NASA ScienceCasts: The International Space Station's New Solar Arrays

NASA ScienceCasts: The International Space Station's New Solar Arrays

The new ISS Roll Out Solar Arrays (iROSA) being installed on the International Space Station are providing power to the station with improved efficiency. ROSA technology will also help power the NASA Lunar Gateway outpost, and the DART mission as it makes its way to the Didymos asteroid system.

These solar arrays  are lightweight, flexible power sources for spacecraft designed and developed by Redwire. Redwire Corporation is an American aerospace manufacturer and space infrastructure technology company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

This new type of solar array provides much more energy than traditional solar arrays at much less mass. Traditional solar panels used to power satellites are bulky, with heavy panels folded together using mechanical hinges. Given a space-bound payload is limited in its mass and volume by necessity, ROSA is 20 percent lighter (with a mass of 325 kg (717 lb)) and one-fourth the volume of rigid panel arrays with the same performance.

ROSA is a flexible and rollable solar array that operates the same way a measuring tape unwinds on its spool. The new solar array design rolls up to form a compact cylinder for launch with significantly less mass and volume, potentially offering substantial cost savings as well as an increase in power for satellites. 

ROSA has a center wing made of a flexible material which support the strings of photovoltaic cells that produce electricity. Both the sides of the wing have a narrow arm that extends through the length of the wing to provide support to the array, called a high strain composite boom. The booms look like split tubes made of a stiff composite material, flattened and rolled up lengthwise. 

The array does not need any motor to unfurl. This is achieved using the potential energy stored in the booms that is released as each boom transitions from a coil shape to a straight support arm. The solar wings are then deployed due to strain energy in rolled booms that are present at the two ends of the structure.

Learn more about Redwire's technology:

https://youtu.be/ijgHg1-4mpY

Space Station Research & Tech: https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science

Credit: NASA

Duration: 1 minute, 27 seconds

Release Date: Nov 22, 2021

#NASA #Space #Science #Technology #ISS #Solar #SolarPanels #SolarArrays #ROSA #iROSA #Redwire #Engineering #Boeing #UnitedStates #ScienceCasts #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Solar Orbiter Captures Giant Solar Eruption | ESA/NASA

Solar Orbiter Captures Giant Solar Eruption | ESA/NASA

The Full Sun Imager of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager on board the European Space Agency/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft captured a giant solar eruption on February 15, 2022.

Solar prominences are large structures made of tangled magnetic field lines that keep dense concentrations of solar plasma suspended above the Sun’s surface and often take the form of arching loops.

This is the largest solar prominence eruption ever observed in a single image together with the full solar disc. They are often associated with coronal mass ejections, which if directed towards Earth, can wreak havoc with our technology and everyday lives.

This coronal mass ejection was not directed at Earth. In fact, it was traveling away from us. 

Learn more: https://bit.ly/3HbmqXR

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)

Image Date: February 15, 2022

Release Date: February 18, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Science #Space #Sun #Solar #Prominence #Eruption #Plasma #Corona #Physics #Astrophysics #Ultraviolet #SolarOrbiter #Earth #GSFC #Goddard #STEM #Education

Smoky Ring for a Halo | Hubble

Smoky Ring for a Halo | Hubble

Two stars shine through the center of a ring of cascading dust in this image taken by the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. The star system is named DI Cha, and while only two stars are apparent, it is actually a quadruple system containing two sets of binary stars.

As this is a relatively young star system it is surrounded by dust. The young stars are moulding the dust into a wispy wrap.

