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SkySafari has new solar eclipse capabilities on its app, including a simulator and a shadow tracker, making it the perfect app for April 8.

Dragon bones, mysterious carvings and simple math reveal ancient eclipses

3 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

A six-person team of researchers from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, will travel to Fort Drum, N.Y., to study changes in the Sun’s radiation as it reaches Earth before, during, and after the total solar eclipse April 8.

Weather sensors similar to what is used on daily weather balloons by the National Weather Service will be added to a specially modified Alta X Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) and flown to a maximum altitude of nearly two miles, higher than the team has ever flown the UAS. The UAS will provide vertical modeling of temperature, relative humidity, pressure, and wind to test an alternative data collection to using traditional weather balloons in the troposphere. The troposphere is the lowest layer of Earth’s atmosphere where most types of clouds are found and where weather occurs.

Jake Revesz, electronic systems engineer, prepping the UAS for flight.NASA/Jen Fowler

“UAS hold promise for rapid deployment into the lower troposphere with repeated measurements for higher temporal resolution at lower cost,” said Jennifer Fowler, principal investigator and mission commander, “Typically, atmospheric data collection from instruments on board aircraft is done using balloons as the platform that, once released, are not recovered. UAS allow for the opportunity to conduct repeated profiles since the radiosonde is recovered after each flight.”

‘Forcing events’ in weather are events that drive some type of sudden change. Examples of forcing events are volcanic eruptions, wildland fires, and solar eclipses. The predictability of an eclipse, compared to other forcing events, presents a perfect opportunity for scientists to study the impact on the planetary boundary layer, the lowest part of the troposphere, in a natural experiment. Experiments with weather balloons use instruments, called dropsondes, that collect data about the atmosphere as they float to earth. Radiosondes are dropsondes attached to aircraft.

“The configuration [of instruments] that we’re using, a radiosonde integrated with a 3D sonic anemometer, flown on a multi-rotor aircraft, to my knowledge, has never been done before,” explained Tyler Willhite, airborne sensor operator, “The radiosonde is designed for balloon launches. So, the fact that we’re flying it on a drone is very different. Low altitude sounding data is critical to fill knowledge gaps that currently exist in the atmospheric boundary layer. We also have the ability to have a large variety of data outputs that can be streamed in real-time. This is something that other weather payloads are somewhat limited in.”

NASA’s team will work closely with collaborators from the World Meteorological Organization, National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the University of Albany who will launch weather balloons to gather measurements during the same timeframe.

“During our eclipse mission we will also be participating in the World Meteorological Organization’s world-wide flight campaign. We will gather data in real-time throughout the eclipse and the days beforehand, send those to the WMO to input into their models for more updated and accurate forecast measurements,” said Willhite, “That is the main goal of all this data is to be inputted into models for more updated and accurate forecasts.”

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Details Last Updated Apr 05, 2024 Related Terms

• Langley Research Center
• Aeronautics
• Drones & You

Explore More 5 min read NASA Selects University Teams to Compete in 2024 RASC-AL Competition Article 3 days ago 1 min read NASA Noise Prediction Tool Supports Users in Air Taxi Industry Article 4 days ago 13 min read Langley Celebrates Women’s History Month: The Langley ASIA-AQ Team Article 1 week ago

5 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

Fourteen undergraduate and graduate teams from across the country were selected as finalists to compete in one of NASA’s longest running student challenges — the Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition. The competition fuels innovation and challenges undergraduate and graduate teams to develop new concepts to improve our ability to operate on the Moon, Mars and beyond. Finalists will travel to Cocoa Beach, Florida next June to present their proposed concepts to a panel of NASA and aerospace industry leaders. 

