Happy Valentine's Day! | Free NASA eCards
Looking for the perfect way to share love?
NASA—the National Aeronautics and Space Administration—has you covered!
Check out our out-of-this-world cards: go.nasa.gov/valentines
Credit: NASA
Release Date: February 14, 2022
#NASA #Space #Science #eCard #ValentinesDay #Free #Astronomy #Cosmos #Universe #SolarSystem #Exploration #STEM #Education #International
SpaceX Starbase Flyover with Polaris Dawn Crew
Led by tech entrepreneur and Inspiration4 commander Jared Isaacman, this program will advance deep space exploration while raising global awareness for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®.
Los Angeles, California (February 14, 2022) – Today Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4 (NYSE: FOUR), announced the Polaris Program, a first-of-its-kind effort to rapidly advance human spaceflight capabilities, while continuing to raise funds and awareness for important causes here on Earth. The program will consist of up to three human spaceflight missions that will demonstrate new technologies, conduct extensive research, and ultimately culminate in the first flight of SpaceX’s Starship with humans on board.
The first mission, Polaris Dawn, is targeted for no earlier than the fourth quarter of this year and will be commanded by Isaacman, an accomplished pilot and astronaut who led Inspiration4, the world’s first all-civilian mission to orbit that helped raise over $240 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®.
“The Polaris Program is an important step in advancing human space exploration while helping to solve problems through the use of innovative technology here on Earth,” said Isaacman. “On Polaris Dawn, we endeavor to achieve the highest Earth orbit ever flown in addition to conducting the world’s first commercial spacewalk and testing of Starlink laser-based communication. Alongside these important objectives, we will be supporting scientific research to advance both human health interests on Earth and our understanding of human health during future long-duration spaceflights.” Building upon the Inspiration4 mission, Polaris Dawn will continue to raise funds and awareness for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®.
THE POLARIS DAWN MISSION
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Polaris Dawn mission from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Dragon and the Polaris Dawn crew will spend up to five days in orbit, flying higher than any Dragon mission to date and endeavoring to reach the highest Earth orbit ever flown.
While in orbit, SpaceX mission control will carefully monitor Dragon and the crew as they: – Attempt the first-ever commercial spacewalk with SpaceX-designed extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits, upgraded from the current intravehicular (IVA) suit. The development of this suit and the execution of the EVA will be important steps toward a scalable design for spacesuits on future long-duration missions.
Become the first crew to test Starlink laser-based communications in space, providing valuable data for future space communications systems necessary for human spaceflight to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Conduct scientific research designed to advance both human health on Earth and our understanding of human health during future long-duration spaceflights. This includes, but is not limited to:
Using ultrasound to monitor, detect, and quantify venous gas emboli (VGE), contributing to studies on human prevalence to decompression sickness;
Gathering data on the radiation environment to better understand how space radiation affects human biological systems;
Providing biological samples towards multi-omics analyses for a long-term Biobank; and
Research related to Spaceflight Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome (SANS), which is a key risk to human health in long-duration spaceflight.
SpaceX and Polaris Dawn will also collaborate with the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH), BioServe Space Technologies at the University of Colorado Boulder, Space Technologies Lab at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Weill Cornell Medicine, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Image Date: February 11, 2022
#NASA #SpaceX #ElonMusk #Space #PolarisProgram #Polaris #Moon #Mars #Dragon #Starship #Spacecraft #SuperHeavy #Earth #Orbit #Spaceflight #Science #Technology #Engineering #Transportation #Commerce #BocaChica #Texas #Kennedy #KSC #Spaceport #CapeCanaveral #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education
Ultralight Planet Found Next Door | European Southern Observatory (ESO)
In this short video, we highlight the discovery of planet Proxima d around the star closest to the Sun.
A team of astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile have found evidence of another planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Solar System. This candidate planet is the third detected in the system and the lightest yet discovered orbiting this star. At just a quarter of Earth’s mass, the planet is also one of the lightest exoplanets ever found.
“The discovery shows that our closest stellar neighbour seems to be packed with interesting new worlds, within reach of further study and future exploration,” explains João Faria, a researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Portugal and lead author of the study published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Sun, lying just over four light-years away.
The newly discovered planet, named Proxima d, orbits Proxima Centauri at a distance of about four million kilometres, less than a tenth of Mercury’s distance from the Sun. It orbits between the star and the habitable zone — the area around a star where liquid water can exist at the surface of a planet — and takes just five days to complete one orbit around Proxima Centauri.
The star is already known to host two other planets: Proxima b, a planet with a mass comparable to that of Earth that orbits the star every 11 days and is within the habitable zone, and candidate Proxima c, which is on a longer five-year orbit around the star.
Proxima b was discovered a few years ago using the HARPS instrument on ESO’s 3.6-metre telescope. The discovery was confirmed in 2020 when scientists observed the Proxima system with a new instrument on ESO’s VLT that had greater precision, the Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations (ESPRESSO). It was during these more recent VLT observations that astronomers spotted the first hints of a signal corresponding to an object with a five-day orbit. As the signal was so weak, the team had to conduct follow-up observations with ESPRESSO to confirm that it was due to a planet, and not simply a result of changes in the star itself.
“After obtaining new observations, we were able to confirm this signal as a new planet candidate,” Faria says. “I was excited by the challenge of detecting such a small signal and, by doing so, discovering an exoplanet so close to Earth.”
At just a quarter of the mass of Earth, Proxima d is the lightest exoplanet ever measured using the radial velocity technique, surpassing a planet recently discovered in the L 98-59 planetary system. The technique works by picking up tiny wobbles in the motion of a star created by an orbiting planet’s gravitational pull. The effect of Proxima d’s gravity is so small that it only causes Proxima Centauri to move back and forth at around 40 centimetres per second (1.44 kilometres per hour).
“This achievement is extremely important,” says Pedro Figueira, ESPRESSO instrument scientist at ESO in Chile. “It shows that the radial velocity technique has the potential to unveil a population of light planets, like our own, that are expected to be the most abundant in our galaxy and that can potentially host life as we know it.”
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Directed by: Herbert Zodet and Martin Wallner.
Editing: Herbert Zodet.
Web and technical support: Gurvan Bazin and Raquel Yumi Shida.
Written by: Anita Chandran and Juliet Hannay.
Music: Stellardrone—The Divine Cosmos.
Footage and photos: ESO, L. Calçada, Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org), F. Char and C. Malin (christophmalin.com).
Scientific consultants: Paola Amico and Mariya Lyubenova.
Duration: 1 minute, 27 seconds
Release Date: Feb. 10, 2022
#NASA #ESO #Europe #Observatory #Proximad #Exoplanet #Planet #Star #ProximaCentauri #Science #Technology #VLT #Telescope #Earth #SolarSystem #Chile #STEM #Education #HD #Video
The Heart Nebula | APoD
Happy Valentine's Day!
Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Jensen
Caption/Text Credit: NASA APoD
Release Date: February 14, 2022
#NASA #Space #Science #Nebula #Emission #Heart #IC1805 #Star #Cluster #Melotte15 #Cassiopeia #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Astrophotography #STEM #Education #International #APoD #ValentinesDay
Tumultuous Galactic Trio | Hubble Space Telescope
This image is from a series of Hubble observations investigating weird and wonderful galaxies found by the Galaxy Zoo citizen science project. Using Hubble’s powerful Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), astronomers took a closer look at some of the more unusual galaxies that volunteers had identified. The original Galaxy Zoo project was the largest galaxy census ever carried out, and relied on crowdsourcing time from more than 100,000 volunteers to classify 900,000 unexamined galaxies. The project achieved what would have been years of work for a professional astronomer in only 175 days, and has led to a steady stream of similar astronomical citizen science projects. Later Galaxy Zoo projects have included the largest ever studies of galaxy mergers and tidal dwarf galaxies, as well as the discovery of entirely new types of compact star-forming galaxies.
Credit:
ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Keel, Dark Energy Survey, DOE, FNAL, DECam, CTIO, NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, SDSS
Acknowledgement: J. Schmidt
Release Date: February 14, 2022
#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #Galaxies #Merger #IC2431 #Cancer #Constellation #Stars #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #GalaxyZoo #CitizenScience #STEM #Education
The Early Universe & The James Webb Space Telescope | Meet ESA Experts
Learn more about Webb: https://bit.ly/ESAWebb
"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.
Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related."
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Duration: 6 minutes, 53 seconds
Release Date: February 13, 2022
#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #JamesWebb #Webb #JWST #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #ESAEducation #Europe #CSA #Canada #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education #HD #Video
50 Years of Solar System Exploration | Free NASA eBook
50 Years of Solar System Exploration: Historical Perspectives—Free eBook
Published: December 2021 | Edited by Linda Billings, 364 pages
» Free EPUB version [10.4 MB]
Download Link:
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/50-years-of-solar-system-exploration.epub
» Free PDF version (Fixed Layout) [8.5 MB]
Download Link:
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/50-years-of-solar-system-exploration_tagged.pdf
"NASA’s first successful mission to another planet, Mariner 2 to Venus in 1962, marked the beginning of what former NASA Chief Scientist Jim Green describes in this volume as 'a spectacular era' of solar system exploration. In its first 50 years of planetary exploration, NASA sent spacecraft to fly by, orbit, land on, or rove on every planet in our solar system, as well as Earth’s Moon and several moons of other planets. Pluto, reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006, was visited by the New Horizons spacecraft in 2015.
What began as an endeavor of two nations—the United States and the former Soviet Union—has become a multinational enterprise, with a growing number of space agencies worldwide building and launching planetary exploration missions—sometimes alone, sometimes together.
In this volume, a diverse array of scholars addresses the science, technology, policy, and politics of planetary exploration. This volume offers a collection of in-depth studies of important projects, decisions, and milestones of this era.
It is not possible to foresee what the next 50 years of NASA’s planetary exploration program will reveal. However, the 2020s are already looking promising. Planetary missions in recent years have focused more and more on exploring potentially habitable environments in our solar system and developing a more in-depth understanding of the evolution of planetary environments. Upcoming missions will continue to do so. In 2020, NASA launched its Mars 2020 rover, Perseverance, and in 2022 the European Space Agency will launch its Exomars rover. The Lucy and Psyche asteroid missions are set to launch in this decade, as are the Dragonfly mission to Titan and the Europa Clipper mission to the eponymous Jovian moon. Planetary defense is a new addition to NASA’s planetary portfolio, and the Agency’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test—its first planetary defense mission—is due to launch in 2021. NASA plans to develop a Near Earth Object Surveillance Mission this decade as well. It is safe to say that by 2062, our understanding of our solar system will be radically different than it is today. And we will look forward to it."
Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Release Date: December 3, 2021
Aurora Australis above the Southern Indian Ocean | International Space Station
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: Aug. 2, 2021
#NASA #ESA #ISS #Earth #Planet #Science #Aurora #AuroraAustralis #IndianOcean #EarthObservation #Astronaut #Expedition65 #Technology #Photography #JSC #OverviewEffect #OrbitalPerspective #STEM #Education
Aurora and Light Pillars over Norway | APoD
Astronomy Picture of the Day (APoD): https://apod.nasa.gov
Visit Norway: https://www.visitnorway.com
Image Credit & Copyright: Alexandre Correia
Text/Caption Credit: APoD
Image Date: December 2021
Release Date: February 8, 2022
#NASA #Space #Science #Earth #Planet #Aurora #AuroraBorealis #MagneticField #Magnetosphere #SolarWind #Sun #LightPillars #Astrophotography #AlexandreCorreia #Kautokeino #Norway #Norge #Europe #STEM #Education #International #APoD
Fine-Tuning the James Webb Space Telescope | This Week @NASA
February 11, 2022: Fine-tuning the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a different view of Venus, and the science on an upcoming space station resupply mission . . . a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!
Learn more about JWST: https://www.jwst.nasa.gov
0:00 Introduction
0:13 Aligning the James Webb Space Telescope
1:02 Parker Solar Probe’s First Visible Light Images of Venus’ Surface
1:34 Upcoming Commercial Resupply Mission to the Space Station
2:13 Airborne Science Mission Studying Snowstorms
2:45 RS-25 Engine Test Series Continues
Producer: Andre Valentine
Editor: Sonnet Apple
Music: Universal Production Music
Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Duration: 3 minutes, 43 seconds
Release Date: February 11, 2022
#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #JamesWebb #Webb #JWST #Venus #SolarSystem #Exploration #Parker #ISS #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Europe #CSA #Canada #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education #HD #Video
Aurora over Scotland
On Earth, auroras are mainly created by particles originally emitted by the Sun in the form of solar wind. When this stream of electrically charged particles gets close to our planet, it interacts with the magnetic field, which acts as a gigantic shield. While it protects Earth’s environment from solar wind particles, it can also trap a small fraction of them. Particles trapped within the magnetosphere—the region of space surrounding Earth in which charged particles are affected by its magnetic field—can be energized and then follow the magnetic field lines down to the magnetic poles. There, they interact with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the upper layers of the atmosphere, creating the flickering, colorful lights visible in the polar regions here on Earth
Earth auroras have different names depending on which pole they occur at. Aurora Borealis, or the northern lights, is the name given to auroras around the north pole and Aurora Australis, or the southern lights, is the name given for auroras around the south pole.
Learn more:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/aurora-news-stories/index.html
Photons Received: Webb Telescope Sees Its First Star—18 Times | NASA
The team's challenge was twofold: confirm that NIRCam was ready to collect light from celestial objects, and then identify starlight from the same star in each of the 18 primary mirror segments. The result is an image mosaic of 18 randomly organized dots of starlight, the product of Webb's unaligned mirror segments all reflecting light from the same star back at Webb's secondary mirror and into NIRCam's detectors.
What looks like a simple image of blurry starlight now becomes the foundation to align and focus the telescope in order for Webb to deliver unprecedented views of the universe this summer. Over the next month or so, the team will gradually adjust the mirror segments until the 18 images become a single star.
Learn more: https://www.jwst.nasa.gov
Music credit: Universal Production Music -Transitions Instrumental by Cotton Niblett
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Michael McClare (KBRwyle): Lead Producer
Adriana Manrique Gutierrez (KBRwyle): Lead Animator
Jonathan North (KBRwyle): Animator
Michael McClare (KBRwyle): Lead Writer, Lead Videographer, Lead Editor, Lead Motion Graphics
Duration: 3 minutes
Release Date: February 11, 2022
#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #JamesWebb #Webb #JWST #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Europe #CSA #Canada #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education #HD #Video
SpaceX Starship | Mars Mission Animation
SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket (collectively referred to as Starship) represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond. Starship will be the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, with the ability to carry in excess of 100 metric tonnes to Earth orbit.
Starship is a privately funded, fully reusable, super heavy-lift launch system for interplanetary spaceflight. Starship is intended to become SpaceX's primary orbital vehicle once operational, supplanting the existing Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Dragon fleet. Starship will have the highest payload capacity of any orbital rocket ever built on its debut, scheduled for this year, 2022.
SpaceX manufactures and flies Starship test vehicles from a facility at Boca Chica, Texas.
Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX)
Duration: 5 minutes, 9 seconds
Release Date: February 10, 2022
#NASA #SpaceX #ElonMusk #Space #Moon #Mars #Starship #SuperHeavy #Earth #Orbit #Spaceflight #Science #Technology #Engineering #Transportation #Commerce #BocaChica #Texas #Kennedy #KSC #Spaceport #CapeCanaveral #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Animation #Video #HD
NASA's Space to Ground: Awaiting New Arrivals
Week of February 11, 2022: NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station.
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
Duration: 3 minutes, 28 seconds
Release Date: February 11, 2022
#NASA #Space #ISS #Roscosmos #Cosmonauts #Astronauts #Роскосмос #Russia #Россия #ESA #DLR #Germany #Deutschland #Science #Research #Axiom #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #Expedition66 #International #STEM #Education #Video
SpaceX Falcon 9 | Starlink Launch | NASA's Kennedy Space Center
This was the tenth launch and landing of this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which has launched GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, and now seven Starlink missions.
Starlink is a satellite Internet constellation operated by SpaceX providing satellite Internet access coverage to most of the Earth. The constellation has grown to over 1,700 satellites through 2021, and will eventually consist of many thousands of mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), which communicate with designated ground transceivers. While the technical possibility of satellite Internet service covers most of the global population, actual service can be delivered only in countries that have licensed SpaceX to provide service within a specific national jurisdiction. As of January 2022, the beta Internet service offering is available in 25 countries. (Source: Wikipedia)
Learn more about Starlink:
Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX)
Image Date: January 18, 2022
#NASA #Space #Science #Moon #Satellites #Starlink #Broadband #Internet #Earth #Orbit #SpaceX #ElonMusk #Spaceflight #Technology #Engineering #Commerce #Kennedy #KSC #Spaceport #CapeCanaveral #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education
NASA's Artemis I: The European Service Module | The Moon Journey
The spacecraft will perform a flyby of the Moon, using lunar gravity to gain speed and propel itself 70,000 km beyond the Moon, almost half a million km from Earth—further than any human has ever traveled.
On its return journey, Orion will perform another Moon flyby before heading back to Earth.
The total trip will take around 20 days, ending with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean without the European Service Module—it separates and burns up harmlessly in the atmosphere.
The second Artemis mission will have a similar flight plan but with astronauts. The third Artemis mission will see astronauts taken to the lunar surface.
The European Service Module is ESA’s contribution to NASA’s Orion spacecraft that will send astronauts to the Moon and beyond. It provides electricity, water, oxygen and nitrogen as well as keeping the spacecraft at the right temperature and on course.
The European Service Module has 33 thrusters, 11 km of electrical wiring, four propellant and two pressure tanks that all work together to supply propulsion and everything needed to keep astronauts alive far from Earth—there is no room for error.
Artemis is the first step in the next era of human exploration. Together with commercial and international partners, NASA will establish a sustainable presence on the Moon to prepare for missions to Mars.
Learn more about NASA's Artemis Program:
https://www.nasa.gov/artemisprogram
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Duration: 3 minutes, 58 seconds
Release Date: February 10, 2022
#NASA #ESA #Space #Moon #Artemis #Orion #Spacecraft #SLS #Rocket #Orion #Spacecraft #Mars #JourneyToMars #Science #Engineering #Technology #History #America #UnitedStates #Europe #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video
