopter is considered a high-risk, high-reward project. If it does not work, the Mars 2020 mission will not be impacted. If it does work, helicopters may have a real future as low-flying scouts and aerial vehicles to access locations not reachable by ground travel.

"The ability to see clearly what lies beyond the next hill is crucial for future explorers," said Zurbuchen. "We already have great views of Mars from the surface as well as from orbit. With the added dimension of a bird's-eye view from a 'marscopter,' we can only imagine what future missions will achieve."

Mars 2020 will launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, and is expected to reach Mars in February 2021.

The rover will conduct geological assessments of its landing site on Mars, determine the habitability of the environment, search for signs of ancient Martian life, and assess natural resources and hazards for future human explorers. Scientists will use the instruments aboard the rover to identify and collect samples of rock and soil, encase them in sealed tubes, and leave them on the planet's surface for potential return to Earth on a future Mars mission.

The Mars 2020 Project at JPL in Pasadena, California, manages rover development for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management.

For more information about NASA's Mars missions, go to:
www.nasa.gov/mars

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Release Date: May 11, 2018

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NASA Mars Helicopter Technology | JPL

The Mars Helicopter is a technology demonstration that will travel to the Red Planet with the Mars 2020 rover. It will attempt controlled flight in Mars' thin atmosphere, which may enable more ambitious missions in the future.

For more information, visit https://go.nasa.gov/2IC8tIh

Credit: Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
Duration: 1 minute, 22 seconds
Release Date: May 11, 2018

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Mars #Technology #Helicopter #Mars2020 #Planet #Atmosphere #RedPlanet #Engineering #JPL #California #UnitedStates #SolarSystem #Exploration #JourneyToMars #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Alaska's Columbia Glacier | Earth from Space | ESA

In this edition of "Earth from Space," the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2B satellite takes us over Alaska's Columbia Glacier in the United States, one of the most rapidly changing glaciers in the world—presented by Kelsea Brennan-Wessels from the ESA Web TV virtual studios. 

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Duration: 2 minutes, 19 seconds
Release Date: May 11, 2018

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Alaska's Columbia Glacier | ESA's Sentinel-2B Satelite

The European Space Agency's Copernicus Sentinel-2B satellite takes us over Alaska’s Columbia Glacier, one of the most rapidly changing glaciers in the world. The glacier, which can be seen just below the middle of the image, flows down the snow-covered slopes of the Chugach Mountains into the Prince William Sound in southeast Alaska.

Over the last three decades, this tidewater glacier has retreated more than 20 km and lost about half of its total thickness and volume. The changing climate is thought to have nudged it into retreat in the 1980s, resulting in its end—or terminus—breaking off.

The terminus had previously been supported by a moraine, which is an accumulation of sediment and rock that served as an underwater barrier, helping to keep the glacier stable and insulate it from seawater. With this barrier gone, glacial dynamics took over and it began to flow to the ocean faster, calving large icebergs into the Sound. As this satellite image shows, many icebergs can be seen in the Sound.

This one glacier accounts for nearly half of the ice loss in the Chugach Mountains. However, researchers believe that the Columbia Glacier will stabilize again—probably in a few years—once its terminus retreats into shallower water and it regains traction, which should slow the rate of iceberg calving.

This image, which was captured on August 5, 2017, is also featured on the Earth from Space video program.

Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2017), processed by ESA,CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Release Date: May 11, 2018
#ESA #Space #Satellite #Science #Earth #Alaska #Glacier #Columbia #UnitedStates #Europe #Copernicus #Sentinel #Sentinel2B #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #STEM #Education #HD #Video

NASA's Space to Ground: Ready for a Walk

Week of May 11, 2018: NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Duration: 2 minutes, 50 seconds
Release Date: May 11, 2018

#NASA #ISS #Space #Earth #Science #Students #Spacewalk #EVA #Astronauts #ScottTingle #RickyArnold #DrewFeustel #NorishigeKanai #Japan #日本 #JAXA #Expedition55 #Human #Spaceflight #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

How Stars Explode: 4 Ways to Make a Supernova | NASA/JPL

What makes a star go boom? By understanding supernovae— stellar explosions—scientists can unlock mysteries that are key to what we are made of and the fate of our universe.

Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Duration: 1 minute, 36 seconds
Release Date: May 10, 2018

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Mars: Fly over Neukum crater | ESA

This video, based on images taken by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft, showcases the 102 km wide Neukum Crater in the southern hemisphere of Mars. The crater is named for the German physicist and planetary scientist, Gerhard Neukum, one of the founders of ESA’s Mars Express mission who inspired and led the development of the high-resolution stereo camera on Mars Express.

This complex impact crater has a diverse geologic history, as indicated by various features on the crater rim and floor. Particularly striking are the dark dune fields, likely made up of volcanic material blown in and shaped by strong winds.

The crater’s shallow interior has been infilled by sediments over its history. It is also marked with two irregular depressions that may be a sign of a weaker material that has since eroded away, leaving behind some islands of more resistant material.

Over time the crater rim has undergone varying degrees of collapse, with landslides and slumped material visible in the crater walls. Many smaller craters have also overprinted the rim and pockmarked the interior since Neukum Crater was formed, highlighting its long history.

Neukum Crater is situated in Noachis Terra, one of the oldest known regions on Mars, dating back to at least 3.9 billion years.

Credit: Animation: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO; Music: Coldnoise, CC BY-SA 4.0 and Adrian Neesemann
Duration: 3 minutes, 27 seconds
Release Date: May 10, 2018

#NASA #ESA #Space #Mars #Astronomy #Science #Geology #Planet #Crater #Neukum #NoachisTerra #Spacecraft #MarsExpress #HRSC #Europe #DLR #GerhardNeukum #Germany #Deutschland #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

Western Europe | ESA Sentinel-3B Satellite

Launched on April 25, 2018, the European Space Agency Sentinel-3B satellite has already delivered impressive first images from its ocean and land color instrument, and now the radiometer carried on this latest Copernicus satellite has revealed its talents. Captured on May 9, 2018, this image shows a low pressure system over the UK and Ireland, France, the Bay of Biscay, Spain and part of north Africa. Vegetation appears in red.

The Sentinel-3B satellite lifted off from Russia on April 25 and joins it identical twin, Sentinel-3A, in orbit. This pairing of satellites increases coverage and data delivery for the European Union’s Copernicus environment program. Both Sentinel-3 satellites carry the same suite of instruments.

The sea and land surface temperature radiometer is particularly sophisticated, measuring energy radiating from Earth’s surface in nine spectral bands, including visible and infrared. It also includes dedicated channels for measuring fires. This early image came from its optical channels.

Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2018), processed by EUMETSAT
Image Date: May 9, 2018
Release Date: May 10, 2018

#NASA #ESA #EUMETSAT #Earth #Space #Satellite #Sentinel3B #Europe #UK #Copernicus #Weather #Meteorology #STEM #Education

Do you want to be an intern at NASA?

"If you are 16 or older, have a 3.0 GPA or higher, enrolled in an accredited college or university and a U.S. citizen—you could be a perfect fit!"
Start your internship application here: https://intern.nasa.gov
NASA Internship Map http://bit.ly/2FWr50a 

International student opportunities:
https://ossi.nasa.gov/non-us-opportunities/index.html
Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

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Pacific Storm Clouds | International Space Station

A portion of the Canadarm2 robotic arm (left) and stormy clouds are seen in the north Pacific Ocean as the International Space Station orbited off the eastern coast of Russia.

Credit: NASA/JSC
Image Date: May 6, 2018

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Earth #Pacific #Ocean #Weather #Clouds #Storm #Meteorology #Canadarm2 #CSA #Canada #Expedition55 #Russia #Россия #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #OrbitalPerspective #OverviewEffect

U.S. had its coldest April in over 20 years | NOAA

Below-average temperatures spanned the Rockies to the East Coast
Everyone seems to be wondering, "What happened to spring?" Last month, a persistent flow of Arctic air blanketed the eastern two-thirds of the nation. Record cold, and even snow in some areas, delayed the onset of warm spring-like conditions.

The average April temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 48.9 degrees F (2.2 degrees below average), making it the 13th coldest April of the 124-year record, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. This was the coldest April since 1997. The month saw record- and near-record-cold temperatures from the Northern Plains to Gulf Coast and the Northeast. The Southwest was warmer than average.

The average precipitation for the month was 2.41 inches (0.11 of an inch below average), which ranked near the middle of the record. Record dryness was observed in parts of the Southwest and mid-Mississippi Valley with areas of record-wet conditions in the Northwest.

The average U.S. temperature for the year to date (January through April) was 39.8 degrees F (0.7 degrees above average), placing it near the middle of the climate record. This was the coldest start of the year for the nation since 2014. Average precipitation for the year to date totaled 9.58 inches (0.11 of an inch above normal), ranking it near the middle of the climate record.

- Polar outbreak chilled the nation: Twenty-two states had April temperatures ranking among the 10 coldest on record. Eight states had their second coldest April on record and two states — Iowa and Wisconsin — were record-cold and saw record snowfalls. The April snow cover across the contiguous U.S. was the fifth largest on record for April and the largest since 1997.

- Rain pummeled paradise: During April 14-15, heavy rainfall inundated the Hawaiian island of Kauai and caused major flooding and landslides. A rain gauge near Hanalei on Kauai’s North Shore reported 49.69 inches of rain in 24 hours, which set a potential new national record.

- Western warmth and dryness triggered wildfires: Warm and dry conditions in the Southwest and Southern Plains sparked an early start to wildfire season. In Arizona, the Tinder Fire burned more than 12,600 acres, and in Oklahoma, a series of grass fires burned more than 340,000 acres.

- Drought worsened in parts of the U.S.: By the end of April, about 28 percent of the Lower 48 states were in drought, down slightly from 29 percent at the end of March. Drought conditions worsened across the Southwest and Great Plains, and improved in parts of the West, northern Plains and Southeast.

Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Release Date: May 8, 2018

#NASA #NOAA #Earth #Planet #Weather #April2018 #Meteorology #UnitedStates #Climate #ClimateChange #Environment #STEM #Education #Infographic

Baja & Sea of Cortez | International Space Station

“All things are...bound together by the elastic string of time. It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and back to the tide pool again.”
—John Steinbeck

The Baja California Peninsula is a peninsula in Northwestern Mexico. It separates the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California. The Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez, Sea of Cortés or Vermilion Sea; locally known in the Spanish language as Mar de Cortés or Mar Bermejo or Golfo de California) is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland. (Source: Wikipedia)

Image Credit: U.S. Astronaut Ricky Arnold
‏Release Date: May 9, 2018

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Northern Europe | EUMETSAT

Europe's new Sentinel-3B satellite captures a rare, cloud-free day over Northern Europe. Features over the land and water can be clearly seen, including differing types of land cover, such as snow cover, and a plume of phytoplankton in the North Sea.

Credit & Copyright: 2018 EUMETSAT
Image Date: May 9, 2018
Release Date: May 9, 2018

#NASA #EUMETSAT #Earth #Space #Satellite #Sentinel3B #ESA #Europe #Weather #Meteorology #STEM #Education