NASA’s investment in low-Earth orbit has launched a commercial economy in space. See how the private sector will expand the economic sphere with commercial cargo to space, commercial spaceflights, and commercial destinations in orbit, and how it will enable NASA to be one of many customers and advance human space exploration.
NASA Low-Earth Orbit Economy: https://www.nasa.gov/leo-economy/low-earth-orbit-economy
Video Producer: Shane Apple
Music: Universal Production Music
Credit: NASA
Space Rider is an uncrewed robotic laboratory about the size of two minivans. After launch on Vega-C, this reusable spacecraft will stay in low orbit for about two months, conducting research in microgravity or observing the Earth or deep space. At the end of its mission, Space Rider will return to Earth with its payloads to be unloaded and refurbished for another flight.
Credit: ESA/Frame by Frame
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We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
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Does anything orbit the Moon? Yes. There are a handful of satellites currently orbiting our closest celestial neighbor. On Nov. 13, 2022, they will welcome CAPSTONE, a CubeSat designed to test a new and unique halo-shaped orbit that will offer stability for long-term missions like our upcoming lunar Gateway space station. NASA Small Satellites Engineer Ahn Nguyen tells us about it.
Keep up: https://nasa.gov/capstone
Producers: Scott Bednar, Jessica Wilde
Editor: James Lucas
Credit: NASA
Here at ESA, the European Space Agency, space is our business. It’s a place we explore, heading outwards while also looking back, to improve life on our own blue planet. Why go out there? Because space is useful and valuable; because it’s the place we all live. That’s why ESA does what we do: because Earth is only the start. Here’s what you need to know about the stuff that surrounds us.
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We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
Copyright information about our videos is available here: http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Terms_and_Conditions
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#SpaceCare
#WhenTheAtmosphereIsntEnough
SMOS has been in orbit for a decade. This remarkable satellite has not only exceeded its planned life in orbit, but also surpassed its original scientific goals. It was designed to deliver data on soil moisture and ocean salinity which are both crucial components of Earth’s water cycle. By consistently mapping these variables, SMOS is not only advancing our understanding of the water cycle and the exchange processes between Earth’s surface and the atmosphere, but is also helping to improve weather forecasts and contributing to climate research as well as contributing to a growing number practical everyday applications.
Learn more about SMOS: http://bit.ly/SMOSESA
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We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
Copyright information about our videos is available here: http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Terms_and_Conditions
#ESA
#EarthObservation
#SMOS
Did you know there are six humans living in space, and you can see their home from your home? NASA astronaut Nick Hague shares how you can use https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ to find out when the International Space Station will be visible from your town!
During an interview with ABC News on April 1, 2019, NASA Astronaut Anne McClain addressed a question about what would have been the first all-female spacewalk during Women’s History Month. Based on McClain’s recommendation, NASA changed assignments to protect the safety of the crew and the timing of the mission.
Learn more about the spacewalk reassignment at https://www.nasa.gov/feature/spacewalk-reassignments-what-s-the-deal.
NASA astronaut Drew Feustel recorded this music video from space. Feustel launched to the International Space Station in March 2018 and is currently serving as Expedition 56 Commander. Drew thanks all who helped bring this to life, including his friend, Gord Sinclair, for giving him permission to use the song, and the crew of Expeditions 55 and 56 for their support and participation in NASA’s human space exploration mission.
Learn more about the International Space Station by visiting https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
This unique video shows a full launch of the Soyuz MS-09: from liftoff to orbit.
Watch the launch from inside the crew capsule with first-ever shots from outside the spacecraft recorded by cameras fixed to the exterior of the Soyuz.
The intense launch lasts less than ten minutes whereby the Soyuz spacecraft is propelled 1640 km and gains 210 km altitude. Every second for nine minutes, the spacecraft accelerates 50 km/h on average as the rocket’s boosters burn their fuel and are discarded.
