Solar System Explorers

The astronauts of Crew-4 have undocked from the International Space Station and are on their way home to Earth. Watch live with NASA as the Dragon spacecraft Freedom reenters the atmosphere and splashes down off the coast of Florida. Splashdown is targeted for 4:55 p.m. EDT (2055 UTC), Friday, Oct. 14. NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Jessica Watkins, Bob Hines, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti spent five and a half months living and working aboard the orbiting laboratory. During their stay, they contributed to a number of experiments to expand our understanding of space while benefitting life on Earth: https://go.nasa.gov/3yCDeW0 Credit: NASA

New time-lapse movies from NASA’s NEOWISE mission give astronomers the opportunity to see objects, like stars and black holes, as they move and change over time. The videos include previously hidden brown dwarfs, a feeding black hole, a dying star, a star-forming region, and a brightening star. They combine more than 10 years of NEOWISE observations and 18 all-sky images, enabling a long-term analysis and a deeper understanding of the universe. 0:44 – NEOWISE all-sky scan animation 1:03 – Feeding black hole 1:14 – Pulsing star reaches the end of its life 1:21 – Protostars in star-forming region 1:34 – Brown dwarf moves across the sky 2:00 – Unexplained stellar brightening The NEOWISE mission uses a space telescope to hunt for asteroids and comets, including those that could pose a threat to Earth. Launched in December 2009 as the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, the space telescope was originally designed to survey the sky in infrared, detecting asteroids, stars and some of the faintest galaxies in space. WISE did so successfully until completing its primary mission in February 2011. Observations resumed in December 2013, when the telescope was taken out of hibernation and re-purposed for the NEOWISE project as an instrument to study near-Earth objects, or NEOs, as well as more distant asteroids and comets. For more information on the NEOWISE mission go to: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/neowise For more NEOWISE data go to: https://neowise.ipac.caltech.edu Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech WISE-NEOWISE movies compiled by Dan Caselden

The 18th Northrop Grumman commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station carries scientific investigations of topics such as 3D printing of knee cartilage, plant mutations, and mudflow structure—along with a demonstration of camera technology and small satellites from Japan, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The Cygnus spacecraft carrying these investigations to the orbiting laboratory is scheduled for liftoff no earlier than Nov. 6, 2022 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. Learn more about some of the scientific research traveling to the station on this mission: https://go.nasa.gov/3rYCjvA CREDIT: NASA #NASA #SpaceStation #Science

In order to slow down spacecraft quickly and safely as they land, we get some help from an unexpected source: the planet’s atmosphere! To use the air around a planet to our advantage, we use heat shields, which have an air-resistant design. Learn more about heat shields, like LOFTID, and how they may help us land on Mars! For more information about the LOFTID technology demonstration, click here: https://go.nasa.gov/3aRdADV

Are hurricanes getting stronger? Although we’ll never see a Category 6 hurricane, data does show that more hurricanes are becoming more severe. Hurricane and climate expert Mara Cordero-Fuentes of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center tells us more about the connection between climate change and tropical cyclones. Learn more: https://go.nasa.gov/3yQ168I Producers: Scott Bednar, Jessica Wilde Editor: Daniel Salazar Credit: NASA

We’re testing a new way of landing on Mars… by crashing into its surface. The Simplified High Impact Energy Landing Device (SHIELD) is a lander concept being tested at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It could one day provide a new way for low-cost missions to land on Mars. Rather than rely on parachutes or retrorockets, SHIELD would include a collapsible, accordion-like base to absorb the energy of a landing. A full-size prototype of the base was tested on Aug. 12, 2022. The prototype was hurled at the ground from the top of a nearly 90-foot-tall (27-meter-tall) drop tower at JPL. A steel plate ensured the impact was even harder than what would be experienced on Mars. The design worked: After crushing against the steel plate at 110 mph (177 kph), several electronic components inside the SHIELD prototype, including a smartphone, survived the impact. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/California Academy of Sciences

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is filling sample tubes with rocky material on the Red Planet as the agency works on the next steps to get them safely back to Earth. The Mars Sample Return campaign would bring samples collected by the Perseverance rover to Earth for detailed study. The campaign involves an international interplanetary relay team, including the European Space Agency (ESA). These samples could answer a key question: did life ever exist on Mars? Aaron Yazzie, who works on the Mars Sample Return campaign, explains the work being done at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to ensure the safe return of the sample tubes. For more information on Mars Sample Return, visit mars.nasa.gov/msr Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

A new Earth science mission, led by NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), will help communities plan for a better future by surveying the planet’s salt and freshwater bodies. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission will measure the height of water in lakes, rivers, reservoirs, and the oceans. As climate change accelerates the water cycle, more communities around the world will be inundated with water while others won’t have enough. SWOT data will be used to improve flood forecasts and monitor drought conditions, providing essential information to water management agencies, civil engineers, universities, the U.S. Department of Defense, disaster preparedness agencies, and others who need to track water in their local areas. In this video, examples of how SWOT data will be used in these communities are shared by a National Weather Service representative in Oregon, an Alaska Department of Transportation engineer, researchers from the University of Oregon and University of North Carolina, a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist working with the Department of Defense, and a JPL scientist working with the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Agency. :30 - Flood Watches & Warnings - Portland, Oregon 1:08 - Water Management - Fern Ridge Lake, Oregon 2:05 - Protecting Infrastructure - Alaska 2:54 - National Security - Department of Defense 3:24 - Coastal Protection - Mississippi River Delta SWOT is expected to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California in December 2022. The mission is a collaboration between NASA and CNES, with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency and UK Space Agency. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, leads the U.S. component of the project. To learn more about the mission, visit: https://swot.jpl.nasa.gov Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/CNES/Thales Alenia Space

Paul Smith is a night-sky fanatic and photographer. His obsession is sprites: immense jolts of light that flicker high above thunderstorms. Last October, he guided NASA scientist Dr. Burcu Kosar through the backroads of Oklahoma to catch one herself. Although she’d studied sprites for more than 15 years, she hadn’t yet chased one. Read more about chasing sprites with Paul and Burcu: https://blogs.nasa.gov/sunspot/2022/10/27/the-great-sprites-chase Learn about NASA’s citizen science project Spritacular: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/sun/spritacular-nasa-s-new-citizen-science-project-to-capture-elusive-upper-atmospheric Learn about the Heliophysics Big Year: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/helio-big-year Image credits: Paul Smith, Frankie Lucena, Panagiotis Tsouras, Thomas Ashcraft. All imagery of sprites is copyrighted and used with permission. Music credits: “The Beauty Beyond” by Jeremy Noel William Abbott [PRS], Vasco [PRS]; “Outer Orbit” by Alexander Ryder Mcnair [ASCAP], Harry Gregson Williams [BMI], Ho Ling Tang [BMI]; “Wonderful Orbit” by Tom Furse Fairfax Cowan [PRS]; “Starlights” by Marc Teitler [PRS], Vasco [PRS]; “A Tranquil End” by Luke Gordon [PRS]; “Virtual Tidings” by Andrew Michael Britton [PRS], David Stephen Goldsmith [PRS]; “Winter Aurora” by Samuel Karl Bohn [PRS]; “Lava Flow” and “Water Dance” by Ben Niblett [PRS], Jon Cotton [PRS]. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Producer: Joy Ng (KBRwyle) Scientist: Burcu Kosar (Catholic University of America) Photographer: Paul Smith Photographer: Frankie Lucena Photographer: Panagiotis Tsouras Photographer: Thomas Ashcraft Videographer: Joy Ng, Thomas Smith Writer: Lina Tran This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14206. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14206. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit https://nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines. If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/NASAGoddard Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center · Instagram http://www.instagram.com/nasagoddard · Twitter http://twitter.com/NASAGoddard · Twitter http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix · Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NASAGoddard · Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc