Where do moons come from? From cataclysmic impacts to gravitational capture, NASA planetary scientist Joe Renaud walks us through some of the many theories of how the unique and captivating moons in our solar system came to be. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/overview/
Producers: Scott Bednar, Jessica Wilde
Editor: James Lucas
Credit: NASA
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For decades, moons of the outer solar system have proven fascinating subjects for scientists interested in the search for life. Forty years ago this year, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft flew by Saturn’s moon Titan and took the first close images, revealing a thick orange-colored atmosphere that is the most Earth-like in the solar system. NASA’s Cassini probe then dropped off a lander at Titan called Huygens in 2004, and studied Titan in detail during its 13 years at Saturn. Now, NASA is preparing to launch the rotorcraft mission Dragonfly to Titan in the 2020s. But Titan is just one interesting moon. The European Space Agency’s upcoming JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) mission will study Ganymede, Europa, and another moon of Jupiter called Callisto. Meanwhile, NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will provide complementary observations of Europa.
As we explore Mars and other places in the solar system that might have life, scientists who work in Planetary Protection are busy making sure that we don’t contaminate them. While engineers prepare the Perseverance Rover for launch, Lisa Pratt, NASA’s Planetary Protection Officer, is making sure that it’s not carrying too many spores — cells that could re-activate and transport Earthly bacteria to Mars. It’s especially important to keep Perseverance clean because it will collect samples on Mars that will one day return to Earth. Learn what your hand sanitizer has in common with NASA’s clean rooms, and how scientists are thinking about protecting Mars in terms of future human missions.
Listen to episodes of the Gravity Assist podcast at https://www.nasa.gov/gravityassist
Há algumas décadas, para observar Saturno, os cientistas recorriam a
telescópios. Hoje em dia, os segredos de Saturno e da sua misteriosa lua Titã são revelados graças aos dados e imagens enviados pela missão Cassini-Huygens. Saturno nunca antes visto, é o tema de Space esta semana.
Hasta hace algunas décadas para ver Saturno la ciencia tenía que mirar a
través de telescópios. Hoy Saturno y su misteriosa luna Titán son nuevos
conocidos gracias a la misión Cassini-Huygens que desde 2004 envía imágenes y datos. Una aventura que está cambiando la percepción que hasta ahora teníamos de nuestro Sistema Solar.
Noch vor einigen Jahrzehnten konnte man den Saturn nur mit dem Teleskop
beobachten. Heute lüftet die Cassini-Huygens-Mission mit ihren Bildern die
Geheimnisse des Saturnsystems und liefert Antworten auf entscheidende
wissenschaftliche Fragen.
The Moon has fascinated mankind throughout the ages. Discover how our Moon was formed, probably by a collision with a huge object when Earth was very young.
Spectacular images of Jupiter during and after impacts, when over twenty fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 smashed into the planet in July 1994.