Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known
Founder: Joseph Barone
Contributors: crookedindifference, bumerangue, propagandery, rocketmagic, rostenbach
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
(if you click on the pictures you’ll see what city you’re looking at)
Martian landscapes gallery
Since 2006, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has been orbiting Mars, currently circling approximately 300 km (187 mi) above the Martian surface. On board the MRO is HiRISE, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, which has been photographing the planet for several years now at resolutions as fine as mere inches per pixel. Collected here is a group of images from HiRISE over the past few years, in either false color or grayscale, showing intricate details of landscapes both familiar and alien, from the surface of our neighboring planet, Mars.
New Earth image at NASA Goddard Flickr account.
Check it out in higher resolution!
New satellite images of our home planet and its rivers released by NASA.
Pollution over China can be seen from space
Fog and haze blanketed the North China Plain on January 10, 2012, making travel difficult. The Beijing airport cancelled 43 flights and delayed 80 more in the morning hours, when visibility dropped to 200 meters, according to state news reports. Provinces across the plain reported low visibility.
The haze decreased visibility in satellite images too. A milky, gray pall entirely blocks the ground from view in the top image, taken in the early afternoon by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite. Patches of white fog or low cloud hang below the gray haze. Winds had already begun to push the haze out of Beijing in the north, but the rest of the North China Plain still suffered from poor air quality. By the next day, when Aqua MODIS acquired the lower image, skies were mostly clear across the region.
Heads up! ROSAT is coming down this week
It should give you a feeling of déjà vu: a defunct satellite’s orbit is decaying, and because that orbit is circular it’s going to be impossible to predict where and when along its ground track it’s going to happen. A few large pieces will make it to the ground, and there’s a one-in-many-trillions chance that you will be hit if you live between 53 degrees north and south latitude. It will come down some time this week, between October 20 and 25.
This time it’s not UARS (which was in a similar situation and which wound up falling into the Pacific Ocean, by far the likeliest outcome for events of this type), it’s ROSAT. RoSat (Röntgen Satellite), an x-ray observatory, was launched in 1990. It spent the first six months of its mission performing an x-ray all-sky survey, and the subsequent 8 years performing targeted observations of x-ray sources.
NASA Readies New Type of Earth-Observing Satellite for Launch
NASA is planning an Oct. 27 launch of the first Earth-observing satellite to measure both global climate changes and key weather variables.
The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) is the first mission designed to collect critical data to improve weather forecasts in the short-term and increase our understanding of long-term climate change. NPP continues observations of Earth from space that NASA has pioneered for more than 40 years.
Final Update: NASA’s UARS Re-enters Earth’s Atmosphere
NASA’s decommissioned Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite fell back to Earth at 12 a.m. EDT (0400 GMT), as Friday, Sept. 23, turned to Saturday, Sept. 24 on the United States east coast. The Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California has determined the satellite entered the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean at 14.1 degrees south latitude and 189.8 degrees east longitude (170.2 west longitude). This location is over a broad, remote ocean area in the Southern Hemisphere, far from any major land mass. The debris field is located between 300 miles and 800 miles downrange, or generally northeast of the re-entry point. NASA is not aware of any possible debris sightings from this geographic area.
This is your source for official information on the re-entry of UARS. All information posted here has been verified with a government or law enforcement agency. This is NASA’s final status report on the re-entry of UARS.
UARS Updates
Sat, 24 Sep 2011 04:46:42 AM GMT-0300 NASA’s decommissioned Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite fell back to Earth between 11:23 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 23 and 1:09 a.m. EDT Sept. 24. The Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California said the satellite penetrated the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. The precise re-entry time and location are not yet known with certainty.
New Footage Of Dead NASA Satellite Scheduled To Fall To Earth
Amateur astronomer Thierry Legault has captured some ghostly images of the doomed NASA satellite scheduled to fall back to earth on Friday.
“The satellite is tumbling, perhaps because of a collision with satellite debris a few years ago,” Legault described on his site.
Legault has a heavily modified telescope that he can use to track and photograph objects in orbit such as the International Space Station.
In Legault’s footage you can clearly see the distinctive shape of the satellite, including its solar panel.
The 20-year-old Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite will be the biggest NASA spacecraft to fall uncontrolled from the sky in 32 years.
It is expected to break into more than 100 pieces as it enters the atmosphere, most of it burning up. The heaviest metal parts are expected to reach Earth, the biggest chunk weighing about 140 kilograms. The debris could be scattered over an area about 800 kilometres long.
NASA says the satellite should re-enter the atmosphere sometime on Friday but say that could vary. NASA also says that the satellite debris is not likely to hit North America.
You can find out more about the falling satellite on NASA’s dedicated site.
Those worried about debris hitting people should note that the odds of a particular individual being hit is somewhere in the neighbourhood of 1 in 21 trillion.
NASA does warn people who find parts of the satellite not to touch it and instead inform local law enforcement.
SIX-TON SATELLITE TO PLUNGE BACK TO EARTH
A defunct NASA science satellite will be plunging back to Earth soon, sparking concerns that some debris might shower down on populated areas.
Most of the 6.5-ton Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, known by its acronym UARS, will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere when it finally falls from orbit later this month or early October.
UARS was dispatched by a space shuttle crew in September 1991 to measure ozone and other chemistry in Earth’s atmosphere. Its science mission ended in 2005.
Since then, UARS has been one of more than 20,000 pieces of space junk tracked by the Air Force — and a large one at that. The satellite, which has 10 science instruments, is 15 feet in diameter and weighs 13,000 pounds.
“Although the spacecraft will break into pieces during re-entry, not all of it will burn up in the atmosphere,” says NASA.
The risk to public safety and property is extremely small, scientists say.
Space debris has been falling back on the planet since the dawn of the space age 50 years ago, with no confirmed reports of an injury resulting from re-entering space objects, NASA said in a statement.
Nor is there a record of significant property damage resulting from a satellite re-entry, it added.
“It is too early to say exactly when UARS will re-enter and what geographic area may be affected,” NASA said.
Regular updates will be posted here.
Above, a disassembled Hubble at the NASA Goddard Center.
Historic soviet satellites gallery
Soviet space gear looked different to NASA space gear.
Above, Sputnik 1.
