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NASA TV's This Week @NASA, M …
** STS-131 UPDATE -- JSC/KSC …
03/05/2010
Description ** STS-131 UPDATE -- JSC/KSC The STS-131 Crew and space shuttle Discovery continues their progress toward an April 5 launch to the International Space Station. Discovery has been rolled out to Launch Pad 39A, while the seven STS-131 astronauts participated in launch countdown dress rehearsal activities and other prelaunch training. ** AMES CREATES A WINNER -- ARC The World Wind Java computer program developed at the Ames Research Center has earned NASA's 2009 Software of the Year Award. World-Wind is an open-source platform used to display NASA and U.S. Geological Survey data on virtual 3-D globes of Earth and other planets. ** DEEP SPACE DOWN UNDER - JPL NASA is replacing an aging fleet of 230-foot-wide antennas used in the Deep Space Network with new ''beam wave guide'' antennas that enable the network to operate on several different frequency bands within the same antenna. The replacement antennas are approximately half the size of the originals. The NASA Deep Space Network - or DSN - is an international network of antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe. The network also supports selected Earth-orbiting missions. ** 2009 QASAR AWARD -- GRC Christopher DellaCorte, of the Glenn Research Center's Tribology & Mechanical Components branch has received the 2009 Quality and Safety Achievement or Qasar Award for figuring out what caused severe degradation of a starboard solar array alpha rotary joint on the International Space Station. ** STEM EDUCATORS WORKSHOP -- LARC Teachers became students while participating in the second annual NASA Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics -- STEM -- Educators, Workshops held this year in Charlotte, N.C. The 40-session workshop provided elementary, middle and high school teachers with creative hands-on ways to incorporate NASA content into their classrooms. The workshops are specifically designed to give teachers tangible resources for immediate use in classrooms. ** FIRST ROBOTICS KICKOFF -- HQ The NASA supported ''For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology'' Robotics program began its 19th year with regional competitions like this one held in Washington, D.C. FIRST is a nationwide competition that teams young people with professionals to solve engineering design problems in a competitive way.
Date 03/05/2010
Radar images of newly discov …
8/26/99
Date 8/26/99
Description Radar images of newly discovered 1999 JM8, an unusually large asteroid with a slow rotation rate, reveal the object's bizarre shape as it streaked past Earth in late July and early August at a close approach of 8.5 million kilometers (5.3 million miles), about 22 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. The object, thought to be several miles wide, was captured by a radar team led by Dr. Lance Benner of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, after its discovery on May 13, 1999, using NASA's Goldstone radar facility in California and the Arecibo Observatory's radar in Puerto Rico. The images, clockwise from the top left, were taken on August 5, July 28, August 2 and August 1. Radar illumination is from the top and the asteroid's rotation is clockwise. The Goldstone images taken on July 28 have a vertical resolution of 38 meters per pixel and those taken on August 1 have a vertical resolution of 19 meters per pixel. The images taken by the Arecibo Observatory on August 2 and 5 have a vertical resolution of 15 meters per pixel. 1999 JM8 resembles Toutatis, a similarly sized, slowly rotating asteroid that also crosses Earth's orbit and that last flew past the planet on November 29, 1996, at a close approach of 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles). Discovery of a second large Earth-crosser with a similarly slow spin rate suggests that slowly tumbling asteroids are fairly common among near-Earth objects. However, although collisions are thought to be the primary process determining asteroid spin states, astronomers do not know how these slow, complex rotation states come about. 1999 JM8 was discovered with a U. S. Air Force telescope in New Mexico that is part of MIT's Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research project. Radar observations by Ostro, Benner and their team were supported by NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. The Goldstone Solar System Radar is part of NASA's Deep Space Network. The Arecibo Observatory, in Puerto Rico, is part of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, which is operated by the Cornell University under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation and with support from NASA. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. #####
Sunset shot of the 70m anten …
Description Sunset shot of the 70m antenna at Goldstone, California. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, located in the Mojave Desert in California, is one of three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). The DSN provides radio communications for all of NASA's interplanetary spacecraft and is also utilized for radio astronomy and radar observations of the solar system and the universe.
