NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Mar 4, 2024

Light Pillars Over Inner Mongolia

What's happening across that field? Pictured here are not auroras but nearby light pillars, a phenomenon typically much closer. In most places on Earth, a lucky viewer can see a Sun pillar, a column of light appearing to extend up from the Sun caused by flat fluttering ice-crystals reflecting sunlight from the upper atmosphere. Usually, these ice crystals evaporate before reaching the ground. During freezing temperatures, however, flat fluttering ice crystals may form near the ground in a form of light snow sometimes known as a crystal fog. These ice crystals may then reflect ground lights in columns not unlike a Sun pillar. The featured image was taken last month across the Wulan Butong Grasslands in Inner Mongolia, China.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Launches to International Space Station

MAR 04, 2024

An international crew of four reached orbit following a successful launch to the International Space Station at 10:53 p.m. EST Sunday from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission is the agency’s eighth commercial crew rotation mission with the company to the space station.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the Dragon spacecraft into orbit carrying NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, for a science expedition aboard the orbital laboratory.

“Congratulations to NASA and SpaceX on another successful launch to the International Space Station! On this eighth crew rotation mission, we are once again showing the strength of our commercial partnerships and American ingenuity that will propel us further in the cosmos,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Aboard the station, the crew will conduct more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations to help fuel this new era of space exploration and benefit humanity here on Earth.”

During Dragon’s flight, SpaceX will monitor a series of automatic spacecraft maneuvers from its mission control center in Hawthorne, California. NASA teams will monitor space station operations throughout the flight from the Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA coverage continues with audio only commentary until the start of the rendezvous and docking broadcast.

The Dragon spacecraft, named Endeavour, will dock autonomously to the forward port of the station’s Harmony module about 3 a.m. Tuesday, March 5. NASA will provide live coverage of rendezvous, docking, and hatch opening, beginning at 1 a.m., on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. NASA also will continue coverage of the crew welcome ceremony once they are aboard the orbital outpost. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.

Crew-8 will join the space station’s Expedition 70 crew of NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Konstantin Borisov, Oleg Kononenko, and Nikolai Chubb. For a short time, the number of crew aboard the space station will increase to 11 until Crew-7 members Moghbeli, Mogensen, Furukawa, and Borisov return to Earth a few days later.

Crew-8 will conduct new scientific research to prepare for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit and benefit humanity on Earth. Experiments include a study of brain organoids to understand neurodegenerative disorders, shifts in body fluids during spaceflight, and the effects of UV radiation and microgravity on plant growth. These are just a few of the more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations that will take place during their mission.

With this mission, NASA will maximize use of the space station, where astronauts have lived and worked continuously for more than 23 years testing technologies, performing science, and developing the skills needed to operate future commercial destinations in low Earth orbit and explore farther from Earth. Research conducted on the space station provides benefits for people on Earth and paves the way for future long-duration trips to the Moon and beyond through NASA’s Artemis missions.

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasas-spacex-crew-8-launches-to-international-space-station/

Rippling sand dunes, icy cliffs spied near Mars' north pole

Mar 4, 2024

The Martian north polar region is a strange and fascinating place, even by the standards of its strange and fascinating planet.

There, the dust that coats the surface of Mars mixes with water ice. Layers upon layers of dust and ice stack miles deep, covering a region the size of France.

For much of the Martian year, this region is buried under a cap of frozen carbon dioxide, also known as dry ice. But when Martian summer comes, the dry ice disappears into the planet's atmosphere. And it was in the midst of summer that the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter captured a little slice of the north polar landscape.

The Mars Express image — which was captured on April 14, 2023 but just released last week — shows the frontier between two distinct regions. To the left is Olympia Planum, a vast expanse of sweeping sand dunes that appear as little wrinkles in a field of dust.

And on the other side is Planum Boreum, which includes the north pole itself, which is out of frame to the image's right. Planum Boreum is strikingly smooth — a sign that the surface is very young, largely untouched by the ravages of erosion and meteor impacts, ESA officials said in an image description. Indeed, Planum Boreum likely gets a yearly refresh every time the winter ice comes and goes.

This borderland is cut apart by crescent-shaped cliffs, the largest of them about 12 miles (20 kilometers) wide. These cliffs are the result of winds wearing away the surface. The cliffs are part of a spiral of troughs spindled across the entire north pole.

Mars Express has now been orbiting Mars for more than two decades, having arrived there on Dec. 25, 2003. The spacecraft has not only snapped a wealth of high-definition images of the Martian surface but also studied the Martian atmosphere and probed the planet's interior.

https://www.space.com/mars-express-north-pole-sand-dunes-ice-photo

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