NASA

Get ready to uncover the mysteries of the digital world as we delve into the secret corners of Google Earth that are off-limits for a reason. But beware - some mysteries are best left unsolved! Tune in to discover the surprising truths behind these forbidden places and why you should think twice before hitting that search button. 🔒🌟 #ForbiddenPlaces #GoogleEarth #MysteryUnveiled

The Sun’s activity will be at its peak in 2024, providing a rare opportunity to study how solar storms and radiation could affect future astronauts and robots on Mars. This peak period – called solar maximum – will be observed by NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmospheric and Volatiles EvolutioN) orbiter and Curiosity rover. Learn how both spacecraft have a big year ahead in this video featuring MAVEN Principal Investigator Shannon Curry of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder. Solar maximum occurs roughly every 11 years. During this period, the Sun is especially prone to throwing fiery tantrums in a variety of forms, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These events launch radiation deep into space. When a series of these solar events erupt, it’s called a solar storm. Earth’s magnetic field largely shields our home planet from the effects of these storms. But Mars lost its global magnetic field long ago, leaving the Red Planet more vulnerable to the Sun’s energetic particles. Researchers are excited to potentially gather data on just how intense solar activity can get at Mars. Among the preparations space agencies will need to make for sending humans to the Red Planet is what kind of radiation protection astronauts would require. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the MAVEN mission. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California leads the Curiosity mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC/Scientific Visualization Studio/SDO/LASP-University of Colorado Boulder/MSSS

Prelaunch Activities for Our Next Commercial Crew Flight Test, celebrating our home planet for Earth Day, and conducting high-flying science during the recent solar eclipse … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

Your science is ready for delivery. 📦 NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick closes out the Dragon spacecraft in preparation for its scheduled departure in late April. Dragon will return to Earth with samples and hardware from several experiments for further study.

Many space telescopes, including NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, require fuel to move. Propellant is, however, a finite resource. Watch how the NASA team carefully installs this mission-limiting resource into the telescope’s spacecraft bus. Music Credits: "Black Nebula" by Thomas Daniel Bellingham "Maelstrom Dream" by Lucie Rose "Evolution of Life" by David Stephen Goldsmith "Maximist" by Michael Blainey "Greatness Takes Time" by Beth Perry and Chris Doney Sound FX: "Asthma inhaler" by natty23 and "Compressed Air" by thompsonman Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Producers: Sophia Roberts (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.); Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC) Animator: Jonathan North (KBR Wyle Services, LLC) Photographers: Christopher Gunn (InuTeq, LLC); Jolearra Tshiteya (ASRC Federal) Technical support: Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET Systems, Inc.) Narrator: Sophia Roberts (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.) This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14575. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14575. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit https://nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines.

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. Got a question or comment? Use #AskNASA to talk to us. Learn more about the important research being operated on Station: https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science For more information about STEM on Station: https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

This animation discusses the upcoming spacewalk in which Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub of the Expedition 71 crew will egress the Poisk airlock to complete the deployment of one panel on a synthetic radar system on the Nauka module and install equipment and experiments on the Poisk module to analyze the level of corrosion on station surfaces and modules. It will be the 270th spacewalk in support of station maintenance and upgrades, the seventh for Kononenko and the second for Chub.

The Hubble Space Telescope celebrated its 34th year in orbit by premiering a stunning new Hubble image of the Little Dumbbell Nebula. Located approximately 3,400 light-years away the Little Dumbbell Nebula is a planetary nebula, which is an expanding shell of gas around an aging or dying star. Even after all these years, Hubble continues to uncover the mysteries of the universe. These are a few science achievements from Hubble’s latest year in orbit. For more information, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Paul Morris: Lead Producer Music Credit: "Slide" by Timothy Paul Handels [SABAM] via Pedigree Cuts [PRS], and Universal Production Music. Video Credit: Exoplanet K2-18b (Artist’s Impression) Credit: ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14569. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14569.

At 1:47 a.m. EST (6:47 UTC) on Nov. 16, 2022, NASA’s Orion spacecraft launched atop the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from historic Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on a path to the Moon, officially beginning the Artemis I mission. Over the course of 25.5 days, Orion performed two lunar flybys, coming within 80 miles (129 kilometers) of the lunar surface. At its farthest distance during the mission, Orion traveled nearly 270,000 miles (435,000 kilometers) from our home planet. NASA’s Orion spacecraft successfully completed a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at 9:40 a.m. PST (12:40 p.m. EST) as the final major milestone of the Artemis I mission. Artemis I set new records of performance, exceeded efficiency expectations, and established new safety baselines for humans in deep space. This is a prelude to what comes next—following the success of Artemis I, human beings will fly around the Moon on Artemis II.