L & C bands Canberra, Austra …
Australia's capital city, Ca …
3/28/96
Date 3/28/96
Description Australia's capital city, Canberra, is shown in the center of this spaceborne radar image. Images like this can help urban planners assess land use patterns. Heavily developed areas appear in bright patchwork patterns of orange, yellow and blue. Dense vegetation appears bright green, while cleared areas appear in dark blue or black. Located in southeastern Australia, the site of Canberra was selected as the capital in 1901 as a geographic compromise between Sydney and Melbourne. Design and construction of the city began in 1908 under the supervision of American architect Walter Burley-Griffin. Lake Burley-Griffin is located above and to the left of the center of the image. The bright pink area is the Parliament House. The city streets, lined with government buildings, radiate like spokes from the Parliament House. The bright purple cross in the lower left corner of the image is a reflection from one of the large dish-shaped radio antennas at the Tidbinbilla, Canberra Deep Space Network Communication Complex, operated jointly by NASA and the Australian Space Office. This image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR- C/X-SAR) on April 10, 1994, onboard the space shuttle Endeavour. The image is 28 kilometers by 25 kilometers (17 miles by 15 miles) and is centered at 35.35 degrees south latitude, 149.17 degrees east longitude. North is toward the upper left. The colors are assigned to different radar frequencies and polarizations as follows: red is L-band, horizontally transmitted and received, green is L-band, horizontally transmitted and vertically received, and blue is C-band, horizontally transmitted and vertically received. SIR-C/X-SAR, a joint mission of the German, Italian, and United States space agencies, is part of NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth. #####
Side views of the 34m, 26m a …
Description Side views of the 34m, 26m and 70m antennas at the Canberra complex. The Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, located outside Canberra, Australia, is one of the three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network. The other complexes are located in Goldstone, California, and Madrid, Spain.
Dawn shot of the 70m antenna …
Description Dawn shot of the 70m antenna at Goldstone, California. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, located in the Mojave Desert in California, is one of three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). The DSN provides radio communications for all of NASA's interplanetary spacecraft and is also utilized for radio astronomy and radar observations of the solar system and the universe.
Front view of the 70m antenn …
Description Front view of the 70m antenna at Goldstone, California. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, located in the Mojave Desert in California, is one of three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). The DSN provides radio communications for all of NASA's interplanetary spacecraft and is also utilized for radio astronomy and radar observations of the solar system and the universe.
Three 34m (110 ft.) diameter …
Description Three 34m (110 ft.) diameter Beam Waveguide antennas. These antennas are the latest addition to the Deep Space Network. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, located in the Mojave Desert in California, is one of three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). The DSN provides radio communications for all of NASA's interplanetary spacecraft and is also utilized for radio astronomy and radar observations of the solar system and the universe.
Three 34m (110 ft.) diameter …
Description Three 34m (110 ft.) diameter Beam Waveguide antennas. These antennas are the latest addition to the Deep Space Network. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, located in the Mojave Desert in California, is one of three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). The DSN provides radio communications for all of NASA's interplanetary spacecraft and is also utilized for radio astronomy and radar observations of the solar system and the universe.
View of the Canberra Complex …
Description View of the Canberra Complex showing the 70m (230 ft.) antenna and the 34m (110 ft.) antennas. The Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, located outside Canberra, Australia, is one of the three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network. The other complexes are located in Goldstone, California, and Madrid, Spain.
View of the Canberra Complex …
Description View of the Canberra Complex showing the 70m (230 ft.) antenna with the 34m (110 ft.) antenna in the background The Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, located outside Canberra, Australia, is one of the three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network. The other complexes are located in Goldstone, California, and Madrid, Spain.
View of Canberra 70m (230 ft …
Description View of Canberra 70m (230 ft.) antenna with flags from the three Deep Space Network sites. The Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, located outside Canberra, Australia, is one of the three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network. The other complexes are located in Goldstone, California, and Madrid, Spain.
A view of the structure hous …
Description A view of the structure housing the electronics on the 70-meter antenna. An engineer working on top of the ladder, provides a scale for size. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, located in the Mojave Desert in California, is one of three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). The DSN provides radio communications for all of NASA's interplanetary spacecraft and is also utilized for radio astronomy and radar observations of the solar system and the universe.
Side view of 70m antenna at …
Description Side view of 70m antenna at Goldstone, California during tracking. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, located in the Mojave Desert in California, is one of three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). The DSN provides radio communications for all of NASA's interplanetary spacecraft and is also utilized for radio astronomy and radar observations of the solar system and the universe.
The 70m antenna at Goldstone …
Description The 70m antenna at Goldstone, California against the background of the Mojave desert. The antenna on the right is a 34m High Efficiency Antenna. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, located in the Mojave Desert in California, is one of three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). The DSN provides radio communications for all of NASA's interplanetary spacecraft and is also utilized for radio astronomy and radar observations of the solar system and the universe.
S-1 C & BW -62
Voyager 1 looked back at Sat …
12/4/80
Date 12/4/80
Description Voyager 1 looked back at Saturn on Nov. 16, 1980, four days after the spacecraft flew past the planet, to observe the appearance of Saturn and its rings from this unique perspective. A few of the spokelike ring features discovered by Voyager appear in the rings as bright patches in this image, taken at a distance of 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles) from the planet. Saturn's shadow falls upon the rings, and the bright Saturn crescent is seen through all but the densest portion of the rings. From Saturn, Voyager 1 is on a trajectory taking the spacecraft out of the ecliptic plane, away from the Sun and eventually out of the solar system (by about 1990). Although its mission to Jupiter and Saturn is nearly over (the Saturn encounter ends Dec. 18, 1980), Voyager 1 will be tracked by the Deep Space Network as far as possible in an effort to determine where the influence of the Sun ends and interstellar space begins. Voyager 1's flight path through interstellar space is in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus. Voyager 2 will reach Saturn on August 25, 1981, and is targeted to encounter Uranus in 1986 and possibly Neptune in 1989. The Voyager project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. #####
Night shot of the 70m antenn …
Description Night shot of the 70m antenna at Goldstone, California. The parabolic dish is 70m (230 ft.) in diameter. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, located in the Mojave Desert in California, is one of three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). The DSN provides radio communications for all of NASA's interplanetary spacecraft and is also utilized for radio astronomy and radar observations of the solar system and the universe.
View of 34m (110 ft.) Beam W …
Description View of 34m (110 ft.) Beam Waveguide antenna at the Canberra Complex. The Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, located outside Canberra, Australia, is one of the three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network. The other complexes are located in Goldstone, California, and Madrid, Spain.
34m Beam Waveguide antenna a …
Description 34m Beam Waveguide antenna at the Madrid Complex. The Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex, located outside Madrid, Spain, is one of the three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network. The other complexes are located in Goldstone, California, and Canberra, Australia.
70m antenna at Madrid Comple …
Description 70m antenna at Madrid Complex. The Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex, located outside Madrid, Spain, is one of the three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network. The other complexes are located in Goldstone, California, and Canberra, Australia.
High angle view of the 70m ( …
Description High angle view of the 70m (230 ft.) antenna at the Canberra Complex. The Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, located outside Canberra, Australia, is one of the three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network. The other complexes are located in Goldstone, California, and Madrid, Spain.
View of the Canberra Complex …
Description View of the Canberra Complex showing the 70m (230 ft.) antenna. The Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, located outside Canberra, Australia, is one of the three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network. The other complexes are located in Goldstone, California, and Madrid, Spain.
View of the Canberra Complex …
Description View of the Canberra Complex showing the 70m (230 ft.) antenna and the 34m (110 ft.) antennas. The Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, located outside Canberra, Australia, is one of the three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network. The other complexes are located in Goldstone, California, and Madrid, Spain.
View of the Canberra Complex …
Description View of the Canberra Complex showing the 70m (230 ft.) antenna and the 34m (110 ft.) antennas. The Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, located outside Canberra, Australia, is one of the three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network. The other complexes are located in Goldstone, California, and Madrid, Spain.
Overview of the Canberra Com …
Description Overview of the Canberra Complex showing all antennas. The Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, located outside Canberra, Australia, is one of the three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network. The other complexes are located in Goldstone, California, and Madrid, Spain.
These false-color images wer …
3/14/95
Date 3/14/95
Description These false-color images were captured by radio telescope of the object GRO J1655-40 on four consecutive days from August 21-24, 1994. They are rotated here to a horizontal position to aid visualization. The pseudo colors represent radio brightness, which decreased rapidly over the four-day period, with red indicating the brightest regions. These images were obtained using radio telescopes from NASA's Deep Space Network, the Australia Telescope National Facility, the University of Tasmania and the Very Long Baseline Interferometry Array. The images show an unprecedented angular motion of about 65 milliarcseconds per day between two components, or equivalently, an apparent transverse motion of about 1.5 times the speed of light using the object's measured distance of 4 kiloparsecs (10,000 to 16,000 light-years) away from Earth.
