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Meet The Airline Of The Future
A collaboration between NASA and Boeing will be established in order to produce a new aircraft simulation that aims to bring the airline industry to the future. The two organizations aim to create a radically different airplane that passengers are not used to seeing.According to them, the new model will have long, skinny wings from the top of the plane’s fuselage. They will also be more slender and lengthy than the regular ones that can be found in commercial aircraft. This conceptual model, called the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator, will be created to find a more fuel-efficient and environment-friendly airplane. This initiative, according to Pamela Melroy, NASA’s deputy administrator was a major commitment to reducing carbon emissions in the air transportation industry. Learn more about the aircraft here. Image credit: Boeing#Boeing #NASA #airplanes #aircrafts #simulations #airspace
Interactive 3D Chalk Murals By Kurt Wenner
Imagine walking down the road and suddenly walking into the middle of a big chasm that was apparently on the path you’re taking. Upon realization, fear or surprise might grip you as your brain tells you that you’re going to fall– but you didn’t. It turns out that this is just one of many art chalk murals around the globe.Kurt Wenner is one of the many artists specializing in creating interactive 3D art chalk pieces. The former NASA employee prefers to draw on streets, sidewalks, and other public spaces. The more interaction it can get, the better! Check out the interview by Wired we've linked above, where he discusses the impactful nature of his work. According to Wenner, the beauty of his work is how it interacts with the environment, the spectators, the public, as well as the point of view of the viewer. From there, he says that it’s fantastic to see how the art piece creates the relationship between all the previously stated elements. #3D #art #chalk #murals #KurtWenner #NASA #interactive #artmurals #chalkart #3Dart
A Green Comet Will Go Near The Earth Again Since The Stone Age
This object came a very long way, indeed.For the very first time since the Stone Age, a ball of ice named C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will be going near the Earth. According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the celestial object is estimated to be about 26 million miles from Earth on February 2.Astronomers believe that this distance is the closest the comet will be to the Earth in 50,000 years. While that distance may seem too far, the icy comet is burning so bright that there is a possibility that we could see it in the night sky. NASA states that while comets are generally unpredictable, this particular one has a big chance of being easily spotted by binoculars."[...]If this one continues its current trend in brightness, it'll be easy to spot with binoculars, and it's just possible it could become visible to the unaided eye under dark skies," the organization wrote in an update last year.The moniker “green comet” comes from its description. The space object is said to have a "greenish coma, short broad dust tail, and long faint ion tail." The color is linked to dicarbon, a molecule that emits the color as the sunlight decays it.Image credit: Mike Hankey#comets #dicarbon #space #NASA
Sun Smiley: "Smiling Face" on the Sun Captured by NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught the Sun in a jolly good mood! The "smiley" face is actually dark patches on the Sun as seen in ultraviolet light.The patches are coronal holes or temporary regions of relatively cool, less dense plasma the Sun's corona which allows solar wind to escape into space.Despite the happy solar smile, the sun's coronal holes may actually mean that the Earth would be hit with a solar storm.#sun #smiley #solarstorm #ultraviolet #NASA
Progress on the Spacesuits for a Moon Mission
Fifty years after the end of the Apollo missions, NASA is set on returning to the moon with its Artemis program. Along with designing rockets and spacecraft for the journey, there will be a need for new spacesuits for lunar exploration and tasks. NASA has spent 15 years and $420 million on designing new suits, but now have contracted the work out to two aerospace companies that will be able to build on NASA's existing research. Those companies are Axiom Space in Texas and Collins Aerospace in North Carolina, which will each work on the suits independently. NASA has budgeted $3.5 billion over the next 12 years for the suits. These new spacesuits will need to be much tougher and more adaptable than the suits Neil Armstrong and the other Apollo astronauts wore to walk on the moon's surface. We've learned a lot about space since then. Dan Burbank, former astronaut and senior tech fellow at Collins Aerospace, explains one of the required innovations.Both Axiom and Collins are designing their suits to be rear-entry. This means that rather than putting a suit on within an airlock and then exiting a spacecraft, as is done with spacesuits currently on the ISS, these new designs could be attached externally to a special NASA-prototyped airlock called a suit port. “You could literally back into a hatch, bond the outer portion of your [suit] to this structure and then open the hatch,” Burbank says. This helps reduce the amount of potentially harmful lunar regolith, or moon dust, that is tracked back inside. Using a suit port “eliminates the regolith hazard,” Burbank says. “None of the exterior of the suit sees the interior of the spacecraft.”This brings up a picture of a landing craft with suits attached around the outside as it lands. What will the aliens think? There are lots more requirements for the new suits. Read about the suits and how these companies plan to address the mission's needs at Scientific American. -via Damn Interesting(Image credit: NASA)#space #spacesuit #Artemis #NASA
2022 NASA Photographer of the Year Winners
NASA's annual photography competition for its employees has concluded, and 12 images received accolades consisting of first, second, and third place awards in four categories: Portrait, Documentation, People, and Places. Shown above is the first place winner in the Portrait category. This is astronaut Thomas Marshburn, photographed by NASA photographer Josh Valcarel.
