![]() ![]() Roman Telescope Will Do in Months What Would Take Hubble a Lifetime These are easily the clearest images of Io that we've captured since the New Horizons flyby in 2006. In a blog update, NASA officials explained that the decision took advantage of a "favorable communications environment around IBEX’s perigee" – the point in the spacecraft’s orbit where it comes closest to Earth.ĭuring a close flyby last week, NASA's Juno Jupiter probe captured a series of detailed photos of Io, the planet's innermost and third-largest Galilean moon. Now, the agency's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission team has successfully used just such a power cycle to reboot the probe, after a software failure brought the whole spacecraft down for the count. That's what happened with the agency's wildly successful Mars helicopter Ingenuity, which started out as a "tech demo." Ingenuity's 'Lazarus circuit' allowed it to struggle back to life after freezing in the Martian winter. Through a combination of overbuilding and ingenious software design, NASA can often coax their spacecraft into mission lifetimes well beyond their original length. NASA Revives IBEX Satellite by Rebooting From 'Safe Mode' That tells us about the way the cloud is evolving and how its particles are changing size over time." "By looking at color transitions, we’re seeing particle size changing across the cloud. "Where we see iridescence, it means a cloud’s particle sizes are identical to their neighbors in each part of the cloud," said Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. A noctilucent cloud shaped like a feather, as seen by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) Its colors can teach scientists more about how clouds develop and change on Mars. The rover also captured a twilight panorama containing an iridescent cloud shaped like a feather. Sunbeams (also known as crepuscular rays) from a Martian sunset, as seen by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/SSI) The beams form in a phenomenon we also see on Earth called crepuscular rays. Instead of water, these noctilucent clouds are probably made of ultra-fine crystals of dry ice. While most Martian clouds are composed of water ice, the clouds in this latest batch of images appear to be at a much higher - and colder - altitude. The rover captured the scene (Opens in a new window) during its most recent twilight cloud survey, which itself builds on Curiosity's 2021 observations of noctilucent clouds. By September, some models predict that the comet will be brighter than any other star in the sky, save the Sun.Ĭuriosity Spots Sunbeam, Iridescent 'Feather' in Martian SkyĬuriosity recently spotted its very first Martian sunbeam. However, the comet will continue to brighten through the summer and into the autumn. Experts predict that the comet will be visible to the unaided eye by June 2024. It poses no threat to the planet - but it might put on the show of a lifetime. Next year, an inbound 20-km comet will make a close pass by Earth. ![]() Inbound Comet May Outshine All the Stars in the Sky However, to some Artemis team members, it was still too close for comfort. According to agency officials, the damage was still within spec for the capsule it's an ablative heat shield, and it did its job. ![]() The Orion capsule's heat shield also took more ablative damage than the team expected as the capsule descended through the atmosphere. For one, the SLS rocket launch significantly damaged the launch tower. In a press conference this week, agency officials confirmed that Artemis 2 is currently slated to launch in late 2024.Įven though agency spokespeople are optimistic about the Artemis project timeline, some parts of the first Artemis flight didn't go as planned. And a new seismic study of the Earth has concluded that deep down, our planet really is 100% hard-core heavy metal.Īrtemis 2 Mission to Launch in November 2024Īfter the success of Artemis 1, NASA is looking ahead toward launching the next mission in the Artemis project. NASA's Curiosity Mars rover spotted some beautiful iridescent clouds on Mars. However, there are some bright spots, literally and figuratively. Alas, the hydrogen-fueled rocket is in good company JAXA had to detonate its own new H3 lift vehicle just minutes into its inaugural flight. Now, ESA officials report that they know why. Arianespace's Vega-C rocket made an unplanned aquabraking maneuver in December, crashing into the ocean and destroying the vehicle and its payload satellites. Hello, readers, and welcome to This Week in Space. ![]()
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