Geographos
This image shows the outline …
6/8/95
Date 6/8/95
Description This image shows the outline of the asteroid Geographos viewed from above its north pole. It was created from radar images obtained August 30, 1994 when the asteroid was 7.2 million kilometers (4.5 million miles) from Earth. A planetary radar instrument at the Deep Space Network's facility in Goldstone, California was used. The tick marks on the borders are 1 kilometer (0.62 mile) apart. The central white pixel locates the asteroid's pole. The grayscale is arbitrary and no meaning is attached to brightness variations inside the silhouette. Geographos's overall dimensions are about 5.1 by 1.8 kilometers (3.2 by 1.2 miles). Its pole-on silhouette has the largest length-to-width ratio of any solar system object imaged so far. It is not known whether the asteroid is a single body or made up of several distinct pieces. Geographos was discovered at Palomar Observatory in 1951. The asteroid's name, which means geographer, was chosen to honor the National Geographic Society for its support of the Palomar Mountain Sky Survey. The radar observations were done a few days after Geographos passed 5 million kilometers (3.1 million miles) from Earth, its closest approach for at least two centuries. Geographos is called an Earth-crossing asteroid because its orbit can evolve to intersect Earth's orbit. Fewer than 300 Earth- crossing asteroids have been found, but the total is thought to include several hundred objects larger than Geographos as well as thousands more than half a mile across and a few hundred thousand larger than a football field. Earth-crossing asteroids include the cheapest destinations of piloted and robotic spacecraft missions beyond the Earth-Moon system. The Geographos radar observations, made by Dr. Steven J. Ostro of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and colleagues, were part of the Planetary Astronomy Program of NASA's Office of Space Science. The image was one of two accompanying a paper published June 8, 1995, in Nature magazine. #####
NASA TV's This Week @NASA, M …
** STS-131 UPDATE: JSC/KSC T …
03/05/10
Description ** STS-131 UPDATE: JSC/KSC The STS-131 Crew and space shuttle Discovery continues their progress toward an April 5 launch to the International Space Station. Discovery has been rolled out to Launch Pad 39A, while the seven STS-131 astronauts participated in launch countdown dress rehearsal activities and other prelaunch training. ** AMES CREATES A WINNER: ARC The World Wind Java computer program developed at the Ames Research Center has earned NASA's 2009 Software of the Year Award. World-Wind is an open-source platform used to display NASA and U.S. Geological Survey data on virtual 3-D globes of Earth and other planets. ** DEEP SPACE DOWN UNDER: JPL NASA is replacing an aging fleet of 230-foot-wide antennas used in the Deep Space Network with new ''beam wave guide'' antennas that enable the network to operate on several different frequency bands within the same antenna. The replacement antennas are approximately half the size of the originals. The NASA Deep Space Network - or DSN - is an international network of antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe. The network also supports selected Earth-orbiting missions. ** 2009 QASAR AWARD: GRC Christopher DellaCorte, of the Glenn Research Center's Tribology & Mechanical Components branch has received the 2009 Quality and Safety Achievement or Qasar Award for figuring out what caused severe degradation of a starboard solar array alpha rotary joint on the International Space Station. ** STEM EDUCATORS WORKSHOP: LARC Teachers became students while participating in the second annual NASA Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics -- STEM -- Educators, Workshops held this year in Charlotte, N.C. The 40-session workshop provided elementary, middle and high school teachers with creative hands-on ways to incorporate NASA content into their classrooms. The workshops are specifically designed to give teachers tangible resources for immediate use in classrooms. ** FIRST ROBOTICS KICKOFF HQ: The NASA supported ''For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology'' Robotics program began its 19th year with regional competitions like this one held in Washington, D.C. FIRST is a nationwide competition that teams young people with professionals to solve engineering design problems in a competitive way.
Date 03/05/10
Huygens Probe Shines for Cas …
Description Huygens Probe Shines for Cassini's Cameras (Labeled)
Full Description The European Space Agency's Huygens probe appears shining as it coasts away from Cassini in this image taken on Dec. 26, 2004, just two days after it successfully detached from the Cassini spacecraft. Shown in white boxes are known stars. The probe is the brightest item on the lower right. The other dots are artifacts of the camera. Although only a few pixels across, this image is helping navigators reconstruct the probe's trajectory and pinpoint its position relative to Cassini. This information so far shows that the probe and Cassini are right on the mark and well within the predicted trajectory accuracy. This information is important to help establish the required geometry between the probe and the orbiter for radio communications during the probe descent on January 14. The Huygens probe, built and managed by ESA, will remain dormant until the onboard timer wakes it up just before the probe reaches Titan's upper atmosphere on Jan. 14, 2005. Then it will begin a dramatic plunge through Titan's murky atmosphere, tasting its chemical makeup and composition as it descends to touch down on its surface. The data gathered during this 2-1/2 hour descent will be transmitted from the probe to the Cassini orbiter. Afterward, Cassini will point its antenna to Earth and relay the data through NASA's Deep Space Network to JPL and on to the European Space Agency's Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany, which serves as the operations center for the Huygens probe mission. From this control center, ESA engineers will be tracking the probe and scientists will be standing by to process the data from the probe's six instruments. This image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera at a distance of 52 kilometers (32 miles) from the probe on Dec. 26, 2004. The image has been magnified and contrast enhanced to aid visibility. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini . *Credit*: NASA/JPL
