Riding with Robots on the High Frontier
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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is aligned across all four of its science instruments, as seen in a previous engineering image showing the observatory's full field of view. Now, we take a closer look at that same image, focusing on Webb's coldest instrument: the Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI.
The MIRI test image (at 7.7 microns) shows part of the Large Magellanic Cloud. This small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way provided a dense star field to test Webb’s performance.
Here, a close-up of the MIRI image is compared to a past image of the same target taken with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope’s Infrared Array Camera (at 8.0 microns). The retired Spitzer telescope was one of NASA’s Great Observatories and the first to provide high-resolution images of the near- and mid-infrared universe. Webb, with its significantly larger primary mirror and improved detectors, will allow us to see the infrared sky with improved clarity, enabling even more discoveries.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech (left), NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI (right)
#NASAMarshall #jwst #space #telescope
Whether a snowflake is delicate and ornate, or dense and pellet-like heavily depends on how "rimed" it is. Riming happens when water vapor fills small cavities within the ice crystals, and then overflows, allowing water to pool into droplets.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Jussi Leinonen
More info: NASA has produced the first three-dimensional numerical model of melting snowflakes in the atmosphere. Developed by scientist Jussi Leinonen of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the model provides a better understanding of how snow melts can help scientists recognize the signature in radar signals of heavier, wetter snow -- the kind that breaks power lines and tree limbs -- and could be a step toward improving predictions of this hazard.
www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-visualizes-the-dan...
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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Processed using red, green, and violet filtered images of Io taken by Galileo on July 2 1999.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Kevin M. Gill
In this rare image taken on July 19, 2013, the wide-angle camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured Saturn's rings and our planet Earth and its moon in the same frame. It is only one footprint in a mosaic of 33 footprints covering the entire Saturn ring system (including Saturn itself). At each footprint, images were taken in different spectral filters for a total of 323 images: some were taken for scientific purposes and some to produce a natural color mosaic. This is the only wide-angle footprint that has the Earth-moon system in it.
The dark side of Saturn, its bright limb, the main rings, the F ring, and the G and E rings are clearly seen; the limb of Saturn and the F ring are overexposed. The "breaks" in the brightness of Saturn's limb are due to the shadows of the rings on the globe of Saturn, preventing sunlight from shining through the atmosphere in those regions. The E and G rings have been brightened for better visibility.
Earth, which is 898 million miles (1.44 billion kilometers) away in this image, appears as a blue dot at center right; the moon can be seen as a fainter protrusion off its right side. An arrow indicates their location in the annotated version. (The two are clearly seen as separate objects in the accompanying narrow angle frame: PIA14949.) The other bright dots nearby are stars.
This is only the third time ever that Earth has been imaged from the outer solar system. The acquisition of this image, along with the accompanying composite narrow- and wide-angle image of Earth and the moon and the full mosaic from which both are taken, marked the first time that inhabitants of Earth knew in advance that their planet was being imaged. That opportunity allowed people around the world to join together in social events to celebrate the occasion.
This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 20 degrees below the ring plane.
Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were obtained with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on July 19, 2013 at a distance of approximately 753,000 miles (1.212 million kilometers) from Saturn, and approximately 898.414 million miles (1.445858 billion kilometers) from Earth. Image scale on Saturn is 43 miles (69 kilometers) per pixel; image scale on the Earth is 53,820 miles (86,620 kilometers) per pixel. The illuminated areas of neither Earth nor the Moon are resolved here.
Consequently, the size of each "dot" is the same size that a point of light of comparable brightness would have in the wide-angle camera.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit www.nasa.gov/cassini and saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
The Last Sleepless Dreamer - Tribute To René Magritte by Daniel Arrhakis (2020)
With the music : Payphone - Maroon 5 (Boyce Avenue acoustic cover)
youtu.be/9lejDw3dtsw?list=PL-h7IcRgaW1pg_9Rx3lloq0g46yJ3enfj
Work based in the Oil Painting of René Magritte (1898-1967) : "The Schoolmaster" (1955)
www.wikiart.org/en/rene-magritte/the-schoolmaster-1954
In "The Schoolmaster" (1955), we're treated to a silhouetted view with a bowler hat from behind, a sliver of a moon directly over this Everyman's head as he gazes out at a starry night.
Work made for this Week Theme in our group Recreating Masters : The schoolmaster, 1954 - René Magritte - June 14 to 27 of 2020
For details see our discussion :
www.flickr.com/groups/recreatingmasters/discuss/721577147...
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Work made with stock images and images of mine. Mars image by OSIRIS instrument on the European Space Agency (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft during its February 2007 flyby of the planet. and mars surface land textures by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona.
City (Sears Tower, USA) from Pexels (C0) :
images.pexels.com/photos/1722183/pexels-photo-1722183.jpe...
