OrbitalHub

Wikipedia dicit:

“Because of the Moon’s lack of water, atmosphere, and tectonic plates, there is little erosion, and craters are found that exceed two billion years in age. The age of large craters is determined by the number of smaller craters contained within it, older craters generally accumulating more small, contained craters.

The smallest craters found have been microscopic in size, found in rocks returned to Earth from the Moon. The largest crater called such is about 290 kilometres (181 mi) across in diameter, located near the lunar South Pole. However, it is believed that many of the lunar maria were formed by giant impacts, with the resulting depression filled by upwelling lava.”

Video Credit: NASA Goddard

NASA dixit:

“On December 18, 2018, the GPM satellite found extreme rainfall in Kenanga’s well-defined circular eyewall. Heaviest rainfall was found by GPM in the tropical cyclone’s southeastern quadrant, falling at a rate of over 161 mm (6.3 inches) per hour on that side of the tropical cyclone. GPM’s radar probes of Kenanga’s eastern side indicated that storm tops in that part of the tropical cyclone were reaching heights above 12.2 km (7.6 miles).”

Video Credit: NASA/JAXA, Hal Pierce

NASA dixit:

“Earth’s energy budget is a metaphor for the delicate equilibrium between energy received from the Sun versus energy radiated back out in to space. Research into precise details of Earth’s energy budget is vital for understanding how the planet’s climate may be changing, as well as variabilities in solar energy output.

Missions like NASA’s TSIS will help scientists keep a close watch. NASA’s Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor, or TSIS-1, is a mission to measure the sun’s energy input to Earth. Various satellites have captured a continuous record of this solar energy input since 1978. TSIS-1 sensors advance previous measurements, enabling scientists to study the sun’s natural influence on Earth’s ozone layer, atmospheric circulation, clouds, and ecosystems. These observations are essential for a scientific understanding of the effects of solar variability on the Earth system.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center manages the project. The University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) built both instruments and provides mission operations. The International Space Station carries TSIS-1.”

Video Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Michael Starobin

NASA dixit:

“In a remote area of northwest Greenland, an international team of scientists has made a stunning discovery, buried beneath a kilometer of ice. It’s a meteor impact crater, 300 meters deep and bigger than Paris or the Beltway around Washington, DC. It is one of the 25 largest known impact craters on Earth, and the first found under any of our planet’s ice sheets. The researchers first spotted the crater in July 2015, while they were inspecting a new map of the topography beneath Greenland’s ice sheet that used ice-penetrating radar data primarily from Operation IceBridge, an ongoing NASA airborne mission to track changes in polar ice, and earlier NASA airborne missions in Greenland.”

Video Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Jefferson Beck

NASA dixit:

“NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) sits onboard NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite at the Lagrange point 1, a million miles away from Earth. EPIC has been imaging the sunlit side of Earth between 13 and 22 times a day since 2015. Now, scientists have developed ways to use these images to study specific elements of our home planet’s atmosphere and plant life, like ozone in the stratosphere, the makeup of clouds and the health of vegetation on land.”

Video Credit: NASA Goddard/Kathryn Mersmann

NASA dixit:

“NASA’s new laser instrument, the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation, or GEDI, has advanced laser technology that will reveal the makeup of remote forest ecosystems around the globe. GEDI will soar above Earth at 17,150 miles per hour onboard the International Space Station. Its measurements of the height of leaves, branches, trees, and shrubs below its path will help scientists map the structure of forests and better understand how ecosystems are storing or releasing carbon.

GEDI’s lidar instrument sends laser pulses down to Earth, where they penetrate the globe’s temperate and tropical forests. The laser beams ricochet off the first thing they hit, which can be a leaf atop a dense canopy, a protruding branch, or the ground from which the forest emerges. The energy returned to the GEDI telescope on the International Space Station will provide an intricate three-dimensional map of forest canopies and carbon storage.

Led by the University of Maryland in collaboration with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, GEDI has the highest resolution and densest sampling of any lidar every put in orbit. ”

Video Credit: NASA Goddard/Matthew Radcliff