Date December 27, 2004
Close-Up of Huygens Probe
Description Close-Up of Huygens Probe
Full Description The European Space Agency's Huygens Probe appears shining as it coasts away from Cassini in this close-up of an image taken on Dec. 26, 2004, just two days after it successfully detached from the Cassini spacecraft. Shown here side-by-side is a close-up of the Huygens probe. The image on the left shows the relative size of the probe. The bright spots in both images are probably due to light reflecting off the blanketing material that covers the probe. Although only a few pixels across, this image is helping navigators reconstruct the probe's trajectory and pinpoint its position relative to Cassini. This information so far shows that the probe and Cassini are right on the mark and well within the predicted trajectory accuracy. This information is important to help establish the required geometry between the probe and the orbiter for radio communications during the probe descent on January 14. The Huygens probe, built and managed by ESA, will remain dormant until the onboard timer wakes it up just before the probe reaches Titan's upper atmosphere on Jan. 14, 2005. Then it will begin a dramatic plunge through Titan's murky atmosphere, tasting its chemical makeup and composition as it descends to touch down on its surface. The data gathered during this 2-1/2 hour descent will be transmitted from the probe to the Cassini orbiter. Afterward, Cassini will point its antenna to Earth and relay the data through NASA's Deep Space Network to JPL and on to the European Space Agency's Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany, which serves as the operations center for the Huygens probe mission. From this control center, ESA engineers will be tracking the probe and scientists will be standing by to process the data from the probe's six instruments. This image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera at a distance of 52 kilometers (32 miles) from the probe on Dec. 26, 2004. The image has been magnified and contrast enhanced to aid visibility. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini . *Credit*: NASA/JPL
Date December 27, 2004
Huygens Probe Release Zoom
Description Huygens Probe Release Zoom
Full Description A closer view of the Cassini image of the Huygens Probe after its successful release. The full image is available here. Cassini snapped this image of the probe about 12 hours after its release from the orbiter. The probe successfully detached from Cassini on Dec. 24, 2004, and is on course for its January 14 encounter with Titan. The Huygens probe will remain dormant until the onboard timer wakes it up just before the probe reaches Titan's upper atmosphere on Jan. 14, 2005. Then it will begin a dramatic plunge through Titan's murky atmosphere, tasting its chemical makeup and composition as it descends to touch down on its surface. The data gathered during this 2-1/2 hour descent will be transmitted from the probe to the Cassini orbiter. Afterward, Cassini will point its antenna to Earth and relay the data through NASA's Deep Space Network to JPL and on to the European Space Agency's Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany, which serves as the operations center for the Huygens probe mission. From this control center, ESA engineers will be tracking the probe and scientists will be standing by to process the data from the probe's six instruments. This image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera at a distance of 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the probe on Dec. 25, 2004. The image has been magnified and contrast enhanced to aid visibility. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini . *Credit*: NASA/JPL
Date December 25, 2004
Deep Impact Launch
title Deep Impact Launch
date 01.12.2005
description Erupting from the flames and smoke beneath it, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft lifts off at 1:47 p.m. EST today from Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. A NASA Discovery mission, Deep Impact is heading for space and a rendezvous 83 million miles from Earth with Comet Tempel 1. After releasing a 3- by 3-foot projectile (impactor) to crash onto the surface July 4, 2005, Deep Impact's flyby spacecraft will reveal the secrets of the comet's interior by collecting pictures and data of how the crater forms, measuring the crater's depth and diameter as well as the composition of the interior of the crater and any material thrown out, and determining the changes in natural outgassing produced by the impact. It will send the data back to Earth through the antennas of the Deep Space Network. *Image Credit*: NASA
Deep Space Network
title Deep Space Network
description The NASA Deep Space Network - or DSN - is an international network of antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe. The network also supports selected Earth-orbiting missions. The DSN currently consists of three deep-space communications facilities placed approximately 120 degrees apart around the world: at Goldstone, in California's Mojave Desert, near Madrid, Spain, and near Canberra, Australia. This strategic placement permits constant observation of spacecraft as the Earth rotates, and helps to make the DSN the largest and most sensitive scientific telecommunications system in the world. NASA's scientific investigation of the Solar System is being accomplished mainly through the use of unmanned automated spacecraft. The DSN provides the vital two-way communications link that guides and controls these planetary explorers, and brings back the images and new scientific information they collect. All DSN antennas are steerable, high-gain, parabolic reflector antennas. The network is managed and operated for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Interplanetary Network Directorate (IND) manages the program within JPL. For more on the Deep Space Network, visit http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/index.html *Image Credit*: NASA
