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IN SPACE - SEPTEMBER 17: In this handout photo provided by NASA, the International Space Station is seen over a blue and white Earth, taken shortly after the Space Shuttle Atlantis undocked from the orbital outpost at 7:50 a.m. CDT. The unlinking completed six days, two hours and two minutes of joint operations with the station crew. Atlantis left the station with a new, second pair of 240-foot solar wings, attached to a new 17.5-ton section of truss with batteries, electronics and a giant rotating joint. The new solar arrays eventually will double the station's onboard power when their electrical systems are brought online during the next shuttle flight, planned for launch in December. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images)

NASA Chief says Russia leaving ISS could kick off a space race

Astrophysicist on UFO sightings: It looks terrestrial, not alien

Threads of superheated gas and magnetic fields are weaving a tapestry of energy at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. A new image of this new cosmic masterpiece was made using a giant mosaic of data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/UMass/Q.D. Wang; Radio: NRF/SARAO/MeerKAT

New NASA photo shows our galaxy's 'violent energy'

jsc2021e019402 (8/6/2016) --- Juvenile bobtail squid swimming in seawater just after hatching. The bobtail squid are born without their symbiotic microbes and must acquire them from their environment. Once the baby squid are colonized by the bacteria they gain the ability to glow in the dark and hide from their predators. Understanding of Microgravity on Animal-Microbe Interactions (UMAMI) examines the effects of spaceflight on the molecular and chemical interactions between beneficial microbes and their animal hosts.
Image courtesy of Jamie S. Foster.

SpaceX launches baby squid and water bears

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'United Shades' imagines the moment 'Star Trek's' Nichelle Nichols met MLK

NASA's Artemis program will land the first person of color on the moon

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How 'Star Trek' legend Nichelle Nichols helped shape a diverse future for NASA

Two new NASA missions will uncover the secrets of Venus

Cool unmanned space missions

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used two cameras to create this selfie in front of Mont Mercou, a rock outcrop that stands 20 feet (6 meters) tall.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Curiosity rover searches for salt on Mars

Astronomer Dr. Carl Sagan speaking before House Science and Technology Subcommittee on Natural Resources re Nuclear Winter. (Photo by Terry Ashe//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Watch Carl Sagan in 1985 predict what year humans will land on Mars

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Organic matter found on Mars

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover spotted these iridescent, or "mother of pearl," clouds on March 5, 2021, the 3,048th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Seen here are five images stitched together from a much wider panorama taken by the rover's Mast Camera, or Mastcam.

Curiosity rover spies colorful iridescent clouds on Mars

From press release: While the utmost precautions are taken to reduce the potential for collisions with the ISS, impacts with tiny objects do occur. One such hit was noticed recently during a routine inspection of Canadarm2 on May 12.
Experts from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and NASA worked together to take detailed images of the area and assess the impact, which occurred on one of Canadarm2's boom segments. Despite the impact, results of the ongoing analysis indicate that the arm's performance remains unaffected. The damage is limited to a small section of the arm boom and thermal blanket. Canadarm2 is continuing to conduct its planned operations, including hoisting Dextre into position to replace a faulty power switchbox (Remote Power Control Module).

Space junk hit the International Space Station, damaging a robotic arm

Spectacular galactic display: Looking inside the Milky Way

Cryptochiton stelleri in the wild.

This 'wandering meatloaf' chiton has a rare mineral in its teeth

NASA's Curiosity rover captured its highest-resolution panorama of the Martian surface between Nov. 24 and Dec. 1, 2019.

Mars rover captures high-resolution panorama of its home

NASA Astronaut Danny Olivas on a spacewalk in 2010

Riskiest job in space and more top science stories this week

Mars helicopter survives to tell the tale of stressful flight

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The galaxy, explained

What it was like on board the Qantas supermoon flight to nowhere

What it was like on board the Qantas supermoon flight to nowhere

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See the lunar eclipse from aboard a Qantas flight

jsc2021e019402 (8/6/2016) --- Juvenile bobtail squid swimming in seawater just after hatching. The bobtail squid are born without their symbiotic microbes and must acquire them from their environment. Once the baby squid are colonized by the bacteria they gain the ability to glow in the dark and hide from their predators. Understanding of Microgravity on Animal-Microbe Interactions (UMAMI) examines the effects of spaceflight on the molecular and chemical interactions between beneficial microbes and their animal hosts.
Image courtesy of Jamie S. Foster.

Baby squid and tardigrades are heading to space

$The partially eclipsed moon sets over West Palm Beach Wednesday morning, May 26, 2021. The moon was near its closest approach to Earth, making it a \"supermoon,\" and meaning it appears slightly larger in the sky.$

In pictures: The moon puts on a show

From Alcor to Zappafrank: How the stars and other celestial objects got their names

A. percula in Kimbe Bay.

Secret to how quickly clownfish gets its stripes revealed by latest study

NASA Astronaut Danny Olivas on a spacewalk in 2010

This is what it's like to walk in space

NASA Astronaut Danny Olivas on a spacewalk in 2010

What it's like to walk 220 miles above Earth

May's full Moon, known as the 'flower' moon, is the first total eclipse in nearly two and a half years.

When to see the total lunar eclipse and 'flower' supermoon

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 03: A plane flies past the moon at sunset on March 3, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

A Pink Moon is coming -- but what is that?

Venus appears in the night sky near the moon on November 13, 2020 in Korla, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.

Look up: Venus will be impressively bright in the night sky starting this week

Brood X is almost here. Billions of cicadas are emerging in eastern US

PARIS, FRANCE - MARCH: Thierry Mugler s Fall Winter 1986 1987 fashion show on March 19, 1986 in Paris, France. (Photo by Daniel SIMON/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

A visual history of space-age fashion

VSS Unity in space over New Mexico.

