Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Birth of a Distant Cluster of Galaxies from The Early Universe | ESO

Birth of a Distant Cluster of Galaxies from The Early Universe | ESO

This image shows several galaxies distributed over a black background. The galaxies have colors that range from blue, orange-red, yellow and white. In the center of the image is a larger concentration of galaxies. Overlaid on the galaxies in the middle is a blue and semi-transparent region. It has a clumpy form with indistinct contours. There are smaller, dark blue regions around it.

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), of which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner, astronomers have discovered a large reservoir of hot gas in the still-forming galaxy cluster around the Spiderweb galaxy—the most distant detection of such hot gas yet. Galaxy clusters are some of the largest objects known in the Universe and this result, published today in Nature, further reveals just how early these structures begin to form.

Galaxy clusters, as the name suggests, host a large number of galaxies—sometimes even thousands. They also contain a vast “intracluster medium” (ICM) of gas that permeates the space between the galaxies in the cluster. This gas in fact considerably outweighs the galaxies themselves. Much of the physics of galaxy clusters is well understood; however, observations of the earliest phases of formation of the ICM remain scarce.

Previously, the ICM had only been studied in fully-formed nearby galaxy clusters. Detecting the ICM in distant protoclusters—that is, still-forming galaxy clusters—would allow astronomers to catch these clusters in the early stages of formation. A team led by Luca Di Mascolo, first author of the study and researcher at the University of Trieste, Italy, were keen to detect the ICM in a protocluster from the early stages of the Universe.

Galaxy clusters are so massive that they can bring together gas that heats up as it falls towards the cluster. “Cosmological simulations have predicted the presence of hot gas in protoclusters for over a decade, but observational confirmations has been missing,” explains Elena Rasia, researcher at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) in Trieste, Italy, and co-author of the study. “Pursuing such key observational confirmation led us to carefully select one of the most promising candidate protoclusters.” That was the Spiderweb protocluster, located at an epoch when the Universe was only 3 billion years old. Despite being the most intensively studied protocluster, the presence of the ICM has remained elusive. Finding a large reservoir of hot gas in the Spiderweb protocluster would indicate that the system is on its way to becoming a proper, long-lasting galaxy cluster rather than dispersing.

Di Mascolo’s team detected the ICM of the Spiderweb protocluster through what’s known as the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect. This effect happens when light from the cosmic microwave background — the relic radiation from the Big Bang—passes through the ICM. When this light interacts with the fast-moving electrons in the hot gas it gains a bit of energy and its color, or wavelength, changes slightly. “At the right wavelengths, the SZ effect thus appears as a shadowing effect of a galaxy cluster on the cosmic microwave background,” explains Di Mascolo. 

By measuring these shadows on the cosmic microwave background, astronomers can therefore infer the existence of the hot gas, estimate its mass and map its shape. “Thanks to its unparalleled resolution and sensitivity, ALMA is the only facility currently capable of performing such a measurement for the distant progenitors of massive clusters,” says Di Mascolo.

They determined that the Spiderweb protocluster contains a vast reservoir of hot gas at a temperature of a few tens of millions of degrees Celsius. Previously, cold gas had been detected in this protocluster, but the mass of the hot gas found in this new study outweighs it by thousands of times. This finding shows that the Spiderweb protocluster is indeed expected to turn into a massive galaxy cluster in around 10 billion years, growing its mass by at least a factor of ten.

Tony Mroczkowski, co-author of the paper and researcher at ESO, explains that “this system exhibits huge contrasts. The hot thermal component will destroy much of the cold component as the system evolves, and we are witnessing a delicate transition." He concludes that "it provides observational confirmation of long-standing theoretical predictions about the formation of the largest gravitationally bound objects in the Universe.”

These results help to set the groundwork for synergies between ALMA and ESO’s upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), which “will revolutionize the study of structures like the Spiderweb,” says Mario Nonino, a co-author of the study and researcher at the Astronomical Observatory of Trieste. The ELT and its state-of-the-art instruments, such as HARMONI and MICADO, will be able to peer into protoclusters and tell us about the galaxies in them in great detail. Together with ALMA’s capabilities to trace the forming ICM, this will provide a crucial glimpse into the assembly of some of the largest structures in the early Universe.


