TARs and Unusual Star Ripples This blocky terrain is southwest of Schiaparelli Crater and is surrounded by a field of Transverse Aeolian Ridges (TARs) and unusual star ripples (dunes). TARs are linear ripples with crest-ridge morphologies that can vary in shape; these morphologies include forked, sinuous, barchanoid, networked or feathered characteristics. The ridges also appear to transition into star dunes. Star dunes are complex features and are not yet fully understood on Earth. They form by multidirectional wind regimes with a dominant primary wind. Chains of star dunes often appear to have a massive linear appearance, or can be modified linear or barchan dunes with the formation of secondary slipfaces (on the steeper slope). On Earth, there are incipient star dunes, such as in the Dumont dune field in the Mojave Desert, that display similar characteristics. The Dumont embryonic star dunes may result from dunes merging as they overrun one another, or are modified preexisting dunes, which could also be the case in this image. Martian weather models predict that the dominate wind comes from a southwesterly direction. This direction aligns nicely with the transverse ripples and the main arms of the star ripples. This suggests that the star ripples were also affected by a different wind pattern or secondary winds or airflow. (Secondary airflow is the airflow and sediment transport around the slopes of the dune.) Formation of incipient star dunes depends on the nature (strength, direction, and duration) of the primary wind and the volume of the sand to create the dune. Secondary airflow maintains the dune arms. The last factor is the deposition or removal of the sand by grainfall or grainflow avalanching. Grainfall and grainflow transports material from the main crestline slipface and along-slope or down-slope which maintains the secondary arm crest. More Photos Can Be Found In The Robotic Spaceflight Section Of This Site Photo Credit: NASA TV
China's Prototype Lunar RoversThis is a photo of two prototype Lunar Rovers. China plans to send rovers to the Moon as part of the second phase of it's lunar exploration program. The photo was taken inside China's lunar surface environment simulation laboratory in Shanghai. More Photos Can Be Found In The Robotic Spaceflight Section Of This Site. Photo Credit: China Daily
Cosmonauts Work On Soyuz SpacecraftThis photo captures the action as cosmonauts Sergi Volkov and Oleg Konnenko work to remove an explosive bolt from their Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft. Here a camera mounted inside the ISS shows the two cosmonauts working on the service module of their spacecraft The goal was to remove one of the 10 (5 sets of two)explosive bolts that holds the spacecraft's service module to the descent module. Each bolt has the explosive force of about 2 M-80s. Once removed the bolt was placed inside a blast proof container which they will bring back into the station with them. The crew will return the bolt to Earth in October for inspection. Engineers believe that this bolt faild to detonate on the last 2 Soyuz reentrys. As a result the service module failed to detach correctly resulting in punishing ballistic reentries for the crew. Photo Credit: NASA TV
STS-125 Crew Inspects Their RideIn the Orbiter Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, STS-125 crew members are lowered into space shuttle Atlantis' payload bay for a close look at the hardware. Equipment familiarization is part of the crew equipment interface test, which provides hands-on experience with hardware and equipment for the mission. Crew members are Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Gregory C. Johnson, and Mission Specialists Michael Good, Megan McArthur, John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino (reaching toward the airlock) and Andrew Feustel. More Photos Are In The Manned Spaceflight Section Photo Credit: NASA
Baking A TileIn the tile shop at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, a Boeing Replacement Insulation 18, or BRI-18, tile bakes in a 2,200-degree oven to cure the ceramic coating. The baking is part of the process to prepare the tiles for installation on space shuttles. BRI-18 is the strongest material used for thermal insulation on the orbiters and, when coated to produce toughened unipiece fibrous insulation, provides a tile with extremely high-impact resistance. It is replacing other tiles on areas of the vehicle where impact risk is high, such as the landing gear doors, the wing leading edge and the external tank doors. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
STS-125 ET Arrives At KSCUnder lights, the external tank for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is moved away from the Pegasus barge, which is docked in the Launch Complex 39 Area at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The tank, which arrived at the turn basin earlier in the day, will be moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building. Inside the building, the tank will be raised to vertical, lifted and moved into a checkout cell. Stacking of the tank and solid rocket boosters is scheduled for Aug. 7. Atlantis is targeted to launch Oct. 8. Photo credit: NASA/Amanda Diller
Hubble Hardware Arrives At KSCIn the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the overhead crane lifts the ground support equipment for the STS-125 Hubble Servicing Mission out of the thermal vacuum fixture. The GSE are carriers, or pallets, that will hold equipment in space shuttle Atlantis’ payload bay. Under the protective covering of the carrier can be seen the soft capture mechanism. The carriers will be prepared for the integration of telescope science instruments, both internal and external replacement components, as well as the flight support equipment to be used by the astronauts during the servicing mission. More Photos Can Be Found In The Manned Spaceflight Section Of This Site Photo Credit: NASA
Three Red Spots Mix it Up on JupiterA new sequence of Hubble Space Telescope images offers an unprecedented view of a planetary game of Pac-Man among three red spots clustered together in Jupiter's atmosphere. The images were taken by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, developed and built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The time series shows the passage of the "Red Spot Jr." in a band of clouds below (south) of the Great Red Spot. "Red Spot Jr." first appeared on Jupiter in early 2006 when a previously white storm turned red. This is the second time, since turning red, it has skirted past its big brother apparently unscathed. But this is not the fate of "baby red spot," which is in the same latitudinal band as the Great Red Spot. This new red spot first appeared earlier this year. The baby red spot gets ever closer to the Great Red Spot in this picture sequence until it is caught up in its anticyclonic spin. In the final image, the baby spot is deformed and pale in color and has been spun to the right (east) of the Great Red Spot. Amateur astronomers' observations confirm that this pale spot is the migrating baby spot. The prediction is that the baby spot will now get pulled back into the Great Red Spot "Cuisinart" and disappear for good. This is one possible mechanism that has powered and sustained the Great Red Spot for at least 150 years. These three natural-color Jupiter images were made from data acquired on May 15, June 28 and July 8, 2008, by JPL's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. Each one covers 58 degrees of Jovian "latitude" and 70 degrees of "longitude" (centered on 5 degrees South latitudeand 110, 121 and 121 degrees West longitude, respectively). Photo Credit: NASA
