In A Few Hours, NASA Is Launching The DART Mission. The Goal Of This Mission Is To See If, And How Much,

We Found the Perfect Spot to Land our Moon Rover

After an extensive selection process, we chose the mountainous area west of Nobile Crater at the Moon’s South Pole as the landing site for our first-ever robotic Moon rover. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, will explore the Moon’s surface and subsurface in search of water and other resources beginning in late 2023. Thanks to past missions, such as satellites orbiting the Moon or impacting its surface, we know there is ice at the Moon’s poles. But how much? And where did it come from? VIPER aims to answer these questions and more by venturing into shadowed craters and visiting other areas of scientific interest over its 100-day mission. The findings will inform future landing sites under the Artemis program and help pave the way toward establishing a long-term human presence on the Moon. Here are five things to know:

The landing site is located just outside the western rim of Nobile Crater at the Moon’s South Pole.

The region has suitable lighting and terrain for our solar-powered rover to navigate.

VIPER will travel up to 15 miles in search of water and other resources.

Its traverse will change depending on what it finds, but it could look like this.

Drivers on Earth will tell the rover where to explore during its 100-day mission.

The VIPER mission is managed by our Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. The approximately 1,000-pound rover will be delivered to the Moon by a commercial vendor as part of our Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, delivering science and technology payloads to and near the Moon.

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Take a Road Trip through Time with Landsat 9

A lot can change in five decades! How we talk, what we wear – it all evolves. But one thing that’s stayed consistent is our unique view of our home planet from above. Five decades ago, we at NASA partnered with United States Geological Survey (USGS) to launch a satellite called Landsat to see Earth from space. Now, we’re launching Landsat 9 – that’s right, the ninth in the series!

Join us for a road trip through the decades from the idea of an Earth-imaging satellite in the groovy 60s to the launch of Landsat 9 this year. Hop in!

The 60s

Far out! In 1966, USGS proposed a satellite to image land all around our planet. Researchers worked with our scientists and engineers to design the satellite and figure out how it would work.

The 70s

Here’s the lowdown: In 1970, we got approval to build the Earth Resources Technology Satellite, later renamed Landsat 1. The satellite launched in 1972 and provided the first digital data of Earth, repeated at regular intervals, which allows us to see changes as they happen.

The 80s

In 1982, we launched Landsat 4, followed by Landsat 5 in 1984. These two satellites collected more wavelengths of light at higher precision, allowing for natural color images, which is totally radical, dude.

The 90s

Wasssup, 1990s? Landsat 7 launched this decade, collecting even more data than previous Landsat satellites, enough to produce the first hi-res natural color map of remote Antarctica.

The 2000s

In 2008, our partners at USGS made all Landsat data available for free. This gave peeps around the world access to all the data they needed, unlocking innovation and creating economic benefits, like the ability to track crop health from space. Sweet!

The 2010s

In 2013, Landsat 8 began the modern era of Landsat observations. A new style of sensor and ground system made it possible to download much more and better data than ever before. Plus, a partnership with European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellites gives even more regular observations. We heart that!

The 2020s

Now, we’re set to launch Landsat 9, a twin to Landsat 8. Two Landsat satellites with two instruments each will highkey change our view of Earth once again.

Now, on to the next 50 years of Earth observations! Stay tuned to watch Landsat 9 launch and start telling us even more about our home planet.

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Saturn...

Took the telescope rig out to see if I could finally get a look at Saturn this Summer. It seemed every time I wanted to go out, it was cloudy, rainy, or I was already exhausted from the day. Other times, it would be a perfect evening, but I was nowhere near my home and scope.

On Tuesday, 8/6/2019, I saw the rings of Saturn for the first time through my own scope. There’s almost an emotional aspect added when it’s your own equipment you’re observing through. Anyway, here is my first ever capture of Saturn taken with an iPhone 8 and a Celestron 127slt mak.

