Canada's Robots: Canadarm2 & Dextre | International Space Station

Canada's Robots: Canadarm2 & Dextre | International Space Station

The 17-meter-long (55+ feet) Canadarm2 robotic arm, with the 3.7m (12 feet) high Dextre fine-tuned robotic hand attached, is pictured as the International Space Station (ISS) orbited 259 miles above the Atlantic Ocean south of Cape Verde off the coast of Africa.

Canadarm2 and Dextre are part of Canada's contribution to the International Space Station (ISS). Canadarm2 was extensively involved in the assembly of the orbiting laboratory.

Dextre tackles the tough or routine jobs that need to be done in the harsh environment of space. The Station's robotic assistant allows astronauts to spend more time doing scientific experiments instead of performing risky spacewalks. 

Dextre's body was designed to move in many different ways. Each of its arms has seven joints that can move up and down, go from side to side, and rotate. This large range of motion means Dextre can actually carry out more complex movements than a human arm. Each hand has a retractable motorized wrench, a camera and lights for close-up viewing, and a retractable connector to provide power, data and video connection. The robot can carefully grip delicate equipment without causing damage. For example, it can successfully manipulate small safety caps, cables and wires with minute precision—all while being controlled from Earth, hundreds of kilometers away. Dextre can can ride on the end of Canadarm2 to move from each worksite or be ferried on the Mobile Base System to work almost anywhere on the ISS. 

The robot is operated by ground control teams at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) headquarters outside Montreal, Quebec, and at NASA.

Discover more about Canadian space robotics:

https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/iss/robotics/default.asp

The International Space Station (ISS) Program’s greatest accomplishment is as much a human achievement as it is a technological one—how best to plan, coordinate, and monitor the varied activities of the Program’s many organizations.

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the ISS. The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science 

For more information about STEM on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

ISS Image Credit: NASA/Johnson Space Center (JSC)

ISS Image Date: February 5, 2022

Text Description & Infographic Credits: Canadian Space Agency (CSA) 

#NASA #Space #ISS #Science #Technology #Canada #CSA #Canadarm2 #Dextre #Robotics #Robots #Expedition66 #Earth #Africa #AtlanticOcean #Human #Spaceflight #International #Spacecraft #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #Infographic #STEM #Education

New Views of Venus’ Surface | NASA’s Parker Solar Probe

New Views of Venus’ Surface | NASA’s Parker Solar Probe

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has taken its first visible light images of the surface of Venus from space. Smothered in thick clouds, Venus’ surface is usually shrouded from sight. However, in two recent flybys of the planet, Parker used its Wide-Field Imager (WISPR) to image the entire nightside in wavelengths of the visible spectrum—the type of light that the human eye can see—and extending into the near-infrared.

The images, combined into a video, reveal a faint glow from the surface that shows distinctive features like continental regions, plains, and plateaus. A luminescent halo of oxygen in the atmosphere can also be seen surrounding the planet.

More information: 

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/sun/parker-solar-probe-captures-its-first-images-of-venus-surface-in-visible-light-confirmed

Link to paper: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021GL096302

Mission Information:

Parker Solar Probe is humanity’s first mission to the sun. After launch, it will orbit directly through the solar atmosphere–the corona–closer to the surface than any human-made object has ever gone. While facing brutal heat and radiation, the mission will reveal fundamental science behind what drives the solar wind, the constant outpouring of material from the sun that shapes planetary atmospheres and affects space weather near Earth.

Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living With a Star Program to explore aspects of the connected sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Scientists:

Brian Wood (U.S. Naval Research Laboratory)

Giada Arney (NASA/GSFC)

Brendan Gallagher (U.S. Naval Research Laboratory)

Phillip Hess (U.S. Naval Research Laboratory)

Angelos Vourlidas (Johns Hopkins University/APL)

Producer: Joy Ng (KBRwyle)

Writer: Mara Johnson-Groh (Wyle Information Systems)

Animator: Steve Gribben (Johns Hopkins APL)

Music credits: “Tides” and “Subsurface” by Ben Niblett [PRS] and Jon Cotton [PRS] from Universal Production Music

Duration: 3 minutes, 24 seconds

Release Date: February 9, 2022

#NASA #Astronomy #Science #Space #Venus #Planet #Atmosphere #SpaceWeather #Sun #Solar #Star #Astrophysics #Spacecraft #SolarProbe #Parker #EugeneParker #JHUAPL #Goddard #UnitedStates #Mission #STEM #Education #Video #HD

An Orbital Sunrise above South America | International Space Station

An Orbital Sunrise above South America | International Space Station

An orbital sunrise is pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 262 miles above Bolivia on the South American continent.