Saturn's Shadow
title Saturn's Shadow
date 11.16.1980
description Voyager 1 looked back at Saturn on Nov. 16, 1980, four days after the spacecraft flew past the planet, to observe the appearance of Saturn and its rings from this unique perspective. A few of the spokelike ring features discovered by Voyager appear in the rings as bright patches in this image, taken at a distance of 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles) from the planet. Saturn's shadow falls upon the rings and the bright Saturn crescent is seen through all but the densest portion of the rings. From Saturn, Voyager 1 is on a trajectory taking the spacecraft out of the ecliptic plane, away from the Sun and eventually out of the solar system (by about 1990). Although its mission to Jupiter and Saturn is nearly over (the Saturn encounter ends Dec. 18, 1980), Voyager 1 will be tracked by the Deep Space Network as far as possible in an effort to determine where the influence of the Sun ends and interstellar space begins. Voyager 1's flight path through interstellar space is in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus. *Image Credit*: NASA
Pioneer 10 Trajectory
Title Pioneer 10 Trajectory
Full Description This image, drawn in 1970, is an artist's rendering of the Pioneer 10 spacecraft trajectory, with the planets labeled and a list of the instruments that were intended to be flown. Before the use of computer animation, artists were hired by JPL and NASA to depict a spacecraft in flight, for use as a visual aid to promote the project during development. Pioneer 10 was managed by NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. The Pioneer F spacecraft, as it was known before launch, was designed and built by TRW Systems Group, Inc. JPL developed three instruments that flew on the spacecraft: Magnetic Fields, S-Band Occultation, and Celestial Mechanics, as well as running the Deep Space Network which provided tracking and data system support. Caltech was responsible for the Jovian Infrared Thermal Structure experiment. Pioneer was very successful, crossing the orbit of Mars and the asteroid belt beyond it, encountering, studying, and photographing Jupiter, then crossing the orbits of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. It left the solar system in 1983 and has been contacted several times in the past few years. As of July 2001, the spacecraft was still able to send a return signal to Earth. At Jupiter, the experiments of Pioneer were used to examine the environmental and atmospheric characteristics of the giant planet. Pioneer was also the vital precursor to all future flights to the outer solar system. It determined that a spacecraft could safely fly through the asteroid belt. It also measured the intensity of Jupiter's radiation belt so that NASA could design future Jupiter (and other outer planets) orbiters.
Date 03/07/1972
NASA Center Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Canberra Deep Dish Communica …
Title Canberra Deep Dish Communications Complex
Full Description View of Canberra 70m (230 ft.) antenna with flags from the three Deep Space Network sites. The Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, located outside Canberra, Australia, is one of the three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network. The other complexes are located in Goldstone, California, and Madrid, Spain.
Date 01/01/1990
NASA Center Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Goldstone Deep Space Communi …
Title Goldstone Deep Space Communication Complex
Full Description Three 34m (110 ft.) diameter Beam Waveguide antennas located at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, situated in the Mojave Desert in California. This is one of three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). The DSN provides radio communications for all of NASA's interplanetary spacecraft and is also utilized for radio astronomy and radar observations of the solar system and the universe.
Date 01/01/1990
NASA Center Jet Propulsion Laboratory
JPL Site in 1942
Title JPL Site in 1942
Full Description In February 1942, there were only a few small buildings and rocket motor test pits on Jet Propulsion Laboratory's present site. George Emerson took this photograph from the hill above what is now the east gate. JPL is managed by the California Institute of Technology and is NASA's lead center for robotic exploration of the solar system. In addition to supervising robotic spacecraft and observing far-off galaxies in the universe, JPL is in charge of the Deep Space Network, which communicates with spacecraft and conducts scientific investigations from its complexes in California's Mojave Desert near Goldstone, near Madrid, Spain, and near Canberra, Australia. JPL is located in Pasadena, California about twelve miles northeast of Los Angeles.
Date 02/1942
NASA Center Jet Propulsion Laboratory
JPL's Space Flight Operation …
Title JPL's Space Flight Operations Facility
Full Description In May 1964, a ceremony was held to dedicate the new Space Flight Operations Facility, which used state-of-the-art equipment for mission operations and communications with JPL's unmanned spacecraft. One of the first missions to use the facility was Ranger 7, which went to the Moon in July 1964. The Space Flight Operations Facility collected the tracking and scientific information for the Deep Space Network. In 1985, the Space Flight Operations Facility was designated as a National Historic Landmark. It is still in use.