When you’re the daughter of a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, you get to see and read about cool stuff like this Space Shuttle tire at @tellusmuseum #TellusMuseumSummerFun (at Tellus Science Museum) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTApARJpoYI/?utm_medium=tumblr

Kids These Days...

Before judging the first round of submissions in the NASA / JPL Name the Mars 2020 Rover Contest, I didn’t quite know what to expect from the various young minds. I knew I was going to see the occasional Rover McRoverface, or the overly complicated acronyms.

However, some of these kids really got what this is all about. Their essays conveyed how much they really want to invest in science and the future of space exploration. You could see the amount of research that went into their name choices. Several times, I had to look up words or the meanings behind possible name choices. Leave it to me to accidentally ok a cool sounding name that belongs to an anime character who farts a lot. (didn’t really happen)

It wasn’t just the scientific names and essays that were rewarding. Some students wrote passionate essays about naming the rover after a beloved relative or pet. The level of respect and/or compassion from the minds of fifth graders almost had me in tears at some points.

mars.nasa.gov

Mars 2020 Rover

NASA Mars 2020 Rover - overview, videos, images and information

Working with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, I captured and processed the “Pillars of Creation” in the Eagle Nebula. It doesn’t quiet compare to the Hubble Space Telescope’s capture, but I’m proud of it. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDvPyrWDz-m/?igshid=1uyp3ajel3e1i

Let’s see what’s on Netflix...

Check out “Rocket Men” on Netflix

https://www.netflix.com/title/80036433?s=i&trkid=13462169https://www.netflix.com/title/80036433?s=i&trkid=13462169

In honor of the anniversary of the Apollo 12 Moon landing, here is one of my images I reprocessed. (Celestron 127slt mak, iPhone 8) #space #apollo #apollo12 #apollo50th #moon #astronomy #nasa https://www.instagram.com/p/B5CEVqrHS6L/?igshid=byug01nzfwhx

Hubble Peers at Cosmic Blue Bauble

NASA - Hubble Space Telescope patch. April 12, 2019

Globular clusters are inherently beautiful objects, but the subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, Messier 3, is commonly acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful of them all. Containing an incredible half-million stars, this 8-billion-year-old cosmic bauble is one of the largest and brightest globular clusters ever discovered. However, what makes Messier 3 extra special is its unusually large population of variable stars — stars that fluctuate in brightness over time. New variable stars continue to be discovered in this sparkling stellar nest to this day, but so far we know of 274, the highest number found in any globular cluster by far. At least 170 of these are of a special variety called RR Lyrae variables, which pulse with a period directly related to their intrinsic brightness. If astronomers know how bright a star truly is based on its mass and classification, and they know how bright it appears to be from our viewpoint here on Earth, they can thus work out its distance from us. For this reason, RR Lyrae stars are known as standard candles — objects of known luminosity whose distance and position can be used to help us understand more about vast celestial distances and the scale of the cosmos. Messier 3 also contains a relatively high number of so-called blue stragglers, which are shown quite clearly in this Hubble image. These are blue main sequence stars that appear to be young because they are bluer and more luminous than other stars in the cluster. As all stars in globular clusters are believed to have formed together and thus to be roughly the same age, only a difference in mass can give these stars a different color. A red, old star can appear bluer when it acquires more mass, for instance by stripping it from a nearby star. The extra mass changes it into a bluer star, which makes us think it is younger than it really is. Messier 3 is featured in Hubble’s Messier catalog, which includes some of the most fascinating objects that can be observed from Earth’s Northern Hemisphere. See the NASA-processed image and other Messier objects at: https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-s-messier-catalog.

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

For more information about Hubble, visit: http://hubblesite.org/ http://www.nasa.gov/hubble http://www.spacetelescope.org/ Text Credits: ESA (European Space Agency)/NASA/Rob Garner/Image, Animation, Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, G. Piotto et al. Best regards, Orbiter.ch Full article

Jupiter and Saturn from my driveway earlier this evening. #solarsystemambassador https://www.instagram.com/p/CUWWZIDsNzg/?utm_medium=tumblr