The 2024 finalist teams are: 

AI-Powered Self-Replicating Probe Theme: 

• Clarkson University with Khalifa University and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) 
  • AUTONOMY: Augmented Unmanned Technology Operating in Navigating Objects of Mining Yield 
  • Advisors: Dr. Michael Bazzocchi (Clarkson), Dr. Roberto Sabatini (Khalifa), Dr. Alessandro Gardi (Khalifa), Dr. Anna Bourmistrova (RMIT) 

• Stanford University with the University of Waterloo 
  • Modular Self-Assembling Robotic Architecture (MARA) 
  • Advisors: Prof. Anton Ermakov (Stanford), Prof. William Melek (Waterloo) 

• University of Texas, Austin 
  • AETHER: Autonomous Exploration Through Extraterrestrial Regions 
  • Advisor: Prof. Adam Nokes 

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 
  • Project Draupnir 
  • Advisor: Dr. Kevin Shinpaugh 

Large-Scale Lunar Crater Prospector Theme: 

• Iowa State University 
  • Sub-Surface Condensation Analysis Rover for Crater Exploration (SCARCE) 
  • Advisor: Dr. Matthew Nelson 

• South Dakota State University
  • POSEID-N: Prospecting Observation System for Exploration, Investigation, Discovery, and Navigation 
  • Advisor: Dr. Todd Letcher 

• Tulane University 
  • S.P.I.D.E.R: South Pole Ice Drilling and Exploration Rover 
  • Advisors: Dr. Matt Barrios 

• University of Maryland 
  • SITIS: Subsurface Ice and Terrain In-situ Surveyor 
  • Advisor: Dr. David Akin 

• University of Texas, Austin 
  • VENOM: Volatile Examining luNar prOspectors and Mothership 
  • Advisor: Prof. Adam Nokes 

Long-Duration Mars Simulation at the Moon Theme: 

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology – Lausanne (ISAE) and National Higher French Institute of Aeronautics and Space (EPFL) 
  • MARTEMIS: Mars Architecture Research using Taguchi Experiments on the Moon with International Solidarity 
  • Advisors: Prof. Jeffrey Hoffman (MIT), Madelyn Hoying (MIT), Dr. George Lordos (MIT), Dr. Olivier de Weck (MIT), Dr. Alexandros Lordos (University of Cyprus), Vsevolo Peysakhovich (ISAE), Dr. Andreas Osterwalder (EPFL), Dr. Martin Heyne (Intuitive Machines), Dr. Alexander Miller (Blue Origin) 

• University of Maryland 
  • Moon-2-Mars 
  • Advisors: Dr. David Akin, Charles Hanner 

Sustained Lunar Evolution Theme: 

• University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) with Barrios Technology 
  • THEIA: Trans-lunar Hub for Exploration, ISRU, and Advancement 
  • Advisors: Dr. Victoria Coverstone (UIUC), Dr. Robyn Woollands (UIUC), Alec Auster (Barrios Technology) 

• University of Maryland
  • TILE: Terrapin Infrastructure for Lunar Evolution 
  • Advisors: Dr. Jarred Young, Christopher Kingsley 

• University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez 
  • POLARIS: Permanent-Outpost Lunar Architecture for Research and Innovative Services 
  • Advisors: Dr. Bárbara Calcagno, Dr. Gustavo Gutiérrez

For the 2024 competition, teams were asked to submit a two-minute video and detailed seven-to-nine-page proposal addressing one of four themes related to leveraging innovation to improve our ability to operate on the Moon, Mars and beyond. They included: Long-Duration Mars Simulation at the Moon, Sustained Lunar Evolution, AI-Powered Self-Replicating Probes – an Evolutionary Approach, and Large-Scale Lunar Crater Prospector. A steering committee of NASA personnel and industry experts selected the finalists based on a review of competitive proposals. 

“Each year we come up with themes for the competition that NASA and the aerospace industry are invested in, because these are real challenges that we are facing, and every year we are impressed with the proposals we receive,” said Patrick Troutman, RASC-AL sponsor and lead for human exploration strategic assessments at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “We heard a lot of great ideas from the university community this year, but these 14 finalists really raised the bar and impressed us.” 