Date UNKNOWN
NASA Center Jet Propulsion Laboratory
A90-3000
Photographer : JPL After tra …
8/21/90
Description Photographer : JPL After traveling more than 1.5 billion km (948 million mi.), the Magellan spacecraft was inserted into orbit around Venus on Aug. 10, 1990. This mosaic consists of adjacent pieces of two magellan image strips obtained in the first radar test. The radar test was part of a planned In-Orbit Checkout sequence designed to prepare the magellan spacecraft and radar to begin mapping after Aug. 31. The strip on the left was returned to the Goldstone Deep Space Network station in California, the strip to the right was received at the DSN in Canberra, Australia. A third station that will be receiving Magellan data is locaterd near Madrid, Spain. Each image strip is 20 km (12 mi.) wide and 16,000 km (10,000 mi.) long. This mosaic is a small portion 80 km (50 mi.) long. This image is centered at 21 degrees north latitude and 286.8 degrees east longitude, southeast of a volcanic highland region called Beta Regio. The resolution of the image is about 120 meters (400 feet), 10 times better than revious images of the same area of Venus, revealing many new geologic features. The bright line trending northwest-southeast across the center of the image is a fracture or fault zone cutting the volcanic plains. In the upper lest corner of the image, a multiple-ring circular feature of probable volcanic origin can be seen, approx. 4.27 km (2.65 mi.) across. The bright and dark variations seen in the plains surrounding these features correspond to volcanic lava flows of varying ages. The volcanic lava flows in the southern half of the image have been cut by north-south trending faults. This area is similar geologically to volcanic deposits seen on Earth at Hawaii and the Snake River Plains in Idaho.
Date 8/21/90
A90-3003
Photographer : JPL This Mage …
8/24/90
Description Photographer : JPL This Magellan image mosaic shows the impact crater Golubkina, first identified in Soviet Venera 15/16 data. The crater is names after Anna Golubkina (1864-1927), a Soviet sculptor. The crater is about 34 km (20.4 mi.) across, similar to the size of the West Clearwater impact structure in Canada. The crater Golubkina is located at about 60.5 degrees north latitude, 286.7 degrees est longitude. Magellan data reveal that Golubkina has many characteristics typical of craters formed by a mereorite impact including terraced inner walls, a central peak, and radar-bright rough ejecta surrounding the crater. The extreme darkness of the crater floor indicates a smooth surface, perhaps formed by the ponding of lava flows in the crater floor as seen in may lunar impact craters. The radar-bright ejecta surrounding the crater indicates a relatively fresh or young crater. Craters with centeral peaks in the Soviet data range in size from about 10-60 km (6-36 mi.) across. The largest crater identifed in the Soviet Venera data is 140 km (84 mi) in diameter. This Magellan image strip in approx. 100 km (62 mi.) long. The image is a mosaic of two orbits obtained in the first Magellan radar test and played back to Earth to the Deep Space Network stations near Goldstone, CA and Canberra, Australia, respectively. The resolution of this image is approximately 120 meters (400 feet). The see-saw margins result from the offset of individual radar frames obtained along the orbit. The spacecraft moved from the north (top) to the south, looking to the left.
Date 8/24/90
The Voyagers' Message in a B …
Title The Voyagers' Message in a Bottle
Explanation Launched thirty years ago [ http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html ], NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft are now respectively 15 and 12.5 billion kilometers from the Sun, equivalent to about 14 and 11.5 light-hours distant. Still functioning [ http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/ weekly-reports/index.htm ], the Voyagers are being tracked and commanded through the Deep Space Network [ http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/ ]. Having traveled beyond the outer planets, they are only the third and fourth spacecraft from planet Earth to escape toward [ http://heavens-above.com/solar-escape.asp?/ ] interstellar space, following in the footsteps of Pioneer 10 and 11 [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/ pioneer10-11.html ]. A 12-inch gold plated copper disk (a phonograph [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonograph_record ] record) containing recorded sounds and images representing human cultures and life on Earth, is affixed to each Voyager - a message in a bottle [ http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/goldenrec.html ] cast into the cosmic sea. The recorded material was selected by a committee chaired by astronomer Carl Sagan [ http://www.carlsagan.com/ ]. Simple diagrams [ http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/images/ VgrCover.jpg ] on the cover symbolically represent the spacecraft's origin and give instructions for playing the disk. The exotic construction of the disks should provide them with a long lifetime as they coast through interstellar space [ http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/ interstellar.html ].
Right on Target
Title Right on Target
Description This map shows the estimated location of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit within Gusev Crater, Mars. Engineers targeted Spirit for the center of the blue ellipse. Measurements taken during the rover's descent by the Deep Space Network predicted its landing site to be the spot marked with a black dot. Later measurements taken on the ground by both the Deep Space Network and the orbiter Mars Odyssey narrowed the predicted landing site to a spot marked with a white dot. When initially choosing a landing site for the rover, engineers avoided hazardous terrain outlined here in yellow and red. This map consists of data from Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor.
Date 01.13.2004
Right on Target-2
Title Right on Target-2
Description This map shows a close-up look at the estimated location of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit within Gusev Crater, Mars. Measurements taken during the rover's descent by the Deep Space Network predicted its landing site to be the spot marked with a black dot. Later measurements taken on the ground by both the Deep Space Network and the orbiter Mars Odyssey narrowed the predicted landing site to a spot marked with a white dot. When initially choosing a landing site for the rover, engineers avoided hazardous craters outlined here in yellow and red. This map consists of data from Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor.