Virgin Galactic launches third successful spaceflight

Branson intv

Branson: Virgin Galactic spaceflight 'worked like a dream'

Snapshot from the first full STARFORGE simulation. Nicknamed the "Anvil of Creation," a giant molecular cloud with individual star formation and comprehensive feedback, including protostellar jets, radiation, stellar winds and core-collapse supernovae.

Stunning birth of a star and more top space and science stories this week

China on Wednesday, May 19, released the first images taken by its Mars rover Zhurong after it landed on Mars Saturday morning. One colorful image taken by the Navigation Camera shows the solar panel and antenna have unfolded normally after landing.

China just became the second country to drive a rover on the surface of Mars

Fast radio bursts host galaxies. The bursts are catalogued as FRB 190714, at top left; FRB 191001, at top right; FRB 180924, at bottom left; and FRB 190608, at bottom right.

Mysterious fast radio bursts traced to spiral galaxy arms

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter unlocked its blades, allowing them to spin freely, on April 7, 2021, the 47th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This image was captured by the Mastcam-Z imager aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover on the following sol, April 8, 2021.

Mars helicopter's next flight will be a scouting mission

May's full Moon, known as the 'flower' moon, is the first total eclipse in nearly two and a half years.

When to see the 'flower' supermoon and catch the total lunar eclipse

UFO Navy Corbell 1

Newly leaked video shows a UFO disappear into the water

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First time FRB was traced to source location was 2015

China on Wednesday, May 19, released the first images taken by its Mars rover Zhurong after it landed on Mars Saturday morning. One black and white image taken by the Front Hazard Avoidance Camera shows the flat landing area at Utopia Planitia on Mars and the descending track towards the surface.

China releases the first images taken by its Mars rover

Snapshot from the first full STARFORGE simulation. Nicknamed the "Anvil of Creation," a giant molecular cloud with individual star formation and comprehensive feedback, including protostellar jets, radiation, stellar winds and core-collapse supernovae.

This is what it looks like when a star is born

Snapshot from the first full STARFORGE simulation. Nicknamed the "Anvil of Creation," a giant molecular cloud with individual star formation and comprehensive feedback, including protostellar jets, radiation, stellar winds and core-collapse supernovae.

Watch this trippy simulation of a star being born

Solar Orbiter mission spots eruption from the sun

See the Solar Orbiter launch into space

Neanderthal cave discovery and more top space and science stories this week

Recent explosive volcanic deposit around a fissure of the Cerberus Fossae system.

Volcanoes could still be active on Mars

This newly hatched bamboo shark was born via artificial insemination.

Scientists bring to life nearly 100 baby sharks through artificial insemination

Rock Art at study site Leang Sakapao

The climate crisis is irrevocably damaging the world's oldest cave art

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover used its dual-camera Mastcam-Z imager to capture this image of "Santa Cruz," a hill about 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) away from the rover, on April 29, 2021, the 68th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The entire scene is inside of Mars' Jezero Crater; the crater's rim can be seen on the horizon line beyond the hill.
This scene is not white balanced; instead, it is displayed in a preliminary calibrated version of a natural-color composite, approximately simulating the colors of the scene as it would appear to a person on Mars. An enhanced color version is also included.

Perseverance rover is ready to unlock the history of Mars

This ultraviolet image of Jupiter was created from data captured on 11 January 2017 using the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope. The Great Red Spot and Red Spot Jr. (also known as Oval BA) absorb ultraviolet radiation from the Sun and therefore appear dark in this view.

New images of Jupiter reveal some of the planet's mysterious features

This artist's concept depicts NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft entering interstellar space, or the space between stars. Interstellar space is dominated by the plasma, or ionized gas, that was ejected by the death of nearby giant stars millions of years ago. The environment inside our solar bubble is dominated by the plasma exhausted by our sun, known as the solar wind.

The interstellar plasma is shown with an orange glow similar to the color seen in visible-light images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope that show stars in the Orion nebula traveling through interstellar space.

The Voyager spacecraft were built and continue to be operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, Calif. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. The Voyager missions are a part of NASA's Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Image Addition Date:
2013-09-12

Voyager spacecraft detects 'persistent hum' beyond our solar system

A multitude of magnificent, swirling clouds in Jupiter's dynamic North North Temperate Belt is captured in this image from NASA's Juno spacecraft. Appearing in the scene are several bright-white "pop-up" clouds as well as an anticyclonic storm, known as a white oval.
This color-enhanced image was taken at 1:58 p.m. PDT on Oct. 29, 2018 (4:58 p.m. EDT) as the spacecraft performed its 16th close flyby of Jupiter. At the time, Juno was about 4,400 miles (7,000 kilometers) from the planet's cloud tops, at a latitude of approximately 40 degrees north.

Look at these stunning images of Jupiter

This illustration shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft departing asteroid Bennu to begin its two-year journey back to Earth.

NASA spacecraft carrying history-making asteroid sample now heading toward Earth

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Yuriko Nakao/AFLO/Shutterstock (11679198c)
In this photo illustration, visual representations of digital cryptocurrencies, Dogecoin and Bitcoin are arranged
Cryptocurrency, Katwijk, Netherlands - 04 Jan 2021

SpaceX claims it will accept dogecoin as payment for an upcoming moon mission

An adult cicada is seen, in Washington, Thursday, May 6, 2021. Trillions of cicadas are about to emerge from 15 states in the U.S. East. The cicadas of Brood X, trillions of red-eyed bugs singing loud sci-fi sounding songs, can seem downright creepy. Especially since they come out from underground only ever 17 years. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Brood X is almost here. Billions of cicadas to emerge in eastern US

An artist's interpretation of Mtoto's burial.

Africa's oldest human burial and 5 other top space and science stories this week

Lunar telescope could reveal the Dark Ages of the universe

Mars helicopter successfully flies to a new destination

Hunting wasp digging out fall army worm

Wasps have a bad rap. This summer, let's learn to love them

A photo of a fossilized Shuvuuia deserti skeleton by Mick Ellison, American Museum of Natural History, Fossil Amphibians, Reptiles, and Birds.

