NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
Mar 23, 2024
Ares 3 Landing Site: The Martian Revisited
This close-up from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera shows weathered craters and windblown deposits in southern Acidalia Planitia. A striking shade of blue in standard HiRISE image colors, to the human eye the area would probably look grey or a little reddish. But human eyes have not gazed across this terrain, unless you count the eyes of NASA astronauts in the scifi novel The Martian by Andy Weir. The novel chronicles the adventures of Mark Watney, an astronaut stranded at the fictional Mars mission Ares 3 landing site corresponding to the coordinates of this cropped HiRISE frame. For scale Watney's 6-meter-diameter habitat at the site would be about 1/10th the diameter of the large crater. Of course, the Ares 3 landing coordinates are only about 800 kilometers north of the (real life) Carl Sagan Memorial Station, the 1997 Pathfinder landing site.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?
Dragon Spacecraft Docks to Station With New Science, Supplies
March 23, 2024
While the International Space Station was traveling more than 262 miles over the South Atlantic Ocean, a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft autonomously docked to station’s Harmony module at 7:19 a.m. EDT, with NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara and Michael Barratt monitoring operations from the station.
The Dragon launched on SpaceX’s 30th contracted commercial resupply mission for NASA at 4:55 p.m. EDT, March 21, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. After Dragon spends about one month attached to the space station, the spacecraft will return to Earth with cargo and research.
Among the science experiments Dragon is delivering to the space station are:
Monitoring Sea Ice Thickness and Wave Height
(Nanoracks-Killick-1) is a CubeSat that measures sea ice parameters using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) reflectometry or reflected signals. This monitoring system could contribute to a better understanding of important ocean phenomena and improved weather and climate models.
New Sensors for ASTROBEE
The Multi-resolution Scanner (MRS) Payload for the Astrobee (Multi-Resolution Scanning) tests a new set of sensors to support automated 3D sensing, mapping, and situational awareness functions. These systems could support future Gateway and Lunar surface missions by providing automated defect detection, automated and remote maintenance, and autonomous vehicle operations.
Improving Efficiency of Quantum-Dot Solar Cells
The Nano Particle Haloing Suspension payload tests the controlled assembly of nanoparticles in a liquid solution. A process called nanoparticle haloing uses charged nanoparticles to enable precise particle arrangements that improve the efficiency of quantum-dot synthesized solar cells. Conducting these processes in microgravity provides insight into the relationship between shape, charge, concentration, and interaction of particles.
Observing Photosynthesis in Space
Advanced Plant Experiment-09 (APEX-09), also known as C4 Photosynthesis in Space, observes carbon dioxide capture and mechanisms in two types of grasses. Researchers hope to learn more about photosynthesis and plant metabolism changes overall in space. Knowledge gained could support development of bioregenerative life support systems on future missions.
These are just a few of the hundreds of investigations currently being conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory in the areas of biology and biotechnology, physical sciences, and Earth and space science. Advances in these areas will help keep astronauts healthy during long-duration space travel and demonstrate technologies for future human and robotic exploration beyond low-Earth orbit to the Moon through NASA’s Artemis missions and eventually Mars.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2024/03/23/dragon-spacecraft-docks-to-station-with-new-science-supplies/
Crewed Soyuz Spacecraft Launches to Station
Mar 23, 2024
The Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 23, 2024. Credit: NASA TV
NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus are safely in orbit on the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft after launching at 8:36 a.m. EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (5:36 p.m. Baikonur time).
The Soyuz will dock to the space station’s Prichal module about 11:09 a.m. Monday, March 25. About two hours after docking, hatches between the Soyuz and the station will open.
NASA docking coverage will begin at 10:15 a.m. on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media
https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2024/03/23/crewed-soyuz-spacecraft-launches-to-station/
Nasa to send discs depicting ‘essence of humanity’ to the Moon
Thu, March 21, 2024 at 1:01 PM PDT
Sapphire discs etched with “the essence of humanity” will be sent to the Moon under Nasa’s Artemis programme to act as a repository of human knowledge.
The project, titled Sanctuary On The Moon, includes examples of mathematics, culture, palaeontology, art and science as well as the human genomes of a man and a woman.
The discs mimic the golden phonographs sent with the Voyager spacecraft, the first ships to leave the Solar System, which contained greetings in 55 different languages, messages from world leaders and even a human heartbeat.
The new discs include schematics for Nasa’s Saturn V rocket and lunar landing modules which took astronauts to the Moon in the Apollo mission, as well as paintings by Leonardo da Vinci and Vincent van Gogh, and The Declaration of Human Rights.
There are also celestial and terrestrial maps, as well as data on anatomy, astrophysics and particle physics, phases of the Moon and developments such as the combustion engine and flying machines.
“We are delighted to take Sanctuary to the Moon,” said Joel Kearns, Nasa’s deputy associate administrator for exploration in the agency’s Science Mission Directorate.
“We believe that this internationally curated repository of knowledge on the Moon will serve as an inspiration today and for many generations to come.”
The discs are the idea of Benoit Faiveley, a French engineer who has worked with a team of international scientists, researchers, designers and artists to choose what images to place on each disc.
Mr Faiveley himself appears on one of the discs dressed in an astronaut suit.
The discs, which will be placed in a durable aluminium capsule, will be delivered to the Moon’s surface using an automatic space probe under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services contract with Nasa.
Mr Faiveley said: “The only thing left over from ancient cultures are tangible objects, hieroglyphs, stones, scripts, paintings that lasted over centuries and millenniums.
“So we took a similar path.
“It will be a variegated portrait of our species engraved in micropixels. There are important examples from astrophysics, particle physics, astronomy and planetary science.
“We hope Sanctuary will constitute a ‘cosmic hello’ to our descendants or perhaps even visitors from elsewhere.
“The Sanctuary project is a message for the very long term. We want future explorers to step back in time and join us in our exploration of ourselves, our world and our epoch.”
There will be 24 discs in all, with one pixel for every Homo sapiens who has ever lived on the planet. As well as Space, other themes will include Life & Biology, Time & Age and Matter & Atoms.
Male and female genomes sequenced at the British Columbia Genome Sciences Centre in Vancouver will be placed on two separate discs.
The 24 discs are currently being engraved at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission.
Adama Pam, chief archivist at Unesco, which has supported the project, said: “We have always supported new and ambitious ideas. Sanctuary on the Moon resonates with Unesco’s ongoing commitment to education, science, and culture, and our mission to share our knowledge of humanity’s intellectual and moral achievements.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/nasa-send-discs-depicting-essence-200120823.html
NASA Johnson Space Center to Host Visit by Texas Governor Greg Abbott
MAR 22, 2024
NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston will host a Tuesday, March 26, visit by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who will make a major announcement on the future of the space industry in Texas.
Media are invited to document the governor’s tour of NASA’s Mission Control Center when he speaks with native Texan and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara aboard the International Space Station.
Abbott will be joined by NASA Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, Texas Representative Greg Bonnen and other state and space industry leaders.
U.S. media wishing to attend in person must respond to NASA’s Johnson Space Center by 5 p.m. CDT Monday, March 25, by calling the Johnson Newsroom at 281-483-5111 or e-mailing jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. Media must arrive at Johnson’s main gate no later than 9:30 a.m. March 26 to pick up credentials and receive instructions.
NASA will provide live coverage of the Mission Control tour and call to the space station beginning at 10:15 a.m. on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.
The space industry announcement is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. in NASA’s Space Vehicle Mockup Facility.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-johnson-space-center-to-host-visit-by-texas-governor-greg-abbott/