Plants Can Grow in Lunar Soil (on Earth)
Scientists from the University of Florida have managed to grow plants of the speciesArabidopsis thaliana, or the hardy thale cress, in lunar regolith, which we know as moon dust. Now wait a minute, where did they get moon dust? From the moon, silly. This regolith was brought back by the Apollo missions 50 years ago, and it is still powering experiments here on earth. The plants are not as robust as those grown in earth soil, nor in volcanic ash, but they are growing. This research is aimed at how we can harness the moon's own resources to grow food for possible lunar visitors or even settlers. These plants were grown using seeds, regolith, water, nutrients, and artificial light, only one of which is available on the moon. But it's a step in the right direction. My question is: has the regolith undergone any changes in the 50 years since it was brought to earth? Read more about this experiment at NASA. (Image credit: UF/IFAS photo by Tyler Jones)#lunarsoil #regolith #NASA #plant #moondust
Solar Eclipse on Mars Captured by the Perseverance Rover
Phobos is one of Mars’ moons. In an interesting turn of events, the Mars rover Perseverance has captured footage of the potato-shaped moon eclipsing the planet. The video was taken with the machine’s Mastcam-Z camera on April 2, the 397th Martian day of the mission. The eclipse lasted over forty seconds, which is actually just on par with the solar eclipses we see from Earth.What’s great about this footage, aside from capturing the astronomical event, was that it was able to provide the most zoomed-in image of the moon during an eclipse. “I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t expect it to be this amazing,” said Rachel Howson of Malin Space Science Systems in San DiegoImage credit: Planet Volumes#moons #space #Phobos #Mars #NASA #Perseverance #rover #eclipse
"Beacon in the Galaxy": Scientists Design New Message for Aliens
We’re still not giving up on trying to contact extraterrestrial life.On the 50th anniversary of humanity’s first attempt to send out a message, called the Arecibo message, for aliens, an international team of researchers led by Jonathan Jiang of NASA has designed a new missive for extraterrestrial recipients. This new note is actually a 13-page epistle called Beacon in the Galaxy. The Beacon in the Galaxy contains a basic introduction to mathematics, chemistry, and biology. In addition, the researchers included a plan for when to broadcast the message and where to send the transmission. “The motivation for the design was to deliver the maximum amount of information about our society and the human species in the minimal amount of message,” Jiang explained. “With improvements in digital technology, we can do much better than the [Arecibo message] in 1974.”Will we finally get a reply from outer space? Only time will tell! Image credit: Jiang et.al#space #transmission #message #NASA #BeaconintheGalaxy
Astrophotographer Took a Photo of the International Space Station So Detailed You Can See Spacewalking Astronauts
From Germany to space, with love. Last Wednesday (March 23), astrophotographer Sebastian Voltmer captured a snapshot of spacewalk action from the ground. Using a Celestron 11-inch EdgeHD telescope on a GM2000 HPS mount and an ASI290 planetary camera to get the shot, Voltmer caught the image in the sky from Sankt Wendel, Germany. The picture was of NASA astronaut Raja Chari and the European Space Agency's Matthias Maurer who were performing a variety of maintenance tasks at the exterior of the International Space Station. Voltmer managed to capture the rare sighting shortly after sunset. Interestingly, Maurer’s hometown also happens to be Sankt Wendel, Germany, making the entire circumstance doubly amazing.Image: Sebastian Voltmer#InternationalSpaceStation #astrophotography #telescope #astronaut #NASA #spacewalk
The First-Ever Moon Dust Collected by the Apollo Mission to be Auctioned
