Cassini Sees Sunny Seas on Titan

As it soared past Saturn's large moon Titan recently, NASA's Cassini spacecraft caught a glimpse of bright sunlight reflecting off hydrocarbon seas.

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NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility Completes Initial Assessment after Orbital Launch Mishap

The Wallops Incident Response Team completed today an initial assessment of Wallops Island, Virginia, following the catastrophic failure of Orbital Science Corp.’s Antares rocket shortly after liftoff at 6:22 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Oct. 28, from Pad 0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.



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CometWatch – 26 October

This four-image NAVCAM mosaic comprises images taken on 26 October from a distance of 9.8 km from the centre of comet 67P/C-G – about 7.8 km from the surface. The corresponding image scale is about 66 cm/pixel, so each 1024 x 1024 pixel frame is about 676 metres across. Changes in perspective and shadows due to rotation and translation of the comet and spacecraft with respect to each other seem to be limited across this particular set of four images, which is why we’ve decided to present a mosaic this time. The mosaic covers roughly 1200 x 1350 metres. But as usual, we urge you to be cautious in over-interpreting the mosaic: the individual images, presented at the end of this post, provide the ‘ground truth’. This scene focuses on the same part of the comet as seen in the 18 October image set, but you will notice some interesting new features, as well as some previously visited areas in a new light. (See CometWatch 8 October and the OSIRIS image of 6 August for additional context.) Visible towards the upper left is a region of brighter material that was previously cast in shadow in the 18 October image, and that appears to lie at the base of a cliff. Some additional bright material is seen at the top of the cliff. This material may be freshly revealed and yet to be covered in dust, perhaps as the result of a recent ‘landslide’. It remains to be seen what its composition is, but no doubt the science teams will be looking out for its signature in the remote sensing data. Remember though, that this material isn’t in fact bright white on the comet; comets are blacker than coal, and the NAVCAM images are grey-scaled according to their brightness with additional […]



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NASA Statement Regarding Oct. 28 Orbital Sciences Corp. Launch Mishap

The following statement is from William Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Directorate, regarding the mishap that occurred at Pad 0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia during the attempted launch of Orbital Sciences Corp’s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft at 6:22 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28.



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NASA Wallops Preparations on Track for Tonight’s Orbital Sciences Launch to International Space Station

Ahead of the third U.S. commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station by Orbital Sciences Corp., NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia continues to enable successful launches from the Eastern Shore. Orbital’s Antares rocket carrying 5,000 pounds of NASA cargo aboard the company’s Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to liftoff at 6:22 p.m. EDT this evening from Pad 0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops.



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NASA Seeks Proposals to Develop Capabilities for Deep Space Exploration, Journey to Mars

NASA is soliciting proposals for concept studies or technology development projects that will be necessary to enable human pioneers to go to deep space destinations such as an asteroid and Mars.



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Launch of Third Orbital Sciences Mission to Space Station Rescheduled; NASA TV Coverage Reset

The third Orbital Sciences cargo mission to the International Space Station under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract is scheduled to launch at 6:22 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Oct. 28, from Pad 0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.



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NASA Awards Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Support Contract

NASA has awarded the Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Support Contract to Science Systems and Applications, Inc., of Greenbelt, Maryland.



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NASA’S Chandra Observatory Identifies Impact of Cosmic Chaos on Star Birth

The same phenomenon that causes a bumpy airplane ride, turbulence, may be the solution to a long-standing mystery about stars’ birth, or the absence of it, according to a new study using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.



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NASA's ECOSTRESS Will Monitor Plant Health

NASA is developing a new instrument that can detect heat and water stress in plants.

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NASA Administrator to Visit Marshall Space Flight Center; Talks Space Station Oct. 28

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will get a behind-the-scenes look at the science command post for the International Space Station when he visits NASA's Payload Operations Integration Center at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Oct. 28.



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Critical NASA Science Returns to Earth aboard SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft

SpaceX's Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down at 3:39 p.m. EDT Saturday, Oct. 25, in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 300 miles west of Baja California, returning 3,276 pounds of NASA cargo and science samples from the International Space Station (ISS).



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Rosetta's Comet Scrambling Its Jets

Rosetta's comet destination is beginning to show a clearly visible increase in activity.

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NASA Hosts First Agency-wide Social Media Event for Orion’s First Flight Test

NASA invites social media followers to apply for credentials to get a preview of the Orion spacecraft’s first flight test during NASA Social events Dec. 3 at each of its 10 centers.



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NASA Media Accreditation Opens for Launch of Next SpaceX Station Resupply Mission

Media accreditation is open for the launch of NASA's next commercial cargo resupply flight to the International Space Station.



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NASA Finds Methane Ice Cloud in Titan's Stratosphere

NASA scientists have identified an unexpected ice cloud on Saturn's moon Titan that is similar to exotic clouds found far above Earth's poles.

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Mars Orbiter's Spectrometer Shows Oort Comet's Coma

The imaging spectrometer on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has provided an image of the coma surrounding a comet that flew near Mars this week.

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MAVEN Ultraviolet Image of Comet Siding Spring's Hydrogen Coma

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft obtained this ultraviolet image of hydrogen surrounding comet Siding Spring on Oct. 17, 2014, two days before the comet's closest approach to Mars.

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NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly Shares Bullying Prevention Message Ahead of His One-Year Mission

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who is scheduled to fly on a one-year spaceflight mission in 2015, is lending his voice to help reduce childhood bullying. As part of Bullying Prevention Awareness Month, Kelly recorded a special message encouraging bystanders to take action.



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NASA Seeks Ultra-lightweight Materials to Help Enable Journey to Mars

NASA is seeking proposals to develop and manufacture ultra-lightweight materials for aerospace vehicles and structures of the future. Proposals will demonstrate lower-mass alternatives to honeycomb or foam cores currently used in composite sandwich structures.



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Naming Site J – Update

We're one step closer to knowing the name of Philae's landing site. By the time the competition closed, we had received more than 8000 proposals for a new name for the location, currently known as Site J. A huge big THANK YOU to all of you who participated for sharing your creativity and good will with us! Between now and next Wednesday, the list of proposals will be whittled down to a shortlist of 30 and this will be presented to the Philae Steering Committee. They will have the onerous task of choosing the best name for Philae's landing site. The winner will be announced on 3 November. The competition is being run and coordinated by ESA, DLR, CNES and ASI. Entries sent to any of these agencies will be considered together, with one winner selected to attend the landing event at the Mission Control Centre in Darmstadt, Germany on 12 November.



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CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: COMET SIDING SPRING SEEN NEXT TO MARS

This composite NASA Hubble Space Telescope Image captures the positions of comet Siding Spring and Mars in a never-before-seen close passage of a comet by the Red Planet.



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Comet activity is on the increase

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is showing a gradual, but clear, increase in activity, as can be seen in the latest images provided by the OSIRIS team. While images obtained a few months ago showed distinct jets of dust leaving the comet, these were limited to the ‘neck’ region. More recently, images obtained by Rosetta’s scientific imaging system, OSIRIS, show that dust is being emitted along almost the whole body of the comet. Jets have also been detected on the smaller lobe of the comet. “At this point, we believe that a large fraction of the illuminated comet’s surface is displaying some level of activity,” says OSIRIS scientist Jean-Baptiste Vincent from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany. From these images, the team wants to derive a better understanding of the evolution of cometary activity and the physical processes driving it. “Being able to monitor these emissions from up close for the first time gives us much more detailed insights,” says OSIRIS Principal Investigator Holger Sierks. “But one image alone cannot tell us the whole story; from one image we cannot discern exactly where on the surface a jet arises.” Instead, the researchers compare images of the same region taken from different angles, in order to reconstruct the three-dimensional structure of the jets. And, since under normal circumstances the comet’s nucleus would outshine the jets, the necessary images must be drastically overexposed to reveal the details of the jets, as shown in the image pair presented here (see below). While 67P/C-G’s overall activity is clearly increasing, the mission’s designated landing site on the smaller lobe still seems to be rather quiet. However, there is some indication that new active areas are waking up about one kilometre from the landing site. These will allow the lander’s instruments to study the […]



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The ‘perfume’ of 67P/C-G

With inputs from Kathrin Altwegg, ROSINA science team, University of Bern. Since early August, the Rosetta Orbiter Sensor for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) has been ‘sniffing the fumes’ of 67P/C-G with its two mass spectrometers. As reported previously in this blog, even though the comet is still more than 400 million kilometres from the Sun, the mixture of molecules detected in the comet’s coma is surprisingly rich already. Before arriving at 67P/C-G, the ROSINA team thought that at these vast distances from the Sun, its relatively low intensity would only release the most volatile molecules via sublimation, namely carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. However, ROSINA has detected many more molecules. Indeed, as of our 11 September report, ROSINA’s inventory of detected gases 67P/C-G looked like this: Water (H2O) Carbon monoxide (CO) Carbon dioxide (CO2) Ammonia (NH3) Methane (CH4) Methanol (CH3OH) But today we can report that the following have also been detected: Formaldehyde (CH2O) Hydrogen sulphide (H2S2) Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) Sulphur dioxide (SO2) Carbon disulphide (CS2) If you could smell the comet, you would probably wish that you hadn’t As the Kathrin Altwegg, principal investigator for ROSINA, put it: “The perfume of 67P/C-G is quite strong, with the odour of rotten eggs (hydrogen sulphide), horse stable (ammonia), and the pungent, suffocating odour of formaldehyde. This is mixed with the faint, bitter, almond-like aroma of hydrogen cyanide. Add some whiff of alcohol (methanol) to this mixture, paired with the vinegar-like aroma of sulphur dioxide and a hint of the sweet aromatic scent of carbon disulphide, and you arrive at the ‘perfume’ of our comet.” While this is unlikely to be a particularly attractive perfume, remember that the density of these molecules is very low, and that the main part of the coma is made up of water and carbon dioxide, […]



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NASA Television Coverage Set for Orbital Resupply Mission to Space Station

Orbital Sciences Corp. will launch its next mission to resupply the International Space Station Monday, Oct. 27, and NASA Television will broadcast live coverage of the event, including pre- and post-launch briefings and arrival at the station.



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NASA Awards Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder for the Joint Polar Satellite System-2 Mission

NASA has awarded a sole source contract modification to Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, of Azusa, California, for the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) Instrument for flight on the Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) mission.



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NASA TV Broadcasts Space Station Cargo Ship Activities

NASA Television will broadcast live the departure of an unpiloted Russian cargo spacecraft from the International Space Station (ISS) Monday, Oct. 27, as well as the launch and docking of its replacement Wednesday, Oct. 29.



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CometWatch – Cheops’ neighbours

This four-image NAVCAM montage comprises images taken on 18 October from a distance of 9.9 km from the centre of Comet 67P/C-G – about 7.9 km from the surface, not long after the image published Monday was taken. The four 1024 x 1024 pixel images making up the montage are provided at the end of this post. Assuming the 7.9 km distance, the image scale is about 67 cm/pixel, so each 1024 x1024 pixel frame is about 690 m across. In this image, we’re looking at the underside of the larger lobe of Comet 67P/C-G, which provides another look at boulder Cheops (lower left frame; see here and here for previous views) and a much more detailed look at the feature-rich surrounding terrain. Numerous circular depressions can be seen towards the centre of the region, some with rather well-defined rims and smooth floors. While some craters and pits on 67P/C-G may be direct tracers of active locations, it is also expected that sublimation of volatiles from beneath the surface dust could induce collapse of the overlying area into pits. Of course, based on these images alone, alternative interpretations cannot be ruled out. Some circular depressions may be evidence of past impact cratering events or perhaps fine-grained material filled in some previously existing depressions, with the surrounding material later eroded away to give the appearance of a raised rim. The lower-right frame also hosts a wealth of other interesting features, such as the exposed cliff faces bearing cross-cutting scars that run in numerous directions. On top of this feature, in the lower centre of the frame, an area of overlying dust appears to have been shaped into a surprisingly linear form – perhaps aided by underlying topography. Moving left from the largest exposed cliff face in the bottom right corner of […]



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Naming Philae – An interview with 2004 contest winner Serena Olga Vismara

As the contest to name the landing site on comet 67P/C-G draws to a close, we took another trip into the mission's past, this time chasing the origin of Philae's name. While the name of Rosetta was conceived within the team that defined the mission's science objectives back in the late 1980s, the name of its lander, Philae, has a different origin. In fact, the name Philae is the result of another contest that was held one decade ago, shortly before the launch of Rosetta in 2004. The competition, which was open to young people aged 12 to 25 in the countries contributing to the development of the lander, was won by an Italian student, Serena Olga Vismara from Arluno, near Milan. “I learnt about Rosetta and the contest to find the name for the lander thanks to a newsletter I received from ESA. In fact, as soon as we had an internet connection at home, that same year, I visited the ESA website and subscribed to the newsletter to stay up to date on ESA's activities,” she said. Ten years ago, Serena was a fifteen-year-old high-school student with a keen interest in all things space. Now, this interest has crystallised, as she is about to complete her Master's degree in space engineering at the Politecnico di Milano. For Rosetta's lander, she suggested to adopt a name, Philae, that follows the same Egyptian theme that inspired the mission's name. Philae is an island on the river Nile, in the south of Egypt, where archaeologists found an obelisk that was key to deciphering the hieroglyphs on the Rosetta stone. “I decided to take part in the contest just for fun actually, I did not expect to have much chance of winning since the contest was open to so many young people […]



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NASA Rover Opportunity Views Comet Near Mars

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity caught an image of a celestial visitor -- comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring -- as the comet approached near to Mars on Oct. 19, 2014.

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Media Invited to Participate in Interactive Space Station Technology Forum

Media are invited to interact with NASA experts who will answer questions about technologies being demonstrated on the International Space Station (ISS) during "Destination Station: ISS Technology Forum" from 10 to 11 a.m. EDT (9 to 10 a.m. CDT) Monday, Oct. 27, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.



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NASA TV Coverage Set for U.S. Cargo Ship’s Departure from International Space Station

After delivering almost 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station during a month-long stay, the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft is set to leave the orbital laboratory on Saturday, Oct. 25.



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CometWatch – 18 October

This four-image NAVCAM montage comprises images taken on 18 October from a distance of 9.8 km from the centre of comet 67P/C-G – about 7.8 km from the surface. The four 1024 x 1024 pixel images making up the montage are provided at the end of this post. At a distance of 7.8 km from the surface, the image scale is about 66.5 cm/pixel, so each 1024 x 1024 pixel frame is about 680 m across (although if we assume the furthest point away is an additional ~1 km further from the centre, the image scale is about 92 cm/pixel). The combined effect of the comet rotating between the first and last images taken in the sequence and the spacecraft moving in the same time is particularly apparent if you try to match features in the lower left and lower right images, which are the first and last images in the 20-minute sequence, respectively. In this orientation, the larger lobe of the comet is to the left, the smaller lobe to the right. The image highlights the features of the comet’s neck, including the active region (you might like to compare with the previous, more distant, view of 26 September). A fracture-like feature seen in the 19 September image is also visible in this montage, about 1/3 down from the top of the lower right frame. In the same frame, we also have a much closer look at a group of boulders, some of which appear to be more like protrusions, perhaps exposed by the removal of surrounding material. Elsewhere, and particularly in the upper frames, you may notice a number of bright streaks. Some of these will likely be dust grains ejected from the comet, captured in the six-second exposure time of the images.



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Klim Churyumov and Svetlana Gerasimenko: meet the discoverers of Rosetta’s comet

Rosetta's comet was discovered in 1969 by two Ukranian astronomers, Klim Churyumov and Svetlana Gerasimenko, who first observed it from the Institute of Astrophysics in Alma-Ata (now named Almaty), Kazakhstan. To their delight, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was selected in 2003 as the destination for the Rosetta mission. Since then, they have eagerly followed the progress of the mission that is now unveiling the many facets of 'their' comet. Forty-five years after the discovery, Klim and Svetlana are still active researchers in the field of cometary science. They recently shared with us the story of how they stumbled on the object that would later become – as Svetlana calls it – a 'superstar among comets'. As with many tales from the history of science, this was a lucky discovery. In September 1969, the two astronomers were on an expedition to Alma-Ata to observe known comets and – hopefully – to discover new ones. Using the Institute's 50-cm telescope, they took photographs of the night sky, observing each region twice at an interval of 20-30 minutes. This is a common technique used to reveal unknown comets or transient objects in the night sky: by comparing subsequent photos of the same patch of the sky, unexpected 'visitors' appear to move across the sky against the background of the fixed stars, and can be easily identified. Those were the days of analogue photography: astronomers would coat a photographic plate with light-sensitive emulsion and expose it to the night sky to record light from astronomical sources. At the end of the observation shift, they would develop the plates and eventually, sometimes only after days or even weeks, measure the position and brightness of the celestial bodies recorded in the images and try to make sense out of them. It was because of an incident during the […]



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All Three NASA Mars Orbiters Healthy After Comet Flyby

All three NASA orbiters around Mars confirmed their healthy status Sunday after each took shelter behind Mars during a period of risk from dust released by a passing comet.

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NASA's Mars Odyssey Orbiter Watches Comet Fly Near

The longest-lived robot ever sent to Mars came through its latest challenge in good health, reporting home on schedule after sheltering behind Mars from possible comet dust.

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NASA's MAVEN Studies Passing Comet and Its Effects

NASA's newest orbiter at Mars, MAVEN, took precautions to avoid harm from a dust-spewing comet that flew near Mars today and is studying the flyby's effects on the Red Planet's atmosphere.

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NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Studies Comet Flyby

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has sent home more data about Mars than all other missions combined, is also now providing data about a comet that buzzed The Red Planet on October 19.

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NASA Partners with Leading Technology Innovators to Enable Future Exploration

Recognizing that technology drives exploration, NASA has selected four teams of agency technologists for participation in the Early Career Initiative (ECI) pilot program. The program encourages creativity and innovation among early career NASA technologists by engaging them in hands-on technology development opportunities needed for future missions.



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Boeing Concludes Commercial Crew Space Act Agreement for CST-100/Atlas V

Boeing has successfully completed the final milestone of its Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) Space Act Agreement with NASA. The work and testing completed under the agreement resulted in significant maturation of Boeing’s crew transportation system, including the CST-100 spacecraft and Atlas V rocket.



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New Commercial Rocket Descent Data May Help NASA with Future Mars Landings

NASA successfully captured thermal images of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on its descent after it launched in September from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The data from these thermal images may provide critical engineering information for future missions to the surface of Mars.



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Naming Rosetta – An interview with Eberhard Grün

Yesterday we launched a competition inviting members of the public to propose a name for Philae's landing site. While many of you might be busy thinking of a good name to replace “Site J”, we thought to provide you with some inspiration by revisiting the story of Rosetta's name. If you are a regular follower of this blog you are no doubt familiar with the reasons why ESA's comet-chasing mission was named after the Rosetta Stone – a dark stele unearthed in 1799 near the town of Rashid (in English, Rosetta) on the Nile Delta, in Egypt. Carrying the text of the same decree in three different scripts, the Rosetta Stone helped nineteenth century scholars decipher the sacred written system of hieroglyphs, offering a new key into the study of the ancient Egyptian civilisation. But maybe not all of you know the story of when and how the name Rosetta was chosen for the mission. Continue reading and all will be revealed in this interview with Professor Eberhard Grün, an Interdisciplinary Scientist for the Rosetta mission from the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany. A renowned expert on comets and interstellar dust who has been involved with the mission since its early days, Professor Grün has been often called the 'Father of Rosetta', since it was he who suggested this evocative name back in 1987. Was the mission called Rosetta from the very start or did it have a different name at first? “At the beginning it was simply called 'Comet Nucleus Sample Return'. As the name implies, the mission concept was quite different back then.” When was the mission first proposed? “In 1985, ESA was putting together its long-term science programme, 'Horizon 2000'. There was still one year to go before Giotto would fly by comet […]



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A tale of two comets – Waiting for Siding Spring

This is a tale of two comets. One is a periodic comet, the other a newcomer to the inner Solar System. One has a well known and predictable orbit of six and a half years, the other is yet to complete its first million-year-long loop along a new orbit that has taken it, for the first time, in the vicinity of the Sun. One has been observed and studied for many years, while the other stayed well hidden until it popped up unannounced just over a year ago. These two comets are quite different. The predictable one is 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/C-G), a comet that was discovered in 1969 and is currently being visited and studied up close by ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft. With an orbital period of under 20 years and a low inclination, 67P/C-G is classed as a “Jupiter-family” comet — we know of many comets belonging to this family. The other comet is C/2013 A1, also known as comet Siding Spring after the observatory in Australia where it was first observed in January 2013. (Note: another comet discovered in 2007 at the same observatory is also known as Siding Spring: comet C/2007 Q3.) Comet Siding Spring is currently on its first journey to the inner Solar System; it has spent most of its life in the Oort cloud, a gigantic reservoir of comets that surrounds the Solar System and stretches outwards to roughly 100,000 AU from the Sun — where 1 AU is the Earth-Sun distance. Comets in the Oort cloud are dormant, but even a small perturbation can modify their orbits and kick them into the inner Solar System; this is what happened to comet Siding Spring a few million years ago. When this comet was first discovered, it was 7.2 AU from the Sun, placing it somewhere between […]



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CometWatch at 10 km

This four-image NAVCAM montage comprises images taken on 15 October from a distance of 9.9 km from the centre of comet 67P/C-G – just ~7.9 km from the surface! The orientation is such that we’re looking down onto the small lobe from above (bottom two frames), with the large lobe beyond (top two frames). At this distance, the image scale is about 0.63 m/pixel, so each 1024 x 1024 pixel frame is about 650 metres across. Of course, at these close distances that’s only really valid for the nearside of the comet. With the furthest point being an additional ~1 km further from the centre, that reduces the image scale for the more distance frames to about 0.93m/pixel! The four full-resolution individual images making up the montage are provided below.



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NAVCAM’s shades of grey

Ever since early August, when Rosetta rendezvoused with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at a distance of roughly 100 km, the on-board navigation camera (NAVCAM) has been returning images that depict the many different facets of its nucleus. A complex surface emerges from these images, revealing valleys, cliffs, boulders, and craters all over the comet. NAVCAM takes black-and-white images and the surface of 67P/C-G shows a wide dynamic range of light and dark regions, depending on the illumination conditions and surface characteristics at any given area. But what do “light” and “dark” mean for an object like 67P/C-G? Followers of this blog have asked this and similar questions, so here are some details on how NAVCAM images are taken and displayed to make a wide range of surface features possible. Let’s start with the light available to take pictures by. At present, 67P/C-G and Rosetta are out beyond the orbit of Mars and the Sun is roughly only 10% as bright as they would see if they were in orbit around the Earth. In addition, the surface of comets can be very dark, reflecting less than 10% of the light that falls on them – something that has been known since ESA’s Giotto flyby of Comet 1P/Halley in 1986. The technical term used is that comet nuclei have a very low ‘albedo’. For 67P/C-G in particular, astronomers have combined visible light data from the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observatories, with infrared data from Spitzer and WISE, to determine that it has an albedo of just 4–6%, as dark as charcoal. So combining these two facts, there’s not that much light coming from 67P/C-G with which to take a picture. But just as you would do in dimly lit situations on Earth, that can be overcome by using a longer exposure time. In […]



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Saturn Moon May Hide a 'Fossil' Core or an Ocean

A new study suggests the cratered surface of Saturn's icy moon Mimas indicates the moon's frozen core is shaped something like a football, or the moon has a liquid water ocean.

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NASA's Opportunity Rover Gets Panorama Image at 'Wdowiak Ridge'

NASA's decade-old Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is working near the base of a steep-sloped hill called "Wdowiak Ridge," shown in a dramatic new panorama from the rover.

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NASA Begins Sixth Year of Airborne Antarctic Ice Change Study

NASA is carrying out its sixth consecutive year of Operation IceBridge research flights over Antarctica to study changes in the continent’s ice sheet, glaciers and sea ice. This year’s airborne campaign, which began its first flight Thursday morning, will revisit a section of the Antarctic ice sheet that recently was found to be in irreversible decline.



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NASA TV to Air Russian Spacewalk from International Space Station

NASA Television will broadcast live coverage of a six-hour spacewalk by two Russian crew members aboard the International Space Station beginning at 9 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Oct. 22.



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NASA Spacecraft Provides New Information About Sun’s Atmosphere

NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) has provided scientists with five new findings into how the sun’s atmosphere, or corona, is heated far hotter than its surface, what causes the sun’s constant outflow of particles called the solar wind, and what mechanisms accelerate particles that power solar flares.



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NASA’s Hubble Finds Extremely Distant Galaxy through Cosmic Magnifying Glass

Peering through a giant cosmic magnifying glass, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has spotted a tiny, faint galaxy -- one of the farthest galaxies ever seen. The diminutive object is estimated to be more than 13 billion light-years away.



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Cassini Caught in Hyperion's Particle Beam

New analysis indicates that during a 2005 flyby, NASA's Cassini spacecraft was zapped by a beam of electrons coming from the surface of Saturn's moon Hyperion.

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Rosetta's Comet Landing Site Close Up

An annotated mosaic from the Rosetta spacecraft shows "Site J," the primary landing site on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for the mission's Philae lander.

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NASA Soil Moisture Mapper Arrives at Launch Site

A NASA spacecraft designed to track Earth's water in one of its most important, but least recognized, forms -- soil moisture -- has arrived at its California launch site.

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NASA Soil Moisture Mapper Arrives at Launch Site

A NASA spacecraft designed to track Earth's water in one of its most important, but least recognized forms -- soil moisture -- now is at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, to begin final preparations for launch in January.



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NASA's RapidScat Keeps a Watchful Eye on Ocean Storms

NASA's RapidScat gives forecasters a new eye on winds far out to sea and will help researchers understand why a breeze over the ocean sometimes builds into a hurricane.

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NASA’s Hubble Telescope Finds Potential Kuiper Belt Targets for New Horizons Pluto Mission

Peering out to the dim, outer reaches of our solar system, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered three Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) the agency’s New Horizons spacecraft could potentially visit after it flies by Pluto in July 2015.



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Slow-Growing Galaxies Offer Window to Early Universe

What makes one rose bush blossom with flowers, while another remains barren? Astronomers ask a similar question of galaxies.

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Rosetta Selflessly Beams Back Comet Selfie

A composite image from a camera on the Rosetta mission's Philae comet lander shows a solar array, with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in the background.

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NASA Mission Provides Its First Look at Martian Upper Atmosphere

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft orbiting Mars sees a solar-particle storm, gets ultraviolet images of tenuous oxygen, hydrogen and carbon coronas, and yields a map of variable ozone.

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NASA Mission Provides Its First Look at Martian Upper Atmosphere

NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft has provided scientists their first look at a storm of energetic solar particles at Mars, produced unprecedented ultraviolet images of the tenuous oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon coronas surrounding the Red Planet, and yielded a comprehensive map of highly-variable ozone in the atmosphere underlying the coronas.



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NASA Mission Finds Widespread Evidence of Young Lunar Volcanism

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has provided researchers strong evidence the moon’s volcanic activity slowed gradually instead of stopping abruptly a billion years ago.



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NASA Awards Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement Contracts

NASA has awarded 41 contracts under the Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V. Forty one contracts were awarded in the Server Support Devices/Multi-functional Devices, Group C.



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NASA Shares What MAVEN Spacecraft Has Seen in its First Few Weeks at Mars

NASA will host a news teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Oct. 14, to announce early science results from its Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission.



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NASA Prepares its Science Fleet for Oct. 19 Mars Comet Encounter

NASA's extensive fleet of science assets, particularly those orbiting and roving Mars, have front row seats to image and study a once-in-a-lifetime comet flyby on Sunday, Oct. 19.

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Tiny U.S. Region Is Methane 'Hot Spot,' NASA Finds

One small "hot spot" in the U.S. Southwest is responsible for producing the largest concentration of the greenhouse gas methane seen over the United States.

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NASA's Hubble Maps the Temperature and Water Vapor on an Extreme Exoplanet

A team of scientists using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has made the most detailed global map yet of the glow from a turbulent planet outside our solar system, revealing its secrets of air temperatures and water vapor.



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NASA Prepares its Science Fleet for Oct. 19 Mars Comet Encounter

NASA’s extensive fleet of science assets, particularly those orbiting and roving Mars, have front row seats to image and study a once-in-a-lifetime comet flyby on Sunday, Oct. 19.



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Satellite Data Shows U.S. Methane ‘Hot Spot’ Bigger than Expected

One small “hot spot” in the U.S. Southwest is responsible for producing the largest concentration of the greenhouse gas methane seen over the United States – more than triple the standard ground-based estimate -- according to a new study of satellite data by scientists at NASA and the University of Michigan.



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NASA Parachute Engineers Have Appetite for Destruction

NASA engineers are bound and determined to destroy a perfectly good parachute this week during the latest test for the agency's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator project.

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NASA's NuSTAR Telescope Discovers Shockingly Bright Dead Star

Astronomers have found a pulsating, dead star beaming with the energy of about 10 million suns. This is the brightest pulsar - a dense stellar remnant left over from a supernova explosion - ever recorded.

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NASA Partners with X-37B Program for Use of Former Space Shuttle Hangars

NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Air Force's X-37B Program for use of the center’s Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) Bays 1 and 2 to process the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle for launch.



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NASA Premieres ‘Trial By Fire’ Video on Orion’s Flight Test

As the flight test of NASA’s Orion spacecraft nears, the agency released Wednesday a video -- called "Trial By Fire" -- detailing the spacecraft’s test and the critical systems engineers will evaluate during the Dec. 4 flight.



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NASA’s NuSTAR Telescope Discovers Shockingly Bright Dead Star

Astronomers have found a pulsating, dead star beaming with the energy of about 10 million suns. This is the brightest pulsar – a dense stellar remnant left over from a supernova explosion – ever recorded. The discovery was made with NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR.



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NASA Selects Three Proposals to Support Behavioral Health and Performance on Deep Space Missions

NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) will fund three proposals to help investigate questions about behavioral health and performance on future deep space exploration missions.



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CometWatch – focus on the ‘neck’

This four-image NAVCAM montage, comprising images taken on 2 October from a distance of 19 km from the centre of 67P/C-G, provides a stunning view onto the ‘neck’ region of the comet. The image scale is 1.45 metres/pixel, so each 1024 x 1024 pixel frame is about 1.5 km square. As usual, the four individual images making up the montage are provided at the end of this post. It’s interesting to see how the perspective has shifted and some of the features have changed in appearance as a result of the comet rotation and spacecraft movement in the time between the first (bottom left) and last (bottom right) image being taken. For example, look at the change in the length of shadows of features close to the ‘join’ in the bottom two images. So, a word of caution: while it is possible to make a seamless mosaic using software like Microsoft ICE, a careful check against the originals will very likely show areas that are incorrect. Note also that the diffuse ‘blob’ mentioned in Monday’s post and probably due to internal scattering in the NAVCAM optics, is visible again in the top two images in today’s post. Since the blob appears to blend into the jets seen in the top right frame, take care when cranking up the contrast! You might also like to compare these images with those of the same region seen from a distance of about 28.5 km on 24 September. Focusing on the lower right frame of this montage, you may spot some interesting features, in addition to the numerous boulders. For example, in the lower centre portion of the image, there appear to be exposed surfaces devoid of the smoother material that dominates the neck region (the exposed surfaces appear as brighter features with these […]



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Send Your Name on NASA’s Journey to Mars, Starting with Orion’s First Flight

If only your name could collect frequent flyer miles. NASA is inviting the public to send their names on a microchip to destinations beyond low-Earth orbit, including Mars.



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NASA Lunar Mission Wins 2014 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award

NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission has received the Popular Mechanics 2014 Breakthrough Award for innovation in science and technology. The 10th annual Breakthrough Awards recognize innovators, engineers and scientists responsible for changing our world.



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NASA Selects Advanced Oxygen Recovery Proposals for Spacecraft Missions

NASA has selected four partners to develop game changing technologies with the potential to increase the oxygen recovery rate aboard human spacecraft to at least 75 percent while achieving high reliability. These oxygen recovery and recycling technologies will drive exploration and enable our human journey to Mars and beyond.



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NASA Aeronautics Research Tests New Tool for Early Wildfire Detection

NASA’s research in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) may soon provide a means for early detection and mitigation of fires in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, a nearly 50,000-square-acre region centered on the Virginia-North Carolina border.



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NASA Holds Briefing to Discuss Comet Flyby of Mars Observations

NASA will host a briefing on Thursday, Oct. 9, to outline the space and Earth-based assets that will image and study a comet from relatively close range to Mars on Oct. 19.

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New NASA Technology Brings Critical Data to Pilots Over Remote Alaskan Territories

NASA has formally delivered to Alaskan officials a new technology that could help pilots flying over the vast wilderness expanses of the northern-most state. The technology is designed to help pilots make better flight decisions, especially when disconnected from the Internet, telephone, flight services and other data sources normally used by pilots.



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Media Accreditation Now Open for First Flight of NASA’s Orion Spacecraft

NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida has opened accreditation for media to attend the rollout of the agency's Orion spacecraft to its Cape Canaveral Air Force Station launch pad in mid-November, as well as Orion's liftoff on its first flight targeted for Dec. 4.



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NASA Selects New Science Teams for Astrobiology Research

NASA has awarded five-year grants totaling almost $50 million to seven research teams nationwide to study the origins, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe.



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NASA Holds Media Briefing to Discuss Comet Flyby of Mars Observations

NASA will host a media briefing at 2 p.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 9, to outline the space and Earth-based assets that will have extraordinary opportunities to image and study a comet from relatively close range to Mars on Sunday, Oct. 19.



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U.S. Initiates Prototype System to Gauge National Marine Biodiversity

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA are funding three demonstration projects that will lay the foundation for the first national network to monitor marine biodiversity at scales ranging from microbes to whales. The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) also plans to contribute.



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NASA Holds Teleconference on NuSTAR Discovery

NASA will host a news teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Oct. 8, to announce new findings from its Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission. The results describe an unusual source of X-rays that will leave theorists scratching their heads, but also will help astronomers learn more about how black holes and galaxies are formed.



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NASA Holds Teleconference on NuSTAR Discovery

NASA will host a news teleconference at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT) Wednesday, Oct. 8, to announce new findings from its Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission.

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NASA Study Finds Earth's Ocean Abyss Has Not Warmed

Earth's deep ocean has not warmed measurably since 2005, finds a new NASA study, leaving unsolved the mystery of why global warming appears to have slowed in recent years.

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NASA Study Finds Earth’s Ocean Abyss Has Not Warmed

The cold waters of Earth’s deep ocean have not warmed measurably since 2005, according to a new NASA study, leaving unsolved the mystery of why global warming appears to have slowed in recent years.



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NASA Selects Nine Space Radiobiology Research Proposals

NASA's Human Research Program will fund nine proposals for ground-based research that will help enable extended and safer human exploration of space by quantifying and, ultimately, reducing the risks posed by space radiation.



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NASA, Honeywell Bring Hip Hop Physics Tour to Los Angeles Schools

NASA and Honeywell are inviting media to participate in the west coast kickoff of the 10th anniversary celebration of their FMA Live! Forces in Motion tour. The touring show will visit Los Angeles area schools the week of Oct. 5.



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A 'Comet' Lands in Pasadena

JPL is participating in AxS 2014, an arts and sciences celebration in Pasadena, California, which includes an interactive comet sculpture on display through Oct. 5.

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Rosetta Comet Fires Its Jets

An image taken by the ESA Rosetta spacecraft shows jets of dust and gas escaping from the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

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Mars Rover Technology Adapted to Detect Gas Leaks

In collaboration with JPL, Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced that it is testing state-of-the-art technology adapted from NASA's Mars rover program.

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NASA Mission Points to Origin of 'Ocean of Storms' on Earth's Moon

Using data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL), mission scientists have solved a lunar mystery almost as old as the moon itself.

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NASA Mission Points to Origin of “Ocean of Storms” on Earth’s Moon

Using data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL), mission scientists have solved a lunar mystery almost as old as the moon itself.



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NASA Invites Public to Join #SkyScience Cloud Study

NASA is inviting people around the globe to step outside during Earth Science Week, Oct. 12-18, observe the sky and share their observations as citizen scientists.

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NASA’s Orion Spacecraft, Rocket Move Closer to First Flight

NASA’s new Orion spacecraft and the Delta IV Heavy rocket that will carry it into space are at their penultimate stops in Florida on their path to a December flight test.



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NASA Awards Enterprise-Wide Procurement Contracts

NASA has awarded 56 contracts under the Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V. Twenty-three contracts were awarded in the Computer Based Systems, Group A, and 33 contracts were awarded in the Networking/Security/Video and Conference Tools, Group D.



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NASA Invites Public to Participate in #SkyScience for Earth Science Week

NASA is inviting people around the globe to step outside during Earth Science Week, Oct. 12-18, observe the sky and share their observations as citizen scientists.



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Ride Through Space Exploration at JPL Open House

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, opens its doors to the public at its Open House on Saturday, October 11, and Sunday, October 12, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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Swirling Cloud at Titan's Pole is Cold and Toxic

Scientists analyzing data from NASA's Cassini mission have found a giant, toxic cloud hovering over the south pole of Titan, after the atmosphere there cooled dramatically.

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U.S., India to Collaborate on Earth, Mars Missions

NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation signed agreements to launch a joint space mission to observe Earth and establish a pathway for joint Mars exploration missions.

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U.S., India to Collaborate on Mars Exploration, Earth-Observing Mission

In a meeting Tuesday in Toronto, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and K. Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), signed two documents to launch a NASA-ISRO satellite mission to observe Earth and establish a pathway for future joint missions to explore Mars.



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