OrbitalHub

NASA JPL dicit:

NASA and the European Space Agency are developing plans for one of the most ambitious campaigns ever attempted in space: bringing the first samples of Mars material safely back to Earth for detailed study. The diverse set of scientifically curated samples now being collected by NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover could help scientists answer the question of whether ancient life ever arose on the Red Planet.

Bringing samples of Mars to Earth for future study would happen in several steps with multiple spacecraft, and in some ways, in a synchronized manner. This short animation features key moments of the Mars Sample Return campaign: from landing on Mars and securing the sample tubes to launching them off the surface and ferrying them back to Earth.

Credit: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC/MSFC

NASA dicit:

Launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took place from Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39A at 2:20 p.m. EST on Saturday, November 26, 2022.

Credit: NASA/SpaceX

NASA dicit:

A new NASA and Durham University simulation puts forth a different theory of the Moon’s origin – the Moon may have formed in a matter of hours, when material from the Earth and a Mars sized-body were launched directly into orbit after the impact. The simulations used in this research are some of the most detailed of their kind, operating at the highest resolution of any simulation run to study the Moon’s origins or other giant impacts.

Credit: NASA/ Durham University/Jacob Kegerreis

NASA dicit:

The DART mission deployed a kinetic impactor to smack the small moon Dimorphos of the asteroid Didymos on the evening of September 26. This was an on-orbit demonstration of asteroid deflection, a key test of NASA’s kinetic impactor technology, designed to impact an asteroid to adjust its speed and path. This particular asteroid moon is NOT a threat to Earth, but is technology being explored to use for when we DO find a potentially hazardous asteroid.

The Hubble Space Telescope captured these extraordinary views of the asteroid moon soon after the successful impact.

Credit: NASA Langley Research Center

NASA dicit:

NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) is currently at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, where teams are preparing the novel technology for launch as a secondary payload with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) satellite, which will help track and predict Earth’s weather and climate.

Credit: NASA Langley Research Center

NASA dicit:

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon Endurance lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at noon EDT on Oct. 5, 2022. Onboard the Dragon spacecraft are NASA astronauts Nicole Aunapu Mann and Josh Cassada, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina for the mission to the International Space Station.

Credit: NASA