The host of this alluring interaction between dust and star is the Chamaeleon I dark cloud—one of three such clouds that comprise a large star-forming region known as the Chamaeleon Complex. DI Cha's juvenility is not remarkable within this region. In fact, the entire system is among not only the youngest but also the closest collections of newly formed stars to be found and so provides an ideal target for studies of star formation.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (geckzilla.org)

Release Date: October 26, 2015

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #DICha #Stars #Binary #Halo #Cloud #ChamaeleonI #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

Hubble Captures a Peculiar Galactic Pair

Hubble Captures a Peculiar Galactic Pair

This striking image from the NASA/European Space Agency (ESA) Hubble Space Telescope showcases Arp 298, a stunning pair of interacting galaxies. Arp 298—which comprises the two galaxies NGC 7469 and IC 5283—lies roughly 200 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus. The larger of the two galaxies pictured here is the barred spiral galaxy NGC 7469, and IC 5283 is its diminutive companion. NGC 7469 is also host to an active, supermassive black hole and a bright ring of star clusters.

The “Arp” in this galaxy pair’s name signifies that they are listed in the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies compiled by the astronomer Halton Arp. The Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies is a rogues’ gallery of weird and wonderful galaxies containing peculiar structures, featuring galaxies exhibiting everything from segmented spiral arms to concentric rings. This interacting galaxy pair is a familiar sight for Hubble—a portrait of the merging galaxies in Arp 298 was published in 2008.

This image of Arp 298 contains data from three separate Hubble proposals. By combining observations from three proposals, Arp 298 is captured in glorious detail in seven different filters from two of Hubble’s instruments—the Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys.

The process of planning Hubble observations starts with a proposal—a detailed plan of what an astronomer intends to observe and their scientific motivation for doing so. Once a year, these proposals are gathered and judged in a gruelling review process which assess their scientific merit and feasibility. Fewer than 20% of the proposed observations in any given year will make it through this process and be approved, which makes observing time with Hubble highly prized indeed.

This system will be one of the first galaxies observed with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope as part of the Director's Discretionary Early Release Science Programs in Summer 2022.

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Evans, R. Chandar

Release Date: February 21, 2022

#NASA #Hubble #Astronomy #Space #Science #Galaxy #Galaxies #Arp298 #NGC7469 #IC5283 #Pegasus #Constellation #Stars #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #ESA #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education

The James Webb Space Telescope | Meet ESA Experts

The James Webb Space Telescope | Meet ESA Experts

Are you curious to know how a telescope works? Join European Space Agency (ESA) astronomer Giovanna Giardino as she provides insights into the inner workings of the world’s largest telescope in space, the extraordinary James Webb Space Telescope.

Learn more about Webb: https://bit.ly/ESAWebb

ESA - Teach with Astronomy website:

https://www.esa.int/Education/Teach_with_astronomy

"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: 12 minutes, 40 seconds

Release Date: February 20, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #JamesWebb #Webb #Telescope #JWST #Cosmos #Universe #Exoplanets #SolarSystem #ESAEducation #Europe #CSA #Canada #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Jupiter and Europa | Hubble

Jupiter and Europa | Hubble

This image of Jupiter, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on August 25, 2020, was captured when the planet was 653 million kilometers from Earth. Hubble’s sharp view gave researchers an updated weather report on the monster planet’s turbulent atmosphere, including a remarkable new storm brewing, and a cousin of the Great Red Spot changing color—again. The image also features Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.

Learn more about NASA's upcoming Europa Clipper Mission—Earth's first mission to conduct detailed reconnaissance of Jupiter's moon, Europa. Scientists are almost certain that a vast ocean (larger than Earth's) lies beneath Europa's icy shell:

https://europa.nasa.gov

Europa Clipper is an interplanetary mission in development by NASA consisting of an orbiter. Currently planned for launch in October 2024, the spacecraft will 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.

Credit:

NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M. H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley) and the OPAL team.

Image Date: August 25, 2020

#NASA #Astronomy #Hubble #Telescope #Space #Science #Jupiter #Europa #Moon #Ocean #Astrobiology #Biosignatures #Habitability #Radiation #EuropaClipper #ESA #JUICE #Spacecraft #SolarSystem #Exploration #JPL #Goddard #GSFC #STScI #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

NASA Seeks Space Technology Partners for the Moon and Near-Earth

NASA Seeks Space Technology Partners for the Moon and Near-Earth

NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) is looking for companies developing technology that can advance space exploration. Two new opportunities focus on technology development for space infrastructure and capabilities for the Moon and near-Earth space. The deadline to submit initial proposals is March 31, 2022. More info: https://go.nasa.gov/3I6cK28

Eligibility requirements can be found in Section 3 of this PDF document: https://bit.ly/3s4yaXS

Under the Tipping Point opportunity, NASA will award a total of up to $200 million to multiple companies using funded Space Act Agreements. The opportunity also includes incentives for small businesses, allowing companies with fewer than 500 employees to contribute less to the cost of the technology development.

More than half a billion dollars have been awarded to 50 projects since NASA announced the first Tipping Point opportunity in 2015. Space technologies advanced through this funding are now part of current and future mission plans.

Image: Illustration of Artemis astronauts on the Moon. NASA's new Tipping Point opportunity and Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity (ACO) seek to mature space technology, including those that could be used for living and working on the Moon for NASA's Artemis astronauts

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Release Date: February 15, 2022

#NASA #Space #Science #Technology #Engineering #Commerce ##Infrastructure #TippingPoint #ACO #Funding #Artemis #Moon #Earth #STMD #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Florida: Destination Before Arrival | International Space Station

Florida: Destination Before Arrival | International Space Station

European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut Thomas Pesquet (France): "A unique aspect of space travel is that you can see your destination before you leave! We flew over Florida recently and probably in a few days we will splashdown there. I don't want to liken us to the Apollo astronauts, but it must have been a strange feeling to look up at the Moon in 1969 and think that you would be there in a few days’ time!"

"Le voyage spatial est le seul qui permet de voir sa destination avant d’y arriver, plutôt cool 😎 La Station spatiale a survolé la Floride récemment, et ce sera à nouveau le cas quand on va plonger vers elle pour se poser. Sans vouloir nous comparer aux astronautes des missions Apollo, ça devait être un sentiment particulier de regarder la Lune en 1969 et de se dire qu’ils y poseraient le pied quelques jours plus tard !"

Credit: ESA/NASA/JSC, Thomas Pesquet

Image Date: October 10, 2021

#NASA #Space #ISS #Astronaut #ThomasPesquet #CNES #France #ESA #Science #Atlantic #Ocean #Kennedy #KSC #Spaceport #CapeCanaveral #SpaceCoast #GulfofMexico #Florida #Alabama #Mississipi #Georgia #UnitedStates #Photography #Expedition66 #International #OverviewEffect #STEM #Education

Solar Orbiter and SOHO’s View of a Giant Eruption | NASA/ESA

Solar Orbiter and SOHO’s View of a Giant Eruption | NASA/ESA

Composition of imagery from the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter and SOHO spacecraft, which captured a giant solar eruption on February 15, 2022. 

The Full Sun Imager (FSI) of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) on board the Solar Orbiter spacecraft captured the images of the solar disc and out into space for about 3.5 million kilometers (center image). SOHO LASCO C2 imagery is superposed, tracing the eruption even further.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/35a3zPf

The Solar Orbiter (SolO) is a Sun-observing satellite developed by the European Space Agency (ESA). SolO, designed to obtain detailed measurements of the inner heliosphere and the nascent solar wind, performs close observations of the polar regions of the Sun which is difficult to do from Earth. These observations are important in investigating how the Sun creates and controls its heliosphere. SolO was launched in February 2020. The mission is planned to last seven years.

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is a European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft built by a European industrial consortium led by Matra Marconi Space (now Airbus Defence and Space) that was launched on a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIAS launch vehicle in December 1995 to study the Sun. It has discovered over 4,000 comets. It began normal operations in May 1996. It is a joint project between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA. 

