Author Archives: Tom

Rough Terrain

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A very close in image of the terrain on Enceladus. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Cassini took this image of some rough terrain on the Saturn moon Enceladus.  I think the mission managers might be a little crazy (in a good way), this picture was taken from just 115 miles / 185 km from the surface of Enceladus.  Oh the camera was about 8.8 AU from us – that’s about 818 million miles / 1.3 billion km!

1 AU is  92,955,807 miles / 149,597,871 km.

I’m not sure as this is a raw image so there isn’t description from JPL,  but it appears the gash in the center could be one of the vents that emits the famous spray.

Juno Tests the JunoCam

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The Big Dipper from the JunoCam. Click for larger. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SWRI/MSSS

and it looks like the camera is working nicely.

From JPL

In England it is known as the “Plough,” in Germany the “Great Cart,” and in Malaysia the “Seven Ploughs.” Since humanity first turned its eyes skyward, the seven northern hemisphere stars that compose the “Big Dipper” have been a welcome and familiar introduction to the heavens.

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Moving Again

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The view from the rover Opportunity. Click for -slightly- larger. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Opportunity is off and moving again after the Martian winter. Pretty good for a mission that ended its primary phase in 2004.

The bar is pretty high for the new rover Curiosity when it arrives.

From JPL:

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drove about 12 feet (3.67 meters) on May 8, 2012, after spending 19 weeks working in one place while solar power was too low for driving during the Martian winter. The winter worksite was on the north slope of an outcrop called Greeley Haven. The rover used its rear hazard-avoidance camera after nearly completing the May 8 drive, capturing this view looking back at the Greeley Haven. The dark shape in the foreground is the shadow of Opportunity’s solar array. The view is toward the southeast.

Since landing in the Meridiani region of Mars on Jan. 25, 2004, Universal Time and EST (Jan. 24, PST), Opportunity has driven 21.4 miles (34.4 kilometers)

NuSTAR

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The NuSTAR is scheduled for launch sometime in June, the date isn’t available at the moment or at least as far as I could find. The date should be released by U.S. Army’s Reagan Test Site shortly.

The NuSTAR will be flown from the air-launched Orbital Sciences Corp. Pegasus rocket.  The Pegasus booster has flown 40 times overall and 25 in the more powerful Pegasus XL rocket.  The air launch is where the booster and spacecraft is dropped from a plane, in this case the L-1011 jumbo jet, at an altitude of about 40,000 feet.  The launch will occur over the Pacific Ocean.

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