Credit: ESO/Di Mascolo et al.; HST: H. Ford

Release Date: March 29, 2023


#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #ESO #Galaxy #SpiderwebGalaxy #Galaxies #Gas #ICM #Hydra #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #EarlyUniverse #Cosmology #ALMA #Chile #Europe #STEM #Education

NASA's SpaceX Crew-4: Field Trip to The National Air and Space Museum

NASA's SpaceX Crew-4: Field Trip to The National Air & Space Museum


NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Jessica Watkins, and Robert Hines are seen looking at an interactive recreation of the International Space Station’s Cupola on March 28, 2023 at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington.

NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, left, Jessica Watkins, center, and Bob Hines, right, take in the view from the interactive recreation of the International Space Station’s cupola in the One World Connected gallery at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum on March 28, 2023. Lindgren, Watkins, and Hines spent 170 days in space as part of Expeditions 67 and 68 aboard the International Space Station; while aboard the orbital laboratory, they conducted maintenance on the space station as well as science experiments.


Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Image Date: March 28, 2023


#NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #Science #SpaceX #CrewDragon #CrewDragonFreedom #SpaceXCrew4 #Spacecraft #Astronauts #KjellLindgren #JessicaWatkins #RobertHines #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition67 #Expedition68 #JSC #Washington #Museum #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

SpaceX's 27th Cargo Resupply Mission | International Space Station

SpaceX's 27th Cargo Resupply Mission | International Space Station





On March 16, 2023, a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft docked to the forward-facing port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module at 7:31 a.m. EDT for the CRS-27 Commercial Resupply Mission. Dragon delivered over 6,200 pounds of research, hardware, and supplies. 

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

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)


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.


Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Image Date: March 16, 2023

#NASA #Space #ISS #Earth #SpaceX #DragonSpacecraft #CRS27 #CommercialResupplyServices #ElonMusk #GwynneShotwell #Astronauts #Cosmonauts #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition68 #Technology #Engineering #UnitedStates #Russia #UAE #International #STEM #Education

Studying Snowmelt Levels with NASA’s B200 King Air | NASA Armstrong

Studying Snowmelt Levels with NASA’s B200 King Air | NASA Armstrong

More than 1 billion people rely on seasonal mountain snowmelt as a resource for their water supply and a team of NASA scientists and aircraft operators are measuring snow levels to better understand the contribution to our water resources.

In a series of two deployments in early February and March, pilots from NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards Calif., flew the B200 King Air that was retrofitted with a specially designed radar developed by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, to study new methods in measuring the snow levels.

The Signals of Opportunity Synthetic Aperture Radar (SoOpSAR) collects detailed data on the snow that melts from the mountainous region by utilizing radio signals in the environment to communicate information about the snow to scientists and how it contributes to the water supply.

 

Credit: NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC)

Duration: 1 minute 25 seconds

Release Date: March 29, 2023


#NASA #Space #Science #Satellites #Earth #Planet #ClimateChange #Environment #Precipitation #Snow #Snowmelt #Water #WaterSupplies #Humanity #Aircraft #Beechcraft #B200KingAir #AirborneScience #SoOpSAR #Radar #JPL #NASAArmstrong #California #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

What Makes a Galaxy's Wind Blow? | NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory

What Makes a Galaxy's Wind Blow? | NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory

On Earth, wind can transport particles of dust and debris across the planet, with sand from the Sahara ending up in the Caribbean or volcanic ash from Iceland being deposited in Greenland. Wind can also have a big impact on the ecology and environment of a galaxy, just like on Earth, but on much larger and dramatic scales.

A new study using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory shows the effects of powerful winds launched from the center of a nearby galaxy, NGC 253, located 11.4 million light-years from Earth. This galactic wind is composed of gas with temperatures of millions of degrees that glows in X-rays. An amount of hot gas equivalent to about two million Earth masses blows away from the galaxy’s center every year.

NGC 253 is a spiral galaxy, making it similar to our Milky Way. However, stars are forming in NGC 253 at a higher rate than our home galaxy. Some of these young stars are massive and generate a wind by ferociously blowing gas from their surfaces. Powerful winds are also unleashed when, later in their relatively short lives, these stars explode as supernovas, and hurl waves of material out into space.

