Minggu, 13 Maret 2011

Landsat 7 NASA

Author/Origin:
Christopher M. Garcia
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Relevant Mission:
Landsat 7

Date Added:
April 12, 2010

Keywords:
3D Model
Spacecraft
Satellite
Landsat 7
Earth Science
EOS
Eyes on the Earth 3D

The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. Since 1972, Landsat satellites have collected information about Earth from space.

Please review the Usage Guidelines page before using this model.

SORCE NASA

Author/Origin:
Christian A. Lopez
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Relevant Mission:
SORCE

Date Added:
April 12, 2010

Keywords:
3D Model
Spacecraft
Satellite
SORCE
EOS
Eyes on the Earth 3D

The Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) is a NASA-sponsored satellite mission that is providing state-of-the-art measurements of incoming x-ray, ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared, and total solar radiation.

Please review the Usage Guidelines page before using this model.

Google Maps Moon

Download Google Earth for PC, Mac, or Linux

See the Moon in 2D: moon.google.com

Sabtu, 12 Maret 2011

LRO Could Have Given Apollo 14 Crew Another Majestic View

Although the Apollo 14 mission to the moon was filled with incredible sights and was completely successful -- it met all its science goals -- the crew experienced a bit of a disappointment at missing the spectacular view from the rim of a 1,000-foot-wide crater. They might have gazed into its depths if they had the high-resolution maps now available from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft.

LROC NAC image of the Apollo 14 landing site acquired 25 January 2011. Close-up showing LM descent stage (right) and ALSEP (arrow), note astronaut tracks between the two landmarks.Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University
› Larger image
› Close-up on LM landing sitePressure was on the Apollo 14 mission, launched January 31, 1971, from the start. The Apollo 13 landing had to be aborted because an oxygen tank explosion crippled the spacecraft as it was on its way to the moon. It was a heroic effort just to return the crew safely to Earth, but the Apollo 14 team knew a second failure would probably result in cancellation of the remaining Apollo missions.

Although nothing as catastrophic as an explosion threatened their mission, the Apollo 14 crew had to improvise their way out of some tense situations. On the way to the moon, the crew had to dock their spacecraft, the Command and Service Module "Kitty Hawk," to the spacecraft that would land on the moon, the Lunar Module "Antares." However, latches that would lock the two spaceships together refused to engage. Kitty Hawk pilot Stuart Roosa tried the docking maneuver six times over more than an hour and a half before the latches activated, linking the spacecraft so that mission commander Alan Shepard and Antares pilot Edgar Mitchell could transfer to the Antares lander. On the way down in Antares, the crew had to overcome computer and radar glitches in the system that was supposed to guide their landing. Even with the balky guidance system, they were able to pilot Antares to within 87 feet from the targeted landing point, at the time the most precise landing for the Apollo missions.

The site, which the crew named the "Fra Mauro Base," was the area to be explored by Apollo 13, a hilly zone about 300 miles from the edge of the 750-mile-wide Mare Imbrium basin formed long ago by the impact of a giant asteroid. The hills of Fra Mauro were believed to be made of rubble blasted from the Imbrium impact, and lunar geologists wanted the crew to collect rocks from the region so they could accurately date when giant impacts like Imbrium occurred on the moon.

Using two high-resolution LROC images taken from two separate orbits, we form a stereo image pair for 3D measurements at the Apollo 14 landing site. Among the visible objects are the descent stage of the Apollo 14 lunar module Antares (highlighted with red dot), the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (yellow dot), a rock nicknamed Turtle Rock (brown dot), and multiple astronaut traverse footpaths clearly indicated by disturbed soils (blue lines). Data processing methods can be used to identify the objects and measure their sizes and shapes. Such 3D measurements and models are used for planning future missions to the moon.Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University/The Ohio State University
Full-resolution copy Similar massive craters exist on Mercury and Mars, so it appears that the entire solar system experienced a chaotic period of "heavy bombardment" from enormous asteroids. Scientists were keen to date this event because it's very likely Earth was hit as well, and impacts of that scale would alter the evolution of life. However, on our world, such ancient craters have been erased by erosion from wind and water, as well as the recycling of the crust from its slow motion as a result of plate tectonics.

Shepard and Mitchell landed Feb. 5, and they performed two moonwalks, technically called "Extravehicular Activities," or EVAs, one on each day of the two days spent on the lunar surface. The first EVA went according to plan, with the deployment of the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, a suite of instruments that included a seismometer to measure moonquakes and laser reflectors to accurately measure changes in the Earth-moon distance using lasers fired from stations on Earth. During the second EVA, the crew hoped to reach the rim of Cone crater, a more recent impact crater about 1,000 feet wide a little over a mile from the Antares lander.

"An impact crater is like a drill," says Dr. James Rice of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "The meteorite punches through layers of ground at the impact site and explodes, hurling this material outward. Surface material is scattered farthest, while the deepest material, which usually comes up in big chunks, remains closest to the crater rim. By collecting rocks as you get closer to a crater, you get a cross-section of the material beneath you without having to dig it up yourself. That's what the Apollo 14 crew did as they approached Cone crater – they wanted to get samples of the layers of rubble from the Mare Imbrium impact and see if Cone crater went deep enough to expose the bedrock beneath. The ejecta from the Imbrium impact where Apollo 14 landed may have come from up to 100 miles depth below the original lunar crust." Rice is an associate project scientist for LRO.

