High-Phase PlumesSaturn's moon Enceladus, imaged at high phase, shows off its spectacular water ice plumes emanating from its south polar region. This image was captured at a phase, or sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, angle of 159 degrees so that sunlight would reveal the backlit plumes. Sunlight brightly illuminates terrain on the left. Light reflected off Saturn illuminates the rest of the moon more dimly. This view looks toward the trailing hemisphere of Enceladus (504 kilometers, or 313 miles across). North is up. Background stars, elongated by the movement of the spacecraft during the exposure, are also visible. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 13, 2009. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 431,000 kilometers (268,000 miles) from Enceladus. Image scale is 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel. 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. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Smooth TelestoThe smooth surface of Saturn's moon Telesto is documented in this image captured during the Cassini spacecraft's Aug. 27, 2009, flyby. This view looks toward the leading hemisphere of Telesto (25 kilometers, or 16 miles across). North on the moon is up and rotated 3 degrees to the right. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 36,000 kilometers (22,000 miles) from Telesto and at a sun-Telesto-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 48 degrees. Image scale is 214 meters (702 feet) per pixel. 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. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Globastar Spacecraft Prepared For LaunchTwo of six globalstar communication satellites are seen here being prepared for launch. The six spacecraft will be launched together on the Arianespace Soyuz booster seen in the background. Lift offf is set for October out of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Photo0 Credit: Arianespace
Progress Prepared For Next MissionThe Progess M07M space cargo craft is seen here being moved to an assembly jig in the assembly hall at the Baikonure Cosmodrome where itis being prepared for a flight to the International Space Station. Once fueled and inspected the spacecraft will be fitted into its launch shroud (seen on the left) and then fitted to it's Soyuz booster in preperation for launch. Photo Credit: SP Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation
Proton Rolls To The PadA Proton booster is seen here rolling out of the assembly building in preperation for the launch of three Glonass GPS spacecraft. The launch is to occur on Sept. 2, at 4.53 a m local time. More Photos Can Be Found In The Commercial Spaceflight Section Photo Credit: Roscosmos
ATK Tests Giant Rocket MotorOver 3.5 million pounds of thrust streams from the DM2 5 segment deveopmental test motor as rocks and sand are turned into glass by the ~5700 degree F exhaust temperature at the ATK plant in Promontory, Utah. Ignition occurred on time at 9:27am MDT after a flawless countdown. The motor burned 1,380,300 pounds of propellant in ~125 seconds. MORE PHOTOS CAN BE FOUND IN THE MANNED SPACEFLIGHT SECTION OF THIS SITE Photo Credit: Mark Kirkman
30 years of Asteroid DiscoveryThis image shows the number of asteroids discovered in the inner solar system over just the last 30 years. It does not inclde the 20,000 plus asteroids reciently discovered by NASA's WISE spacecraft. British astronomer Scott Manley created a fascinating color-coded video, which shows the discovery of every new asteroid over the past three decades and charts it on an increasingly congested map of the solar system the video can be found at: http://wn.com/Asteroid_Discovery_From_1980__2010_HD
Galaxy at the EdgeSpiral galaxy NGC 4921 presently is estimated to be 320 million light years distant. This image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, is being used to identify key stellar distance markers known as Cepheid variable stars. The magnificent spiral NGC 4921 has been informally dubbed anemic because of its low rate of star formation and low surface brightness. Visible in the image are, from the center, a bright nucleus, a bright central bar, a prominent ring of dark dust, blue clusters of recently formed stars, several smaller companion galaxies, unrelated galaxies in the far distant universe, and unrelated stars in our Milky Way Galaxy. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, K. Cook (LLNL)
North Polar Crater on MarsThis photo from NASAs MRO spacecraft shows an impact crater on the north pole of the planet Mars. Impact craters on the North polar cap of Mars are rare which tells us that the landscape is being actively resurfaced. We know how often impact craters are formed and so we can deduce how fast they are being removed by looking at the size of the crater population. Craters are removed here when they fill up with fresh ice so information on how fast this ice forms can tell us about the climate of Mars both today and in the recent past. The stereo topography allows us to calculate how much time the floor is in shadow, which determines its temperature and how fast ice accumulates there. The crater pictured here will likely last about 10,000 years before being completely filled with ice. Written by: Shane Byrne Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/USGS