NGC 253 gives astronomers a keyhole through which to study this important phase in the stellar life cycle. The material that the young stars send out into intergalactic space across hundreds of light-years is enriched with elements forged in their interior. These elements, which include many responsible for life on Earth, are folded into the next generations of stars and planets.

A team of researchers used deep Chandra observations, taken over four days, to study the properties of the wind. They found that the densities and temperatures of the gas in the wind are the highest in the central 800 light-years—and then decrease with distance away from the center of the galaxy. This is an important clue to some of the details of the physics happening in this galaxy.

More work is needed to match up theoretical models with the data from Chandra and other telescopes of NGC 253. Astronomers will also need more observations in the future of other galaxies with winds to better understand this important process.


Credit: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Duration: 2 minutes, 55 seconds

Release Date: March 29, 2023


#NASA #Astronomy #Science #Space #Stars #Galaxies #Galaxy #Spiral #NGC253 #Sculptor #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Xray #ChandraObservatory #MSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Greetings to Expedition 69, Farewell Expedition 68 | International Space Station

Greetings to Expedition 69, Farewell Expedition 68 | International Space Station


Expedition 68 Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi


Expedition 68 Flight Engineers Frank Rubio and Sultan Alneyadi


Expedition 68 Flight Engineer Woody Hoburg


Expedition 68 Flight Engineer Stephen Bowen


Expedition 68 Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi


Expedition 68 Flight Engineer Anna Kikina (Russia)


Expedition 68 Flight Engineers Koichi Wakata and Sultan Alneyadi

Official insignia of the Expedition 69 Mission


Expedition 69 on the International Space Station officially began on March 28, 2023.

Follow Expedition 69 updates here:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/


Expedition 69 Crew (March 2023)

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

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

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)

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.


Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Dates: March 5-28, 2023


#NASA #Space #Earth #Science #Astronauts #Cosmonauts #HumanSpaceflight #Europe #Canada #Japan #日本 #Russia #Россия #Роскосмос #UAE #Microgravity #SpaceResearch #SpaceLaboratory #UNOOSA #InternationalCooperation #Expedition68 #Expedition69 #STEM #Education

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

NASA's Artemis II Moon Crew Announcement: Watch April 3, 2023

NASA's Artemis II Moon Crew Announcement: Watch April 3, 2023

Don't miss it! NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will announce the four astronauts who will venture around the Moon on an Orion spacecraft during an event at 11 a.m. EDT on Monday, April 3, 2023, from Ellington Field at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA's Artemis II Mission is the first crewed flight test on the agency’s path to establishing a long-term scientific and human presence on the lunar surface.

Watch the live YouTube event here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mua1Lysc_JQ


Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Producer/Editor: Phil Sexton

Producers: Aly Lee, Sami Aziz, Radislav Sinyak

Duration: 47 seconds

Release Date: March 28, 2023


#NASA #ESA #CSA #Space #Moon #Artemis #ArtemisII #OrionSpacecraft #SLSRocket #DeepSpace #Astronauts #Americans #Canadians #Mars #MoonToMars #Science #Engineering #Technology #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #Houston #Texas #UnitedStates #Canada #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Behind The Mission: Scientist Sarah Kendrew | Space Telescope Science Institute

Behind The Mission: Scientist Sarah Kendrew | Space Telescope Science Institute

It takes many people working behind the scenes to help make astronomical discoveries possible. The European Space Agency’s Sarah Kendrew, who works at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, discusses her role as an instrument and calibration scientist—and why the Webb mission is not only for scientists. 


