Friends of NASA (FoN) is an independent non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to building international support for peaceful space exploration, commerce, scientific discovery, and STEM education.
This week in space news, college students converge on the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for the 9th annual Robotic Mining Competition, and the Advanced Plant Habitat base is readied for its flight to the International Space Station aboard the Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft.
Credit: NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Duration: 1 minute, 41 seconds Credit: May 18, 2018
Anton: "Laguna Colorada, also known as the Red Lagoon, is located in the southwestern part of Bolivia near the border with Chile. The red color of the water is due to sedimentary rocks, as well as the pigmentation of algae growing there. Our planet does not cease to amaze!"
Laguna Colorada (Red Lagoon) is a shallow salt lake in the southwest of the altiplano of Bolivia, within Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve and close to the border with Chile. (Source: Wikipedia)
Anton is a Russian cosmonaut. Former colonel of the Russian Air Force—fighter pilot. Experience: International Space Station Expeditions 29/30 and 42/43, 54/55.
Credit: Cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov Release Date: May 18, 2018
Our astronauts doing work outside the International Space Station, an agencywide town hall with our new administrator, and old data provide new insight about Jupiter’s moon Europa—a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!
In this edition of "Earth from Space", the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 satellite takes us over the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel in northern France— presented by Kelsea Brennan-Wessels from the ESA Web TV virtual studios.
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA) Duration: 2 minutes, 32 seconds Release Date: May 18, 2018
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel in northern France. Lying between Brittany to the west and Normandy to the east, this remarkable bay, which is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, sees some of the biggest tides in continental Europe. There can be up to 15 meter difference between low and high water. When spring tides peak, the sea recedes about 15 km from the coast and when it returns it does so very quickly, making it a dangerous place to be. Sentinel-2 captured this image when the tide was out so that the vast area of sand dunes is exposed cut by meandering channels of shallow water. Three rivers empty into the bay: the Couesnon, the Sée and the Sélune.
The famous rocky islet of Mont Saint-Michel, visible as a small dark spot in the south of the bay, is about 1 km from the mouth of the Couesnon. Home to a Benedictine monastery and village, Mont Saint-Michel is also a UNESCO world heritage site and a mecca for tourists.
The bay, however, has been prone to silting up in the last couple of centuries. Actions by man, including farming and the building of a causeway to the island monastery, have added to this problem. A major campaign has ensured that Mont-Saint-Michel preserves its maritime character and remains an island. The main river into the bay, the Couesnon, for example, is being left to flow more freely so that sediments are washed out to sea.
This image, which was captured on June 21, 2017, is also featured on the "Earth from Space" video program.
Credit & Copyright: European Space Agency (ESA) - contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2017), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO Released Date: May 18, 2018
The Canadian Forces Snowbirds fly in Concorde formation over Launch Complex 39B and the Space Coast shoreline at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Snowbirds, Canada’s air demonstration team, carried out a practice flight over Kennedy and nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Wednesday, May 9, 2018, between their scheduled U.S. air shows.
The Snowbirds of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) fly CT-114 Tutors.
May 16, 2018: Outside the International Space Station, Expedition 55 NASA Flight Engineers Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold conducted a spacewalk May 16 to swap out a failed cooling system component called a pump flow control subassembly (PFCS) for a spare. The PFCS is one of several on the truss structure of the station designed to regulate the flow of ammonia coolant through the cooling loops on the station to maintain the proper temperature for critical systems. It was the 210th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades, the eighth in Feustel’s career and the fourth for Arnold.
Ricky: "An amazing view of our one and only planet." NASA Astronaut Ricky Arnold takes a brief moment for a picture. Expedition 55 Flight Engineers Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold of NASA completed the fifth spacewalk of this year at 2:10 p.m. EDT, lasting 6 hours, 31 minutes. The two astronauts moved the Pump Flow Control Subassembly (PFCS) from a spare parts platform on the station’s truss to the Dextre robotic arm. The PFCS drives and controls the flow of ammonia through the exterior portions of the station’s cooling system. The team then removed and replaced a camera group and a degraded Space to Ground Transmitter Receiver Controller, and was also able to complete several get-ahead tasks.
Spacewalkers have now spent a total of 54 days, 16 hours and 40 minutes working outside the station in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory.
For more information about the International Space Station, visit: www.nasa.gov/station.
Image Credit: U.S. Astronaut Ricky Arnold Image Date: May 16, 2018
NASA Astronaut Drew Feustel at work wearing a spacesuit bearing red stripes. Expedition 55 Flight Engineers Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold of NASA completed the fifth spacewalk of this year at 2:10 p.m. EDT, lasting 6 hours, 31 minutes. The two astronauts moved the Pump Flow Control Subassembly (PFCS) from a spare parts platform on the station’s truss to the Dextre robotic arm. The PFCS drives and controls the flow of ammonia through the exterior portions of the station’s cooling system. The team then removed and replaced a camera group and a degraded Space to Ground Transmitter Receiver Controller, and was also able to complete several get-ahead tasks.
Spacewalkers have now spent a total of 54 days, 16 hours and 40 minutes working outside the station in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory.
For more information about the International Space Station, visit: www.nasa.gov/station.
NASA Astronaut Ricky Arnold: "The Great Lakes looking grand on a clear spring day."
The Great Lakes, also called the Laurentian Great Lakes and the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of interconnected freshwater lakes located primarily in the upper mid-east region of North America, on the Canada–United States border, which connect to the Atlantic Ocean through the Saint Lawrence River. They consist of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron (or Michigan–Huron), Erie, and Ontario. The Great Lakes is the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total area, and second largest by total volume containing 21% of the world's surface fresh water by volume. (Source: Wikipedia)
For more information about the International Space Station, visit: www.nasa.gov/station.
Image Credit: U.S. Astronaut Ricky Arnold/NASA/JSC Release Date: May 16, 2018
UGCA 281 is a blue compact dwarf galaxy located in the constellation of Canes Venatici. Within it, two giant star clusters appear brilliant white and are swaddled by greenish hydrogen gas clouds. These clusters are responsible for most of the recent star formation in UGCA 281; the rest of the galaxy is comprised of older stars and appears redder in color. The reddish objects in the background are background galaxies that appear through the diffuse dwarf galaxy.
The image is a composite using both ultraviolet light and visible light, gathered with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the LEGUS team Release Date: May 17, 2018
The dwarf galaxy DDO 68, also known as UGC 5340, lies about 40 million light-years away from Earth. Due to its proximity it became one of the 50 targets of LEGUS.
In UGC 5340, a pocket of rapid star birth appears in the lower right corner. This region of star formation was probably triggered by a gravitational interaction with an unseen companion galaxy. But star formation is present across the entire body of UGC 5340, and the relatively young stars are responsible for the galaxy’s blue-white color.
An image of this galaxy was already released back in 2014. This newly-processed image now also shows ultraviolet radiation Hubble captured from the galaxy.
Messier 106, also known as NGC 4258, is a relatively nearby spiral galaxy, a little over 20 million light-years away. This makes it one of the nearest spiral galaxies. Despite carrying his name, Messier 106 was neither discovered nor cataloged by the renowned 18th-century astronomer Charles Messier. Discovered by his assistant, Pierre Méchain, the galaxy was never added to the Messier catalog in his lifetime. Along with six other objects discovered but not logged by the pair, Messier 106 was posthumously added to the catalog in the 20th century.
An image of this galaxy was already released back in 2013. This newly-processed image now also shows ultraviolet radiation Hubble captured from the galaxy.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the LEGUS team Release Date: May 17, 2018