Click image to hear an interview between Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell and Dr. James Rice. Credit: NASA
However, the terrain was hillier than expected, and the crew lost sight of the crater rim among the ridges of the hills. Eventually, they had to turn back because they needed to save enough oxygen and other supplies to return safely to the lander. At the time, they estimated they were close enough to the rim that rock samples collected where they stood would still represent the deep layers, but they were disappointed at missing the majestic view from the rim itself.

High-resolution photos of the area taken with LRO's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) reveal that they had come within about 30 yards of the rim, just a minuscule distance considering they had travelled over 250,000 miles to get there.

"The time lost in attempting to determine our exact position for collecting samples in order to satisfy the geologists, cost us significant time. We were essentially at the rim of Cone crater. We just didn't realize how close. It was just out of sight across the next rise a few yards away, when they decided our oxygen and water were too low to do anything but start back," said Antares pilot Edgar Mitchell.

"With the high-resolution photos we have from LRO today, combined with topographic maps made using LRO's laser-ranging instrument, they probably would have made it to the rim, because they would have known exactly where they were every step of the way," says Rice.

Sunlight reflecting off the Apollo 14 lander

A front view of the Apollo 14 Lunar Module "Antares", which reflects a circular flare caused by the brilliant sun. The unusual ball of light was said by the astronauts to have a jewel-like appearance. At extreme left, the lower slope of Cone Crater can be seen. Credit: NASA
Full-resolution copy LRO has observed all the Apollo sites, and the LRO team is creating lunar maps with unprecedented accuracy that will guide future human and robotic explorers. The maps also will help identify unusual areas for a closer look, according to Rice, because they include data on mineral composition, water ice deposits, rough or unusual terrain, surface temperatures, and temperature changes.

Still, the Apollo 14 crew did an outstanding job with the maps available at the time, and the mission was a success, with nearly 100 pounds of rocks and soils collected and returned to Earth. Analysis of the decay of radioactive isotopes in the rocks dated giant impacts like Mare Imbrium at between 3.8 to 3.9 billion years old, about the time when life was emerging on Earth. The mission, which ended when the command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean Feb. 9, 1971, still holds the record for the longest walk on the moon -- approximately 9,000 feet.

LRO was built and is managed by NASA Goddard. The research was funded by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Nancy N. Jones
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-0039
nancy.n.jones@nasa.gov

Bill Steigerwald
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-5017
william.a.steigerwald@nasa.gov

NASA Images Tsunami's Effects on Northeastern Japan

Coastal flooding from the March 11, 2011 tsunami triggered by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake off Japan's northeast coast can be seen in this before/after image pair from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft. Image credit: NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL
› Full image and caption
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The extent of inundation from the destructive and deadly tsunami triggered by the March 11, 2011, magnitude 8.9 earthquake centered off Japan's northeastern coast about 130 kilometers (82 miles) east of the city of Sendai is revealed in this before-and-after image pair from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft.

The image comparison is online athttp://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA13913 . For optimum viewing, click the link to open the full-resolution TIFF image.

The new image, shown on the right, was acquired at 10:30 a.m. local time (01:30 UTC) on March 12, 2011. For comparison, shown on the left is a MISR image from about 10 years ago, on March 16, 2001, acquired under nearly identical illumination conditions. Flooding extending more than 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) inland from the eastern shoreline is visible in the post-earthquake image. The white sand beaches visible in the pre-earthquake view are now covered by water and can no longer be seen. Among the locations where severe flooding is visible is the area around Matsukawa-ura Bay, located just north and east of the image center.

From top to bottom, each image extends from just north of the Abukuma River (about 21 kilometers, or 13 miles, south of Sendai) to south of the town of Minamisoma (population 71,000, located in Japan's Fukushima Prefecture about 70 kilometers, or 44 miles, south of Sendai). The images cover an area of 78 kilometers (48 miles) by 104 kilometers (65 miles).

These unique images enhance the presence of water in two ways. First, their near-infrared observations cause vegetated areas to appear red, which contrasts strongly with the blue shades of the water. Second, by combining nadir (vertical-viewing) imagery with observations acquired at a view angle of 26 degrees, reflected sunglint enhances the brightness of water, which is shown in shades of blue. This use of different view-angle observations causes a stereoscopic effect, where elevated clouds have a yellow tinge at their top edges and blue tinge at their bottom edges.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., built MISR and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. More information about MISR is online at: http://misr.jpl.nasa.gov .

Alan Buis 818-354-0474
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov

2011-079

International Space Station (ISS) Update Video

Terra NASA

Author/Origin:
Christian A. Lopez
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Relevant Mission:
Terra

Date Added:
April 12, 2010

Keywords:
3D Model
Spacecraft
Satellite
Terra
EOS AM-1
EOS Flagship
Eyes on the Earth 3D

NASA launched the Earth Observing System's flagship satellite Terra, named for Earth, on December 18, 1999. Terra has been collecting data about Earth's changing climate.

Please review the Usage Guidelines page before using this model.