Mars : quelle stratégie pour les échantillons du rover « Perseverance » ? | Pour la Science Pour tous ceux qui ont participé aux efforts déployés depuis des décennies par la Nasa pour l’exploration robotisée de Mars, l’heure est venue de se ronger les ongles. Lancé en juillet dernier et filant vers la Planète rouge, le rover Perseverance de l’agence spatiale américaine, protégé par un blindage thermique, s’apprête ce 18 février à effectuer une audacieuse et terrifiante plongée en piqué dans l’atmosphère de Mars, vers son site d’atterrissage, le cratère Jezero. Cette entrée en matière sera immédiatement suivie d’une manœuvre que beaucoup considèrent comme encore plus risquée : la descente automatisée du robot au sol, suspendu au bout d’un câble relié à une plateforme en vol stationnaire propulsée par des moteurs fusées (la « grue du ciel ») – la même technologie qui a permis au prédécesseur de Perseverance, le rover Curiosity, d’atteindre la surface martienne en 2012. Retour sur investissement Mais le pari en vaut la peine, selon lui. Le bon sens scientifique
Apollo's Moon Shot AR on the App Store Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Moon Landing with an immersive AR app that places you right in the action of NASA’s daring space missions of the 1960s. The perfect companion to Smithsonian Channel’s landmark six-part series, the “Apollo’s Moon Shot AR” app gives you an out-of-this-world close-up of some of the landmark events that defined the start of the Space Age. Download for free now and blast off into space with us! App Features: Place yourself in the middle of the moon mission: Launch your own Saturn V rocket, sit inside the Lunar Command Module of Apollo 11, and step through a portal to explore the lunar landscape with several exciting AR features. Take a selfie on the Moon, suited up in the authentic Apollo 11 spacesuit, and share with friends on social. Play two thrilling AR simulation games, the “Moon Shot Challenge” and the "Lunar Landing Challenge," to test your ability at navigating a course to the moon and dodging craters and boulders to make a smooth lunar landing.
Mission Overview Studying Mars' Habitability, Seeking Signs of Past Microbial Life, Collecting and Caching Samples, and Preparing for Future Human Missions The Perseverance rover has four science objectives that support the Mars Exploration Program's science goals: All address key astrobiology questions related to the potential of Mars as a place for life. The first three consider the possibility of past microbial life. Even if Perseverance does not discover any signs of past life, it paves the way for human life on Mars someday. Mars 2020 Technology: Heritage and Innovation Technologies for Entry, Descent, and Landing The mission uses technological innovations already demonstrated successfully, especially for entry, descent, and landing (EDL). This type of landing system provides the ability to land a very large, heavy rover on the surface of Mars in a more precise landing area than was possible before Curiosity's landing. Technologies for Surface Operations
Astronomy Picture of the Day The Lunar Library: Genesis — Arch Mission Foundation - Preserving humanity fo... The Arch Lunar Library™ represents the first in a series of lunar archives from the Arch Mission Foundation, designed to preserve the records of our civilization for up to billions of years. It is installed in the SpaceIL “Beresheet” lunar lander, which crashed on the Moon in April of 2019. The Lunar Library contains a 30 million page archive of human history and civilization, covering all subjects, cultures, nations, languages, genres, and time periods. The Library is housed within a 100 gram nanotechnology device that resembles a 120mm DVD. The first four layers contain more than 60,000 analog images of pages of books, photographs, illustrations, and documents - etched as 150 to 200 dpi, at increasing levels of magnification, by optical nanolithography. The first analog layer is the Front Cover and is visible to the naked eye. Beneath the analog layers of the Library are 21 layers of 40 micron thick nickel foils, each containing a DVD master.
Zooming into the Sun with Solar Orbiter Solar Orbiter’s latest images shows the full Sun in unprecedented detail. They were taken on 7 March, when the spacecraft was crossing directly between the Earth and Sun. One of the images, taken by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) is the highest resolution image of the Sun’s full disc and outer atmosphere, the corona, ever taken. Another image, taken by the Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument represents the first full Sun image of its kind in 50 years, and by far the best one, taken at the Lyman-beta wavelength of ultraviolet light that is emitted by hydrogen gas. The images were taken when Solar Orbiter was at a distance of roughly 75 million kilometres, half way between our world and its parent star. In total, the final image contains more than 83 million pixels in a 9148 x 9112 pixel grid. EUI images the Sun at a wavelength of 17 nanometers, in the extreme ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Thank you for liking
India Is Headed to the Moon India has successfully launched its second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2. The country hopes that the launch will make bring it into the exclusive club of nations that have successfully made a soft landing on lunar soil. Riding on an Indian-built rocket known as a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, or GSLV MkIII-M1, the successful launch from the Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Center, located on a small island off India's southeastern coast, took place at 2:43 pm Indian Standard Time (IST). "Today is a historical day for Space Science and Technology in India. I am extremely happy to announce that GSLV MkIII-M1 successfully injected Chandrayaan-2 into an orbit of 6000 Km more than the intended orbit and is better," said Dr. The launch wasn't entirely smooth. “Today is the beginning of the historical journey of India towards Moon and to land at a place near south pole to carry out scientific experiments to explore the unexplored. What is Chandrayaan-2? What Is ISRO?
2022 June 19 - Game: Super Planet Crash Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 June 19 Game: Super Planet Crash Game Credit & License: Stefano Meschiari (U. Texas at Austin) & the SAVE/Point Team Explanation: Can you create a planetary system that lasts for 1000 years? Tomorrow's picture: mini-spires on mars Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important NoticesA service of:ASD at NASA / GSFC& Michigan Tech.
NASA's Juno spacecraft enters Jupiter's orbit | NASA News Fast Facts The $1.1bn mission will last 20 months Juno has travelled 2.7bn km since its launch in 2011 It's an unmanned solar-powered observatory A key concern are high radiation levels NASA's Juno spacecraft has begun to orbit Jupiter to investigate the origin of the solar system, the US space agency has said. The $1.1bn mission launched five years ago successfully entered the orbit of Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, after a 35-minute manoeuvre, NASA said on Tuesday. "Success! The unmanned solar-powered observatory has travelled 2.7bn kilometres since it was launched five years ago from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Once in position to begin its 20-month science mission, Juno will fly in egg-shaped orbits, each one lasting 14 days, to peer through the planet's thick clouds, map its gargantuan magnetic field and probe through the crushing atmosphere for evidence of a dense inner core. 'Into the scariest place' SOURCE: Al Jazeera and agencies
[Blog] Autour du Ciel – Les dernières nouvelles de l’Univers & l’actualité de l’observation du ciel China's Chang'e 4 makes historic first landing on the moon's far side By Leah Crane For the first time, a spacecraft has landed on the side of the moon that is always facing away from Earth – an area that, until now, we had only seen from orbit. The China National Space Administration’s Chang’e 4 lander launched on 7 December and has spent the past month reaching the correct orbit to attempt the historic landing. The CNSA also launched a lunar satellite in May to facilitate communication with the lander, as there is never a direct line of sight between the moon’s far side and Earth. That lack of visibility meant that Chang’e 4 had to make its landing almost completely autonomously, with no input from mission control. This basin is particularly important because it is thought to be a crater from a huge impact during the moon’s early years. The mission will also help prepare for the moon’s possible future. Chang’e 4 is also carrying a “biosphere” with potato seeds, cress and silkworm larvae to see if they can thrive in a sealed container on the moon.