OrbitalHub

NASA dixit:

“NASA’s first spacecraft dedicated to studying carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere was successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. OCO-2 will be collecting a great number of high-resolution measurements, which will provide a greater spatial distribution of CO2 over the entire globe, in short, a bigger, clearer, more complete picture of global CO2. These measurements will be combined with data from the ground-based network to provide scientists with the information that they need to better understand the processes that regulate atmospheric CO2 and its role in the carbon cycle.”

Credit: NASA

 

NASA dixit:

“[…] the four spacecraft fly in a tetrahedron formation. This complex arrangement enables scientists to gather data about magnetic reconnection in 3D.

On its journey, MMS will observe a little-understood, but universal phenomenon called magnetic reconnection, responsible for dramatic re-shaping of the magnetic environment near Earth, often sending intense amounts of energy and fast-moving particles off in a new direction. Not only is this a fundamental physical process that occurs throughout the universe, it is also one of the drivers of space weather events at Earth. Truly understanding the process requires four identical spacecraft to track how such reconnection events move across and through any given space.”

Credit: NASA

Read more about the MMS mission…

 

NASA dixit:

“After launching earlier in the day in their Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 40/41 Soyuz Commander Max Suraev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), NASA Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman and Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency docked at the International Space Station on May 29 following a six-hour rendezvous.”

Credit: NASA/Roscosmos

NASA dixit:

“A mid-level flare, an M6.5, erupted from the sun on April 2, 2014, peaking at 10:05 a.m. EDT. This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the flare in a blend of two wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light: 171 Angstroms and 304 Angstroms, colorized in yellow and red, respectively.”

Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA dixit:

“The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft arrived at the International Space Station April 20, delivering almost 5,000 pounds of scientific experiments and supplies for the Expedition 39 crew. Dragon was launched atop the commercial company’s Falcon 9 rocket April 18 from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on the third commercial resupply mission to the station for SpaceX. After a two-day rendezvous to catch up to the orbital laboratory, Dragon was grappled by Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and NASA Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio and berthed to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module using the station’s Canadian-built robot arm, where it will remain until it departs the outpost on May 18 for a parachute-assisted return to Earth and a splashdown in the Pacific west of Baja California.”

Credit: NASA

NASA dixit:

“Approximately 2.4 tons of NASA science investigations and cargo were launched to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. The launch aboard the company’s Falcon 9 rocket took place from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Monday, April 18 at 3:25 p.m. EDT. Dragon’s cargo will support more than 150 experiments that will be conducted during space station Expeditions 39 and 40. Dragon is scheduled to depart the space station May 18 for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California, bringing with it about 3,500 pounds of science and research, hardware, crew supplies and spacewalk tools from the space station.”

Read more about SpaceX…