NASA technology (50)

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The Engine Burns Blue

NASA – This image shows a cutting-edge solar-electric propulsion thruster in development at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., that uses xenon ions for propulsion. An earlier version of this solar-electric propulsion engine has been flying on NASA’s Dawn mission to the asteroid belt.

This engine is being considered as part of the Asteroid Initiative, a proposal to robotically capture a small near-Earth asteroid and redirect it safely to a stable orbit in the Earth-moon system where astronauts can visit and explore it. This image was taken through a porthole in a vacuum chamber at JPL where the ion engine is being tested.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Views from the Solar System (133)

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Pavlof Volcano From Station

NASA – Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) photographed this striking view of Pavlof Volcano on May 18, 2013. The oblique perspective from the ISS reveals the three dimensional structure of the ash plume, which is often obscured by the top-down view of most remote sensing satellites.

Situated in the Aleutian Arc about 625 miles (1,000 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage, Pavlof began erupting on May 13, 2013. The volcano jetted lava into the air and spewed an ash cloud 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) high. When photograph ISS036-E-2105 (top) was taken, the space station was about 475 miles south-southeast of the volcano (49.1° North latitude, 157.4° West longitude). The volcanic plume extended southeastward over the North Pacific Ocean.

› Additional information/larger images.

Views from the Solar System (132)

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Curiosity at ‘Cumberland’

NASA – NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity used its front left Hazard-Avoidance Camera for this image of the rover’s arm over the drilling target “Cumberland” during the 275th Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s work on Mars (May 15, 2013).

The rover team plans to use Curiosity’s drill to collect a powdered sample from the interior of the rock for analysis by laboratory instruments inside the rover. This is the mission’s second rock-drilling target. The rover drove from its position beside the first drilling target, “John Klein,” to its position beside Cumberland with drives of 121 inches (308 centimeters) on Sol 273 (May 13) and 26.6 inches (67.5 centimeters) on Sol 275. Curiosity’s total odometry on Mars is now 2,385 feet (727 meters).

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Space Construction (12)

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SPACE WATCH (history) · Shuttle and Station · 360° Virtual Tour

View from Space Shuttle Atlantis
NASA – STS110-E-5918 (17 April 2002) — This is one a series of digital still images of the International Space Station (ISS) recorded by the STS-110 crew members on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis following the undocking of the two spacecraft some 247 statute miles above the North Atlantic. Atlantis pulled away from the complex at 1:31 p.m. (CDT). After more than a week of joint operations between the shuttle and station crews, astronaut Stephen N. Frick, pilot, backed Atlantis away to a distance of about 400 feet in front of the station, where he began a 1 1/4 lap flyaround of the ISS, newly equipped with the 27,000 pound S0 (S-zero) truss, visible in this series of images. S0 is the first segment of a truss structure which will ultimately expand the station to the length of a football field.

View from Space Shuttle Endeavour
STS111-373-001 (15 June 2002) — Backdropped by the blackness of space and a blue and white Earth, the International Space Station (ISS) is now separated from the Space Shuttle Endeavour following the undocking of the two spacecraft over western Kazakhstan. Endeavour pulled away from the complex at 9:32 a.m. (CDT) on June 15, 2002.

View from Space Shuttle Endeavour
STS111-708-057 (15 June 2002) — Backdropped by the blackness of space, this close-up view of the International Space Station (ISS) was photographed by a crewmember on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour following the undocking of the two spacecraft over western Kazakhstan. Endeavour pulled away from the complex at 9:32 a.m. (CDT) on June 15, 2002. The S0 (S-zero) Truss with the newly added Mobile Base System (MBS) is visible center frame.

View from Space Shuttle Endeavour
STS111-708-093 (15 June 2002) — Backdropped by a blue and white Earth, the International Space Station (ISS) is now separated from the Space Shuttle Endeavour following the undocking of the two spacecraft over western Kazakhstan. Endeavour pulled away from the complex at 9:32 a.m. (CDT) on June 15, 2002.

Galactic Views (83)

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SPACE WATCH

Black Hole-Powered Jets Plow Into Galaxy

NASA – This composite image of a galaxy illustrates how the intense gravity of a supermassive black hole can be tapped to generate immense power. The image contains X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue), optical light obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (gold) and radio waves from the NSF’s Very Large Array (pink).

This multi-wavelength view shows 4C+29.30, a galaxy located some 850 million light years from Earth. The radio emission comes from two jets of particles that are speeding at millions of miles per hour away from a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. The estimated mass of the black hole is about 100 million times the mass of our Sun. The ends of the jets show larger areas of radio emission located outside the galaxy.

The X-ray data show a different aspect of this galaxy, tracing the location of hot gas. The bright X-rays in the center of the image mark a pool of million-degree gas around the black hole. Some of this material may eventually be consumed by the black hole, and the magnetized, whirlpool of gas near the black hole could in turn, trigger more output to the radio jet.

Most of the low-energy X-rays from the vicinity of the black hole are absorbed by dust and gas, probably in the shape of a giant doughnut around the black hole. This doughnut, or torus blocks all the optical light produced near the black hole, so astronomers refer to this type of source as a hidden or buried black hole. The optical light seen in the image is from the stars in the galaxy.