Our next-generation solar sail technology could advance future space travel and expand our understanding of our Sun and solar system

Live from our Headquarters in Washington, we’re hosting a media briefing ahead of Earth Day 2024 to share information about NASA's climate research. We'll discuss new airborne science flights, our latest Earth science strategy, and to share data from our newest Earth-observing satellite, PACE, which stands for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and Ocean Ecosystem.

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. Got a question or comment? Use #AskNASA to talk to us.

More partners in space exploration, new data measuring ocean health, air quality and our climate, and an upgrade to testing facilities for Artemis II … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

NASA's Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 (HLS) project is a groundbreaking initiative that combines data from Landsats 8 & 9 with the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2A & 2B satellites. Let's take a look at how HLS data is revolutionizing Earth observation, from aiding search and rescue operations in the aftermath of hurricanes to helping farmers optimize crop yields. Join us on a journey through the cutting-edge world of remote sensing and explore the future of monitoring our planet's health with HLS.

On April 24, 2024, the Hubble Space Telescope celebrated its 34th year in orbit by premiering a never-before-seen view of the Little Dumbbell Nebula. Hubble’s Senior Project Scientist Dr. Jennifer Wiseman takes us on a tour of this stunning new image, describes the telescope's current health, and summarizes some of Hubble's contributions to astronomy during its 34-year career. For more information, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Paul Morris: Lead Producer Jennifer Wiseman: Narrator

Reaction wheels are an essential part of pointing most space telescopes. They are basically flywheels driven by electric motors, which makes them more precise than thrusters and capable of running indefinitely on solar power. They spin to store angular momentum. By slowing or speeding the rotation of a given wheel, changing the amount of momentum, a computer can precisely adjust how the spacecraft points around its center of mass in one plane. With three wheels set at specific angles, a satellite can control its pitch, roll and yaw to point in any direction and then hold that position without any change. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has added its set of reaction wheels to the main spacecraft body, or bus. Roman has six reaction wheels, rather than the necessary three, to give it more angular momentum for faster pointing, as well as complete redundancy should any one wheel fail. Each of Roman’s wheels is 18 inches across, weighs roughly 45 pounds, and spins up to 4,000 rpm. Music credit: "Breaking the Code" from Universal Production Music

A nearby supernova in 2023 offered astrophysicists an excellent opportunity to test ideas about how these types of explosions boost particles, called cosmic rays, to near light-speed. But surprisingly, NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected none of the high-energy gamma-ray light those particles should produce. On May 18, 2023, a supernova erupted in the nearby Pinwheel galaxy (Messier 101), located about 22 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. The event, named SN 2023ixf, is the most luminous nearby supernova discovered since Fermi launched in 2008. Astrophysicists previously estimated that supernovae convert about 10% of their total energy into cosmic ray acceleration. Using Fermi observations of SN 2023ixf, scientists calculated an energy conversion as low as 1% within a few days after the explosion. This doesn’t rule out supernovae as cosmic ray factories, but it does mean we have more to learn about their production. Scientists have been investigating cosmic ray origins since the early 1900s, but the particles can’t be traced back to their sources. Because they’re electrically charged, cosmic rays change course as they travel to Earth thanks to magnetic fields they encounter. Gamma rays, however, do travel directly to us. And cosmic rays produce gamma rays when they interact with matter in their environment. Fermi is the most sensitive gamma-ray telescope in orbit, so when it doesn’t detect an expected signal, scientists must explain the absence. In 2013, Fermi measurements showed that supernova remnants in our own Milky Way galaxy were accelerating cosmic rays, which generated gamma-ray light when they struck interstellar matter. But astronomers say the remnants aren’t producing enough high-energy particles to match scientists’ measurements on Earth. One theory proposes that supernovae may accelerate the most energetic cosmic rays in our galaxy in the first few days and weeks after the initial explosion. But supernovae are rare, occurring only a few times a century in a galaxy like the Milky Way. Out to distances of around 32 million light-years, a supernova occurs, on average, just once a year. After a month of observations, starting when visible light telescopes first saw SN 2023ixf, Fermi had not detected gamma rays. The researchers propose a few scenarios that may have affected Fermi’s ability to see gamma rays from the event, like the way the explosion distributed debris and the density of material surrounding the star. Fermi’s observations provide the first opportunity to study conditions right after the supernova explosion. Additional observations of SN 2023ixf at other wavelengths, new simulations and models based on this event, and future studies of other young supernovae will help astronomers home in on the mysterious sources of the universe’s cosmic rays. Music credit: "Trial" from Universal Production Music Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Producer: Scott Wiessinger (Rothe Ares Joint Venture) Science writer: Jeanette Kazmierczak (University of Maryland College Park) Narrator: Scott Wiessinger (Rothe Ares Joint Venture) This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14522. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14522. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit https://nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines.

