Clipmarks | Reconnaissance orbiter Clips

moon

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 08:01:17 GMT

clipped by: esplak

NASA delays unmanned trip to the Moon, Moon delays unmanned trip to Earth

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Aug 15th 2008 at 10:02PM

NASA has delayed plans to send an unmanned robotic spacecraft to the Moon -- and the pause in action will cost $7 million a month, say reports. According to various news outlets, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was set to blast off for the Big Cheese this December, but officials have decided a February 27th launch will provide the team with more wiggle room. The $491 million device is being sent skyward to circle the Moon's poles and map a safe touchdown spot for actual humans, set to journey up onto the Lunar surface sometime in 2020. In addition to the Orbiter, the space agency plans to launch an impactor probe into one of the Moon's poles in search of water ice. It should be a blast.

Early Martian Water World May Have Harbored Life

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:23:36 GMT

clipped by: lixjannet

Clip Source: www.technewsworld.com

Early Martian Water World May Have Harbored Life

The discovery of claylike minerals on Mars indicates that much of the planet's surface was wet long ago and could have supported microbial life. NASA's Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has orbited Mars since 2006, spotted the presence of the minerals, called "phyllosilicates."

Tags: space, mars, water

Ancient Mars Had Widespread Water, Potential To Support Life

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:21:53 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: "Our whole team is turning our findings into a list of sites where future missions could land to look for organic chemistry and perhaps determine whether life ever existed on Mars,” says APL’s Murchie.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Mars once hosted vast lakes, flowing rivers and a variety of other wet environments that had the potential to support life, according to two new studies based on data from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) and other instruments on board NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

The big surprise from these new results is how pervasive and long-lasting Mars' water was, and how diverse the wet environments were,

One study, published in the July 17 issue of Nature, shows that vast regions of the ancient highlands of Mars—which cover about half the planet—contain clay minerals, which can form only in the presence of water.

Volcanic lavas buried the clay-rich regions during subsequent, drier periods of the planet's history, but impact craters later exposed them at thousands of locations across the planet.

A companion study, published in the June 2 issue of Nature Geosciences, finds that the wet conditions persisted for a long time.

Tags: mars, space, space exploration

NASA project - Send Your Name to the Moon

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:38:15 GMT

clipped by: hitchhiker08
clipper's remarks: I'm doin' it right away - what about you?!

Clip Source: www.nasa.gov

Send Your Name to the Moon With New Lunar Mission

WASHINGTON -- NASA invites people of all ages to join the lunar exploration journey with an opportunity to send their names to the moon aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, spacecraft.

> View the 30-second trailer
Credit: NASA/GSFC

> View the one-minute trailer
Credit: NASA/GSFC

The Send Your Name to the Moon Web site enables everyone to participate in the lunar adventure and place their names in orbit around the moon for years to come. Participants can submit their information at http://lro.jhuapl.edu/NameToMoon/, print a certificate and have their name entered into a database.

Clip Source: www.nasa.gov

One Million Names to the Moon

One million and counting!

Since May 1, NASA has invited the public to join the excitement

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND "SEND YOUR NAME TO THE MOON": DEADLINE EXTENDED TO JULY 25. DON'T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE YOUR NAMES ORBIT THE MOON ABOARD THE LUNAR RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER!!

Tags: lunar, lunar reconnaissance orbiter, lro, spacecraft, moon, space exploration

Mars Exploration Rovers Update

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:50:47 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.planetary.org

The Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) celebrated a significant milestone in June as they "trudged" through the very depths of their third Martian winter.

Clip Source: www.planetary.org

Opportunity roved

toward the base of Cape Verde.

We're in a beautiful position right now taking a Pancam panorama for the ages of Cape Verde

Clip Source: www.planetary.org

Cape Verde on Sol 1487 (Mar. 30, 2008)

Clip Source: www.planetary.org

Cape Verde on its Sol 1567 (June 20, 2008)

Opportunity won't be stopping here. The plan is for it to move in even closer in coming sols

Spirit's discovery of near pure silica last year was one of the mission's most significant discoveries, a sure indication of past volcanic activity that featured water, and the source of another milestone paper in Science last month.

Spirit explores Home Plate

Clip Source: www.planetary.org

More than a year of Spirit's investigation of the feature in Gusev Crater known as Home Plate is chronicled in this animation of nine images from the HiRISE camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Clip Source: www.planetary.org

Volcanic Home Plate

false color image of an edge of Home Plate

Clip Source: www.planetary.org

Looking northward

Clip Source: www.planetary.org

Phoenix Descends

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:53:26 GMT

clipped by: pagan_platypus

Clip Source: www.badastronomy.com

Never, ever forget: we did this. This is what we can do.

Think on this, and think on it carefully: you are seeing a manmade object falling gracefully and with intent to the surface of an alien world, as seen by another manmade object already circling that world, both of them acting robotically, and both of them hundreds of million of kilometers away.

That is exactly what you think it is: Phoenix descending to the Martian surface underneath its parachute. This incredible shot was taken by the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. You can easily see the ‘chute, the lander (still in its shell) and even the tether lines!

Emily has what is simply The Coolest Picture Ever. It is that simple.

NASA - Future Missions

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:28:40 GMT

clipped by: skwirlinator

Clip Source: www.nasa.gov

NASA Home

Future Missions

Hubble Servicing Mission 4

Astronauts return to Hubble to extend the life of one of NASA's greatest observatories.

› Servicing Mission 4 Page
› STS-125 Shuttle Mission Page

International Space Station

Learn about the next mission to the International Space Station.

LRO: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

LRO will launch in late 2008 to find safe landing sites, locate potential resources and demonstrate new technology.

SDO: Solar Dynamics Observatory →

The Solar Dynamics Observatory, scheduled for launch in 2008, will help us understand the sun's influence on Earth by studying the solar atmosphere at multiple wavelengths.

Space Shuttle

The space shuttle is the most complex machine ever built and is helping build the International Space Station, the world's largest orbiting laboratory.

GLAST Set to Study Cosmic Mysteries

The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope will answer questions about supermassive black hole systems, pulsars and the origin of cosmic rays.

Tags: space

Descent of the Phoenix

Fri, 30 May 2008 20:55:24 GMT

clipped by: Bluephoenix4

Clip Source: apod.nasa.gov

Explanation: In this sweeping view, the 10 kilometer-wide crater Heimdall lies on the north polar plains of Mars. But the bright spot highlighted in the inset is the Phoenix lander parachuting toward the surface. The amazing picture was captured on May 25th by the HiRISE camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Though the lander looks like it might be dropping straight into Heimdall, it is really descending about 20 kilometers in front of the crater, in the foreground of the scene. The orbiter was 760 kilometers away from Phoenix when picture was taken, at an altitude of 310 kilometers. Subsequently the orbiter's camera was also able to image the lander on the surface. The parachute attached to the backshell and the heat shield were identified in the image, scattered nearby. Of course, the Phoenix lander itself is now returning much closer views of its landing site as it prepares to dig into the Martian surface.

Tags: phoenix, mars, nasa, astronomy, space, exploration

Mars landing

Tue, 27 May 2008 17:18:58 GMT

clipped by: papananook

Clip Source: www.planetary.org

One word: Whoah.

HiRISE spots Phoenix as it falls
This amazing photo shows the Phoenix lander, still protected inside its backshell and heat shield, stretched out below its parachute (at the top of the image). It was taken by the HiRISE camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as Phoenix descended, a speeding bullet photographed by a speeding bullet. Credit: NASA / JPL / U. Arizona

4x zoomed view of HiRISE photo of Phoenix during descent
This photo of the Phoenix lander under its parachute has been enlarged by a factor of 4. Credit: NASA / JPL / U. Arizona

Mars Phoenix Photographed in Descent

Tue, 27 May 2008 13:36:01 GMT

clipped by: pkronfield
clipper's remarks: WOW!!

Clip Source: phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu

Photo credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

HiRISE Image of Phoenix descent on the parachute.

A telescopic camera in orbit around Mars caught a view of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander suspended from its parachute during the lander's successful arrival at Mars Sunday evening, May 25.

The image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter marks the first time ever one spacecraft has photographed another one in the act of landing on Mars.

Tags: nasa, space, mars

Phoenix Ready For Mars Landing Sunday

Sat, 24 May 2008 10:19:46 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter camera run showed the weather will be good on Sunday, with no significant dust storms around the landing site, said Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith.

U.S. scientists will be joined by their counterparts from Canada and Europe in running the mission robotically from a headquarters in Tucson, Ariz. Canada's contribution is a Meteorological Station, or Met, designed to monitor changes in water abundance, dust, temperature and other variables in the Martian atmosphere.

Of 11 previous attempts to land spacecraft on Mars, only five have succeeded.

The Canadian Space Agency and a team headed by York University — and including contributions from the University of Alberta, Dalhousie University, the Geological Survey of Canada and instrument-maker Optech and — will oversee the science operations of the station, which was built by Canadarm maker MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., also known as MDA, of Richmond, B.C.

Clip Source: www.cbc.ca

The Phoenix Mars Lander, shown here in an artist's rendering, will probe Mars' arctic region. (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/University of Arizona)

The Phoenix Mars Lander, which has a Canadian-built weather station aboard, is looking ready to make its landing on Sunday, according to NASA.

"All systems are nominal and stable," said Ed Sedivy, Phoenix spacecraft program manager for Lockheed Martin Space Systems, which built the spacecraft. "We have plenty of propellant, the temperatures look good and the batteries are fully charged."

The spacecraft will approach Mars at a speed of about 20,000 kilometres an hour and make the difficult descent, referred to by NASA officials as "seven minutes of terror," at about 7:45 ET on Sunday. When it enters the atmosphere, it will use superheated friction with the atmosphere, a strong parachute and a set of retrorockets to make its three-legged standstill touchdown on the surface, NASA said.

Tags: phoenix mars lander, canadian-built weather station

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)

Thu, 15 May 2008 03:10:14 GMT

clipped by: kpierce614

Clip Source: www.technologyreview.com

Moonbound: The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (above) will orbit and survey the Moon, providing greater detail about its surface and environment than any previous satellite has. One of two new instruments onboard the spacecraft will be the lunar orbiter laser altimeter (bottom), which will send out five laser beams 28 times per second to map the surface of the moon. Very short pulses of laser light are emitted through the narrow silver cone attached to the instrument’s optical assembly (gold-colored box). The large cone collects the laser light that is reflected back from the lunar surface.
Credit: NASA

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)

Thu, 15 May 2008 02:07:24 GMT

clipped by: kpierce614

Clip Source: www.technologyreview.com

NASA's next lunar orbiter will launch later this year, the first step in an ambitious plan to return humans to the Moon--and send them on to Mars. The spacecraft, called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), will use new technology to make precise maps of the Moon's surface, to search for resources such as ice, and to assess the threat that radiation in the environment could pose for humans.

Send your name to the Moon!

Tue, 13 May 2008 16:37:31 GMT

clipped by: golfhound

Clip Source: www.lpi.usra.edu

Send Your Name to the Moon with New Lunar Mission

May 2, 2008
Source: NASA

NASA invites people of all ages to join the lunar exploration journey with an opportunity to send their names to the Moon onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft.

The Send Your Name to the Moon website enables everyone to participate in the lunar adventure and place their names in orbit around the Moon for years to come. Participants can submit their information at http://lro.jhuapl.edu/NameToMoon/index.php, print a certificate, and have their name entered into a database. The database will be placed on a microchip that will be integrated onto the spacecraft. The deadline for submitting names is June 27, 2008.

Tags: astronomy

Sent my Name to the moon

Sun, 04 May 2008 13:25:11 GMT

clipped by: skwirlinator

Clip Source: lro.jhuapl.edu


Certificate of Participation This certificate recognizes that skwirli Nator has joined the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter “Send Your Name to the Moon” Project Date: May 04, 2008 \| Certificate No: 515833

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is built and managed by NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center for NASA. “Send Your Name to the Moon” is a partnership with NASA, the LRO Project, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and the Planetary Society.

Tags: skwirlinator, moon, my name