Credit: Space Telescope Science Institute

Duration: 2 minutes

Release Date: March 16, 2023


#NASA #ESA #Astronomy #Space #Science #SarahKendrew #Scientist #Women #WomensHistoryMonth #WomenInSTEM #WomenInScience #Hubble #SpaceTelescopes #HST #JWST #Cosmos #Universe #MAST #STScI #Baltimore #Maryland #UnitedStates #Europe #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Blue Origin BE-7 Thrust Chamber Assembly Hotfire Test | NASA Marshall

Blue Origin BE-7 Thrust Chamber Assembly Hotfire Test | NASA Marshall

On March 20, 2023, Blue Origin's BE-7 team conducted another successful Thrust Chamber Assembly (TCA) test at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Test Stand 116 in Huntsville, Alabama. Our tests on an upgraded TCA bring our cumulative test time to more than 4,000 seconds, and we are on track in our engine development path. This was a self-funded test as part of our campaign to advance our lunar capabilities.


Credit: Blue Origin

Duration: 40 seconds

Release Date: March 28, 2023  


#NASA #Space #Moon #LunarExploration #Science #Technology #BlueOrigin #BE7Team #ThrustChamberAssembly #TCA #RocketEngine #EngineTest #NASAMarshall #MSFC #Huntsville #Alabama #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Earth’s Radiant Atmosphere: Orbital Sunset | International Space Station

Earth’s Radiant Atmosphere: Orbital Sunset | International Space Station

The last rays of an orbital sunset illuminate the Earth's atmosphere in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 269 miles above the Atlantic Ocean off the coast Argentina.

The last rays of an orbital sunset illuminate the Earth's atmosphere in this Feb. 17, 2023, photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 269 miles above the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Argentina. Astronauts aboard the space station see 16 sunrises and sunsets per day.


Image Credit: NASA

Release Date: Feb. 17, 2023


#NASA #Space #Earth #Planet #Atmosphere #Science #Sun #Star #ISS #OrbitalSunset #AtlanticOcean #Argentina #SouthAmerica #Astronauts #Cosmonauts #HumanSpaceflight #Europe #Canada #Japan #日本 #Russia #Россия #Research #Laboratory #InternationalCooperation #Expedition68 #STEM #Education

Uncrewed Russian Soyuz MS-22 Spacecraft Landing in Kazakhstan

Uncrewed Russian Soyuz MS-22 Spacecraft Landing in Kazakhstan

The uncrewed Roscosmos Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft made an automated, parachute-assisted landing in Kazakhstan at 7:46 a.m. EDT (5:46 p.m. Kazakhstan time) on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, after undocking from the International Space Station at 5:57 a.m.

Remaining aboard the station is the seven-person crew of Expedition 69 with Station Commander Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos (Russia), NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen, Woody Hoburg, and Frank Rubio, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Andrey Fedyaev (Russia) and Dmitri Petelin (Russia).


Credit: Roscosmos

Acknowledgement: SciTech News

Duration: 3 minutes, 40 seconds

Release Date: March 28, 2023


#NASA #Space #ISS #Earth #Spacecraft #SoyuzMS22 #СоюзМС22 #Landing #СоюзМС22посадка #Uncrewed #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition69 #Technology #Engineering #UnitedStates #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #UAE #InternationalCooperation #SpaceResearch #SpaceLaboratory #STEM #Education #HD #Video

New Mars Images: March 2023 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

New Mars Images: March 2023 | NASA's Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Mars 2020 - Perseverance Rover: "You might know I carry a 'pet rock' in my left front wheel, which tumbled in there over a year ago. But did you know others have joined the journey too? I’ve picked up two additional hitchhikers, in my right front and rear wheels. Fine by me—let’s keep rolling!"


Mars2020 - sol 746


MSL - sol 3780


MSL - sol 3780


Mars2020 - sol 745


MSL - sol 3778


MSL - sol 3778


MSL - sol 3778

Celebrating 10 Years+ on Mars! (2012-2023)

Mission Name: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)

Rover Name: Curiosity

Main Job: To determine if Mars was ever habitable to microbial life. 

Launch: Nov. 6, 2011

Landing Date: Aug. 5, 2012, Gale Crater, Mars


Mission Name: Mars 2020

Rover Name: Perseverance

Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.