In February 2021, the robot "Perseverance" landed successfully on Mars. However, this success was never a given. The film shows the difficult work involved in developing the robot, right up to its successful landing. The new robot NASA sent to Mars is called "Perseverance". Its mission? To search for evidence of past life on the Red Planet - an important and ambitious endeavor. It took years to design the space probe and its small helicopter drone, called "Ingenuity". This documentary follows the rover's development, right up to its landing in the Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021. The mission proved to be a complete success: the robot landed safely and all the instruments on board functioned smoothly. As a result, "Perseverance" was able to deliver high-resolution images of Mars. But getting there was an arduous journey for all involved. On site, "Perseverance" takes samples from the crater, which scientists believe was once a river delta. Geological traces of past life - so-called biosignatures - could be hidden in the rock. Eventually, these samples will be brought back to Earth for analysis. Among other things, they could provide insights into possible life on Mars. The four-pound mini-helicopter "Ingenuity", which traveled in the belly of the rover, is now carrying out a series of test flights. These are the first of their kind to be undertaken on another planet. Another task of "Perseverance" is to test an innovative technology for extracting oxygen from the atmosphere. It is hoped that the gas can be used as fuel -- or to supply oxygen for future manned flights to Mars.

Following the shadow of the total solar eclipse, a NASA astronaut returns safely from the space station, and our lunar-roving robot gets some new hardware … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA! Video Producer: Andre Valentine Video Editor: Andre Valentine Narrator: Emanuel Cooper Music: Universal Production Music Credit: NASA

NASA's exploration of our oceans from space spans a rich history. Delving into the depths of our oceans unveils the mysteries of our own planet, our home. Therefore, NASA remains steadfast in leading the way in oceanic research.

NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. Got a question or comment? Use #AskNASA to talk to us. Learn more about the important research being operated on Station: https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science For more information about STEM on Station: https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

Observa imágenes en directo del eclipse solar total este 8 de abril de 2024 mientras recorre Norteamérica, desde Mazatlán hasta la costa este de Canadá. Un experto de la NASA te acompañará durante esta experiencia y responderá a tus preguntas. Envía tus preguntas a #preguntaNASA. Acompáñanos en esta transmisión completamente en español. #eclipse #nasaenespañol #eclipsesolartotal

NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free moderates a panel at the 39th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The discussion will center on how mission success depends on teamwork. Participants include: • Kenneth Bowersox, associate administrator, Space Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington • Dr. Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters • Robert Gibbs, associate administrator, Mission Support Directorate, NASA Headquarters • Catherine Koerner, associate administrator, Exploration Systems Development, NASA Headquarters • Dr. Kurt Vogel, associate administrator, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters The Space Symposium is the premier U.S. space policy and program forum for all sectors of the space industry. Hosted by the Space Foundation, the event welcomes more than 10,000 people from around the world, including speakers, attendees, exhibitors, media, volunteers, educators, and students. Credit: NASA

NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System could advance future space travel and expand our understanding of our Sun and Solar System.

On April 8, 2024, North America's last total solar eclipse until 2045 moved across the continent. It made landfall in Mexico, crossed the United States from Texas to Maine, and departed across Canada’s Atlantic coast. This video offers viewers highlights of the eclipse from NASA's live commentary. Different vantage points include the International Space Station, WB-57 aircraft, and 12 telescopes stationed across North America. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, completely blocking the face of the Sun. The sky darkens as if it were dawn or dusk. Learn more about this total solar eclipse: https://go.nasa.gov/Eclipse2024 Track this eclipse path: https://go.nasa.gov/eclipseexplorer Editor: Phil Sexton Credit: NASA #nasa #Eclipse #TotalSolarEclipse