On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy delivered a speech to Congress about landing men on the Moon. It was a speech that made thousands of people, scientists, technicians, workers, engineers, and administrators, work together. Over eight years later, on July 20, 1969, what was once a dream became a reality when the Apollo 11 mission landed on the Moon's surface. A few hours after the landing, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin came out of the spacecraft and stepped onto the dusty lunar surface.The Apollo 11 mission, however, not only aimed to bring men to the Moon but also to collect lunar dust for study. The collection of lunar material was assigned to Armstrong, who put about a kilogram of lunar dust on a Teflon bag.Unfortunately, NASA lost this Teflon bag some years later, and it would land in the personal collection of a former curator of the Cosmosphere museum in Kansas. While NASA did prove that the Teflon bag was from the Apollo 11 mission, the agency was ordered to return five of the six scanning electron microscope (SEM) sample stubs that contained the Apollo lunar dust from the bag. This decision made said lunar dust the only verified samples to be legally sold.(Images: Bonham)#NASA #NeilArmstrong #BuzzAldrin #Space #Moon #MoonDust #Apollo11
Star Dunes of Mars
A crater in Mars’ Tyrrhena Terra region can now be seen in high definition. The HiRISE images, which showcase the varying geographical formations that formed in that area, captured the sight.The images were part of research done with the CRISM instrument to detect possible clays. A set of star dunes can be seen on one of the smaller craters in the region. For reference, a star dune is formed by sand particles that were blown by the wind from multiple directions. The dune shape that results is a star pattern, hence the name. These beautiful dunes were theorized to be made most likely of basalt, which is a common volcanic rock.Image credit: NASA/JPL/UArizona#Mars #space #HiRISE #NASA #stardunes #craters #TyrrhenaTerra
Jupiter, Io, and Europa in One Photo Taken by NASA's Juno Spacecraft
It looks like Juno has caught her husband cheating again. This time with two women at once!All mythological jokes aside (let’s get real this amazing yet lowkey funny instance was just the opening for a cheesy joke), there is no cheating involved. This is merely a great feat of technological advancement and scientific prowess.NASA’s Juno is a spacecraft dedicated to orbiting Jupiter and observing the happenings within the planet and its nearby celestial neighbors. The orbiter was able to capture an image of the planet and its two moons nearby in just one photo! The two moons seem to be very far from Jupiter, as the spacecraft was flying closer to the planet at 8,000 miles (61,000 kilometers). Regardless, this rare photo is still amazing! The image was processed by scientist Andrea Luck using the data from the JunoCam instrument, which captured the photograph.Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS#space #Jupiter #Juno #Io #Europa #moons #photography #NASA
Pluto Has Giant Ice Volcanoes
A team of scientists has ascertained that Pluto’s cryovolcanic activities yielded unique structures on its surface. The material from below its surface could have created different land formations such as domes, hills, mounds, and depressions.In an exploratory mission done by NASA’s New Horizons team, experts have determined the cryovolcanic activities caused large areas or regions to form. Kelsi Singer, the deputy project scientist of this program, and his team analyzed one of the formed regions, the Sputnik Planitia. This area is full of gigantic volcanoes, with domes ranging from 1 to 7 kilometers (about one-half to 4 miles) tall and 30 to 100 or more kilometers (about 18 to 60 miles) across, that sometimes merge to form more complex structures. These geographical formations are believed to be formed thanks to the possibility that Pluto's interior structure retained heat into the relatively recent past, enabling water-ice-rich materials to be deposited onto the surface. Image credit: NASA#NASA #icevolcanoes #space #Pluto #cryovolcanoes
The Hubble Space Telescope Spots Farthest Star Ever Seen
NASA announced a new record today. The light that began its journey from a star 12.9 billion years ago has reached the Hubble Space Telescope, making it the furthest star humans have ever seen. That means this particular star existed within the first billion years of the universe's existence. The star has been dubbed Earendel, which is an Old English word for morning star. Earendel is (or was 12 billion years ago) more than 50 times as big as our sun, and millions of times brighter. Since it is so distant and so old, it may be made up of different material than more familiar stars. The previous record for the most distant star ever seen was a four-billion-year-old star detected in 2018. The new star Earendel is ripe for study, as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will be focusing on it for more information. Read more about the discovery of Earendel and what it tells us about the early universe at NASA. -via reddit#star #Hubble #NASA #Earendel