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. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station: 

https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science 

For more information about STEM on Station: https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

STEM is an acronym for the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. 

Credit: NASA/Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Date: December 17, 2021

#NASA #ESA #ISS #Earth #Planet #Science #Sunrise #Orbit #SouthAmerica #Bolivia #EarthObservation #Astronaut #Expedition66 #Technology #Photography #JSC #OverviewEffect #OrbitalPerspective #STEM #Education

Dreamy Outlook over Australia

Dreamy Outlook over Australia

The Fading Milky Way

Light pollution is a growing environmental problem that threatens to erase the night sky before its time. A recent study revealed that perhaps two-thirds of the world's population can no longer look upwards at night and see the Milky Way—a hazy swath of stars that on warm summer nights spans the sky from horizon to horizon.

The Milky Way is dimming, not because the end of the Universe is near, but rather as a result of light pollution: the inadvertent illumination of the atmosphere from street lights, outdoor advertising, homes, schools, airports and other sources. Every night billions of bulbs send their energy skyward where microscopic bits of matter—air molecules, airborne dust, and water vapor droplets—reflect much of the wasted light back to Earth. 

(Source: NASA)

Learn more:

International Dark-Sky Association

https://www.darksky.org/light-pollution

Globe at Night

https://www.globeatnight.org

Night Sky Network (NASA JPL)

https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm

Image Credit & Copyright: Ian Inverarity

Image Release Date: February 4, 2022

Technical details: "A lighting and filter test shot that I decided to process, 3 shot vertical panorama, Sigma 28mm lens at f/1.4, ISO 3200, 13 seconds, Z9, stitched and processed in Photoshop. Video light for foreground lighting, diffuse filter on lens for star effects."

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #MilkyWay #Stars #LightPollution #CitizenScience #Astrophotographer #Astrophotography #Skywatching #Cosmos #Universe #SolarSystem #Earth #Australia #STEM #Education

Mars: The North Pole | United Arab Emirates Hope Mission

Mars: The North Pole | United Arab Emirates Hope Mission

At the north and south poles of Mars lie thick stacks of flat-lying sheets of dust and water ice: the ice caps. These are called Planum Boreum (north) and Planum Australe (south). Both were laid down like pages in a book during countless cycles of climate changes. Scientists hope to read this book of Mars climate history using the layers. How far back does the record go? The time scale depends on which polar feature you study: some come and go in just a single Mars year (1.9 Earth years), while others have endured for perhaps a billion years.

Ice collects in the polar regions because Mars' rotation axis tilts about 25° to its orbit around the Sun. This gives Mars four distinct seasons, similar to those on Earth. But polar winters on Mars are much colder (–153° Celsius or –243° Fahrenheit) than the coldest winters on Earth.

Mars becomes cold enough for carbon dioxide (CO2) gas to condense directly out of the atmosphere as snow or frost. As temperatures drop through autumn, clouds form over each polar region. These merge into a dense hood of water ice clouds and CO2 ice clouds. The snow and frost that falls from the clouds blankets much of the polar region, forming a broad seasonal ice cap. 

When spring returns, the CO2 ice cap sublimates—changes directly from a solid into a gas—as temperatures warm above –130° C (–202° F).  Every year, about 25 percent of the Martian atmosphere cycles through these seasonal ice caps.

(Source: NASA/Arizona State University)

The Emirates Mars Mission is a United Arab Emirates Space Agency uncrewed space exploration mission to Mars. The Hope orbiter was launched on July 19, 2020, and went into orbit around Mars on February 9, 2021. The mission design, development, and operations are led by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). The spacecraft was assembled in the United States at the University of Colorado Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), with support from Arizona State University (ASU) and the University of California, Berkeley.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Image Credit: Emirates Mars Mission/EXI/Jason Major

Image Date: May 24, 2021

Release Date: February 7, 2022

#NASA #Mars #Planet #RedPlanet #UAE #Dubai #Hope #Orbiter #Spacecraft #Science #Geology #Polar #NorthPole #PlanumBoreum #مشروع الإمارات لاستكشاف المريخ #SolarSystem #Exploration #JasonMajor #مسبار الأمل #Emirates #UnitedArabEmirates #STEM #Education

NASA Pathways Internships—Apply by February 11, 2022

NASA Pathways Internships—Apply by February 11, 2022

Pathways internships are now open for U.S. citizens and close Feb. 11, 2022! As a Pathways intern, you have a direct pipeline to full-time employment upon graduation!

Learn how to apply: https://go.nasa.gov/35LL7gg

Top candidates are well-rounded students (at least 16 years of age) from diverse backgrounds who demonstrate curiosity, team-orientation, excellence, a passion for exploration, agility, and resilience. Prior experience is not required!

Pathways Informational Videos: https://www.nasa.gov/careers/pathwaysplaylist/

Pathways FAQ: https://www.nasa.gov/careers/pathways-faqs

10 Things You Can Do Now to Prepare for a NASA Internship:

https://go.nasa.gov/2CEOkzC

#NASA #Space #Science #Engineering #Technology #Mathematics #Earth #Planet #Exploration #Students #Interns #Internships #Pathways #Career #HR #Opportunities #Diversity #UnitedStates #America #Citizens #STEM #Education

Meet The Women Behind NASA’s Return to the Moon | The TODAY Show

Meet The Women Behind NASA’s Return to the Moon | The TODAY Show

NASA’s effort to bring Americans back to the moon is underway as they create a powerful new rocket for a history-making team that would include the first woman and first person of color. The Artemis Program aims to build a place to live and work on the moon where they can learn more about the moon and how to live on another surface outside of Earth. NBC’s Anne Thompson reports for TODAY.

NASA Women featured:

Sharon Cobb, Associate Program Manager, Space Launch System (MSFC)

Laura Poliah, Test Execution Lead, Orion Production Operations (KSC)

Stephanie Wilson, Astronaut, second African American woman in space (JSC)

Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Launch Director (KSC)

Learn more about NASA's Artemis program:

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis

Women@NASA: https://women.nasa.gov

Credit: TODAY show on NBC

Duration: 5 minutes, 6 seconds

Release Date: February 2, 2022

#NASA #Space #Moon #Artemis #Orion #Spacecraft #SLS #Rocket #Mars #JourneyToMars #Women #AfricanAmerican #Leaders #Leadership #Science #Engineering #Technology #History #America #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Video #HD

A Cosmic Draw | Hubble Space Telescope

A Cosmic Draw | Hubble Space Telescope

It is now widely accepted amongst astronomers that an important aspect of how galaxies evolve is the way they interact with one another. Galaxies can merge, collide, or brush past one another—each of which has a significant impact on their shapes and structures. As common as these interactions are thought to be in the Universe, it is rare to capture an image of two galaxies interacting in such a visibly dynamic way. This image, from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, feels incredibly three-dimensional for a piece of deep-space imagery. 

The subject of this image is named Arp 282, an interacting galaxy pair that is composed of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 169 (bottom) and the galaxy IC 1559 (top). Interestingly, both of the galaxies comprising Arp 282 have monumentally energetic cores, known as active galactic nuclei (AGN), although it is difficult to tell that from this image. This is actually rather fortunate, because if the full emission of two AGNs was visible in this image, then it would probably obscure the beautifully detailed tidal interactions occurring between NGC 169 and IC 1559. Tidal forces occur when an object’s gravity causes another object to distort or stretch. The direction of the tidal forces will be away from the lower-mass object and towards the higher mass object. When two galaxies interact, gas, dust and even entire solar systems will be drawn away from one galaxy towards the other by these tidal forces. This process can actually be seen in action in this image—delicate streams of matter have formed, visibly linking the two galaxies.

Credit:

ESA/Hubble & NASA, J. Dalcanton, Dark Energy Survey, DOE, FNAL/DECam, CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, SDSS

Acknowledgement: J. Schmidt

Release Date: February 7, 2022

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #Galaxies #Arp282 #NGC169 #Seyfert #IC1559 #Andromeda #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

NASA's Europa Clipper Mission: Journey to an Ocean World

NASA's Europa Clipper Mission: Journey to an Ocean World

NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft will conduct a detailed survey of Jupiter's moon Europa to determine whether the icy moon could harbor conditions suitable for life. Europa Clipper will carry an advanced suite of science instruments to discover whether Europa hosts environments suitable for life. Scientists think under the moon’s icy shell there is a global, saltwater ocean with twice the volume of Earth’s oceans combined.

Europa Clipper is an interplanetary mission in development by NASA consisting of an orbiter. Currently planned for launch in October 2024, the spacecraft is being developed to study the Galilean moon Europa through a series of flybys while in orbit around Jupiter.

Europa Clipper will perform follow-up studies to those made by NASA's Galileo spacecraft during its nearly eight years in Jupiter orbit (1995-2003), which indicated the existence of a subsurface ocean underneath Europa's ice crust. Due to the adverse effects of radiation from Jupiter's magnetosphere in Europa orbit, it was decided that it would be safer to inject a spacecraft into an elliptical orbit around Jupiter and make 44 close flybys of the moon. The mission began as a joint investigation between the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), and will be built with a scientific payload of nine instruments contributed by JPL, APL, Southwest Research Institute, University of Texas at Austin, Arizona State University and University of Colorado Boulder. 

The mission will complement the European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) launching in 2022, which will fly-by Europa twice and Callisto multiple times before moving into orbit around Ganymede.

NASA's Europa Clipper mission is scheduled to launch in October 2024 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, during a 21-day launch window. The spacecraft will use gravity assists from Mars in February 2025 and Earth in December 2026, before arriving at Europa in April 2030.

This mission is a scheduled flight of the Planetary Science Division, designated a Large Strategic Science Mission, and funded under the Planetary Missions Program Office's Solar System Exploration program as its second flight. It is also supported by the new Ocean Worlds Exploration Program. 

Learn more: https://europa.nasa.gov

Download Europa Clipper Ocean World poster: 

go.nasa.gov/3Gsjzt5

Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

Image Release Date: February 4, 2022

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Jupiter #Europa #Moon #Ocean #Astrobiology #Biosignatures #Habitability #Radiation #EuropaClipper #Spacecraft #SolarSystem #Exploration #JPL #Pasadena #California #UnitedStates #Art #Illustration #Poster #Infographic #STEM #Education

Looking Four-ward to Launch | NASA SpaceX Crew-4 Dragon

Looking Four-ward to Launch | NASA SpaceX Crew-4 Dragon

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy is all smiles alongside her Crew-4 mates during a training session at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, USA.

Samantha is the next ESA astronaut to fly to space and is expected to be launched to the International Space Station in spring 2022. This is the second mission for Samantha who spent approximately 200 days in space in 2015 for her Futura mission.

Samantha is launching with familiar faces. Fellow mission specialist Jessica Watkins was part of NASA’s NEEMO 23 crew, in which Samantha served as commander. The team spent 10 days living and working at the world's only undersea research station, Aquarius, located 19 m below the surface of the ocean off the coast of Florida.

Upon hearing the announcement, Samantha tweeted her congratulations, saying: “So proud of you, Watty! After sharing the @NASA_NEEMO adventure on NEEMO23, I’m grateful to have you as a crewmate again on #Crew4. It will be fun!”

Rounding off Crew-4 are NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren as the commander and Bob “Farmer” Hines as pilot of their SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. This is Kjell’s second flight and Bob’s first.

Samantha is the third European astronaut to launch on SpaceX, after Thomas Pesquet in early 2021 and current ESA astronaut-in-space Matthias Maurer in late 2021.

Training for Samantha’s second mission has included International Space Station refresher sessions at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas and Roscosmos’s Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, Moscow.

Samantha’s mission blog: 

https://blogs.esa.int/exploration/de/category/astronauts/samantha-cristoforetti/

Credit: NASA/SpaceX/ESA

Image Date: November 28, 2021

#NASA #ESA #SpaceX #ISS #Earth #Science #Astronaut #SamanthaCristoforetti #Futura #Italy #Italia #Human #Spaceflight #Crew4 #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #JSC #STEM #Education 

Martian Volcanoes | United Arab Emirates Hope Mission

Martian Volcanoes | United Arab Emirates Hope Mission

Olympus Mons (Latin for Mount Olympus) is an enormous shield volcano on the planet Mars (located in the middle of this image, left of center). The volcano has a height of over 21.9 km (13.6 mi or 72,000 ft) as measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS). Olympus Mons is about two and a half times Mount Everest's height above sea level. It is the largest and highest mountain and volcano of the Solar System and is associated with the Tharsis Montes, a large volcanic region on Mars.

Three other major Martian volcanoes visible in this image are Arsia Mons (in the south, lower right), Pavonis Mons (right of center) and Ascraeus Mons (in the north, upper right).