RASC-AL projects allow university students to incorporate their coursework into space exploration objectives in a team environment and help bridge strategic knowledge gaps associated with NASA’s vision. The competition emphasizes the importance of multidisciplinary teams.   

“It’s never an easy decision when it comes to choosing finalists, because we love working with university students across the board and appreciate how passionate they all are about aerospace, but these fourteen teams really went above and beyond in their approaches and we look forward to hearing more from them at the forum, ” said Dr. Christopher Jones, Chief Technologist for the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at Langley, and RASC-AL sponsor and judge.  

For 2024, each finalist team receives a $6,500 stipend to further develop and present their concept at the RASC-AL Forum in Cocoa Beach, where they will present their findings to a judging panel of NASA and industry experts. The teams with the top two winning papers will be invited to present their design projects to industry experts at AIAA’s 2024 ASCEND Conference. 

RASC-AL is sponsored by the Strategies and Architectures Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and by the Space Mission Analysis Branch within the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate at Langley. It is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace. 

For more information about the RASC-AL competition, including complete theme and submission guidelines, visit: 
https://rascal.nianet.org 

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Details Last Updated Apr 05, 2024 Related Terms

• Langley Research Center
• Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate

Explore More 3 min read NASA Langley Team to Study Weather During Eclipse Using Uncrewed Vehicles Article 3 days ago 1 min read NASA Noise Prediction Tool Supports Users in Air Taxi Industry Article 4 days ago 4 min read NASA Achieves Milestone for Engines to Power Future Artemis Missions Article 4 days ago

NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen, left, Frank Rubio, Warren Hoburg, and UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, right, pose for a photo wearing solar glasses, Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. Bowen, Hoburg, and Alneyadi spent 186 days aboard the International Space Station as part of Expedition 69; while Rubio set a new record for the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut, spending 371 days in orbit on an extended mission spanning Expeditions 68 and 69.

NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

While visiting NASA Headquarters in Washington on March 19, 2024, astronauts Stephen Bowen, left, Frank Rubio, Warren Hoburg, and UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, right, posed for a photo wearing solar viewing glasses (“eclipse glasses”). Eclipse glasses with the ISO 12312-2 international standard or a safe handheld solar viewer are a must-have to look directly at the Sun during the eclipse before or after totality—the brief period where the Moon completely blocks the Sun’s face. Viewing any part of the bright Sun through a camera lens, binoculars, or a telescope without a special-purpose solar filter secured over the front of the optics will instantly cause severe eye injury.

NASA will have live coverage of the total solar eclipse, beginning at 1 p.m. EDT.

Image Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

At the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, an instrument with 5,000 tiny robotic eyes scans the night sky. Every 20 minutes, the instrument and the telescope it’s attached to observe a new set of 5,000 galaxies. The instrument is called DESI—Dark Energy Survey Instrument—and once it’s completed its five-year mission, it’ll create the largest 3D map of the Universe ever created.

But scientists are getting access to DESI’s first data release and it suggests that dark energy may be evolving.

DESI is the most powerful multi-object survey spectrograph in the world, according to their website. It’s gathering the spectra for tens of millions of galaxies and quasars. The goal is a 3D map of the Universe that extends out to 11 billion light-years. That map will help explain how dark energy has driven the Universe’s expansion.

DESI began in 2021 and is a five-year mission. The first year of data has been released, and scientists with the project say that DESI has successfully measured the expansion of the Universe over the last 11 billion years with extreme precision.

“The DESI team has set a new standard for studies of large-scale structure in the Universe.”

Pat McCarthy, NOIRLab Director

DESI collects light from 5,000 objects at once with its 5,000 robotic eyes. It observes a new set of 5,000 objects every 20 minutes, which means it observes 100,000 objects—galaxies and quasars—each night, given the right observing conditions.

