Apollo 13 Views of the Moon in 4K
Data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft now makes it possible to show what the Apollo 13 astronauts saw as they flew around the far side of the Moon. This video showcases visualizations in 4K resolution of many of those lunar surface views, starting with earthset and sunrise, and concluding with the time Apollo 13 reestablished radio contact with Mission Control. Also depicted is the path of the free return trajectory around the Moon, and a continuous view of the Moon throughout that path. All views have been sped up for timing purposes - they are not shown in "real-time."
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NASA Explores Earth’s Connections
For Earth Day 2021, we explore the connections of Earth systems and NASA's ability to observe them in a changing world, highlighting the links between dust transport, vegetation, water quality, conservation and human health, the cryosphere, and disasters.
Music credits: "Ellipsis" and "Terrafirma" by Ben Niblett and Jon Cotton [PRS] Universal Production Music
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NASA Tests Orion Launch Abort System Attitude Control Motor - High Angle
NASA recently conducted tests on the Orion Launch Abort System's attitude control motor, specifically focusing on its performance during high-angle scenarios. This critical testing ensures the system's effectiveness in controlling the spacecraft's orientation and trajectory during launch abort scenarios, enhancing overall mission safety and success in space exploration. The high-angle tests provide valuable insights into how the attitude control motor responds in challenging situations, contributing to the ongoing advancements in aerospace engineering and spacecraft safety.
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Moonlight (Clair de Lune)
This visualization attempts to capture the mood of Claude Debussy's best-known composition, Clair de Lune (moonlight in French). The piece was published in 1905 as the third of four movements in the composer's Suite Bergamasque, and unlike the other parts of this work, Clair is quiet, contemplative, and slightly melancholy, evoking the feeling of a solitary walk through a moonlit garden.
The visuals were composed like a nature documentary, with clean cuts and a mostly stationary virtual camera. The viewer follows the Sun throughout a lunar day, seeing sunrises and then sunsets over prominent features on the Moon. The sprawling ray system surrounding Copernicus crater, for example, is revealed beneath receding shadows at sunrise and later slips back into darkness as night encroaches.
The visualization was created to accompany a performance of Clair de Lune by the National Symphony Orchestra Pops, led by conductor Emil de Cou, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on June 1 and 2, 2018, as part of a celebration of NASA's 60th anniversary.
The visualization uses a digital 3D model of the Moon built from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter global elevation maps and image mosaics. The lighting is derived from actual Sun angles during lunar days in 2018.
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Tour of the Moon 4K Redux
In the fall of 2011, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission released its original Tour of the Moon, a five-minute animation that takes the viewer on a virtual tour of our nearest neighbor in space. Six years later, the tour has been recreated in eye-popping 4K resolution, using the same camera path and drawing from the vastly expanded data trove collected by LRO in the intervening years.
The tour visits a number of interesting sites chosen to illustrate a variety of lunar terrain features. Some are on the near side and are familiar to both professional and amateur observers on Earth, while others can only be seen clearly from space. Some are large and old (Orientale, South Pole-Aitken), others are smaller and younger (Tycho, Aristarchus). Constantly shadowed areas near the poles are hard to photograph but easier to measure with altimetry, while several of the Apollo landing sites, all relatively near the equator, have been imaged at resolutions as high as 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel.
The new tour highlights the mineral composition of the Aristarchus plateau, evidence for surface water ice in certain spots near the south pole, and the mapping of gravity in and around the Orientale basin.
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OSIRIS-REx Slings Orbital Web Around Asteroid to Capture Sample | 4K
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer, is a NASA mission designed to study the asteroid Bennu. During its mission, OSIRIS-REx performed a maneuver called the "slingshot" or "orbital web" around Bennu.
In this maneuver, the spacecraft approached Bennu and then fired its thrusters to slightly change its velocity and trajectory. This caused OSIRIS-REx to enter a close orbit around the asteroid, allowing it to map Bennu's surface and study its composition in greater detail. This maneuver was crucial for collecting samples from the asteroid's surface, which OSIRIS-REx successfully accomplished.
The term "slingshot" or "orbital web" is often used to describe the complex orbital path that the spacecraft takes around the asteroid, resembling a web-like pattern. This maneuver allowed OSIRIS-REx to carefully study and sample Bennu while navigating its gravitational field. The collected samples were later returned to Earth for analysis, providing valuable insights into the origins of our solar system.
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