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In support of the Mars Science Laboratory Program (MSL), a set of the same wheels currently on the Mars Curiosity Rover were sent to NASA Glenn recently for performance evaluation by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. The goal is to understand the effects of wheel damage on traction performance. NASA Glenn technician Ariana Miller checks the wheel mount and drive hardware assembly on a Curiosity wheel for tests at the Traction and Excavation Capabilities Lab. Researchers are using a newly built single-wheel tester to simulate a variety of terrain conditions similar to Mars including loose granular soil, dense high shear strength soil and a bedrock-like material. The pace of holes appearing in Curiosity's aluminum wheels increased unexpectedly in late last year, compared with the first 12 months of the rover's mission on Mars. Curiosity was crossing terrain studded with sharp, embedded rocks. By early 2014, changes in route planning and driving methods slowed the pace of wheel damage. The tests at NASA Glenn are part of the rover project's efforts to understand how the damage occurs, to develop methods for further reducing the pace of damage and to anticipate how accumulation of damage to the wheels could affect performance. Image Credit: NASA/Michelle M. Murphy (Wyle Information Systems, LLC) #nasa #mars #msl #marscuriosity #curiosity #marsrover #solarsystem #space; -
Earth's Atmospheric Layers - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured this photo of Earth's atmospheric layers on July 31, 2011, revealing the troposphere (orange-red), stratosphere and above. Satellite instruments allow scientists to better understand the chemistry and dynamics occurring within and between these layers. Image Credit: NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth #Earth #NASA #USClimateReport, #EarthRightNow, #ActOnClimate #ISS #Space #SpaceStation #Astronauts; -
Saturn's moon Titan! Titan's south polar vortex mimics the moon itself, creating an elegant crescent within a crescent. Situated above the surrounding polar atmosphere, the raised walls along the sunward side of the vortex just catch the grazing sunlight, creating a crescent of its own. Titan (3,200 miles, or 5,150 kilometers across) is Saturn's largest moon and possesses a dense and dynamic atmosphere. The image, obtained at a distance of approximately 108,000 miles (174,000 kilometers) from Titan, was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on December 2013 using a spectral filter which preferentially admits wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 939 nanometers. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute #nasa #titan #saturn #moon #cassini #spacecraft #space #planet #science; -
This spiral galaxy, M101, is like our Milky Way, but about 70 percent bigger. It is located about 21 million light years from Earth. X-rays from Chandra reveal the hottest and most energetic areas due to exploded stars, superheated gas and material falling toward black holes. Infrared data from Spitzer shows dusty lanes in the galaxy where stars are forming, while optical data traces the light from stars. This image is part of a "quartet of galaxies" collaboration of professional and amateur astronomers that combines optical data from amateur telescopes with data from the archives of our missions. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Detlef Hartmann; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech #astronomy #nasa #space #science #galaxy; -
What a view! On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. had a view of Earth that no American had seen before, looking down on the home planet from the Freedom 7 Mercury capsule on his history-making suborbital flight. The 15 minute flight lifted him to an altitude of over 116 miles and a maximum speed of 5,134 miles per hour. During the flight, Shepard reported seeing the outlines of the west coast of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, along with Florida's Lake Okeechobee. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #otd #mercury #space #freedom7;
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As seen on #Cosmos: Ocean Currents The swirling flows of tens of thousands of ocean currents were captured in this scientific visualization. The visualization covers the period June 2005 to December 2007 and is based on a synthesis of a numerical model with observational data, created by a NASA project called Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, or ECCO for short. ECCO uses advanced mathematical tools to combine observations with the MIT numerical ocean model to obtain realistic descriptions of how ocean circulation evolves over time. These model-data syntheses are among the largest computations of their kind ever undertaken. ECCO model-data syntheses are being used to quantify the ocean's role in the global carbon cycle, to understand the recent evolution of the polar oceans, to monitor time-evolving heat, water, and chemical exchanges within and between different components of the Earth system, and for many other science applications. Credit: NASA #oceans #nasa #oceancurrent #svs #earth #earthrightnow #earthscience; -
As seen on #Cosmos: Most life in the ocean does not have fins or flippers. Single celled organisms called phytoplankton far outnumber the sum of all the marine organisms most of us think of first. While phytoplankton individually are largely invisible to the naked eye, their total effects can be seen from space. There are many trillions of phytoplankton in the sea, and together they convert huge quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) into living matter. In that process they release a major percentage of the world's oxygen into the atmosphere. These life processes help regulate the planet's overall climate and habitability and are a bellwether of planetary health. NASA research using satellite measurements of phytoplankton has opened the door to global observations of these tiny life forms as a group, essentially helping scientists put a finger on the living pulse of the oceans, the rhythm of life upon which we all depend. This data visualization comes from the MODIS instrument on NASA’s AQUA spacecraft. Here we see a measure of global chlorophyll concentrations, derived from data collected between July 1, 2002, and December 31, 2004. This visualization has a 4-kilometer measure of resolution. Credit: NASA #nasa #earth #earthrightnow #earthscience #ocean #phytoplankton; -