See the astronaut’s reactions and what the spacecraft looks like as the main steps are carried out to get into orbit:
-00:12 Launch command issued
-00:10 Engine turbopumps at flight speed
-00:05 Engines at maximum thrust
00:00 Launch
+1:54 Separation of emergency rescue system
+1:57 First stage separation
+2:38 Fairing separation
+4:48 Second stage separation
+4:58 Tail adapter separation
+8:45 Third stage engine cut off having arrived in orbit
+8:49 Soyuz separation, deploy solar arrays and antennae
The astronauts, from left to right, are NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor, Roscosmos commander Sergei Prokopyev and ESA astronaut and flight engineer Alexander Gerst launched in the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station on 6 June 2018. ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and ESA television host Richard Hollingham provide commentary taken from the live event.
Hunched in their Sokol flight suits that offer protection in case of fire or depressurisation, the trio stay in the crew capsule of the Soyuz – the only module that is also designed to survive a return to Earth. The bags above their heads contain supplies for the International Space Station as every bit of space is used.
During a Soyuz launch astronauts typically experience forces of up to 4g – having to work while being pressed into their seats with a force that is four times more than the gravity felt on Earth. The Soyuz commander uses a stick to press buttons as they are too far away from the control panel.
The fluffy toys above the astronauts’ heads are mascots and good luck charms but also serve as a simple but effective test to see when the spacecraft is in orbit: when they start to float the spacecraft is weightless and orbiting Earth. Above Sergei is the mascot for the 2018 FIFA soccer World Cup held in Russia. Alexander took German children television icon “Die Maus” with him.
The launch went as planned as the 50-m tall Soyuz rocket propelled the astronauts to their cruising speed of around 28 800 km/h.
For this launch the astronauts took 34 orbits of Earth over two days to arrive at their destination spending their time in the cramped orbital module of the Soyuz that is no larger than a car. With limited communications and living space the astronauts had time to adapt to weightlessness and reflect on their mission ahead. They aligned their spacecraft with the International Space Station and approached the orbital outpost for docking on 8 June 2018. The files for this video were downloaded by the astronauts after arriving at the Space Station.
Alexander is a returning visitor to the International Space Station, the first of ESA’s 2009 class of astronauts to be sent into space for a second time. During the second part of his mission Alexander will take over as commander of the International Space Station, only the second time an ESA astronaut will take on this role so far.
Credits: ESA / NASA / Roscosmos
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Follow Alexander and the Horizons mission on social media via http://bit.ly/AlexanderGerstESA and on http://bit.ly/HorizonsBlogESA.
Since arriving at Mars in October 2016, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has been aerobraking its way into a close orbit of the Red Planet by using the top of the atmosphere to create drag and slow down. It is almost in the right orbit to begin observations – only a few hundred kilometres to go! With aerobraking complete, additional manoeuvres will bring the craft into a near-circular two-hour orbit, about 400 km above the planet, by the end of April. The mission’s main goal is to take a detailed inventory of the atmosphere, sniffing out gases like methane, which may be an indicator of active geological or biological activity. The camera will help to identify surface features that may be related to gas emissions. The spacecraft will also look for water-ice hidden below the surface, which could influence the choice of landing sites for future exploration. It will also relay large volumes of science data from NASA’s rovers on the surface back to Earth and from the ESA–Roscosmos ExoMars rover, which is planned for launch in 2020.
Visit our website to learn more about ExoMars: https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/ExoMars
ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen narrates this re-edited video on the inspiring endeavours of human spaceflight and how it changes our daily lives.
Andreas covers the first flight in Earth-orbit and the permanent inhabitation of space on the International Space Station to future exploration of our Solar System – and how these events inspired his work as an engineer and later astronaut.
The video touches on the amazing research done in space and for space and the technological impact this has making life on Earth better.
On 7 February 2008, Space Shuttle Atlantis launched to the International Space Station. In its cargo bay, ESA’s laboratory module Columbus. Now for adecade Columbus has been a part of the ISS. It is the place where ESA astronauts have done countless experiments in microgravity and the scientific importance of the module can hardly be overstated.
Join us live from ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands on 7 February for the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Columbus laboratory and the launch of the first Automated Transfer Vehicle. Details: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Columbus/Live_celebrating_10_years_of_European_space_science
Animation visualising Rosetta’s trajectory around Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, from arrival to mission end.