Mars Helicopter (Ingenuity)

Launch: July 30, 2020    

Landing: Feb. 18, 2021, Jezero Crater, Mars


For more information on NASA's Mars missions, visit: mars.nasa.gov


Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Processing: Kevin M. Gill

Image Release Dates: March 17-27, 2023


#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #Planet #Mars #RedPlanet #Astrobiology #Geology #CuriosityRover #MSL #MountSharp #GaleCrater #PerseveranceRover #Mars2020 #Ingenuity #MarsHelicopter #JezeroCrater #Robotics #Technology #Engineering #JPL #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Uncrewed Russian Soyuz Spacecraft Undocking | International Space Station

Uncrewed Russian Soyuz Spacecraft Undocking | International Space Station


The uncrewed Roscosmos Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft (Russia) undocked from the International Space Station at 5:57 a.m. EDT, on March 28, 2023, heading for an automated, parachute-assisted landing in Kazakhstan at 7:45 a.m. (5:45 p.m. Kazakhstan time).

Expedition 69 officially began aboard the station at the time of undocking. Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev (Russia) is the station commander for the crew consisting of NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen, Woody Hoburg, and Frank Rubio, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Andrey Fedyaev (Russia) and Dmitri Petelin (Russia).

Follow Expedition 69 updates here:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 69 Crew (March 2023)

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.

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

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) Education


Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Acknowledgement: SciNews

Duration: 4 minutes, 36 seconds

Release Date: March 28, 2023


#NASA #Space #ISS #Earth #Spacecraft #SoyuzMS22 #Undocking #Astronauts #Cosmonauts #HumanSpaceflight #Expedition69 #Technology #Engineering #UnitedStates #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #UAE #InternationalCooperation #SpaceResearch #SpaceLaboratory #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Monday, March 27, 2023

NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 Astronauts Thank Kennedy Space Center Employees

NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 Astronauts Thank Kennedy Space Center Employees


Crew-4 Employee Event: From left, NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Jessica Watkins, and Kjell Lindgren prepare to serve cake to Kennedy Space Center employees during an appreciation event held at the Florida spaceport’s KARS Park on March 22, 2023

NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren speaks to Kennedy Space Center employees
From left, NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Jessica Watkins, and Kjell Lindgren take a photo with a Kennedy Space Center employee during an appreciation event
From left, NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Jessica Watkins, and Bob Hines sign posters for Kennedy Space Center employees
NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren shakes hands with a Kennedy Space Center employee
The insignia representing the SpaceX Crew-4 mission

NASA astronauts Bob Hines, Jessica Watkins, and Kjell Lindgren thanked Kennedy Space Center employees during an appreciation event held at the Florida spaceport’s KARS Park on March 22, 2023. Hines, Watkins, and Lindgren, along with the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, launched to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on April 27, 2022, from Kennedy’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.


Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Image Date: March 22, 2023


#NASA #Space #Earth #ISS #Science #SpaceX #CrewDragon #CrewDragonFreedom #SpaceXCrew4 #Spacecraft #Astronauts #KjellLindgren #JessicaWatkins #RobertHines #HumanSpaceflight #JSC #KSC #KennedySpaceCenter #Spaceport #Florida #UnitedStates #STEM #Education

Recientemente en la NASA: El cohete de Artemis II a la Luna empieza a tomar forma

Recientemente en la NASA: El cohete de Artemis II a la Luna empieza a tomar forma

Recientemente en la NASA, la versión en español de las cápsulas This Week at NASA, te informa semanalmente de lo que está sucediendo en la NASA. 

Ciencia de la NASA: https://ciencia.nasa.gov/


Credit: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Duration: 2 minutes

Original Broadcast Date: March 24, 2023 

Release Date: March 27, 2023


#NASA #NASAenespañol #español #Space #Astronomy #JWST #Exoplanet #Moon #ArtemisII #Orion #Spacecraft #SLS #Rocket #DeepSpace #Astronaut #BillAnders #Mars #MoonToMars #Science #Engineering #Robotics #SpaceExploration #SolarSystem #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video

Rocket Lab's Electron Launches Earth Observation Satellites from New Zealand

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.


Credit: Rocket Lab/Phil Yeo

Release Date: March 24, 2023


#NASA #Space #Earth #Satellites #RocketLab #Electron #Rocket #Launch #BlackSky #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #GeospatialIntelligence #NewZealand #MahiaPeninsula #CommercialSpace #PeterBeck #Technology #Engineering #MilkyWayGalaxy #Astrophotography #STEM #Education