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Exploring the Ocean Worlds of Our Solar System | NASA/JHUAPL
Our solar system is home to many fascinating and mysterious worlds. Among them are the ocean worlds—planets and moons with vast oceans beneath their surfaces. Who knows what other ocean worlds are waiting to be discovered in the deepest reaches of our solar system. Studying these worlds could help us understand the origins of life in our solar system . . . And, perhaps, beyond.
The irregular spiral galaxy NGC 5486 hangs against a background of dim, distant galaxies in this image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. The tenuous disc of the galaxy is threaded through with pink wisps of star formation, which stand out from the diffuse glow of the galaxy’s bright core. NGC 5486 lies 110 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major.
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, C. Kilpatrick
The Artemis II Moon Rocket is Coming Together | This Week @NASA
Week of March 24, 2023: The Artemis II Moon Rocket is Coming Together, a high honor for some space explorers, and an intriguing find for the Webb Space Telescope . . . a few of the stories to tell you about—This Week at NASA!
Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Faces of Technology – Meet Ali Guarneros Luna | NASA Space Tech
Meet Ali Guarneros Luna, an aerospace engineer at NASA's Ames Research Center who works on CubeSat technologies to explore our solar system. Ali helps companies create state-of-the-art technologies that NASA needs for these future space missions.
To learn more about NASA's Tipping Points partnerships, visit:
2023 Michael Collins Trophy Winners | The James Webb Space Telescope Team
The international James Webb Space Telescope Team has been awarded the 2023 Michael Collins Trophy for Current Achievement. The James Webb Space Telescope, the largest, most powerful space telescope ever deployed, captured public attention in July 2022 when the team released its first scientific images and data. Since beginning science operations last year, scientists have used the James Webb Space Telescope to make exciting discoveries across many fields of astronomy—and there is so much more to come.
The Michael Collins Trophy is awarded annually by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.
Webb is the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space.
Webb is an international partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
Under an international collaboration agreement, the European Space Agency provided the telescope’s launch service, using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace.
The Canadian Space Agency contributed two important elements, built by Honeywell, to the Webb Telescope:
1) the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS), which allows the telescope to point at and focus on objects of interest
2) the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS), a scientific instrument that helps study many astronomical objects, from exoplanets to distant galaxies
Credit: The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum
Historic Asteroid Sample Delivery on Sept. 24, 2023 | NASA OSIRIS-REx
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is cruising back to Earth with a sample it collected from the rocky surface of asteroid Bennu. When its sample capsule parachutes down into the Utah desert on Sept. 24, 2023, OSIRIS-REx will become the United States’ first-ever mission to return an asteroid sample to Earth.
NASA's Space to Ground: It's All About Science | Week of March 24, 2023
NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. The Expedition 68 crew members conducted experiments and maintained equipment aboard the International Space Station while activities for cargo transfers continued.
Station Commander: Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos (Russia)
Roscosmos (Russia): Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin & Andrey Fedyaev
Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
NASA: Flight Engineers Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg
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.
Rocket Lab's Electron Launches Earth Observation Satellites from New Zealand
Just seven days after a successful Electron mission from Launch Complex 2 in Virginia, USA, Rocket Lab has completed another successful mission from the other side of the planet at Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, demonstrating responsive launch capability from two hemispheres and setting a new company record for fastest turnaround between Electron missions.
The mission also saw Rocket Lab successfully splash down Electron’s first stage in the ocean as part of the Company’s plan to make Electron a reusable rocket.
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. launched its 35th Electron rocket from Mahia, New Zealand, deploying two multi-spectral Gen-2 satellites to low Earth orbit for BlackSky through launch services provider Spaceflight, Inc.
The mission, named “The Beat Goes On,” lifted off at 09:14 UTC, March 24, 2023, from Pad B at Launch Complex 1, Rocket Lab’s private launch site on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula.
“The Beat Goes On” mission will deploy two BlackSky high-resolution, multi-spectral, Gen-2 satellites. As a secondary mission, Rocket Lab plans to recover Electron’s first stage after it parachutes back to Earth and splashes down in the ocean.
Rocket Lab's Electron Launches Earth Observation Satellites from New Zealand
Just seven days after a successful Electron mission from Launch Complex 2 in Virginia, USA, Rocket Lab has completed another successful mission from the other side of the planet at Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, demonstrating responsive launch capability from two hemispheres and setting a new company record for fastest turnaround between Electron missions.
The mission also saw Rocket Lab successfully splash down Electron’s first stage in the ocean as part of the Company’s plan to make Electron a reusable rocket.
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. launched its 35th Electron rocket from Mahia, New Zealand, deploying two multi-spectral Gen-2 satellites to low Earth orbit for BlackSky through launch services provider Spaceflight, Inc.
The mission, named “The Beat Goes On,” lifted off at 09:14 UTC, March 24, 2023, from Pad B at Launch Complex 1, Rocket Lab’s private launch site on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula.
“The Beat Goes On” mission will deploy two BlackSky high-resolution, multi-spectral, Gen-2 satellites. As a secondary mission, Rocket Lab plans to recover Electron’s first stage after it parachutes back to Earth and splashes down in the ocean.
Panning over Dwarf Galaxy UGCA 307 in Corvus | Hubble
UGCA 307 hangs against an irregular backdrop of distant galaxies in this image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope. This small galaxy consists of a diffuse band of stars containing red bubbles of gas that mark regions of recent star formation, and lies roughly 26 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Corvus. Appearing as just a small patch of stars, UGCA 307 is a diminutive dwarf galaxy without a defined structure—resembling nothing more than a hazy patch of passing cloud.