Date 01.13.2004
Right on Target-3
Title Right on Target-3
Description This map shows the estimated location of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit within Gusev Crater, Mars. Measurements taken during the rover's descent by the Deep Space Network predicted its landing site to be the spot marked with a black cross. Later measurements taken on the ground by both the Deep Space Network and the orbiter Mars Odyssey narrowed the predicted landing site to a spot marked with a white cross. When initially choosing a landing site for the rover, engineers avoided hazardous craters outlined here in yellow and red. This map consists of data taken during Spirit's descent by the descent image motion estimation system located at the bottom of the rover.
Date 01.13.2004
Saturn's shadow upon the rin …
Title Saturn's shadow upon the rings
Description Voyager 2 returned this wide-angle, clear-filtered image of the shadow of Saturn upon the rings just after engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory successfully commanded the camera platform to point to the planet. Problems with the platform had prevented the spacecraft from returning photographs the past few days. This first picture after the repair was obtained the evening of Aug. 28, when Voyager 2 was 3.2 million kilometers (2 million miles) from the planet and racing away at more than 26,000 mph. Saturn's nightside can be seen at upper left, with the shadow cast by the planet falling across the rings in the center of this image. The white lines, or "noise," across the photograph are the result of temporary ground communications troubles between the Australian Deep Space Network tracking station and Voyager mission control in Pasadena. The picture was received in Australia in perfect condition, the noise will be removed in subsequent processing. The Voyager project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Date 08.29.1981
Venus - Crater Golubkina
Title Venus - Crater Golubkina
Description This Magellan image mosaic shows the impact crater Golubkina, first identified in Soviet Venera 15/16 data. The crater is named after Anna Golubkina (1864-1927), a Soviet sculptor. The crater is about 34 kilometers (20.4 miles) across, similar to the size of the West Clearwater impact structure in Canada. The crater Golubkina is located at about 60.5 degrees north latitude, 286.7 degrees east longitude. Magellan data reveal that Golubkina has many characteristics typical of craters formed by a meteorite impact including terraced inner walls, a central peak, and radar bright rough ejecta surrounding the crater. The extreme darkness of the crater floor indicates a smooth surface, perhaps formed by the pounding of lava flows in the crater floor as seen in many lunar impact craters. The radar bright ejecta surrounding the crater indicates a relatively fresh or young crater. Craters with central peaks in the Soviet data range in size from about 10.60 km (6.36 miles) across. The largest crater identified in the Soviet Venera data is 140 km (84 miles) in diameter. This Magellan image strip is approximately 20 km (12 miles) wide and this piece of the image is approximately 100 km (62 miles) long. The image is a mosaic of two orbits obtained in the first Magellan radar test and played back to Earth to the Deep Space Network stations near Goldstone, Calif. and Canberra, Australia, respectively. The resolution of this image is approximately 120 meters (400 feet). The see-saw margins result from the offset of individual radar frames obtained along the orbit. The spacecraft moved from the north (top) to the south, looking to the left.
Date 08.24.1990
18) DSN - Australia:
title 18) DSN - Australia:
Description Odyssey will communicate with Earth through the Deep Space Network, a global network of antennas that allow us to send commands to the spacecraft and receive data back from it. During the first two months of cruise, only the DSN station in Canberra, Australia will be capable of viewing the spacecraft. Late in May, California's Goldstone station will come into view, and by early June the Madrid station will also be able to track the spacecraft. The project has also added the use of a tracking station in Santiago, Chile to fill in tracking coverage early in the mission.
Moriba Jah Awaits Navigation …
title Moriba Jah Awaits Navigation Information
Description Forty minutes after launch, the navigation team hits full throttle, locating the exact trajectory of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Moriba Jah awaits the most updated information from the Goldstone, California Deep Space Network tracking station while in the Navigation Operations room at Jet Propulsion Laboratory on August 12, 2005. Credit: NASA/JPL
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter …
title Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Successfully Enters Orbit Around Mars!
Description Cheers of joy filled the mission control area at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory today as its latest mission to Mars met a critical mission milestone: Mars orbit insertion. At 2:16 p.m. (PST), ground controllers were informed by the Deep Space Network that they had locked up on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's signal as the spacecraft reappeared above Mars. This communication was a tremendous relief to the mission team as they had to wait nearly half an hour for their spacecraft to emerge from behind the red planet and back into range so that radio signals could again be transmitted. A few minutes later, it was confirmed that the orbiter was captured into the intended initial orbit.
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