This tiny dinosaur hunted in the dark and heard better than an owl

The Milky Way — the ultimate wishing well

pulsating star animation

NASA satellite enables new discovery in pulsating stars

See the moon from the perspective of Apollo 13 astronauts

From Christie's press release: "Christie's presents a bottle of space-aged Pétrus 2000, which has spent 14 months aboard the International Space Station (ISS). This is the first time wine has travelled to the ISS and returned to Earth, ageing in a carefully monitored and controlled environment, as part of a series of experiments undertaken by Space Cargo Unlimited, a one-of-a-kind European "New Space" start-up.

A bottle of Bordeaux aged in space is expected to sell for $1 million

Success! SpaceX lands Mars rocket prototype for the first time

Watch SpaceX land its Mars rocket prototype for the first time

Jeff Bezos, chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc. and founder of Blue Origin LLC, speaks at the unveiling of the Blue Origin New Shepard system during the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S., on Wednesday, April 5, 2017. Bezos has been reinvesting money he made at Amazon since he started his space exploration company more than a decade ago, and has plans to launch paying tourists into space within two years. Photographer: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to auction ticket for first space tourism flight

New Shepard takes off on Mission NS-10 - January 23, 2019

Watch Bezos' Blue Origin test its space tourism rocket

Ancient finds

Artistic representation of a star stealing materials from its companion star — a potential scenario that could explain 2019yvr's lack of hydrogen.

'Oddball supernova' reveals star's death throes before exploding

The Eta Aquariid meteor shower will peak early in the morning on May 5.

Meteor shower in May 2021: When to see the Eta Aquariids

When flying past Venus in July 2020, Parker Solar Probe's WISPR instrument, short for Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe, detected a bright rim around the edge of the planet that may be nightglow — light emitted by oxygen atoms high in the atmosphere that recombine into molecules in the nightside. The prominent dark feature in the center of the image is Aphrodite Terra, the largest highland region on the Venusian surface. Bright streaks in WISPR, such as the ones seen here, are typically caused by a combination of charged particles — called cosmic rays — sunlight reflected by grains of space dust, and particles of material expelled from the spacecraft's structures after impact with those dust grains. The number of streaks varies along the orbit or when the spacecraft is traveling at different speeds, and scientists are still in discussion about the specific origins of the streaks here. The dark spot appearing on the lower portion of Venus is an artifact from the WISPR instrument.

Parker Solar Probe detects a radio signal from Venus' atmosphere

American actors Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford on the set of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope written, directed and produced by Georges Lucas. (Photo by Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)

Celebrate Star Wars Day: May the Fourth be with you

Hubble spies rare giant star battling against self-destruction

NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, left, Victor Glover, second from left, Mike Hopkins, second from right, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, right, being introduced by Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana.

SpaceX splashdown: Four astronauts to return from record-breaking mission

NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins is helped out of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship after he, NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Victor Glover and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida, Sunday, May 2, 2021. NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 mission was the first crew rotation flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket with astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

SpaceX-NASA Crew-1 astronauts returned from ISS -- here's what went down

Watch the Perseverance rover's first footage of Mars

Blue dark night sky with many stars above field of trees. Yellowstone park. Milkyway cosmos background

Black physicist rethinks the 'dark' in dark matter

NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins is helped out of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship after he, NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Victor Glover and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida, Sunday, May 2, 2021. NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 mission was the first crew rotation flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket with astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Astronauts splash down after record-setting mission

portrait of Apollo 11 Command Module Pilot Michael Collins July 1, 1969

Apollo 11 legend dies and 5 other top space and science stories this week

R3GJBG Winneconne, WI - 22 November 2018: A package of Tang orange flavor orange drink mix on an isolated background.

Tang! The space-age drink that's still a worldwide staple

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover took a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter, seen here about 13 feet (3.9 meters) from the rover. This image was taken by the WASTON camera on the rover's robotic arm on April 6, 2021, the 46th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Credit: Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

After fourth successful flight, Mars helicopter gets a new mission

These bright orange amphibians secrete a poison that can be dangerous to humans.

A new species of cute but poisonous 'pumpkin' toads discovered in Brazil

Dennis-Tito-Space-flight (1)

First space tourist: 'It was the greatest moment of my life'

Photos: 20 years of space tourism

portrait of Apollo 11 Command Module Pilot Michael Collins July 1, 1969

Michael Collins, Apollo 11 astronaut, has died at age 90

How space influenced decades of pop culture

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter unlocked its blades, allowing them to spin freely, on April 7, 2021, the 47th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This image was captured by the Mastcam-Z imager aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover on the following sol, April 8, 2021.

Mars helicopter will get another chance at daring fourth flight Friday

Astronaut Scott Kelly on a spacewalk on November 6, 2015, as taken by fellow astronaut Kjell Lindgren.

How the human eye changes after 1 year in space

Jeff Bezos, chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc. and founder of Blue Origin LLC, smiles while speaking at the unveiling of the Blue Origin New Shepard system during the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S., on Wednesday, April 5, 2017. Bezos has been reinvesting money he made at Amazon since he started his space exploration company more than a decade ago, and has plans to launch paying tourists into space within two years. Photographer: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg via Getty Images

You can now buy a seat on a Blue Origin rocket

China successfully launched the first module of its planned space station from the Wenchang launch site in the southern island of Hainan, according to the China National Space Administration.

See Beijing launch key component of planned space station

WENCHANG, CHINA - APRIL 29: The Long March-5B Y2 rocket carrying the core module of China's space station, Tianhe, blasts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on April 29, 2021 in Wenchang, Hainan Province of China. (Photo by Lin Yuxian/VCG via Getty Images)

China successfully launches first module of planned space station

Artistic reconstruction of Homotherium consuming juvenile mammoths by co-author Mauricio Antón is based on a detailed examination of Homotherium fossils.

Saber-toothed cats stalked and ate baby mammoths

Spot the Perseverance rover in this new Mars helicopter photo

Elon Musk taunts Jeff Bezos over NASA contract

See the moon landing as they did in 1969

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Michael Collins says Apollo 11 united the world in 2019 interview

2018 la asteroid meteorites

These meteorites landed on Earth after a 22-million-year voyage

Titanium bubbles discovered in supernova could help solve mystery of exploding stars

Wonders of the universe

A pink supermoon rises over the Rock of Dunamase in County Laois in the Republic of Ireland.

Full moon in April 2021: When to see the 'Pink' supermoon

Mars helicopter achieves fastest, farthest flight yet

Astronomers have released a new all-sky map of the outermost region of our Milky Way galaxy.

New Milky Way map reveals a wave of stars in our galaxy's outer reaches

Astronauts welcome new crew aboard the ISS

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took this shot while hovering over the Martian surface on April 19, 2021, during the first instance of powered, controlled flight on another planet. It used its navigation camera, which autonomously tracks the ground during flight.

Mars first flight unlocked and 5 other top space and science stories this week

SpaceX capsule with four astronauts aboard docks with International Space Station

This is the first color image of the Martian surface taken by an aerial vehicle while it was aloft. The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter captured it with its color camera during its second successful flight test on April 22, 2021. At the time this image, Ingenuity was 17 feet (5.2 meters) above the surface and pitching (moving the camera's field of view upward) so the helicopter could begin its 7-foot (2-meter) translation to the west -- away from the rover. The image, as well as the inset showing a closeup of a portion of the tracks the Perseverance Mars rover and Mars surface features, demonstrates the utility of scouting Martian terrain from an aerial perspective.

Mars helicopter shares first aerial color photo and preps for Sunday flight

Using infrared technology NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveals the density of stars in the Milky Way.

How the Milky Way likely grew to its massive size

Ingenuity project manager: 'Game-changing' to be able to fly on Mars

SpaceX rocket carrying four astronauts launches from Florida

Four astronauts from three countries are preparing to leave Earth this week aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, marking the third-ever crewed flight for Elon Musk's company, and the first from SpaceX to make use of a previously flown rocket booster and spacecraft. CNN's Rachel Crane reports from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

See SpaceX rocket launch to International Space Station

Rhesus macaques, a species of monkeys on Cayo Santiago Island, formed new friendships after Hurricane Maria swept through their island in 2017.

These monkeys formed an unlikely friendship after Hurricane Maria wrecked their home

SpaceX is sending a capsule back to space, this time with different astronauts

Mars Ingenuity helicopter successfully completes second, riskier flight

Watch astronauts arrive at International Space Station

This image was taken during the first drive of NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars on March 4, 2021. The team has spent the weeks since landing checking out the rover to prepare for surface operations.

Perseverance rover just made oxygen on Mars

Keywords: Earth, Terra
Center: JPL
Secondary Creator Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
Date Created: 2003-01-08
Visit JPL Website
The Anti-Atlas Mountains of Morocco formed as a result of the collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates about 80 million years ago. This collision destroyed the Tethys Ocean; the limestone, sandstone, claystone, and gypsum layers that formed the ocean bed were folded and crumpled to create the Atlas and Anti-Atlas Mountains. In this ASTER image, short wavelength infrared bands are combined to dramatically highlight the different rock types, and illustrate the complex folding. The yellowish, orange and green areas are limestones, sandstones and gypsum; the dark blue and green areas are underlying granitic rocks. The ability to map geology using ASTER data is enhanced by the multiple short wavelength infrared bands, that are sensitive to differences in rock mineralogy. This image was acquired on June 13, 2001 by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite. With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region, and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER images Earth to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03893

On Earth Day, here's the view from space

Keywords: Earth, Terra
Center: JPL
Secondary Creator Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
Date Created: 2003-01-08
Visit JPL Website
The Anti-Atlas Mountains of Morocco formed as a result of the collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates about 80 million years ago. This collision destroyed the Tethys Ocean; the limestone, sandstone, claystone, and gypsum layers that formed the ocean bed were folded and crumpled to create the Atlas and Anti-Atlas Mountains. In this ASTER image, short wavelength infrared bands are combined to dramatically highlight the different rock types, and illustrate the complex folding. The yellowish, orange and green areas are limestones, sandstones and gypsum; the dark blue and green areas are underlying granitic rocks. The ability to map geology using ASTER data is enhanced by the multiple short wavelength infrared bands, that are sensitive to differences in rock mineralogy. This image was acquired on June 13, 2001 by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite. With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region, and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER images Earth to map and monitor the changing surface of our planet. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03893

In pictures: Earth from above

A meteor from the Lyrids on April 22, 2020 as seen in the sky in Schermbeck, Germany.

Lyrid meteor shower peaks predawn April 22. Here's how to watch

Artist's conception of the violent stellar flare from Proxima Centauri discovered by scientists in 2019 using nine telescopes across the electromagnetic spectrum, including the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Powerful flares eject from Proxima Centauri with regularity, impacting the star's planets almost daily.
Credit: NRAO/S. Dagnello

Record-breaking flare erupts from neighboring star

LUENEBURG, GERMANY - APRIL 07: The supermoon is seen in the night sky on April 07, 2020 in Lueneburg, Germany. The supermoon is visible as the full moon coincides with the satellite in its closest approach to Earth, which makes it appear brighter and larger than other full moons. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

The UK's space agency is hunting for 'moon trees' grown from seeds that went on the Apollo 14 lunar mission

This is a view of the Nightingale sample site on asteroid Bennu after the collection event. Images were taken April 7 as part of a final campaign to document the state of the surface post- TAG.