Credit: Solar Orbiter/EUI and SOHO/LASCO teams, ESA & NASA

Duration: 40 seconds

Release Date: February 17, 2022

#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Solar #SolarEruption #Sun #Earth #ActiveRegions #Plasma #SolarOrbiter #SolO #SOHO #Observatory #MagneticField #Ultraviolet #Wavelength #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Uncovering a Black Hole in an Immense Dust Cloud | ESO

Uncovering a Black Hole in an Immense Dust Cloud | ESO

ESOcast 251 Light: Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are extremely energetic sources powered by supermassive black holes. This short video provides insights into these peculiar objects by showcasing a new discovery on the AGN at the center of the Messier 77 galaxy.

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—Billions And Billions.  

Footage and photos: ESO, Jaffe, Gámez-Rosas et al., L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser, C. Malin (christophmalin.com) and Gianluca Lombardi (glphoto.it).  

Scientific consultants: Paola Amico and Mariya Lyubenova.

Duration: 2 minutes

Release Date: February 16, 2022

#NASA #ESO #Europe #Observatory #BlackHole #AGN #Activegalacticnuclei #Galaxy #Messier77 #Science #Technology #VLT #Telescope #Earth #SolarSystem #Chile #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Next Space Station Commercial Cargo Mission | This Week @NASA

Next Space Station Commercial Cargo Mission | This Week @NASA

Week of Feb. 18, 2022: The next commercial cargo mission to the space station, celebrating the first year of Perseverance on Mars, and the first science images from a recently launched mission . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!

0:00 Introduction
0:15 The Next Commercial Cargo Mission to the Space Station
0:44 Russian Spacecraft Delivers Cargo to Space Station
1:12 Perseverance Marks One Year on Mars
1:55 IXPE Sends First Science Image
2:33 New Sea Level Rise Projections for U.S. Communities

Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Producer: Andre Valentine
Editor: Sonnet Apple
Music: Universal Production Music

Duration: 3 minutes, 44 seconds

Release Date: February 18, 2022

 #NASA #Space #ISS #Roscosmos #Cosmonauts #Astronauts #Роскосмос #Russia #Россия #ESA #DLR #Germany #Deutschland #Science #Cancer #Research #Cargo #Progress80 #NorthropGrumman #Cygnus #Antares #Rocket #Mars #Perserverance #JPL #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #Expedition66 #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video

 

We are Going to the Moon! | NASA, ESA and Artemis Partners

We are Going to the Moon! | NASA, ESA and Artemis Partners 

This is the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. It was moved from the Launch Abort System Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building to be stacked atop the Launch Abort System. In that package is the Orion spacecraft which consists of the NASA’s Crew Module, the Crew Module Adapter and the European Space Agency (ESA) European Service Module. Together these modules will power the spacecraft around the Moon and back. Over 30 engines, four solar wings, 8.6 tons of propellant and 11 km of cables are inside. For the first Artemis mission they will work in harmony to travel from Earth to the Moon, make two flybys and return.

For the European Service Module this is just another small step on its way to the Moon. With parts made in ten countries in Europe and assembled in Bremen, Germany, the complete module was flown to Kennedy Space Center at the end of 2018 to be integrated with the crew module.

Launching soon, Artemis I will be a test of the Orion spacecraft and its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket ahead of crewed flights to the Moon.

Through Artemis, NASA aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, heralding a new era for space exploration and utilization. The NASA-led Artemis program is a new generation of lunar exploration missions designed to send humans farther into space than ever before. The Artemis missions are increasingly complex endeavours that will lay the foundation for sustainable human and robotic exploration of Earth's only natural satellite, the Moon.

While NASA is leading the Artemis missions, international partnerships will play a key role in achieving a sustainable and robust presence on the Moon while preparing to conduct a historic human mission to Mars.

Named after the mythological figure Artemis, who is both Apollo's twin sister and Goddess of the Moon and the hunt, this ambitious campaign encompasses efforts to send the first woman and the next man to walk on the surface of the Moon. These missions will also prepare and propel us onward to Mars. As the "torch bringer," Artemis will light the way for human exploration of the red planet.

Which countries have signed the Artemis Accords?

On May 31, 2021, New Zealand became the 11th country to sign the Artemis Accords. A few days earlier, on May 24, Republic of Korea signed the accords. These two countries join Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ukraine, and the United States. (Source: ORF)

With numerous countries and private sector players conducting missions and operations in cislunar space, it is critical to establish a common set of principles to govern the civil exploration and use of outer space.

The Artemis Accords will describe a shared vision for principles, grounded in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, to create a safe and transparent environment which facilitates exploration, science, and commercial activities for all of humanity to enjoy.

Current Artemis mission plans include:

Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight of the Orion spacecraft, set to launch on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in 2022;

Artemis II, the first-ever crewed test flight of the Orion spacecraft, scheduled to launch on the SLS rocket no later than May 2024; and

Artemis III, the mission that will land the first woman and the first person of colour on the Moon, set to launch no earlier than 2025.

Like the Apollo program over 50 years ago, Artemis will begin with missions around the Moon (Artemis I and II) before a mission that lands on the lunar surface (Artemis III).

During later missions, astronauts will dock Orion to the Lunar Gateway, a small space station to which Canada is contributing a smart robotic system, Canadarm3. The Gateway is critical to sustainable lunar exploration and will serve as a model for future missions to Mars. From the Gateway, astronauts will be able to venture to the lunar surface.

In return for contributing Canadarm3, a smart robotic system, to the Lunar Gateway, Canada receives a range of opportunities for lunar science, technology demonstration and commercial activities, as well as two astronaut flights to the Moon. A Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut will be part of Artemis II, the first crewed mission to the Moon since 1972.

Learn more about the NASA Artemis Program:

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

Caption Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA

Image Credit: NASA–Isaac Watson

Image Date: October 18, 2021

Release Date: February 17, 2022

#NASA #ESA #CSA #Space #Moon #Artemis #Orion #Spacecraft #ServiceModule #SLS #Rocket #Orion #Spacecraft #Mars #JourneyToMars #Science #Engineering #Technology #History #America #UnitedStates #Europe #Canada #International #STEM #Education

NASA's Space to Ground: Targeting Cancer Cells

NASA's Space to Ground: Targeting Cancer Cells

Week of February 18, 2022: NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. A U.S. rocket carrying Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter is counting down to launch toward the International Space Station on Saturday. Meanwhile, Russia’s Progress 80 cargo craft completed a two-day space delivery mission to the Expedition 66 crew early Thursday.

An Antares rocket stands at the Wallops Flight Facility launch pad in Virginia ready to boost the Cygnus cargo craft to orbit on Saturday. It will lift off at 12:40 p.m. EST placing Cygnus, carrying more than 8,300 pounds of station gear and science experiments, into space about nine minutes later. Once on orbit, Cygnus will deploy its cymbal-shaped UltraFlex solar arrays which will power the vehicle during its journey to the orbiting lab.

NASA Flight Engineers Raja Chari and Kayla Barron will be on duty early Monday monitoring Cygnus’ automated approach and rendezvous. When Cygnus reaches a point about 10 meters from the station, Chari will command the Canadarm2 robotic arm to reach out and capture the vehicle at 4:35 a.m. Ground controllers will then take over the Canadarm2 and remotely install the U.S. cargo craft to the Unity module a couple of hours later.

Russia’s Progress 80 resupply ship docked to the Poisk module at 2:03 a.m. on Thursday, delivering nearly three-and-a-half tons of food, fuel, and supplies, to the seven orbital residents. Station commander Anton Shkaplerov and Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov opened the hatch a few hours later and began unpacking the cargo that had launched from Kazakhstan just over two days earlier.

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

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center

Duration: 3 minutes, 5 seconds

Release Date: February 18, 2022

#NASA #Space #ISS #Roscosmos #Cosmonauts #Astronauts #Роскосмос #Russia #Россия #ESA #DLR #Germany #Deutschland #Science #Cancer #Research #Cargo #Progress80 #NorthropGrumman #Cygnus #Antares #Rocket #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #Expedition66 #International #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Roving with Perseverance: Findings from One Year on Mars | NASA JPL

Roving with Perseverance: Findings from One Year on Mars | NASA JPL

 

(Public Talk) After a year on the Red Planet, what can Perseverance teach us about Mars’ watery past and our potential future? 

Theodore von Kármán Lecture Series

Speakers:

—Jennifer Trosper, Mars 2020 Project Manager, NASA/JPL

—Dr. Katie Stack Morgan, Deputy Project Scientist, Mars 2020, NASA/JPL

Host:

Brian White, Public Services Office, NASA/JPL

Co-Host:

Nikki Wyrick, Public Services Office, NASA/JPL

Follow the Perseverance rover's journey on Mars:

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

Theodore von Kármán was a Hungarian-American mathematician, aerospace engineer, and physicist who was active primarily in the fields of aeronautics and astronautics. He was responsible for many key advances in aerodynamics, notably on supersonic and hypersonic airflow characterization. He is regarded as an outstanding aerodynamic theoretician of the 20th century. (Source: Wikipedia)

Credit: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Duration: 52 minutes, 33 seconds

Record Date: February 17, 2022

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Mars #Mars2020 #RedPlanet #Planet #Geology #Perseverance #Rover #Robotics #Exploration #SolarSystem #TheodorevonKármán #Lecture #JPL #Pasadena #California #UnitedStates #JourneyToMars #STEM #Education #HD #Video

The UK in the James Webb Space Telescope | UK Space Agency

The UK in the James Webb Space Telescope | UK Space Agency

The James Webb Space Telescope will change the way we see the Universe, and the United Kingdom (UK) is playing a lead role in that mission.

A collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency, Webb is the successor to the legendary Hubble Space Telescope and will look back further in time than any other telescope—to just 400 million years after the Big Bang.

Onboard Webb are four main scientific instruments, and the UK is leading on one of them, the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). The UK provided the scientific leadership and instrument design for MIRI, and managed the overall project. The UK was also responsible for the overall construction of the instrument and the quality control to ensure that MIRI would operate as intended and cope with the harsh conditions of space.

MIRI was built for ESA by a European Consortium of 10 countries, led by Principal Investigator Professor Gillian Wright at the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s UK Astronomy Technology Centre, who you can hear from in this video.

The UK has invested almost £20 million in the development phase of MIRI. Alongside the UK Space Agency, institutions include the Science and Technology Facilities Council, the UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Airbus Defence & Space UK, University of Leicester and University of Cardiff.

Learn more about the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST): https://www.jwst.nasa.gov

The UK Space Agency: 

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-space-agency

Credit: UK Space Agency

Duration: 3 minutes, 29 seconds

Release Date: December 17, 2021

#NASA #Astronomy #Science #Space #Telescope #JWST #JamesWebb #Exoplanets #Planets #Astrophysics #Cosmos #Universe #Technology #Engineering #MIRI #Instrument #UK #UKSA #ESA #CSA #Goddard #GSFC #UnitedStates #STScI #International #Cooperation #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Early Season Milky Way over Western Australia

Early Season Milky Way over Western Australia

Astrophotographer Trevor Dobson: "This is a 12 shot panorama of the Milky Way as it rises above an old stone shed on a wheat farm at Greenhills, 1.5 hours east of Perth in Western Australia. This is a very early shot of the core taken not long before the start of astronomical twilight where the rising sun's ambient light starts to affect the sky."

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

Tourism Australia: https://www.australia.com

Image Technical Data:

Nikon d810a, 50mm, ISO 6400, f/2.8

Foreground: 3 x 25 seconds

Sky: 9 x 30 seconds

iOptron SkyTracker

Hoya Red Intensifier filter

Image Credit: Trevor Dobson

Location: Greenhills, Western Australia

Image Date:  February 4, 2022

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