This image shows Stu Harris working on assembling the focal plane for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 2017 in Berkeley, Calif. Ten petals, each containing 500 robotic positioners that are used to gather light from targeted galaxies, form the complete focal plane. DESI is attached to the 4-meter Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. Image Credit: DESI/NSF NOIRlab

DESI’s data creates a map of the large-scale structure of the Universe. The map will help scientists unravel the history of the Universe’s expansion and the role dark energy plays. We don’t know what dark energy is, but we know some force is causing the Universe’s expansion to accelerate.

“The DESI instrument has transformed the Mayall Telescope into the world’s premier cosmic cartography machine,” said Pat McCarthy, Director of NOIRLab, the organization behind DESI. “The DESI team has set a new standard for studies of large-scale structure in the Universe. These first-year data are only the beginning of DESI’s quest to unravel the expansion history of the Universe, and they hint at the extraordinary science to come.”

DESI measures dark energy by relying on baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO.) Baryonic matter is “normal” matter: atoms and everything made of atoms. The acoustic oscillations are density fluctuations in normal matter that date back to the Universe’s beginnings. BAO are the imprint of those fluctuations, or pressure waves, that moved through the Universe when it was all hot, dense plasma.

As the Universe cooled and expanded, the density waves froze their ripples in place, and where density was high, galaxies eventually formed. The ripple pattern of the BAO is visible in the DESI leading image. It shows strands of galaxies, or galaxy filaments, clustered together. They’re separated by voids where density is much lower.

The deeper DESI looks, the fainter the galaxies are. They don’t provide enough light to detect the BAO. That’s where quasars come in. Quasars are extremely bright galaxy cores, and the light from distant quasars creates a shadow of the BAO pattern. As the light travels through space, it interacts with and gets absorbed by clouds of matter. That lets astronomers map dense pockets of matter, but it took over 450,000 quasars. That’s the most quasars ever observed in a survey like this.

Because the BAO pattern is gathered in such detail and across such vast distances, it can act as a cosmic ruler. By combining the measurements of nearby galaxies and distant quasars, astronomers can measure the ripples across different periods of the Universe’s history. That allows them to see how dark energy has stretched the scale over time.

It’s all aimed at understanding the expansion of the Universe.

In the Universe’s first three billion years, radiation dominated it. The Cosmic Microwave Background is evidence of that. For the next several billion years, matter dominated the Universe. It was still expanding, but the expansion was slowing because of the gravitational force from matter. But since then, the expansion has accelerated again, and we give the name dark energy to the force behind that acceleration.

So far, DESI’s data supports cosmologists’ best model of the Universe. But there are some twists.

“We’re incredibly proud of the data, which have produced world-leading cosmology results,” said DESI director and LBNL scientist Michael Levi. “So far, we’re seeing basic agreement with our best model of the Universe, but we’re also seeing some potentially interesting differences that could indicate dark energy is evolving with time.”

Levi is referring to Lambda Cold Dark Matter (Lambda CDM), also known as the standard model of Big Bang Cosmology. Lambda CDM includes cold dark matter—a weakly interacting type of matter—and dark energy. They both shape how the Universe expands but in opposite ways. Dark energy accelerates the expansion, and regular matter and dark matter slow it down. The Universe evolves based on the contributions from all three. The Lambda CDM does a good job of describing what other experiments and observations find. It also assumes that dark energy is constant and spread evenly throughout the Universe.

This data is just the first release, so confirmation of dark energy evolution must wait. By the time DESI has completed its five-year run, it will have mapped over three million quasars and 37 million galaxies. That massive trove of data should help scientists understand if dark energy is changing.

Whatever the eventual answer, the question is vital to understanding the Universe.

“This project is addressing some of the biggest questions in astronomy, like the nature of the mysterious dark energy that drives the expansion of the Universe,” says Chris Davis, NSF program director for NOIRLab. “The exceptional and continuing results yielded by the NSF Mayall telescope with DOE DESI will undoubtedly drive cosmology research for many years to come.”

