NASA astronaut Don Pettit took photos of many cosmic events while on his three space flights. From star trails and terrestrial lights to airglow and auroras, he captured his moments in space with skill and beauty. In his new book “Spaceborne” (Press Syndication Group, 2016) Pettit reveals the extraordinary orbital perspective. Here Earth plays a […]
Tag Archives | space
Mars' Southern Polar Cap — Cool on Many Levels
An unearthly scene altogether, the polar cap at Mars’ South Pole — a mosaic of layers of dry ice occurring naturally on the Red Planet — is one terrain Earth and Mars do not have in common. This image is a stereo pair of the Mars’ South Pole taken by HiRISE on the Mars Reconnaissance […]
View of NASA's CYGNSS Hurricane Mission Launch From Chase Plane
Hurricane forecasters will soon have a new tool to better understand and forecast storm intensity. A constellation of eight microsatellites, called NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System mission, or CYGNSS, got a boost into Earth orbit aboard an Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket, deployed from an L-1011 aircraft. To source
Ranger 7: First U.S. Close-Ups of the Moon
This is the first image of the moon ever taken by a U.S. spacecraft Ranger 7 sent this back on July 31, 1964 about 17 minutes before slamming into the lunar surface. Ranger 7 was the first American spacecraft to image the moon’s surface from close-up. Along with Rangers 8 and 9, its pictures helped […]
Cold War-Era Satellites Spy on Himalayan Glaciers
This image shows a region between Nepal and Sikkim, India, as it existed in 2007. Josh Maurer created it using data collected by NASA’s Terra satellite in 2007. SAN FRANCISCO — The Cold War may have ended decades ago, but spy satellites’ data from that era are now being used for a new mission: tracking […]
Juno Safe Mode Triggered by Instrument Glitch
WASHINGTON — As engineers continue to study an engine issue with NASA’s Juno spacecraft, the mission’s principal investigator said Dec. 13 that a problem that put the spacecraft into a safe mode in October was related to a problem handling data from one of the spacecraft’s instruments. Juno went into safe mode about 13 hours […]
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Rosetta’s last words: science descending to a comet
ESA’s Rosetta completed its incredible mission on 30 September, collecting unprecedented images and data right until the moment of contact with the comet’s surface. To source
Actually, That IS a Moon: Saturn's 'Death Star'-Like Mimas
Saturn’s Death Star moon Mimas only looks like a fully operational battle station. But this rocky Saturnian satellite is merely a battered moon and one of the most intriguing objects in the solar system. Saturn’s moon Mimas looks suspiciously similar to the Death Star, a colossal planet-destroying space weapon that terrorizes a galaxy far, far […]
Drill Issue Continues to Afflict Mars Rover Curiosity
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity prepares for a mini-drill test on a rock target called “Mojave” in January 2015. This photo was taken by one of the rover’s hazard cameras. SAN FRANCISCO — Mission controllers have a better understanding of the problem that cropped up recently with the Mars rover Curiosity’s drill, but a fix remains […]
Is Our Home Planet a Cosmic Oddball? The Search for Alien Earths
A selection of exoplanets that orbit in the habitable zone around their stars — where water can sit in liquid form on the surface. From left: Kepler-22b, Kepler-69c, Kepler-452b, Kepler-62f, Kepler-186f and Earth. Debra Fischer is a professor of astronomy at Yale University and a member of Project Blue’s Science and Technology Advisory Committee. She […]
NASA's Next Mars Orbiter Is Being Planned for 2022
NASA’s MAVEN mission at Mars. NASA is planning on sending a new orbiter to Mars. It’ll be a chance to replace some aging hardware and also to get some more amazing science images and data from the Red Planet, in anticipation of more robotic missions to Mars and a possible human mission in the 2030s. […]
Galileo begins serving the globe
Europe’s own Galileo satellite navigation system has begun operating, with the satellites in space delivering positioning, navigation and timing information to users around the globe. To source