NASA Curiosity Rover Spotted a "Flower" on Mars
A flower-shaped object was spotted by NASA’s curiosity rover during its traversal of the Martian surface. The delicate formation resembled a branching piece of an ocean coral. The formation invites comparisons with Earth objects. Kevin Gill posted the photo on Twitter, describing the object as a “Martian flower.” The Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (Mahli) instrument, the device that serves as the “magnifying hand lens” of the rover, took the photo, hence the image’s small resolution.The “Martian flower” is a reminder of the waters that once inhabited the planet, an area of study that scientists are undertaking to figure out if the planet was once capable of hosting microbial life. Image credit: Kevin M. Gill/ NASA #Mars #Curiosity #rovers #NASA #space #photographs #formation
First Image From NASA's Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE)
NASA's Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) finally delivered its first image on Valentine's Day 2022. In the image was Cassiopeia A, a supernova remnant about 11,000 light years away from Earth. While other telescopes have already studied Cassiopeia A before, like the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, scientists believe that the IXPE will bring something new to the table, comparing its first image to Chandra's (which also has Cassiopeia A as its first image). The IXPE will allow scientists to identify where the light originates via polarization. With the polarization data, scientists will be able to create the very first X-ray polarization map of the supernova remnant. From this map, they might be able to identify how X-rays are produced from the object. (Image Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/IXPE) #Astronomy #Supernova #SupernovaRemnant #NASA #ImagingXrayPolarimetryExplorer
Beneath Its Thick Cover of Clouds, the Rocky Surface of Venus Glows Like a "Piece of Iron Pulled From a Forge"
Venus’ rocky surface can clearly be seen in the images captured by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. Thanks to the probe’s Wide-Field Imager (WISPR), the entire nightside of the planet was captured and combined into a video. The video revealed a faint glow from the surface. Continental regions, plains, and plateaus can also be seen on the planet. According to Nicola Fox, division director for the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters, the images can help experts learn more about the geology of the Earth’s twin. The insight the probe has given through these images has thrilled them. “Parker continues to outperform our expectations, and we are excited that these novel observations taken during our gravity assist maneuver can help advance Venus research in unexpected ways,” Fox added.The images are the first instance that the planet’s surface can be seen at visible wavelengths, as the surface is blocked by a thick atmosphere. The WISPR cameras were able to pick up the wavelengths that got through the clouds of Venus. Image credit: NASA/APL/NRL #space #Venus #science #WISPR #NASA #ParkerSolarProbe
Drifting Clouds Across the Skies of Mars Captured by NASA Rover Curiosity
On December 12, 2021, the navigation camera aboard NASA's Curiosity rover took two 1-second-8-frame images of the Red Planet's atmosphere. Unlike clouds here on Earth, clouds on Mars are very faint in the atmosphere, so it took special imaging techniques to see them. The clouds are also very high, some 80 km (about 50 miles) above the surface. It is extremely cold at this height, which suggests that these are carbon dioxide ice clouds and not water ice clouds (which can be found at lower altitudes). Literally cool.(Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/York University)#Mars #Clouds #Curiosity #NASA
The First Images Captured by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Include a "Primary Mirror Selfie"