DESI isn’t the only effort to understand dark energy. The ESA’s Euclid spacecraft is already taking its own measurements to help cosmologists answer their dark energy questions.

In a few years, DESI will have some more powerful allies in the quest to understand dark energy. The Vera Rubin Observatory and Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will both contribute to our understanding of the elusive dark energy. They’ll perform surveys of their own, and by combining data from all three, cosmologists are poised to generate some long-sought answers.

But for now, scientists are celebrating DESI’s first data release.

“We are delighted to see cosmology results from DESI’s first year of operations,” said Gina Rameika, associate director for High Energy Physics at the Department of Energy. “DESI continues to amaze us with its stellar performance and how it is shaping our understanding of dark energy in the Universe.”

The post A New Map Shows the Universe’s Dark Energy May Be Evolving appeared first on Universe Today.

Humans have been digging underground for millennia – on the Earth. It’s where we extract some of our most valuable resources that have moved society forward. For example, there wouldn’t have been a Bronze Age without tin and copper – both of which are primarily found under the ground. But when digging under the ground on celestial bodies, we’ve had a much rougher time. That is going to have to change if we ever hope to utilize the potential resources that are available under the surface. A paper from Dariusz Knez and Mitra Kahlilidermani of the University of Krakow looks at why it’s so hard to drill in space – and what we might do about it.

In the paper, the authors detail two major categories of difficulties when drilling off-world – environmental challenges and technological challenges. Let’s dive into the environmental challenges first.

One obvious difference between Earth and most other rocky bodies that we would potentially want to drill holes into is the lack of an atmosphere. There are some exceptions – such as Venus and Titan, but even Mars has a thin enough atmosphere that it can’t support one fundamental material used for drilling here on Earth – fluids.

The ocean on Europa is a common destination for a exploration mission that will require some drilling. Fraser explores how we would do it.

If you’ve ever tried drilling a hole in metal, you’ve probably used some cooling fluid. If you don’t, there is a good chance either your drill bit or your workpiece will heat up and deform to a point where you can no longer drill. To alleviate that problem, most machinists simply spray some lubricant into the drill hole and keep pressing through. A larger scale version of this happens when construction companies drill into the ground, especially into bedrock – they use liquids to cool the spots where they’re drilling.

That isn’t possible on a celestial body with no atmosphere. At least not using traditional drilling technologies. Any liquid exposed to the lack of atmosphere would immediately sublimate away, providing little to no cooling effect to the work area. And given that many drilling operations occur autonomously, the drill itself – typically attached to a rover or lander – has to know when to back off on its drilling process before the bits melt. That’s an added layer of complexity and not one that many designs have yet come up with a solution.

A similar fluid problem has limited the adoption of a ubiquitous drill technology used on Earth – hydraulics. Extreme temperature swings, such as those seen on the Moon during the day/night cycle, make it extremely difficult to provide a liquid for use in a hydraulic system that doesn’t freeze during cold nights or evaporate during scorching days. As such, hydraulic systems used in almost every large drilling rig on Earth are extremely limited when used in space.

Here’s a detailed look at a drill used on Mars by Smarter Every Day.
Credit – Smarter Every Day YouTube Channel

Other problems like abrasive or clingy regolith can also crop up, such as a lack of magnetic field when orienting the drill. Ultimately, these environmental challenges can be overcome with the same things humans always use to overcome them, no matter what planetary body they’re on – technology.

There are plenty of technological challenges for drilling off-world as well, though. The most obvious is the weight constraint, a crucial consideration for doing anything in space. Large drilling rigs use heavy materials, such as steel casings, to support the boreholes they drill, but these would be prohibitively expensive using current launch technologies. 