Phoenix Mars Lander to Begin Rasping Frozen Layer A powered rasp on the back of the robotic arm scoop of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is being tested for the first time on Mars in gathering sample shavings of ice. The lander has used its arm in recent days to clear away loose soil from a subsurface layer of hard-frozen material and create a large enough area to use the motorized rasp in a trench informally named "Snow White." VCisit The Robotic Spaceflight Section Of This Site For The Full Story Pho9to Credit: NASA
Sea Launch Successfully Delivers EchoStar XI to OrbitA Zenit-3SL rocket lifted off at 10:21pm PDT on July 15 (5:21 GMT, July 16) from the Odyssey Launch Platform, positioned at 154 degrees West Longitude. One hour later, the Block DM-SL upper stage inserted the 5,511 kg (12,150 lb) EchoStar XI satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit, on its way to a final orbital position at 110 degrees West Longitude. Operators at the Gnangara ground station in Perth, Australia, acquired the spacecraft’s first signals from orbit shortly after spacecraft separation. All systems performed nominally throughout the mission. Visit The Commercial Spaceflight Section for full coverage Photo Credit: Sea Launch
Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn Soft hues, partially lit orbs, a thin trace of the ring, and slight shadows highlight this understated view of the majestic surroundings of the giant planet Saturn. Looking nearly back toward the Sun, the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn captured crescent phases of Saturn and its moon Rhea in color a few years ago. As striking as the above image is, it is but a single frame from a recently released 60-frame silent movie where Rhea can be seen gliding in front of its parent world. Since Cassini was nearly in the plane of Saturn's rings, the normally impressive rings are visible here only as a thin line across the image center. Although Cassini has now concluded its primary mission, its past successes and opportunistic location have prompted NASA to start a two-year Equinox Mission, further exploring not only Saturn's enigmatic moons Titan and Enceladus, but Saturn herself as her grand rings tilt right at the Sun in August 2009. Source: Astronomy Picture Of The Day
A New Way To Weigh Giant Black HolesThis is a composite image of data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (shown in purple) and Hubble Space Telescope (blue) of the giant elliptical galaxy, NGC 4649, located about 51 million light years from Earth. Although NGC 4649 contains one of the biggest black holes in the local Universe, there are no overt signs of its presence because the black hole is in a dormant state. The lack of a bright central point in either the X-ray or optical images shows that the supermassive black hole does not appear to be rapidly pulling in material towards its event horizon, nor generating copious amounts of light as it grows. Also, the very smooth appearance of the Chandra image shows that the hot gas producing the X-rays has not been disturbed recently by outbursts from a growing black hole. So, the presence and mass of the black hole in NGC 4649, and other galaxies like it, has to be studied more indirectly by tracking its effects on stars and gas surrounding it. By applying a clever technique for the first time, scientists used Chandra data to measure a mass for the black hole of about 3.4 billion times that of the Sun. The new technique takes advantage of the gravitational influence the black hole has on the hot gas near the center of the galaxy. As gas slowly settles towards the black hole, it gets compressed and heated. This causes a peak in the temperature of the gas right near the center of the galaxy. The more massive the black hole, the bigger the temperature peak detected by Chandra. Reassuringly, the estimate of the black hole's mass using this X-ray technique is consistent with a more traditional technique using the motions of stars near the black hole. NGC 4649 is now one of only a handful of galaxies for which the mass of a supermassive black hole has been measured with two different methods. Photo Credit: NASA
Opportunity Continues Exploring Cape VerdeNASA's Mars rover Opportunity continues to explore the area arround the large promontory called "Cape Verde". Opportunity has completed work on the stand-off portion of a full-color panorama of the layered cliff and is now preparing to move in to within a few meters of the cliff for ultra hi-res images of the face. Reaching the promontory has been a high priority ever since mission management ordered the rover to enter a massive crater known as Victoria on September 11, 2007. Victoria crater is over 800 meters in diameter (about 1/2 a mile). When the meteorite that excavated Victoria hit it exposed the sub-surface allowing the rover access to layer after layer of rock. Each layer represents a different chapter in Martian history. Geologists can read these layers like a text book providing them with a look backward to a time when the Martian climate was wetter and much more Earth like than it is today. This photo was captures the detailed layering found on the face of the cliff along with a small cave formed by one of the many cracks in the promitory's wall. More Photos Can Be Found In The Robotic Spaceflight Section Of This Site Photo Credit: NASA/JPL
ESA Gravity Mission Prepares For LaunchESA's Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) has been developed to bring about a whole new level of understanding of one of the Earth's most fundamental forces of nature – the gravity field. Dubbed the 'Formula 1' of spacecrafts, this sleek high-tech gravity satellite embodies many firsts in terms of its design and use of new technology in space to map Earth's gravity field in unprecedented detail. As the most advanced gravity space mission to date, GOCE will realise a broad range of fascinating new possibilities for the fields of oceanography, solid Earth physics, geodesy and sea-level research, and significantly contribute to furthering our understanding of climate change. Get The Full Story In The Robotic Spaceflight Section Of This Site