This is HD84406. It is one of the many stars that you will see in the constellation Ursa Major. Scientists chose to photograph this star because it is not around other stars with the same brightness. Now you might wonder where the star is in this picture. The answer is: it's all of the bright spots in the photo. Why is that the case? That's because the telescope that took this photo, the James Webb Space Telescope, has 18 primary mirror segments. And this is where the challenging part comes in: the team behind the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument (the tool used by the telescope) will have to adjust the mirror segments until the images become one bright star. This photo of the HD84406 has been helpful in the process. The team has successfully identified which bright spot corresponds with which mirror.Aside from the image, the team also took a selfie of the telescope's primary mirror. The selfie was made possible by the specialized imaging lens inside the NIRCam instrument. The lens will also help the team confirm if the alignment is good.(Images: NASA)#JamesWebbSpaceTelescope #NASA #Space
The Planned Death of the International Space Station
The International Space Station was launched in 1998, and by now it seems like it was always there. But all good things must come to an end, and the ISS will be decommissioned in 2030. Then what? Because the space station is in a relatively low orbit, it currently has to be boosted on a regular basis to keep it from falling to earth. Once it is abandoned, it must be destroyed. This week, NASA released their plan for bringing the ISS back down to earth safely. In January of 2031, the ISS will be "de-orbited" with the aim of crashing it into the Pacific Ocean at a place called Point Nemo, which is also the “Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility” because it is 2,700 miles from any land, and therefore void of shipping traffic. This spot is the traditional graveyard of space debris.
NASA's Eyes on the Earth Lets You Track Its Satellites in Real-Time
Get to know our planet better through NASA's real-time visualization tool called "Eyes on the Earth." With it, you'll be able to see the planet's "vital signs" such as air temperature, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide levels, sea level, and many more. The tool also displays the path of the many satellites that roam the Earth.The tool is available over at NASA's official website.NASA also provides easy-to-follow tips on how to use it, over here.(Image Credit: NASA)#NASA #Earth #Environment #satellite
NASA Practices for Armageddon
In the 1998 movie Armageddon, astronauts landed on an asteroid and blew it up with nuclear weapons. In another 1998 film, Deep Impact, astronauts do the same to a comet. Both missions were to keep the celestial object from colliding with Earth. The new science fiction comedy Don't Look Up appears to have somewhat the same plot. You may wonder if such a scenario is possible. Yes it is, as we know from the asteroid impact that sent the dinosaurs into oblivion. Is it likely? That depends on what size asteroid, and what size disaster you are willing to endure. But NASA is definitely thinking about contingency plans. The space agency's Double Asteroid Redirection Test Mission, or DART, is a test to see if we have the know-how to avert an incoming asteroid. The mission lifted off yesterday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It will take nearly a year to reach its target, a moon revolving around the asteroid Didymos. The small asteroid is not on a collision course for Earth, but presents a test case for our ability to alter an asteroid's course. Rest assured that the DART spacecraft will not deploy nuclear weapons. The aim is not to obliterate the asteroid, just change its trajectory. While that doesn't make the mission quite as exciting as a movie, it will be much more useful for our ability to save Earth if that ever becomes necessary. Read about the mission at CNN. (Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab) #asteroid #asteroiddeflection #NASA #DART
The Ultimate House Tour: Float Through the International Space Station with a 360 Degree Camera
The International Space Station may perhaps be the most challenging place to go to. For one, you have to be an astronaut to live there, and being an astronaut requires a lot. To be one, you'd need a master's degree in a STEM field and at least two years of related, professional experience. Last but not least, you need to be able to pass the NASA astronaut physical. It is without saying that there are only a few people qualified to go to the ISS. The rest of us, meanwhile, are left wondering what it is like inside the orbital outpost.ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet shows us around the station with a 360 camera. And what's inside the station, you ask? Well, it's mostly wires and lots of monitors.(Video Credit: European Space Agency, ESA)#NASA #ESA #InternationalSpaceStation #ISS #Space
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