Additionally, the size of the drilling system itself is the limiting factor of the force of the drill – as stated in the paper, “the maximum force transmitted to the bit cannot exceed the weight of the whole drilling system.” This problem is exacerbated by the fact that typical rover drills are leveraged out on a robotic arm rather than placed directly underneath where the maximum amount of weight can be applied. This force limitation also limits the type of material the drill can get through – it will be hard-pressed to drill through any significant boulder, for example. While redesigning rovers with drill location in mind could be helpful, again, the launch weight limitation comes into play here.

Curiosity has a unique drilling technique, as described in this JPL video.
Credit – NASA JPL YouTube Channel

Another technological problem is the lack of power. Hydrocarbon-fueled engines power most large drilling rigs on Earth. That isn’t feasible off of Earth, so the system must be powered by solar cells and the batteries they provide. These systems also suffer from the same tyranny of the rocket equation, so they are typically relatively limited in size, making it difficult for drilling systems to take advantage of some of the benefits of entirely electric systems over hydrocarbon-powered ones – such as higher torque.

No matter the difficulties these drilling systems face, they will be vital for the success of any future exploration program, including crewed ones. If we ever want to create lava cave cities on the Moon or get through Enceladeus’ ice sheet to the ocean within, we will need better drilling technologies and techniques. Luckily, there are plenty of design efforts to come up with them.

The paper details four different categories of drill designs:

1. Surface drills – less than 10 cm depth
2. Shallow-depth drills – less than 1m depth
3. Medium-depth drills – between 1m and 10m depth
4. Large-depth drills – greater than 10m depth 

For each category, the paper lists several designs at various completeness stages. Many of them have novel ideas about how to go about drilling, such as using an “inchworm” system or using ultrasonics. 

CNET describes another Martian mission that used a drill – InSight.
Credit – CNET YouTube Channel

But for now, drilling off-world, and especially on asteroids and comets, which have their own gravitational challenges, remains a difficult but necessary task. As humanity becomes more experienced at it, we will undoubtedly get better at it. Given how important this process is for the grand plans of space explorers everywhere, the time when we can drill effectively into any rocky or icy body in the solar system can’t come soon enough.

Learn More:
Knez & Khalilidermani – A Review of Different Aspects of Off-Earth Drilling
UT – Drill, Baby, Drill! – How Does Curiosity ‘Do It’
UT – Cylindrical Autonomous Drilling Bot Could Reach Buried Martian Water
UT – Perseverance Drills Another Hole, and This Time the Sample is Intact

Lead Image:
Curiosity’s arm with its drill extended.
Credit – NASA/JPL/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo

The post Why is it so hard to drill off Earth? appeared first on Universe Today.

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory images the firework-like remnants of the great supernova of 1181.

NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter), which has been circling and studying the Moon for 15 years, captured several images of Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s Danuri lunar orbiter last month. The two spacecraft, traveling in nearly parallel orbits, zipped past each other in opposite directions between March 5 and 6, 2024.

The dark spot centered in the bottom third of this image is the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s Danuri orbiter, smudged because it was traveling quickly in the opposite direction of NASA’s LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) when LRO snapped the photo. At the time, Danuri was orbiting 5 miles, or 8 kilometers, below LRO’s orbit, and LRO was about 50 miles, or 80 kilometers, above the Moon’s surface. This image covers an area about 2 miles, or 3 kilometers, wide.NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University

LRO’s narrow angle camera (one in a suite of cameras known as “LROC”) captured the images featured here during three orbits that happened to be close enough to Danuri’s to grab snapshots.

Due to the fast relative velocities between the two spacecraft (about 7,200 miles, or 1,500 kilometers, per hour), the LRO operations team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, needed exquisite timing in pointing LROC to the right place at the right time to catch a glimpse of Danuri, the Republic of Korea’s first spacecraft at the Moon. Danuri has been in lunar orbit since December 2022. Although LRO’s camera exposure time was very short, only 0.338 milliseconds, Danuri still appears smeared to 10 times its size in the opposite direction of travel because of the relative high travel velocities between the two spacecraft.