The animation begins on 31 July 2014, during Rosetta’s final approach to the comet after its ten-year journey through space. The spacecraft arrived at a distance of 100 km on 6 August, from where it gradually approached the comet and entered initial mapping orbits that were needed to select a landing site for Philae. These observations also enabled the first comet science of the mission.The manoeuvres in the lead up to, during and after Philae’s release on 12 November are seen, before Rosetta settled into longer-term science orbits.
In February and March 2015 the spacecraft made several flybys. One of the closest triggered a ‘safe mode’ that forced it to retreat temporarily until it was safe to draw gradually closer again.
The comet’s increased activity in the lead up to and after perihelion in August 2015 meant that Rosetta remained well beyond 100 km for several months.In June 2015, contact was restored with Philae again – albeit temporary, with no permanent link able to be maintained, despite a series of dedicated trajectories flown by Rosetta for several weeks.
Following the closest approach to the Sun, Rosetta made a dayside far excursion some 1500 km from the comet, before re-approaching to closer orbits again, enabled by the reduction in the comet’s activity.
In March–April 2016 Rosetta went on another far excursion, this time on the night side, followed by a close flyby and orbits dedicated to a range of science observations.
In early August the spacecraft started flying elliptical orbits that brought it progressively closer to the comet. On 24 September Rosetta left its close, flyover orbits and switched into the start of a 16 x 23 km orbit that was used to prepare and line up for the final descent.
On the evening of 29 September Rosetta manoeuvred onto a collision course with the comet, beginning the final, slow descent from an altitude of 19 km. It collected scientific data throughout the descent and gently struck the surface at 10:39 GMT on 30 September in the Ma’at region on the comet’s ‘head’, concluding the mission.
The trajectory shown in this animation is created from real data, but the comet rotation is not. Distances are given with respect to the comet centre (except for the zero at the end to indicate completion), but may not necessarily follow the exact comet distance because of natural deviations from the comet’s gravity and outgassing. An arrow indicates the direction to the Sun as the camera viewpoint changes during the animation.
More about the Rosetta mission:
http://rosetta.esa.int
Animation visualising Rosetta’s two-year journey around Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
The animation begins on 31 July 2014, during Rosetta’s final approach to the comet after its ten-year journey through space. The spacecraft arrived at a distance of 100 km on 6 August whereupon it gradually approached the comet and entered initial mapping orbits that were needed to select a landing site for Philae. These observations also enabled the first comet science of the mission. The manoeuvres in the lead up to, during and after Philae’s deployment on 12 November are seen, before Rosetta settled into longer-term science orbits.
In February and March 2015 the spacecraft made several flybys. One of the closest flybys triggered a ‘safe mode’ event that forced it to retreat temporarily until it was safe to gradually draw closer again. The comet’s increased activity in the lead up to and after perihelion in August 2015 meant that Rosetta remained well beyond 100 km distances for several months.
In June 2015, contact was restored with Philae again – albeit temporary, with no permanent link able to be maintained, despite a series of dedicated trajectories flown by Rosetta for several weeks.
Following perihelion, Rosetta performed a dayside far excursion some 1500 km from the comet, before re-approaching to closer orbits again, enabled by the reduction in the comet’s activity. In March–April 2016 Rosetta went on another far excursion, this time on the night side, followed by a close flyby and orbits dedicated to a range of science observations.
The animation finishes at 9 August 2016, before the details of the end of mission orbits were known. A visualisation of the trajectories leading to the final descent to the surface of the comet on 30 September will be provided once available.
The trajectory shown in this animation is created from real data, but the comet rotation is not. An arrow indicates the direction to the Sun as the camera viewpoint changes during the animation.