This is what an asteroid looks like after playing tag with a spacecraft

Watch the Ingenuity helicopter's first flight on Mars

NASA's Mars helicopter takes its first flight

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took this shot while hovering over the Martian surface on April 19, 2021, during the first instance of powered, controlled flight on another planet. It used its navigation camera, which autonomously tracks the ground during flight.

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity successfully completed its historic first flight

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter unlocked its blades, allowing them to spin freely, on April 7, 2021, the 47th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This image was captured by the Mastcam-Z imager aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover on the following sol, April 8, 2021.

Mars helicopter's first flight could happen on Monday

This composite image looking toward the higher regions of Mount Sharp was taken on September 9, 2015, by NASA's Curiosity rover. In the foreground -- about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the rover -- is a long ridge teeming with hematite, an iron oxide. Just beyond is an undulating plain rich in clay minerals. And just beyond that are a multitude of rounded buttes, all high in sulfate minerals. The changing mineralogy in these layers of Mount Sharp suggests a changing environment in early Mars, though all involve exposure to water billions of years ago. The Curiosity team hopes to be able to explore these diverse areas in the months and years ahead. Further back in the image are striking, light-toned cliffs in rock that may have formed in drier times and now is heavily eroded by winds.

The colors are adjusted so that rocks look approximately as they would if they were on Earth, to help geologists interpret the rocks. This "white balancing" to adjust for the lighting on Mars overly compensates for the absence of blue on Mars, making the sky appear light blue and sometimes giving dark, black rocks a blue cast.

Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates Curiosity's Mastcam. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, built the rover and manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. For more information about Curiosity, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.nasa.gov/msl.

More information about Curiosity is online at http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/.

Credit
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Mars didn't lose all of its water at once, based on Curiosity rover find

376713 02: (FILE PHOTO) An astronaut's bootprint leaves a mark on the lunar surface July 20, 1969 on the moon. The 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon mission is celebrated July 20, 1999. (Photo by NASA/Newsmakers)

Space is the final frontier for archaeologists

Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., arrives at the Axel Springer Award ceremony in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. Tesla Inc. will be added to the S&P 500 Index in one shot on Dec. 21, a move that will ripple through the entire market as money managers adjust their portfolios to make room for shares of the $538 billion company.

SpaceX wins $2.9 billion NASA contract for lunar lander

July 9, 2013

Mosaic of the Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective, a view similar to that which one would see from a spacecraft. The distance is 2500 kilometers from the surface of the planet, with the scale being .6km/pixel. The mosaic is composed of 102 Viking Orbiter images of Mars. The center of the scene (lat -8, long 78) shows the entire Valles Marineris canyon system, over 2000 kilometers long and up to 8 kilometers deep, extending form Noctis Labyrinthus, the arcuate system of graben to the west, to the chaotic terrain to the east. Many huge ancient river channels begin from the chaotic terrain from north-central canyons and run north. The three Tharsis volcanoes (dark red spots), each about 25 kilometers high, are visible to the west. South of Valles Marineris is very ancient terrain covered by many impact craters.

Credit
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Quest to land humans on Mars heats up and 5 other top space and science stories this week

The Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft is seen as it lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan with Expedition 64 crew members Kate Rubins of NASA, Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos, Saturday, April 17, 2021. Rubins, Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov returned after 185 days in space having served as Expedition 63-64 crew members onboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and two Russian cosmonauts have landed back on Earth

This mosaic image, one of the largest ever taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope of the Crab Nebula, is a six-light-year-wide expanding remnant of a star's supernova explosion. Japanese and Chinese astronomers witnessed this violent event nearly 1,000 years ago in 1054, as did, almost certainly, Native Americans.

Giant radio pulses and X-ray surges are coming from the Crab Nebula

A cast of a T. rex skeleton on display outside the UC Museum of Paleontology at the University of California, Berkeley. The original, a nearly complete skeleton excavated in 1990 from the badlands of eastern Montana, is at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana.

Researchers now have an estimate for just how many T. rex once roamed Earth

Pentagon confirms UFO video is real, taken by Navy pilot

July 9, 2013

Mosaic of the Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective, a view similar to that which one would see from a spacecraft. The distance is 2500 kilometers from the surface of the planet, with the scale being .6km/pixel. The mosaic is composed of 102 Viking Orbiter images of Mars. The center of the scene (lat -8, long 78) shows the entire Valles Marineris canyon system, over 2000 kilometers long and up to 8 kilometers deep, extending form Noctis Labyrinthus, the arcuate system of graben to the west, to the chaotic terrain to the east. Many huge ancient river channels begin from the chaotic terrain from north-central canyons and run north. The three Tharsis volcanoes (dark red spots), each about 25 kilometers high, are visible to the west. South of Valles Marineris is very ancient terrain covered by many impact craters.

Credit
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Why Mars? The fascination with exploring the red planet

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Why we are going to Mars

These are the challenges of going back to the moon by 2024

Entrance to the Bacho Kiro Cave (Bulgaria). The excavations are just inside the entrance and to the left. The cave extends over 3 km and is a popular tourist destination.

Interactions between early modern humans and Neanderthals were a lot more common than we thought

Eat like an astronaut (or a TikTok star) with these tortilla hacks

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter unlocked its blades, allowing them to spin freely, on April 7, 2021, the 47th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This image was captured by the Mastcam-Z imager aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover on the following sol, April 8, 2021.

There's a fix for what ails the Mars helicopter's software

This illustration shows a night-side view of the exoplanet WASP-76b. The ultra-hot giant exoplanet has a day side where temperatures climb above 2400 degrees Celsius, high enough to vaporise metals. Strong winds carry iron vapour to the cooler night side where it condenses into iron droplets. To the left of the image, we see the evening border of the exoplanet, where it transitions from day to night.

What alien raindrops on other planets have in common with rain on Earth

Cosmonaut yuri gagarin during last minute checks of vostok i control systems before launch, 1961. (Photo by: Sovfoto/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

This Soviet cosmonaut was the first human in orbit — fueling the space race

Why NASA's Space Shuttle was so revolutionary

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter unlocked its blades, allowing them to spin freely, on April 7, 2021, the 47th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This image was captured by the Mastcam-Z imager aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover on the following sol, April 8, 2021.

Ingenuity helicopter's first flight on Mars delayed

NASA's OSIRIS-REx is ready for touchdown on asteroid Bennu. On Aug. 11, the mission will perform its "Matchpoint" rehearsal -- the second practice run of the Touch-and-Go (TAG) sample collection event. The rehearsal will be similar to the Apr. 14 "Checkpoint" rehearsal, which practiced the first two maneuvers of the descent, but this time the spacecraft will add a third maneuver, called the Matchpoint burn, and fly even closer to sample site Nightingale -- reaching an altitude of approximately 131 ft (40 m) -- before backing away from the asteroid.
This artist's rendering shows OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descending towards asteroid Bennu to collect a sample of the asteroid's surface.

A final flyby for asteroid Bennu and 5 other top space and science stories this week

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter unlocked its blades, allowing them to spin freely, on April 7, 2021, the 47th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. This image was captured by the Mastcam-Z imager aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover on the following sol, April 8, 2021.

The Ingenuity helicopter will fly on Mars this weekend. What to expect

Cosmonaut yuri gagarin during last minute checks of vostok i control systems before launch, 1961. (Photo by: Sovfoto/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Famous firsts in space

German Moix photographs Hector Reyes near the SpaceX launch site, where the Starship SN11 prototype vehicle is being prepared for a test flight, in Cameron County, Tex., on March 12, 2021.

$200,000 streaming rigs and millions of views: inside the cottage industry popping up around SpaceX

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Scientists say this planet smells like rotten eggs

Watch the most visible fireballs from earth

Expedition 65 crew members Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos, left, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos, center, and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, pose for a photo during qualification exams, Saturday, March 20, 2021 at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) in Star City, Russia, in advance of their scheduled launch April 9 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/GCTC/Andrey Shelepin)

Russian cosmonauts, NASA astronaut successfully launch to the space station

These are the benefits of space exploration

NASA's tiny helicopter is ready to make history on Mars

This image was taken during the first drive of NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars on March 4, 2021. The team has spent the weeks since landing checking out the rover to prepare for surface operations.

Photos from Perseverance's mission to Mars

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover took a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter, seen here about 13 feet (3.9 meters) from the rover. This image was taken by the WASTON camera on the rover's robotic arm on April 6, 2021, the 46th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Credit: Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Mars Perseverance rover snaps selfie photo with Ingenuity helicopter

This artist's concept shows the planned flight path of NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft during its final flyby of asteroid Bennu, which is scheduled for April 7.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission flies by asteroid Bennu one final time

A massive moon crater with salt deposit in the middle of eerie terrain at the Valle de Luna, or Moon Valley, at San Pedro de Atacama.

What it's like to visit Mars on Earth

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter can be seen on Mars as viewed by the Perseverance rover's rear Hazard Camera on April 4, 2021, the 44th Martian day, or sol of the mission.

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter survives first freezing night on Mars

Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly of NASA rest in a chair outside of the Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft just minutes after he and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov of Roscosmos landed in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, March 2, 2016 (Kazakh time). Kelly and Kornienko completed an International Space Station record year-long mission to collect valuable data on the effect of long duration weightlessness on the human body that will be used to formulate a human mission to Mars. Volkov returned after spending six months on the station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Space travel altered Kelly's chromosomes

Astronauts get 'slimed' with Nickelodeon's goo -- in space

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 23: American Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson speaks onstage during the Onward18 Conference - Day 1 on October 23, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Onward18)

Neil deGrasse Tyson on stars, Santa's location and jokes for third graders

This image shows an artist's impression of what the surface of the 2I/Borisov comet might look like.
2I/Borisov was a visitor from another planetary system that passed by our Sun in 2019, allowing astronomers a unique view of an interstellar comet. While telescopes on Earth and in space captured images of this comet, we don't have any close-up observations of 2I/Borisov. It is therefore up to artists to create their own ideas of what the comet's surface might look like, based on the scientific information we have about it.

A rare interstellar comet reveals its secrets and 5 other top space and science stories this week

Leland Melvin's now-famous NASA portrait featuring his two rescue dogs, Jake and Scout, who he secretly smuggled into NASA for the photoshoot.

What it's like to attend 'Space Club' with astronauts and planetary explorers

This image shows an artist's impression of what the surface of the 2I/Borisov comet might look like.

2I/Borisov was a visitor from another planetary system that passed by our Sun in 2019, allowing astronomers a unique view of an interstellar comet. While telescopes on Earth and in space captured images of this comet, we don't have any close-up observations of 2I/Borisov. It is therefore up to artists to create their own ideas of what the comet's surface might look like, based on the scientific information we have about it.

Pristine interstellar comet came from a system containing giant planets

SpaceX Mars rocket prototype explodes during test flight

The Worm Supermoon will peak Sunday afternoon and is the fourth closest supermoon of 2021.

See the 'Worm' supermoon glow in the sky this weekend

IN SPACE - JULY 12: In this handout photo provided by NASA, Expedition 44 flight engineer and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is seen inside the Cupola, a special module which provides a 360-degree viewing of the Earth and the International Space Station July 12, 2015 in space. Kelly is one of two crew members spending an entire year in space. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images)

This is how the human heart adapts to space

Ingenuity Mars helicopter to take flight and 5 other top space and science stories this week

The Ingenuity helicopter carried a piece of Wright brothers history to Mars

Mission to clean up space junk with magnets set for launch

There is little research to back reports of northern lights sounds. So what are people hearing?

Astronauts relocated a spacecraft outside the International Space Station

Ingenuity Mars helicopter prepares for the first flight on another planet

Ingenuity Mars helicopter: The historic journey to fly on another planet

Scientists have discovered X-rays coming from Uranus

Watch yet another SpaceX prototype explode

Artist rendering of a touchdown impact event over Antarctica.

A meteorite exploded in the air above Antarctica 430,000 years ago

VSS Imagine, the first SpaceShip III in the Virgin Galactic fleet.

Virgin Galactic unveils mirror-coated space plane known as 'Spaceship III'

A rendering of NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars. The probe is due to arrive at the red planet in February 2021.

See NASA's big plans for its new Mars rover, Perseverance

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover used two cameras to create this selfie in front of Mont Mercou, a rock outcrop that stands 20 feet (6 meters) tall.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Mars Curiosity rover takes selfie with 'Mont Mercou'

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is giving astronomers a view of changes in Saturn's vast and turbulent atmosphere as the planet's northern hemisphere summer transitions to fall as shown in this series of images taken in 2018, 2019 and 2020 (left to right).

Hubble spies colorful change of seasons on Saturn

These images represent radar observations of asteroid 99942 Apophis on March 8, 9, and 10, 2021, as it made its last close approach before its 2029 Earth encounter that will see the object pass our planet by less than 325 000 kilometres.
NASA Deep Space Network's Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California, and the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia used radar to precisely track Apophis' motion, gathering data that rules out any chance of Earth impact for at least a century.

Asteroid Apophis won't impact Earth for at least a century, NASA finds

From ESO: The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, who produced the first ever image of a black hole, has today revealed a new view of the massive object at the centre of the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy: how it looks in polarised light. This is the first time astronomers have been able to measure polarisation, a signature of magnetic fields, this close to the edge of a black hole. The observations are key to explaining how the M87 galaxy, located 55 million light-years away, is able to launch energetic jets from its core.

New image reveals supermassive black hole's swirling magnetic field

Do octopuses dream? Maybe. But they definitely change colors while they sleep

This photo shows the view from inside the dome of NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility during a night of observing. The 3.2-meter (10.5-foot) telescope atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea will be used to measure the infrared spectrum of asteroid 2001 FO32.

Largest asteroid to pass by Earth this year will be moving unusually fast

NASA successfully tests SLS rocket that will help Artemis astronauts reach the moon

NASA's Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image using its onboard left Navigation Camera (Navcam). The camera is located high on the rover's mast and aids in driving. This image was acquired on Mar. 7, 2021.

Hear the Perseverance rover's wheels crunch across the Martian surface

Artist's concept of the 'Oumuamua interstellar object as a pancake-shaped disk.

Interstellar object ʻOumuamua may be a fragment of Pluto-like planet

Scientists were stunned to find twigs, leaves and mosses among the dirt drilled up from beneath mile-thick ice in northwestern Greenland in the 1960s.

Top secret Cold War project turned up plants that once thrived beneath mile-deep Greenland ice

Early Archean Earth Caption: An artist's rendition of the early Earth environment. Lightning generated by storms and volcanic plumes frequently strikes volcanic rocks. The lightning strikes create fulgurites which contain phosphorus in a form that can be dissolved in water and concentrate in waters like volcanic ponds. Here, the phosphorus is able to form biomolecules which help lead to the emergence of life.

Lightning may have sparked life on Earth

Amara Mustard plants are pictured growing inside the Veggie space botany research facility aboard the International Space Station. The Veg-03 investigation is exploring how to grow food in space and assesses the impact of space gardening on crew morale and mood.

Previously unknown bacteria discovered on the space station could help grow plants

Galaxy J0437+2456 is thought to be home to a supermassive, moving black hole.
Credit: Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)

Supermassive black hole spotted wandering through space

NASA astronauts conduct fifth spacewalk of 2021

$The hazy atmosphere of the Earth-size rocky exoplanet GJ 1132 b contains a toxic mix of hydrogen, methane, and hydrogen, methane, and hydrogen cyanide. These gasses may come from molten lava beneath the planet's thin crust. The gravitational pull from another planet in the system likely fractures GJ 1132 b's surface to resemble a cracked eggshell.$

This planet morphed from one type to another — and formed a second atmosphere

Combining two images, this mosaic shows a close-up view of the rock target named "Yeehgo" from the SuperCam instrument on NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars. The component images were taken by SuperCam's Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) on March 7, 2021 (the 16th Martian day, or sol, of Perseverance's mission on Mars). To be compatible with the rover's software, "Yeehgo" is an alternative spelling of "Yéigo," the Navajo word for diligent.

Perseverance rover sends back sounds of zapping rocks on Mars

Rare meteorite that fell on UK driveway may contain 'ingredients for life'

Elysia cf. marginata sea slugs can decapitate their head and regrow their body in a matter of weeks.

These sea slugs can self-decapitate and grow a new body

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Scientist explains how massive Siberian craters are formed

This artist's impression shows how the distant quasar P172+18 and its radio jets may have looked. To date (early 2021), this is the most distant quasar with radio jets ever found and it was studied with the help of ESO's Very Large Telescope. It is so distant that light from it has travelled for about 13 billion years to reach us: we see it as it was when the Universe was only about 780 million years old.

Most distant cosmic jet discovered 13 billion light-years away

Within the Mobile Quarantine Facility, Apollo 11 astronauts (left to right) Michael Collins, Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. and Neil A. Armstrong relax following their successful lunar landing mission. They spent two-and-one-half days in the quarantine trailer enroute from the USS Hornet, prime recovery ship, to the Lunar Receiving Laboratory at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. The Hornet docked at Pearl Harbor where the trailer was transferred to a jet aircraft for the flight to Houston.