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Whether a snowflake is delicate and ornate, or dense and pellet-like heavily depends on how "rimed" it is. Riming happens when water vapor fills small cavities within the ice crystals, and then overflows, allowing water to pool into droplets.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Jussi Leinonen
More info: NASA has produced the first three-dimensional numerical model of melting snowflakes in the atmosphere. Developed by scientist Jussi Leinonen of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the model provides a better understanding of how snow melts can help scientists recognize the signature in radar signals of heavier, wetter snow -- the kind that breaks power lines and tree limbs -- and could be a step toward improving predictions of this hazard.
www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-visualizes-the-dan...
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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From more than 40 countries and 30 U.S. states, people around the world shared more than 1,400 images of themselves as part of the Wave at Saturn event organized by NASA's Cassini mission. That event on July 19, 2013, marked the day the Cassini spacecraft turned back toward Earth to take our picture as part of a larger mosaic of the Saturn system. The images came via Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Google+ and email. As a tribute to the people of Earth, the mission has assembled this collage from the shared images, using an image of Earth as the base image.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Andromeda Galaxy, also called Messier 31 or M31, is the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way.
It is 2.5 million light years away from Earth and is the other major member of the Local Group, our local collection of galaxies.
Like the Milky Way, it is a barred spiral galaxy, so-called for the bar-like structure formed by the stars in its center.
Andromeda is about 260,000 light-years wide, according to NASA, making it the largest galaxy in the Local Group. However, its mass is roughly comparable to or even less than that of the Milky Way, according to NASA JPL
Scientists think the galaxy could be anywhere from 5 and 10 billion years old. However, it may not have existed in its current form until two or three billion years ago, when two smaller galaxies orbiting each other merged to form the current Andromeda Galaxy, according to a 2018 study.
Telescope: TMB-92
Camera: QSI-583ws
Mount: NEQ-6 with OAG
Exposures:
19x300s L
3x300s B
9x300s R,G
9x900s Ha ; 12x1200s Ha
Total: 9,6 hours
Whether a snowflake is delicate and ornate, or dense and pellet-like heavily depends on how "rimed" it is. Riming happens when water vapor fills small cavities within the ice crystals, and then overflows, allowing water to pool into droplets.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Jussi Leinonen
More info: NASA has produced the first three-dimensional numerical model of melting snowflakes in the atmosphere. Developed by scientist Jussi Leinonen of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the model provides a better understanding of how snow melts can help scientists recognize the signature in radar signals of heavier, wetter snow -- the kind that breaks power lines and tree limbs -- and could be a step toward improving predictions of this hazard.
www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-visualizes-the-dan...
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
Follow us on Twitter
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Whether a snowflake is delicate and ornate, or dense and pellet-like heavily depends on how "rimed" it is. Riming happens when water vapor fills small cavities within the ice crystals, and then overflows, allowing water to pool into droplets.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Jussi Leinonen
More info: NASA has produced the first three-dimensional numerical model of melting snowflakes in the atmosphere. Developed by scientist Jussi Leinonen of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the model provides a better understanding of how snow melts can help scientists recognize the signature in radar signals of heavier, wetter snow -- the kind that breaks power lines and tree limbs -- and could be a step toward improving predictions of this hazard.
www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-visualizes-the-dan...
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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Voyager's Golden Record cover with its extraterrestrial instructions. #MessageToVoyager We offer friendship across the stars. You are not alone. voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/
Whether a snowflake is delicate and ornate, or dense and pellet-like heavily depends on how "rimed" it is. Riming happens when water vapor fills small cavities within the ice crystals, and then overflows, allowing water to pool into droplets.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Jussi Leinonen
More info: NASA has produced the first three-dimensional numerical model of melting snowflakes in the atmosphere. Developed by scientist Jussi Leinonen of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the model provides a better understanding of how snow melts can help scientists recognize the signature in radar signals of heavier, wetter snow -- the kind that breaks power lines and tree limbs -- and could be a step toward improving predictions of this hazard.
www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-visualizes-the-dan...
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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3D Render view of rocky mounds in Ganges Chasma Mars.
3D made from NASA/JPL University of Arizona DTMs
On September 24 at 11:29 GMT, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck in south-central Pakistan at a relatively shallow depth of 20 kilometers. The earthquake occurred as the result of oblique strike-slip motion, consistent with rupture within the Eurasian tectonic plate. Tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi as well as Karachi in Pakistan. Even though the immediate area to the epicenter is sparsely populated, the majority of houses are of mud brick construction and damage is expected to be extensive. The perspective view, looking to the east, shows the location of the epicenter in Pakistan's Makran fold belt. The image is centered near 27 degrees north latitude, 65.5 degrees east longitude, and was acquired December 13, 2012.
With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER images Earth to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet. ASTER is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched Dec. 18, 1999, on Terra. The instrument was built by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. A joint U.S./Japan science team is responsible for validation and calibration of the instrument and data products.
The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER provides scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information for surface mapping and monitoring of dynamic conditions and temporal change. Example applications are: monitoring glacial advances and retreats; monitoring potentially active volcanoes; identifying crop stress; determining cloud morphology and physical properties; wetlands evaluation; thermal pollution monitoring; coral reef degradation; surface temperature mapping of soils and geology; and measuring surface heat balance.
The U.S. science team is located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The Terra mission is part of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C.
More information about ASTER is available at asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/.
Image Credit:
NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
Image Addition Date:
2013-09-24
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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The first time I met Adam Steltzner, he strode into the Jet Propulsion Laboratory like a man who had just walked off a stage, a lead guitarist of interplanetary engineering. Dressed entirely in black, from his lace-up boots to the sharp-cut shirt that fit his lanky frame just so, he wore his hair in a dark, gravity-defying pompadour—a nod, perhaps, to another era of restless invention. But the real performance, the one that mattered, had already happened years before: a daring cosmic act that had played out 352 million miles away on the ochre sands of Mars.
Steltzner, the lead engineer of the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) team for the Mars Science Laboratory, had overseen one of the most audacious maneuvers in the history of planetary exploration: the sky crane. It was, on paper, an almost preposterous idea—a Rube Goldberg machine designed not for terrestrial whimsy but for the dead-serious business of safely depositing a one-ton rover onto the Martian surface.
NASA had, of course, landed rovers before. The twin Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, had bounced onto the planet encased in giant airbag cocoons, a method that had served them well but wouldn’t work for something as large as Curiosity. And so, Steltzner and his team devised something radical: a hovering descent vehicle that, in its final moments, would fire retrorockets, dangle the rover beneath it on cables, and lower it to the surface like a delicate chandelier. Then, once its mission was complete, it would cut the cables and fly itself a safe distance away to crash into the Martian desert.
When he first explained this idea to colleagues, Steltzner was met with the kind of looks one reserves for madmen and visionaries. But he pressed on, convinced that this was the way—perhaps the only way—to accomplish the task at hand. Engineering, after all, is equal parts calculation and conviction, numbers and nerve.
It is strange to think that a man so dedicated to celestial mechanics once barely passed high school physics. Steltzner had drifted through adolescence in Marin County, playing bass in rock bands and moving aimlessly through the humid fog of California nights. It was a chance moment—one of those small, strange, turning points—that set him on a different path. Driving home one evening, he noticed that Orion had shifted in the sky from where it had been earlier. This puzzled him. Why did it move? He enrolled in a community college astronomy course to find out, and from there, his curiosity carried him through physics, engineering, and eventually, into the heart of one of the most prestigious planetary exploration teams in the world.
Over the years, Steltzner worked on several landmark missions—Galileo, Cassini, Mars Pathfinder—before stepping into his most formidable role yet with the Mars Science Laboratory. The stakes were high; the margin for error was zero. If any part of the descent sequence failed, Curiosity would meet its end in a catastrophic, multimillion-dollar fireball. The team rehearsed every contingency, simulated every failure, wargamed every what-if. But in the end, there was no escaping the moment when the vehicle had to fly itself, alone and untethered, through the perilous seven minutes of entry, descent, and landing.
When the signal finally arrived from Mars on August 5, 2012—confirmation that Curiosity had landed safely—Steltzner, in the control room, threw his head back and let out a deep, raw, exultant yell. It was, as he later said, a moment that burned itself into his consciousness, a triumph not just of engineering, but of imagination.
For all his rock-star bravado, Steltzner is ultimately a man of deep thought, capable of philosophical musings as easily as technical calculations. He speaks about uncertainty, about how embracing it is key to true discovery. “The nature of exploration is that you don’t always know what you’re doing,” he once told me. “You’re pushing into the unknown, and you have to be okay with that.”
It is perhaps this quality—this willingness to step forward into uncertainty—that makes him one of the defining engineers of our time. The sky crane worked not because it was safe, but because it was necessary. And necessity, as every explorer from Magellan to Einstein has known, is the mother of invention.
These days, Steltzner continues to chart new courses in the cosmos, working on projects that will one day return samples from Mars or send the next generation of rovers to even more distant worlds. But one gets the sense that he is, in some ways, still that young musician staring at the sky in wonder, still transfixed by the grand, gravitational dance of the universe. The only difference now is that he has made himself part of it.
Jeff "JPL" Lashbrook, one of Orange County's premier competitive bodysurfers, spins in the 45-54 Men's Finals of the 2006 World Bodysurfing Championships. Oceanside, Ca. 8/27/06
2017 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California
From The Mercury News: La Cañada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Association – “Backyard Rocketeer”: Many La Cañada Flintridge residents are involved with the deep-space exploration projects conducted at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, so it’s fitting that the idea for this float won an annual concept contest that draws up to 150 entries. The cheerful alien greeter is decorated with camellia leaves with highlights of lemons, limes and kumquats, while the body of the rocket features silver leaf with black bean highlights.