It’s here! Science stuff, mind-blowing stuff, Vsauce stuff, oh my!! THE CURIOSITY BOX: https://www.thecuriositybox.com/
Jake’s video about The Curiosity Box: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p91-GhjgeEU
Minute Physics on why December days are the longest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZMMuv0Ltyo
StandUpMaths on calendars and leap days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkt_wmRKYNQ
Tom Scott on the Equation of Time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9Qnobvx_kM
My video on what would happen if the Earth stopped spinning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0-GxoJ_Pcg
GREAT visuals showing how Earth moves around the sun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82p-DYgGFjI
George Washington’s birthday: https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/washington/
real-time sub solar point location: http://rl.se/sub-solar-point
Lahaina noon images from the Oahu Astrophotography club: https://www.facebook.com/OahuAstrophotoClub
analemma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analemma
great solargraph and analemma images: http://analemma.pl/english-version
interactive seasons and ecliptic simulator: http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/coordsmotion/eclipticsimulator.html
Nasa video of seasonal movement of Earth: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20063
Tropical year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_year
Earth rotation specifics: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=20196
How Earth moves through the universe:
https://astrosociety.org/edu/publications/tnl/71/howfast.html
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/03/04/vortex_motion_viral_video_showing_sun_s_motion_through_galaxy_is_wrong.html
http://space.gizmodo.com/racing-while-standing-still-1558642922/1559622011
https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1rhu7r/i_always_see_representations_of_the_solar_system
minute physics on cab: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mZQ-5-KYHw
PBS spacetime on the cosmic microwave background:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tCMd1ytvWg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcBjibuHxEk
CMB rest frame:
http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/25928/is-the-cmb-rest-frame-special-where-does-it-come-from
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskPhysics/comments/2va4t6/does_no_absolute_reference_frame_contradict_the/
Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidereal_time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_reform
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_length_fluctuations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_microwave_background
wikicommons images:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundial#/media/File:Kew_Gardens_0502.JPG
https://video.kidibot.ro/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/youtubomatic/a-3ECathedralofLearningLawinWinter.jpg
https://video.kidibot.ro/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/youtubomatic/File-3ASouth_Beach_20080315.jpg
To explore space, I highly recommend these:
http://www.shatters.net/celestia/
http://en.spaceengine.org/
music by http://www.youtube.com/jakechudnow
and http://www.audionetwork.com
Awesome 3D graphics by Eric Langlay: https://www.youtube.com/user/ericdraven30
Lame 2D stuff by me.
On May 16, the International Space Station completed its 100,000th orbit of Earth since the launch of the first component on Nov. 20, 1998. In that time, the station has traveled more than 2.6 billion miles – which is roughly the equivalent of about 10 round trips between Earth and Mars, at the average distance between the two planets. The space station zips around our planet at 17,500 miles per hour – completing each orbit in just 90 minutes – giving the crew onboard the unique opportunity to experience 16 sunrises and sunsets per day and to capture some great images of Earth. Also, CubeSats Deployed from ISS, Humans to Mars Summit 2016, Orion’s Water Drop Test “Passengers”, There’s No Place Like Space and more!
The paths of the ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and the Schiaparelli entry, descent and landing demonstrator module arriving at Mars on 19 October (right and left, respectively). The counter begins at the start of a critical engine burn that TGO must conduct in order to enter Mars orbit. The altitude above Mars is also indicated, showing the arrival of Schiaparelli on the surface and the subsequent trajectory of TGO. The orbiter’s initial 4-day orbit will be about 250 x 100 000 km. Starting in December 2016, the spacecraft will perform a series of aerobraking manoeuvres to steadily lower it into a circular, 400 km orbit (not shown here).
More about the ExoMars mission:
http://www.esa.int/exomars
Credits: ESA/ATG medialab
What happens after Rosetta arrives at comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko? This animation describes the key dates for the next set of manoeuvres that will bring Rosetta even closer to the comet between August and October.
After arriving on 6 August, Rosetta will follow a set of two, three-legged triangular trajectories that require a small thruster burn at each apex. The legs are about 100 km long and it will take Rosetta between three and four days to complete each one.
The first triangle is conducted at a distance of about 100 km from the comet, the second at around 50 km. Then Rosetta will switch to a ‘global mapping phase’ at an altitude of about 30 km. During this period, it will make a ‘night excursion’, whereby the ground track of the spacecraft will be on the night-side of the comet (with the spacecraft still fully illuminated the Sun).
In October Rosetta will transfer to a close mapping phase to observe the comet from a distance of 10 km. The spacecraft will move even closer to dispatch lander Philae to the surface in November.
In this animation the comet is an artist’s impression and is not to scale with the spacecraft. The comet rotation is not representative (67P rotates once per 12.4 hours). Dates may be subject to change.
Credits: ESA
After a ten year journey through space, ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft will reach comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August 2014. After catching up with the comet Rosetta will slightly overtake and enter orbit from the ‘front’ of the comet as both the spacecraft and 67P/CG move along their orbits around the Sun. Rosetta will carry out a complex series of manoeuvres to reduce the separation between the spacecraft and comet from around 100 km to 25-30 km. From this close orbit, detailed mapping will allow scientists to determine the landing site for the mission’s Philae lander. Immediately prior to the deployment of Philae in November, Rosetta will come to within just 2.5 km of the comet’s nucleus.
This animation is not to scale; Rosetta’s solar arrays span 32 m, and the comet is approximately 4 km wide.
Credit: ESA — C. Carreau
Animation showing Gaia launch and journey to its operating orbit. The animation begins by visualising the launch from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on a Soyuz-STB/Fregat-MT vehicle. The rocket’s four boosters are jettisoned 118 seconds after launch, and the spacecraft fairing is jettisoned after 220 seconds. Following two burns, the Fregat upper stage separates from Gaia 42 minutes after launch. The separation activates an automatic sequence onboard Gaia, including switching on the spacecraft’s transmitters, pressurisation of the propulsion system, initial attitude acquisition and deployment of the sunshield. By then Gaia will be on its transfer orbit from Earth towards L2, a virtual point in space some 1.5 million kilometres ‘behind’ Earth as seen from the Sun. Gaia will take about a month to cruise and manoeuvre into a ‘Lissajous’ orbit around L2. The size of the orbit is typically 340 000 x 90 000 km and takes 180 days. There, Gaia will spin slowly in order to make systematic repeated observations of stars covering the whole sky with its two telescopes. Over its five-year mission, Gaia will monitor the positions, motions, temperatures, luminosities and compositions of a billion stars.
Credit: ESA–C. Carreau/ATG medialab
How does an astronaut return to Earth from the International Space Station? What does it feel like to re-enter the atmosphere? How does the Soyuz capsule function? Watch and find out. This video is based on an actual lesson delivered to the ESA astronaut class of 2009 (also known as the #Shenanigans09) during their ESA Basic Training. It features interviews with astronauts who have flown on the Soyuz and dramatic footage of actual landings.
Produced by the ESA Human Spaceflight and Operations (HSO) Astronaut Training Division, Cologne, Germany, in collaboration with the HSO Strategic Planning and Outreach Office, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, with special support from Roskosmos.
Narration Voice: Bernard Oattes
Technical Experts: Stephane Ghiste, Dmitriy Churkin (HSO-UT)
Content Design: Stephane Ghiste, Dmitriy Churkin, Raffaele Castellano, Matthew Day (HSO-UT)
Animation & Video Editing: Raffaele Castellano (HSO-UT), HSO-K
Project Coordination: Matthew Day, Stephane Ghiste, Dmitriy Churkin (HSO-UT)
Special thanks to:
Martin Schweiger (Orbiter software: http://orbit/medphys.ucl.ac.uk/)
Nikita Vtyurin, Andrew Thielmann (Orbiter Soyuz model)
Lionel Ferra (HSO-UT)
Oleg Polovnikov (HSO-UT)
Frank De Winne (HSO-A)
Paolo Nespoli (HSO-A)
Antonio Rodenas Bosque (HSO-UT)
NASA
ROSCOSMOS
S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia
Aerospace Search and Rescue Service of the Russian Federation
Parachute footage: Cambridge University Spaceflight
Surfer footage: copyright Red Bull Media House
Footage from inside Soyuz capsule courtesy of RSC Energia has limited rights:
a) These data are submitted with Limited Rights under Agreement among the Government of Canada, Governments of Member States of the European Space Agency, the Government of Japan, the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the United States of America concerning co-operation on the civil International Space Station.
These data may be used by the receiving co-operating agency and its contractors and subcontractors, provided that such data shall be used, duplicated or disclosed only for the following purposes, which are related to the Cooperating Agency Space Station Program for ISS:
1) Use for ESA astronaut training
2) Use for educational purposes
These data shall not be used by persons or entities other than the receiving Cooperating Agency, its contractors or subcontractors, or for any other purposes, without the prior written permission of the furnishing partner state, acting through its cooperating agency.
b) This notice shall be marked on any reproduction of these data in whole or part.
Also watch:
Journey to the ISS Part 1: The launch sequence explained
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVvgpKt5uCA
Watch Part 2: Soyuz rendezvous and docking explained
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2_NeFbFcSw
Captions available in English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Romanian (with thanks to Alexa Mirel) and Spanish. Click on the CC button to switch between languages.
This movie was generated from 600 individual still images captured by the Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) on board Mars Express during the 8194th orbit on 27 May 2010 between 02:00 and 09:00 UTC (04:00-11:00 CEST) and were transmitted to Earth a few hours later via ESA’s 35m New Norcia deep space station in Australia.
The portion of the movie where the planet beneath the spacecraft was dark has been largely removed since no detail was visible.
The images show the spacecraft’s slow descent from high above the planet, speeding up as closest approach is passed and then slowing down again as the distance increases. Towards the start of the video, the giant Martian volcanoes can be seen followed by the beginning of the ice coverage around the South Pole as the spacecraft crosses over to the night side of the planet. Shortly after emerging back onto the day side of the planet, the beautiful North Pole can be observed, followed by the long climb away from the planet over the equator. Finally, at the end of the movie, the disk of Phobos can be seen crossing from top to bottom of the image.
Credit: ESA – European Space Agency, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Copyright Notice:
This work is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) licence. The user is allowed to reproduce, distribute, adapt, translate and publicly perform this publication, without explicit permission, provided that the content is accompanied by an acknowledgement that the source is credited as ‘ESA/DLR/FU Berlin’, a direct link to the licence text is provided and that it is clearly indicated if changes were made to the original content. Adaptation/translation/derivatives must be distributed under the same licence terms as this publication. To view a copy of this license, please visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/
After more than a dozen laps through the inner solar system, NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft will move into orbit around Mercury on March 17, 2011. The durable spacecraft — carrying seven science instruments and fortified against the blistering environs near the sun — will be the first to orbit the innermost planet. At 8:45 p.m. EDT, MESSENGER — having pointed its largest thruster very close to the direction of travel — will fire that thruster for nearly 14 minutes, with other thrusters firing for an additional minute, slowing the spacecraft by 862 meters per second (1,929 mph). The orbit insertion will place the spacecraft into a 12 hour orbit about Mercury with a 200 kilometer (124 mile) minimum altitude. At the time of orbit insertion, MESSENGER will be 46.14 million kilometers (28.67 million miles) from the sun and 155.06 million kilometers (96.35 million miles) from Earth. MESSENGER has been on a 6.6 year mission to become the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury. The spacecraft followed a path through the inner solar system, including one flyby of Earth, two flybys of Venus, and three flybys of Mercury. This impressive journey is returning the first new spacecraft data from Mercury since the Mariner 10 mission over 30 years ago.
Comets are primeval leftovers from the origins of the Solar System. To fully understand these ancient objects and perhaps the origins of life on Earth, ESA’s Rosetta mission will rendezvous with comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014. In November of that year, Rosetta’s Philae lander will touchdown on the comet and thoroughly investigate its composition.
Copyright © Lightcurve Films/Maarten Roos, ESA, DLR, Europlanet, LEGO
Space missions are complicated pieces of orbital choreography. When planning a mission, spacecraft engineers must calculate how to point the solar panels towards the Sun, the main antenna towards Earth and the instruments towards the target. ESA Space Scientist Detlef Koschny build a LEGO model of Rosetta mission in order to visualise these precise orientations.
Copyright © Lightcurve Films/Maarten Roos, ESA, DLR, Europlanet, LEGO
Built using LEGO Mindstorms, the Philae lander model can be controlled using a home computer. It can rotate and move the drill up and down to simulate the behaviour of the real lander. As part of ESA’s Rosetta space mission, Philae will land on comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November 2014 to study its composition.
Copyright © Lightcurve Films/Maarten Roos, ESA, DLR, Europlanet, LEGO