The Emirates Mars Mission is a United Arab Emirates Space Agency uncrewed space exploration mission to Mars. The Hope orbiter was launched on July 19, 2020, and went into orbit around Mars on February 9, 2021. The mission design, development, and operations are led by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). The spacecraft was assembled in the United States at the University of Colorado Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), with support from Arizona State University (ASU) and the University of California, Berkeley.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Technical notes: Color composite made from image data captured with the EXI camera in visible light wavelengths. Approximate natural color.

Image Credit: Emirates Mars Mission/EXI/Jason Major

Image Date: August 9, 2021

Release Date: January 22, 2022

#NASA #Mars #Planet #RedPlanet #UAE #Dubai #Hope #Orbiter #Spacecraft #Science #Geology #Volcanoes #مشروع الإمارات لاستكشاف المريخ #SolarSystem #Exploration #JasonMajor #مسبار الأمل #Emirates #UnitedArabEmirates #STEM #Education

A Former NASA Astronaut’s View on What is Next in Space Exploration | PBS NewsHour

A Former NASA Astronaut’s View on What is Next in Space Exploration | PBS NewsHour

As the world of aerospace continues to expand to include private companies that are now able to send people into orbit, space tech can help life on Earth. The advancement of space and medical technology is something orthopedic surgeon, oncologist, chemical engineer, and astronaut Robert Satcher knows about first hand. “A lot of the imaging technology we use on cancer patients: MRI, CT Scans owe part of that technology to what was developed at NASA,” Satcher said during a conversation with PBS NewsHour’s Nicole Ellis.

Robert Lee "Bobby" Satcher Jr. (born September 22, 1965) is an American physician, chemical engineer, and former NASA astronaut. He participated in 2 spacewalks during STS-129 in 2009, accumulating 12hrs 19min of EVA time. Satcher holds two doctorates (Ph.D., M.D.) and has received numerous awards and honors as a surgeon and engineer. 

Satcher receive a Bachelor of Science degree as well as a doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then went on to study medicine at Harvard Medical School, and received his medical doctorate in 1994. Satcher did his internship and residency at the University of California, San Francisco from 1995–2000, and postdoctoral research fellowship at University of California, Berkeley in 1998, and an orthopedic oncology fellowship at the University of Florida from 2000–2001. (Source: Wikipedia)

Credit: PBS NewsHour/Correspondent Nicole Ellis 

Duration: 15 minutes, 26 seconds

Release Date: January 28, 2022

#NASA #Earth #Space #Astronomy #History #Heroes #Leaders #RobertSatcher #Engineer #Doctor #Astronaut #AfricanAmerican #SpaceShuttle #STS129 #SpaceX #BlueOrigin #Science #Tecnology #ISS #SLS #Orion #Human #Spaceflight #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Our Earth: February 2, 2022 | NOAA/NASA DSCOVR

Our Earth: February 2, 2022 | NOAA/NASA DSCOVR

This is an "EPIC" Earth image from the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite! 

This color image of Earth was taken on February 2, 2022, by the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), a four megapixel CCD camera and telescope from one million miles away—beyond the Moon's orbit. Tropical Cyclone Batsirai can be seen in the Indian Ocean close to the island country of Madagascar located approximately 400 kilometers (250 miles) off the coast of East Africa across the Mozambique Channel.

The Deep Space Climate Observatory is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) space weather, space climate, and Earth observation satellite at the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point. It was launched by SpaceX on a Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle on February 11, 2015, from Cape Canaveral. This is NOAA's first operational deep space satellite and became its primary system of warning Earth in the event of solar magnetic storms. 

(Source: Wikipedia)

Image Credit: NASA/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Image Date: February 2, 2022

#NASA #NOAA #Earth #Space #Satellite #Planet #Weather #Clouds #TropicalCyclone #Batsirai #IndianOcean #Madagascar #Africa #MiddleEast #India #Bhārat #Gaṇarājya #Australia #Antarctica #EarthObservation #DeepSpace #RemoteSensing #EarthFromSpace #Climate #DSCOVR #EPIC #STEM #Education

American Astronaut Milestone on Space Station | This Week @NASA

American Astronaut Milestone on Space Station | This Week @NASA

Feb. 4, 2022: A milestone for a NASA astronaut, a plan for the future of the space station, and moving a step closer to an historic mission to the station . . . a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei has lived in space continuously for 300 days since launching and docking to the orbiting lab on April 9, 2021. He is on his way to surpassing Christina Koch’s 328-day mission on March 3 and Scott Kelly’s 340 days on March 15. Vande Hei will return to Earth on March 30 with a NASA astronaut record-breaking 355 consecutive days in Earth orbit.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science 

For more information about STEM on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

Expedition 66 Crew:

Commander: Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov 

European Space Agency (ESA) Flight Engineer Matthias Maurer (DLR/German Aerospace Center)

NASA (U.S.) Flight Engineers: Thomas Marshburn, Raja Chari, Kayla Barron, and Mark Vande Hei.