At the first imaging opportunity, LRO was oriented down 43 degrees from its typical position of looking down at the lunar surface to capture Danuri (streaked across the middle) from 3 miles, or 5 kilometers, above it.NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University During the next encounter, LRO was closer to Danuri, about 2.5 miles, or 4 kilometers, and oriented 25 degrees toward it.NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University For the final photo, LRO was reoriented by 60 degrees to catch a glimpse of Danuri when it was 5 miles, or 8 kilometers, below it. This image pair was corrected for viewing geometry, and, on the right, the Danuri pixels were unsmeared and the image stretched to highlight the Korean spacecraft. The image was rotated 90 degrees so the surface would look like something a person would see looking out the window.NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University This image shows Danuri in the white box near the right-hand corner of the image. The large bowl-shaped crater visible in the upper left is 7.5 miles, or 12 kilometers, wide.NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University Last spring, Danuri had an opportunity to photograph LRO. Its ShadowCam instrument, provided by NASA, snapped this photo of LRO as the Korean spacecraft passed about 11 miles (18 kilometers) above it on April 7, 2023. Based on the design of LRO’s narrow angle cameras, the ShadowCam was built to take high-resolution images of the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions, where frozen water is likely trapped. The relative velocity between the two spacecraft was about 7,000 miles, or 11,000 kilometers, per hour.NASA/KARI/Arizona State University

LRO is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Launched on June 18, 2009, LRO has collected a treasure trove of data with its seven powerful instruments, making an invaluable contribution to our knowledge about the Moon. NASA is returning to the Moon with commercial and international partners to expand human presence in space and bring back new knowledge and opportunities.

More on this story from Arizona State University’s LRO Camera website

By Mark Robinson, Arizona State University, Tempe, and Lonnie Shekhtman, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Media Contact:
Nancy N. Jones
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Facebook logo @NASAGoddard@NASAMoon @NASAGoddard@NASAMoon Instagram logo @NASAGoddard@NASASolarSystem Explore More 4 min read How Data from a NASA Lunar Orbiter is Preparing Artemis Astronauts

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Details Last Updated Apr 05, 2024 EditorRob GarnerContactNancy N. Jonesnancy.n.jones@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms

• Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)
• Earth's Moon
• Goddard Space Flight Center
• Planetary Science
• Planetary Science Division
• Science Mission Directorate
• The Solar System

You can’t see it. . .you can’t touch it. . .you can’t live without it. Use these downloadable activity sheets to enhance your lesson plan at school or at home. Scroll down for the downloadable files. Have fun!

Spectrum Infographic Infographic featuring factoids about the electromagnetic spectrum.NASA Spectrum Crossword Puzzle Crossword puzzle featuring terms relevant to the electromagnetic spectrum.NASA Download Spectrum Infographic

Jan 17, 2024

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A Russian Soyuz spacecraft is set to depart the ISS late tonight (April 5) with three people on board, and you can watch the action live.

Discovered by accident, this manuscript page

SpaceX is set to launch 21 of its Starlink broadband satellites from California on Saturday night (April 6).

A popular idea links primates living on the ground with a tendency for right-handedness, but findings from urban langurs in India cast doubt on the idea

A popular idea links primates living on the ground with a tendency for right-handedness, but findings from urban langurs in India cast doubt on the idea

New images show a glowing "dashed" line in the night sky above Arizona after part of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fell back to Earth following a double-header launch.

A magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck near Lebanon, N.J., at 10:23 A.M. EDT. Shaking was felt over a broad area, including parts of New York State, Pennsylvania and Connecticut

The U.S. has never had as much wind, solar and hydropower. But experts say it’s not enough to meet future electricity demand

You might have your eclipse-viewing plans all worked out, but have you thought about all the other things you might need?

The post 11 Things to Take With You the Day of the Solar Eclipse appeared first on Sky & Telescope.