Archive for September, 2009

More pictures were released by NASA that show the H-II Transfer Vehicle, again from the 17th of September. Though only two this time folks, enjoy just the same.

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On June 2, 1966, America landed on the moon. No I’m not referring to the more famous manned mission, I’m talking about the first soft landing on a celestial body by the United States. Achieved by the Surveyor 1 spacecraft. It wasn’t the first soft landing on the moon by a manned made object though, the Russians got there first in February of the same year. Luna 9 landed on February 3, 1966.

Below though is a picture taken by another American made spacecraft, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Shown below, is the Surveyor 1 lander on the moon.

Yes the image is blown up, but keep in mind that the Surveyor 1 lander is 14 feet 1 inches wide, and 10 feet in height. LRO is orbiting some 31 miles above the moon.

The Terra satellite has taken another picture of the Rabaul Volcano, more than two weeks after the last photo-like picture snapped by the Aqua satellite on September 10th.

Rabaul Volcano emitted a plume of ash and steam on the morning of September 30, 2009. This minor eruption continues a period of intermittent activity at the volcano that began in August of 2006. According to the Joint Air Force & Army Weather Information Network, the plume extended up to 150 kilometers (90 miles) northwest of Rabaul’s summit. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image of the eruption.

Rabaul is a pyroclastic shield volcano. Composed from broken rocks and debris from earlier eruptions, it has a wide perimeter and low profile. Before a major 1994 eruption that forced a large-scale evacuation, Rabaul had served as a natural harbor for the city of the same name.

NASA image courtesy MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Robert Simmon and Michon Scott.

Ares progress report on the Constellation program.

Another typhoon, taken as always the MODIS instrument.

Tropical Storm Parma headed westward over the Pacific Ocean, en route to the northern Philippines on September 30, 2009. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image the same day. Parma’s eye appears in the right half of this image, and the storm appears to throw long arms toward the northwestwest.

A September 30 report from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center stated that Tropical Storm Parma had maximum sustained winds of 75 knots (roughly 140 kilometers per hour) with gusts up to 90 knots (almost 170 kilometers per hour). The storm was expected to overlap the northern Philippines, already reeling from the worst floods in decades brought by Tropical Storm Ketsana.

Picture of the Soyuz TMA-16 launch that happened at 3:14 a.m. EST this morning.

Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Another image from the MESSENGER spacecraft of Mercury, bringing them to you as they’re posted.

This unnamed impact basin was seen for the first time yesterday during MESSENGER’s third flyby of Mercury. The outer diameter of the basin is approximately 260 kilometers (160 miles). This basin has a double-ring structure common to basins with diameters larger than 200 kilometers (about 125 miles). The floor of the basin consists of smooth plains material. Concentric troughs, formed by surface extension, are visible on the basin floor, similar to those seen in Raditladi basin. Such troughs are rare on Mercury, and the discovery of such features in this newly imaged basin is of great interest to members of the MESSENGER Science Team. Crater chains produced during ejecta emplacement also can be seen emanating from the basin.

Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Part two of a six part video series looking at how NASA satellites help us make better decisions on food production.

Latest photos of the planet Mercury. The Narrow Angle Camera was used to capture these stunning pictures as the MESSENGER spacecraft approached and flew by the planet. This is the NASA spacecraft’s third and final flyby of the planet, which will enter orbit in 2011.

Date Acquired: September 25, 2009

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Video of the successful launch of the Soyuz TMA-16. This flight carried Commander and cosmonaut Maksim Surayev, NASA astronaunt and Flight Engineer Jeffrey Williams, and Guy Laliberté, Canada’s first space tourist. This is Maksim Surayev’s first flight, Jeffrey Williams third, and Guy Laliberté’s first as well if it wasn’t clear already.