The International Space Station (ISS) Program’s greatest accomplishment is as much a human achievement as it is a technological one—how best to plan, coordinate, and monitor the varied activities of the Program’s many organizations.

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the ISS. The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station: 

https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science 

For more information about STEM on Station: https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

STEM is an acronym for the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. 

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Duration: 3 minutes, 24 seconds

Release Date: February 4, 2022

#NASA #Space #ISS #Astronaut #MarkVandeHei #JSC #American #UnitedStates #Expedition66 #International #STEM #Education #TWAN #Video

The Coalsack Nebula

 The Coalsack Nebula

Astrophotographer Alan Tough: "Inca astronomers referred to the Coalsack Nebula as 'Yutu', a partridge-like bird native to the Andes. The two bright stars in the accompanying image belong to the Southern Cross. They are (lower-right) Acrux (Alpha Crucis) and (top-right) Mimosa (Beta Crucis). There are also several open star clusters visible here, including the wonderful Jewel Box to the left of Mimosa."

"I captured this image remotely, using iTelescope T70 in the Rio Hurtado Valley, Chile (hence the reference to Yutu!). The total exposure time was 75 minutes through LRGB filters."

Image & Caption Credit: Alan Tough

Release Date: February 4, 2022

The Coalsack Nebula (Southern Coalsack, or simply the Coalsack) is the most prominent dark nebula in the skies, with a designation TGU H1867, first referred to in Cataloging 1850, being easily visible to the naked eye as a dark patch obscuring a brief section of Milky Way stars as they cross their southernmost region of the sky, east of Acrux (Alpha Crucis) which is the bright, southern pointer star of the southern cross. It dominates and overspills the southeast corner of what is considered the extent of the constellation Crux at a little less than twice the distance of Acrux, 180 parsecs (590 light years) away from Earth.

(Source: Wikipedia)

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Nebula #CoalSack #TGUH1867 #Acrux #AlphaCrucis #Mimosa #BetaCrucis #MilkyWay #Astrophotographer #Astrophotography #Cosmos #Universe #Earth #Chile #STEM #Education

Earth from Space: Batura Glacier, Pakistan | European Space Agency

Earth from Space: Batura Glacier, Pakistan | European Space Agency

In this week's edition of the Earth from Space program, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Batura Glacier—one of the largest and longest glaciers in the world, outside of the polar regions.

Located in the upper Hunza Valley, in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, the Batura Glacier is  approximately 57 km long. It flows from west to east and feeds the Hunza River in north Pakistan, then joins the Gilgit and Naltar Rivers before it flows into the Indus River.

The lower portions of the Batura Glacier feature a grey sea of rocks and gravelly moraine (an accumulation of rocks and sediment carried down by the glacier often caused by avalanches). The glacier has a mean ice thickness of around 150 m, with the lower parts of the glacier holding most of its mass.

This video contains false-color composite images using the near-infrared channel of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission to highlight vegetation, which appears in red. Batura is bordered by several villages and pastures with herds of sheep, goats and cows where roses and juniper trees are quite common. 

Batura Glacier is located just north of the Batura Muztagh, a sub-range of the Karakoram mountain range, which includes the massifs of the Batura Sar, the 25th highest mountain on Earth standing at 7795 m, and Passu Sar at 7478 m.

Glacier shrinkage is a prominent sign of ongoing climate change. However, unlike many glaciers around the world, the glaciers residing in the mountain ranges in Karakoram are not responding to global warming. Their retreating is less than the global average, and in some cases, are either stable or growing. This anomalous behavior of the region’s glaciers has been coined the ‘Karakoram Anomaly’.

Scientists typically measure the motions of glaciers with ground-based measurements. Because of the rugged terrain and challenges involved in field studies, long-term ground observational data on Karakoram is sparse. Satellites can help monitor changes in glacier mass, extents, trace area and length of glacier changes through time and derive surface velocity.

We are Europe's gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. 

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)

Duration: 3 minutes, 36 seconds

Release Date: February 4, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Earth #Space #Satellite #Pakistan #پاكِستان #Glacier #Batura #Europe #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #EarthFromSpace #Copernicus #Sentinel2 #STEM #Education #Video