Dry Ice and Dunes On MarsMars has a vast sea of sand dunes in the high latitude region encircling its North polar cap, known as the North polar erg. These dunes are made up of basalt and gypsum sand grains. In some regions of the North polar erg where the sand supply is limited they take on an elongated crescent shape (see PSP_009324_2650). The icy ground that the dunes are on top of has irregular polygonal patterns. In other areas with an abundant supply of sand the dunes are continuous. The entire North polar erg is covered in the winter with a seasonal polar cap composed of carbon dioxide (dry ice). In the springtime this seasonal polar cap evaporates. This image shows the dunes mostly still covered with dry ice, but the dark spots are places where the ice has evaporated and the dark sand of the dune is visible. Written by: Candy Hansen Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Narrow BandThe shadows of Saturn's rings cast onto the planet appear as a thin band at the equator in this image taken as the planet approached its August 2009 equinox. The novel illumination geometry that accompanies equinox lowers the sun's angle to the ringplane, significantly darkens the rings, and causes out-of-plane structures to look anomalously bright and to cast shadows across the rings. These scenes are possible only during the few months before and after Saturn's equinox which occurs only once in about 15 Earth years. Before and after equinox, Cassini's cameras have spotted not only the predictable shadows of some of Saturn's moons , but also the shadows of newly revealed vertical structures in the rings themselves . For an earlier view of the rings' wide shadows draped high on the northern hemisphere, see Sliding Shadows. The planet's southern hemisphere can be seen through the transparent D ring in the lower right of the image. The rings have been brightened by a factor of 9.5 relative to the planet to enhance visibility. This view looks toward the northern, unilluminated side of the rings from about 30 degrees above the ringplane. 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 18, 2009 at a distance of approximately 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 122 kilometers (76 miles) per pixel. 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. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Anti-Matter Telescope Arives At Launch SiteIn the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the protective panels that covered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS, have been removed so that the technicians can begin preparing it for launch. AMS, a state-of-the-art particle physics detector, is designed to operate as an external module on the International Space Station. It will use the unique environment of space to study the universe and its origin by searching for dark matter. The STS-134 crew will fly AMS to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Endeavour, targeted to launch Feb. 26, 2011. Photo credit: NASA/Frankie Martin
Mars’s mysterious elongated craterThis stunning immage of Orcus Patera on Mars was returned by ESa'S Mars Express spacecraft. Orcus Patera is an enigmatic elliptical depression located between the volcanoes of Elysium Mons and Olympus Mons. This well-defined depression extends approximately 380 km by 140 km in a NNE–SSW direction. It has a rim that rises up to 1800 m above the surrounding plains, while the floor of the depression lies 400–600 m below the surroundings. Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)
Martian Atmosphere Profiles The Mars Climate Sounder instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter maps the vertical distribution of temperatures, dust, water vapor and ice clouds in the Martian atmosphere as the orbiter flies a near-polar orbit. This example of data from the instrument shows 13 orbits of nighttime temperatures at altitudes of zero to 80 kilometers (50 miles) above the surface, presented as curtains along the orbital track. Temperatures range from 120 Kelvin (minus 244 degrees Fahrenheit), coded purple, to 200 Kelvin (minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit), coded green. The data are from March 1, 2008, which was during early spring on northern Mars. The globe of Mars depicted under the curtains is a Google Earth product using elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. The ExoMars Climate Sounder, selected in August 2010 as part of the science payload for the 2016 ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter mission, will resemble the Mars Climate Sounder and provide similar types of data sets. The 2016 mission is a collaboration of the European Space Agency and NASA. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., supplied and operates the Mars Climate Sounder for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and will supply and operate the ExoMars Climate Sounder for the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. JPL also manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission for the NASA Science Mission Directorate and manages NASA's roles in the 2016 mission. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech