OrbitalHub

Wikipedia dixit:

“TDRS-M, to be renamed TDRS-13 upon entry into service, is an American communications satellite operated by NASA as part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. The thirteenth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, it is the third and final third-generation spacecraft to be launched, following the 2014 launch of TDRS-L.

TDRS-M was constructed by Boeing, based on the BSS-601HP satellite bus. Fully fueled, it has a mass of 3,454 kg (7,615 lb), with a design life of 15 years. It carries two steerable antennas capable of providing S, Ku and Ka band communications for other spacecraft, with an additional array of S-band transponders for lower-rate communications with five further satellites. The satellite is powered by two solar arrays, which produce 2.8 to 3.2 kilowatts of power, while an R-4D-11-300 engine is present to provide propulsion.”

Video credit: ULA

ESA dixit:

“As the US enjoyed a total solar eclipse on 21 August 2017, ESA’s Sun-watching Proba-2 satellite captured three partial eclipses from its viewpoint, 800 km above Earth. Proba-2 orbits Earth about 14.5 times per day, and thanks to the constant change in viewing angle, it dipped in and out of the Moon’s shadow several times during the solar eclipse. The Proba-2 images were taken by the SWAP imager, and show the solar disc in extreme-ultraviolet light to capture its turbulent surface and swirling corona corresponding to temperatures of about a million degrees.”

Video credit: ESA

NASA dixit:

“From a million miles out in space, NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) captured 12 natural color images of the moon’s shadow crossing over North America on August 21, 2017. EPIC is aboard NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), where it photographs the full sunlit side of Earth every day, giving it a unique view of total solar eclipses.”

Video credit: NASA

NASA dixit:

“While many in the U.S. experienced a total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017, SDO’s perspective, observing the Sun from Earth orbit, afforded it a view of a partial eclipse. This movie, created from images taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, shows the Sun first in visible light, and then in 171-angstrom extreme ultraviolet light. The apparent slight movement of the Sun is because SDO has a hard time keeping the Sun centered in its images during eclipses, with so much light being blocked by the Moon. The fine guidance systems on SDO’s instruments need to see the whole Sun in order keep the images centered from one exposure to the next. Once the transit was over, the fine guidance systems started back up, once again providing steady images of the Sun.”

Video credit: NASA

NASA dixit:

“Cassini gazed toward high southern latitudes near Saturn’s south pole to observe ghostly curtains of dancing light — Saturn’s southern auroras, or southern lights. These natural light displays at the planet’s poles are created by charged particles raining down into the upper atmosphere, making gases there glow.

The dark area at the top of this scene is Saturn’s night side. The auroras rotate from left to right, curving around the planet as Saturn rotates over about 70 minutes, compressed here into a movie sequence of about five seconds. Background stars are seen sliding behind the planet. Cassini was moving around Saturn during the observation, keeping its gaze fixed on a particular spot on the planet, which causes a shift in the distant background over the course of the observation. Some of the stars seem to make a slight turn to the right just before disappearing. This effect is due to refraction — the starlight gets bent as it passes through the atmosphere, which acts as a lens. Random bright specks and streaks appearing from frame to frame are due to charged particles and cosmic rays hitting the camera detector.”

Video credit: NASA

NASA dixit:

“On Friday, August 18, NASA launched the third in a series of three advanced, Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, known as TDRS-M, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, in Florida. This latest addition to the fleet will augment a space communications network that provides the critical path for high data-rate communication to a host of spacecraft including the International Space Station and its resupply vehicles, the Hubble Space Telescope and many of NASA’s Earth-observing fleet spacecraft.”

Video credit: NASA