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, R. Tully
Pan across a Galactic Jellyfish: Galaxy JW100 | Hubble Space Telescope
The galaxy JW100 features prominently in this image from the NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope, with streams of star-forming gas dripping from the disc of the galaxy like streaks of fresh paint. These tendrils of bright gas are formed by a process called ram pressure stripping, and their resemblance to dangling tentacles has led astronomers to refer to JW100 as a ‘jellyfish’ galaxy. It is located in the constellation Pegasus, over 800 million light-years away.
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Hubble & NASA, M. Gullieuszik and the GASP team
NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 Visits Kennedy Space Center to Thank Employees
NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren (left) presents a photo to Kennedy Space Center Deputy Director Kelvin Manning on March 22, 2023, on behalf of the astronaut corps to thank Kennedy employees for supporting NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 launch. To the right of Manning are NASA astronauts Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins. Lindgren, Hines, and Watkins, along with the European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, launched to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on April 27, 2022, from the Florida spaceport’s Launch Complex 39A. The crew remained at the orbiting laboratory for approximately six months, conducting critical science as part of the fourth crew rotation mission for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
Planetary oddball Uranus rolls around the Sun on its side as it follows its 84-year orbit, rather than spinning in a more ’vertical’ position as Earth does. Its weirdly tilted ‘horizontal’ rotation axis is angled just eight degrees off the plane of the planet’s orbit. One recent theory proposes that Uranus once had a massive moon that gravitationally destabilized it and then crashed into it. Other possibilities include giant impacts during the formation of the planets, or even giant planets exerting resonant torques on each other over time. The consequences of Uranus’s tilt are that for stretches of time lasting up to 42 years, parts of one hemisphere are completely without sunlight. When the Voyager 2 spacecraft visited during the 1980s, the planet’s south pole was pointed almost directly at the Sun. Hubble’s latest view shows the northern pole now tipping toward the Sun.
[LEFT] - This is a Hubble view of Uranus taken in 2014, seven years after the northern spring equinox when the Sun was shining directly over the planet’s equator, and shows one of the first images from the OPAL program. Multiple storms with methane ice-crystal clouds appear at mid-northern latitudes above the planet’s cyan-tinted lower atmosphere. Hubble photographed the ring system edge-on in 2007, but the rings are seen starting to open up seven years later in this view. At this time, the planet had multiple small storms and even some faint cloud bands.
[RIGHT] - As seen in 2022, Uranus’s north pole shows a thickened photochemical haze that looks similar to the smog over cities. Several little storms can be seen near the edge of the polar haze boundary. Hubble has been tracking the size and brightness of the north polar cap and it continues to get brighter year after year. Astronomers are disentangling multiple effects—from atmospheric circulation, particle properties, and chemical processes—that control how the atmospheric polar cap changes with the seasons. At the Uranian equinox in 2007, neither pole was particularly bright. As the northern summer solstice approaches in 2028 the cap may grow brighter still, and will be aimed directly toward Earth, allowing good views of the rings and the north pole; the ring system will then appear face-on. This image was taken on November 10, 2022.
Image Description: Two views of the tipped planet Uranus appear side-by-side for comparison.
Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), STScI, A. Simon (NASA-GSFC), M. H. Wong (UC Berkeley), J. DePasquale (STScI)
The forecast for Jupiter is for stormy weather at low northern latitudes. A prominent string of alternating storms is visible, forming a ‘vortex street’ as some planetary astronomers call it. This is a wave pattern of nested cyclones and anticyclones, locked together like the alternating gears of a machine moving clockwise and counterclockwise. If the storms get close enough to each other and merge together, they could build an even larger storm, potentially rivalling the current size of the Great Red Spot. The staggered pattern of cyclones and anticyclones prevents individual storms from merging. Activity is also seen interior to these storms; in the 1990s Hubble did not see any cyclones or anticyclones with built-in thunderstorms, but these storms have sprung up in the last decade. Strong color differences indicate that Hubble is seeing different cloud heights and depths as well.
The orange moon Io photobombs this view of Jupiter’s multicolored cloud tops, casting a shadow toward the planet’s western limb. Hubble’s resolution is so sharp that it can see Io’s mottled-orange appearance, the result of its numerous active volcanoes. These volcanoes were first discovered when the Voyager 1 spacecraft flew by in 1979. The moon’s molten interior is overlaid by a thin crust through which the volcanoes eject material. Sulphur takes on various hues at different temperatures, which is why Io’s surface is so colorful. This photo was taken on November 12, 2022.
Image Description: Jupiter looms large in this image. Set against a black background, the planet is banded in stripes of brownish orange, light gray, soft yellow, and shades of cream. White and cream colored ovals punctuate the planet at all latitudes.
Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), A. Simon (NASA-GSFC), M. H. Wong (UC Berkeley), J. DePasquale (STScI)
Jupiter’s legendary Great Red Spot takes center stage in this view. Though this vortex is big enough to swallow Earth, it has actually shrunk to the smallest size it has ever been according to observation records dating back 150 years. Jupiter’s icy moon Ganymede can be seen transiting the giant planet at lower right. Slightly larger than the planet Mercury, Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System. It is a cratered world and has a mainly water-ice surface with apparent glacial flows driven by internal heat. This image was taken on January 6, 2023.
Image Description: Jupiter looms large in this image. Set against a black background, the planet is banded in stripes of brownish orange, light gray, soft yellow, and shades of cream. White and cream colored ovals punctuate the planet at all latitudes. The icy moon Ganymede appears as a gray, mottled orb crossing the face of Jupiter.
Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), A. Simon (NASA-GSFC), M. H. Wong (UC Berkeley), J. DePasquale (STScI)
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