I like the way the future happens in front of other stuff... like today and yesterday.
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“Miniature...
NASA | SDO’s Ultra-high Definition View of 2012 Venus Transit (by NASAexplorer).
The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which has been totally stalking the sun, collected these incredible images of the transit of Venus. These are constructed from wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light and a portion of the visible spectrum.
Outer Space by Sander van den Berg. Footage is from the Cassini and Voyager missions.
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Robonaut working out with Commander Mike Fossum aboard the International Space Station. Catch the action on NASA TV.
NASA launches NPP
NASA’s newest Earth-observing satellite soared into space aboard a Delta II rocket after liftoff on October 28, 2011. The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP), blasted off at 2:48 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
NPP carries five science instruments to help meteorologists improve short-term weather forecasts and to help climatologists observe long-term patterns. The mission will extend more than 30 key long-term data sets that NASA has been tracking, including measurements of the ozone layer, land cover, ice cover, clouds, the ocean surface, and vegetation.
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As NASA’s Clementine spacecraft orbited the moon in 1997, it took this image of the Earth over the lunar north pole.
Incredible image.
Vesta Full Rotation
In this movie, strung together from a series of images provided by the framing camera on NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, we see a full rotation of Vesta, which occurs over the course of roughly five hours.
Oh, Curiosity, you little minx… you got yer fancy Mastcam digital cameras with telephoto lens, HD video, 3D capabilities and waaay better resolution than all the other cameras on Mars.
Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover Animation
This 11-minute animation depicts key events of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission, which will launch in late 2011 and land a rover, Curiosity, on Mars in August 2012.
Nice little animation of Curiosity. Hopefully, Curiosity will perform as well as Spirit and Opportunity, which have been on Mars since 2003. Spirit became stuck in the sand in 2009 and was re-tasked as a stationary science platform. Sadly, in March 2010, we completely lost contact. Meanwhile, Opportunity continues to chug along. We got a lot of bang for our buck on those pups. They’ve had like… four mission extensions. Incredible.
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Space Shuttle Discovery. What a handsome beast.
(via kateoplis)
The Kennedy Space Legacy.
“Now it is time to take longer strides—time for a great new American enterprise—time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on Earth.”
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The Prometheus plume is seen rising about 75 kilometres Jupiterś volcanic moon Io. (via APOD: 2011 May 22 - Io: The Prometheus Plume)
You can see two eruptions in this pic of Jupiter’s moon, Io. At the top, a plume rises from Pillan Patera, a volcanic caldera. In the middle, near the shadow line, you can see the plum from Prometheus, which has been visible since the Voyager flybys in 1979. Check out this close-up.
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Incredibly detailed picture of the final launch of the Endeavour space schuttle. Astronomy Picture of the Day 5/18.
I totally missed Endeavour’s launch. I tried to keep track, but they had to keep postponing. Hey, as a consolation, there are many great pics!
And below is that amazing iphone pic Stefanie Gordon took aboard a plane.
Endeavour launched without a hitch and has successfully docked at the ISS!
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The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter grabbed this lovely picture in Feb 2009. This is Proctor Crater on Mars. The bright ridges are ripples of fine sand or fine sand with a delicious coating of coarse sand and granules. The dark bedforms are dunes of sand, probably from volcanic rock. (via NASA - Mars Proctor Crater)
In Oct 2004, Cassini grabbed incredible images of Saturn while hanging around 3.9 million miles away. “See. I’m not stalking you. Geez.”
126 of these images were combined to create this amazing view. It’s the largest, most detailed, global natural color view of Saturn and its rings ever! Click the image to check it out.
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NASA Mars Rover Curiosity is almost done
The rover for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission, named Curiosity, is about 3 meters (10 feet) long, not counting the additional length that the rover’s arm can be extended forward. The front of the rover is on the left in this side view. The arm is partially raised but not extended. Rising from the rover deck just behind the front wheels is the remote sensing mast.
This image was taken April 4, 2011, inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Aside from the setting and its placement on ground support equipment, the rover appears much as it will after landing on Mars in August 2012. JPL is preparing Curiosity and the Mars Science Laboratory’s cruise stage, descent stage and back shell for shipment to NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Launch is scheduled for the period from Nov. 25 to Dec. 18, 2011.
Watch this video to learn how Curiosity will land and work on Mars.
Look for Curiosity on Mars in August 2012. But, don’t forget about Spirit and Opportunity! Spirit has been out of touch for a year and if she doesn’t respond by the end of April, NASA will give up on her. But, her sister, Opportunity, is still going strong!