The Apollo 11 astronauts quarantined after returning to Earth. Here's why

This image was taken during the first drive of NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars on March 4, 2021. The team has spent the weeks since landing checking out the rover to prepare for surface operations.

Perseverance rover takes its first drive on Mars, sends back image

This image was taken during the first drive of NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars on March 4, 2021. The team has spent the weeks since landing checking out the rover to prepare for surface operations.

NASA releases stunning new images from Mars

(Feb. 28, 2021) --- NASA astronaut Kate Rubins is pictured during a spacewalk to install solar array modification kits on the International Space Station. The maintenance work will support new, more powerful solar arrays that will be delivered on upcoming SpaceX Dragon cargo missions.

Astronauts Kate Rubins and Soichi Noguchi conduct 4th career spacewalk

The best time to view the Jupiter-Mercury conjunction is early Friday morning in the Southern Hemisphere.

See Jupiter and Mercury align in the sky and an asteroid flyby this weekend

The seven-member Expedition 64 crew poses for a portrait inside the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory module from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Module). From left are, NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, Victor Glover and Kate Rubins; Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov; NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins; and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi. Glover and Hopkins are wearing white uniforms that commemorate the NASA human spaceflight programs Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Apollo-Soyuz, Space Shuttle, Shuttle-Mir, International Space Station and Commercial Crew.

NASA astronaut launches stop for nothing -- not even a pandemic. Here's how they did it

As part of a Mars sample return mission, a rocket will carry a container of sample tubes with Martian rock and soil samples into orbit around Mars and release it for pick up by another spacecraft. This illustration shows a concept for a Mars Ascent Vehicle (left) releasing a sample container (right) high above the Martian surface.
NASA and the European Space Agency are solidifying concepts for a Mars sample return mission after NASA's Mars 2020 rover collects rock and soil samples and stores them in sealed tubes on the planet's surface for potential future return to Earth.
NASA will deliver a Mars lander in the vicinity of Jezero Crater, where Mars 2020 will have collected and cached samples. The lander will carry a NASA rocket (the Mars Ascent Vehicle) along with an ESA Sample Fetch Rover that is roughly the size of NASA's Opportunity Mars rover. The fetch rover will gather the cached samples and carry them back to the lander for transfer to the ascent vehicle; additional samples could also be delivered directly by Mars 2020. The ascent vehicle will then launch from the surface and deploy a special container holding the samples into Mars orbit.
ESA will put a spacecraft in orbit around Mars before the ascent vehicle launches. This spacecraft will rendezvous with and capture the orbiting samples before returning them to Earth. NASA will provide the payload module for the orbiter.
Credit
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Perseverance will search for ancient life on Mars. These places are next

Neanderthals could hear and make the same sounds as humans, new research suggests

NASA spacewalker and Expedition 64 Flight Engineer Victor Glover works to ready the International Space station's port-side truss structures during a spacewalk on Jan. 27, 2021, in preparation for upcoming solar array upgrades.

Astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover conducted a Sunday spacewalk

This annotated image was taken by a parachute-up-look camera aboard the protective back shell of NASA's Perseverance rover during its descent toward Mars' Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021. Using binary code, two messages have been encoded in the neutral white and international-orange parachute gores (the sections that make up the canopy's hemispherical shape).

'Dare mighty things': The man behind the secret message in the Mars rover's parachute

The Snow Moon can be seen annually in February and marks important holidays in the Lunar calendar.

Full moon in February 2021: When to see the Snow Moon

Hungry teenage tyrants help explain puzzling fact about dinosaur diversity

New Mars image from rover landing site shows the red planet in high definition

When flying past Venus in July 2020, Parker Solar Probe's WISPR instrument, short for Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe, detected a bright rim around the edge of the planet that may be nightglow — light emitted by oxygen atoms high in the atmosphere that recombine into molecules in the nightside. The prominent dark feature in the center of the image is Aphrodite Terra, the largest highland region on the Venusian surface. Bright streaks in WISPR, such as the ones seen here, are typically caused by a combination of charged particles — called cosmic rays — sunlight reflected by grains of space dust, and particles of material expelled from the spacecraft's structures after impact with those dust grains. The number of streaks varies along the orbit or when the spacecraft is traveling at different speeds, and scientists are still in discussion about the specific origins of the streaks here. The dark spot appearing on the lower portion of Venus is an artifact from the WISPR instrument.

Amazing close-up of Venus captured by NASA Parker Solar Probe

NASA spacewalker and Expedition 64 Flight Engineer Victor Glover works to ready the International Space station's port-side truss structures during a spacewalk on Jan. 27, 2021, in preparation for upcoming solar array upgrades.

Astronauts will conduct a spacewalk this Sunday

This annotated image was taken by a parachute-up-look camera aboard the protective back shell of NASA's Perseverance rover during its descent toward Mars' Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021. Using binary code, two messages have been encoded in the neutral white and international-orange parachute gores (the sections that make up the canopy's hemispherical shape).

The inspiring hidden message in the Mars Perseverance rover's parachute

Two teens discovered four new exoplanets and wrote a peer-reviewed paper — all before graduating from high school.

How 2 teenagers discovered 4 scientifically valuable exoplanets

A Martian experiment in our sky: Earth microbes could temporarily survive on Mars, study says

NASA shares first video and audio, new images from Mars Perseverance rover

Traditional Owner Ian Waina inspecting a painting of a kangaroo that we now know is more than 12,700 years old, based on the age of overlying mud wasp nests.

Kangaroo painted over 17,000 years ago is Australia's oldest known rock art, scientists say

Traditional Owner Ian Waina inspecting a painting of a kangaroo that we now know is more than 12,700 years old, based on the age of overlying mud wasp nests.

Kangaroo painted over 17,000 years ago is Australia's oldest known rock art, scientists say