That's no moon. It's a space station. Actually, it's both. The International Space Station is caught here flying by the moon! It's seen as a small object in upper left of this image of the moon in the early evening Jan. 4, 2012, in the skies over the Houston area flying at an altitude of 390.8 kilometers (242.8 miles). The space station can occasionally be seen in the night sky with the naked eye and a pair of field binoculars. Image credit: NASA/Lauren Harnett #nasa #spotthestation #maythe4thbewithyou #happystarwarsday #spacestation #iss #space; -
Tatooine? No, it's Kepler-16b. The existence of a world with a double sunset, as portrayed in the film Star Wars more than 30 years ago, is now scientific fact. Our Kepler mission has made the first unambiguous detection of a circumbinary planet - a planet orbiting two stars - 200 light-years from Earth. Unlike Star Wars' Tatooine, the planet is cold, gaseous and not thought to harbor life, but its discovery demonstrates the diversity of planets in our galaxy. Previous research has hinted at the existence of circumbinary planets, but clear confirmation proved elusive. Kepler detected such a planet by observing transits, where the brightness of a parent star dims from the planet crossing in front of it. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #kepler #space #astronomy #maythe4thbewithyou #happystarwarsday #science; -
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... The unusual spiral galaxy, Messier 66, is located at a distance of about 35 million light-years in the constellation of Leo. Together with Messier 65 and NGC 3628, Messier 66 is the member of the Leo Triplet, a trio of interacting spiral galaxies, part of the larger Messier 66 group. Messier 66 wins in size over its fellow triplets - it is about 100 000 light-years across. Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration. Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin and Robert Gendler #nasa #hubble #space #astronomy #maythe4thbewithyou #happystarwarsday science #hst #galaxy;
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We have flying robots, too! Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) are bowling-ball sized spherical satellites. They are used inside the space station to test a set of well-defined instructions for spacecraft performing autonomous rendezvous and docking maneuvers. Three free-flying spheres fly within the cabin of the station, performing flight formations. Each satellite is self-contained with power, propulsion, computers and navigation equipment. The results are important for satellite servicing, vehicle assembly and formation flying spacecraft configurations. SPHERES also test a diverse range of hardware and software from scientist all over America. May the 4th Be With You! Image Credit: NASA #nasa #spacestation #space #iss #maythe4thbewithyou #happystarwarsday science; -
Flying by the "Death Star" Moon! In this view captured by our Cassini spacecraft on its closest-ever flyby of Saturn's moon Mimas, large Herschel Crater dominates Mimas, making the moon look like the Death Star in the movie "Star Wars." May the 4th Be With You! Image Credit: NASA #nasa #space #saturn ##maythe4thbewithyou #happystarwarsday #moon; -
"Space is dark and dangerous," tweeted astronaut Rick Mastracchio on April 26. He also wrote, "Here we are exiting airlock. Helmet lights work well at short distance." Mastracchio and his crewmate Steve Swanson completed a short spacewalk April 23 to replace a failed Multiplexer/Demultiplexer back up computer. The backup computer failed April 11 after a routine health check by the Mission Control team in Houston. While the primary computer continued to operate flawlessly NASA managers ordered the spacewalk repair to ensure redundancy on critical systems. Image Credit: NASA #nasa #space #spacestation #astronauts #iss; -
A Hungry Starburst Galaxy! Messier 61 is a type of galaxy known as a starburst galaxy. Starburst galaxies experience an incredibly high rate of star formation, hungrily using up their reservoir of gas in a very short period of time (in astronomical terms). But this is not the only activity going on within the galaxy; deep at its heart there is thought to be a supermassive black hole that is violently spewing out radiation. This new Hubble picture is the sharpest ever image of the core of spiral galaxy Messier 61, roughly 100,000 light-years across, comparable in size to our galaxy, the Milky Way. Both Messier 61 and our home galaxy belong to a group of galaxies known as the Virgo Supercluster in the constellation of Virgo (The Virgin) — a group of galaxy clusters containing up to 2,000 spiral and elliptical galaxies in total. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NAS, Acknowledgement: Det58 #nasa #hubble #astronomy #galaxy #space #blackhole #science #hst; -
Windy Changes for Active Dune Field on Mars - Nili Patera is one of the most active dune fields on the planet. By monitoring the sand dune changes, we can determine how winds vary seasonally and year-to-year. This observation is one of the more recent Nili images, acquired on March 1, 2014. Compared to an image acquired on Nov. 22, 2012, changes are obvious. The ripples on the dunes have moved, as well some of the dune boundaries, such as the one at upper left. New landslides on the central dune's lee face are apparent. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona #mars #nasa #hirise #uarizona #geology #space #planets #science;
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