MetaFilter posts tagged with Space and JPL

Taller than a HiRISE

Chinese Jet Pilot — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 13:13:57 -0800

Just a photo of a half-mile tall Martian dust devil, snapped by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Dawn orbits Vesta

Argyle — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 17:49:21 -0800

Dawn spacecraft now orbits asteroid Vesta - After almost 4 years of space travel, the Dawn spacecraft successfully entered orbit around Vesta, an Arizona sized rock. Dawn tweets, takes pictures, and there is a Vesta Fiesta party to celebrate. After hanging out at Vesta for a year, Dawn will head off to visit the Ceres asteroid next, a three year trip. Amazing achievement of engineering, innovation and accuracy.

WISE: Beyond Hubble

zarq — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 22:15:47 -0800

On July 17th, NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite completed its first survey of the entire sky viewable from Earth. After just seven months in orbit, WISE -- a precursor to the planned James Webb Space Telescope -- has returned more than a million images that provide a close look at celestial objects ranging from dist ant galaxies to asteroids. The first release of WISE data, covering about 80 percent of the sky, will be delivered to the astronomical community in May of next year, but in the meantime we can see some of the images and animations that NASA has released to date: Galleries (containing just a small selection of images): 1, 2, 3, 4. Videos and Animations: 1, 2 The WISE mission can be followed on Twitter and Facebook. There is an rss feed for images here.

How to land at the Martian north pole.

Brandon Blatcher — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:22:55 -0800

Seven minutes of terror. A short video on describing how the Phoenix probe will land at the North Pole of Mars on May 25th. Follow updates to the mission via Twitter and the blog. Previously

Dear Earth: Send More Chuck Berry

Hadroed — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 00:29:11 -0800

The Golden Record: Hear what the aliens will hear.
30 years ago today, a collection of images and sound recordings engraved on a record was launched toward the stars. The playlist covers an amazing collection of music, and has been called the Mix Tape of the Gods.

Stunning Saturn/Dione Photo

brownpau — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 20:40:31 -0800

Stunningly beautiful photo of Dione and Saturn with rings. Such a sensation of depth and grandeur. Thanks, Cassini/JPL/NASA. [animation] [planetary photojournal entry] [B/W mirror from kokogiak] [now you play fun Flash spaceship game].

Nice Cans!

loquacious — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 18:23:07 -0800

How to build a Deep Space Network station. Via: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Cassini Flies by Tethys

brownpau — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 20:04:59 -0800

Cassini Flies by Tethys and Hyperion, and the photos so far have been awesome and weird. I especially want to point out this fascinating view, which, if you look at it closely, reveals what appears to be a string of small impact craters, in a straight line over older terrain. What kind of meteor impact could have produced such an excellent formation of craters? Hyperion photos are coming. (Kokogiak's got backup in case the JRUNS strike.)

Spirit photographs Phobos and Deimos

brownpau — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 22:33:01 -0800

Two Moons Passing in the Night. Mars rover Spirit took these sequential photos of Martian moons Phobos and Deimos passing overhead in the night sky. Those rovers are still going strong!

Cassini Photos of Saturn's Rings and Moons

brownpau — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 14:24:48 -0800

Rocks Among the Rings. The Planetary Society's Emily Lakdawalla has compiled some of the loveliest imagery of Saturn's ring-and-moon system from Cassini. More on Saturn from the Planetary Society here. Also see the Cassini at Saturn photoset, from our very own kokogiak, and watch for updates on the latest Enceladus flyby.

Saturn Orbit Insertion

brownpau — Thu, 01 Jul 2004 14:47:20 -0800

"Standard orbit, aye, sir." Following a nail-biting ring-plane crossing and 96-minute engine burn, Cassini has arrived, and is now in orbit around Saturn, 84 light-minutes away, sending in the first closeup pictures of the planet's rings. Also see the Planetary Society's details on the Orbit Insertion, Spaceflight Now's mission updates in weblog-like format, and raw images from the spacecraft as they come. Kudos, JPL! (Aside: the press has yet to tire of Lord of the Rings references.)

The Mars Bunny

brownpau — Fri, 05 Mar 2004 13:12:05 -0800

NASA and the Mars Bunny. I first heard about it from our own kokogiak. Then the conspiracy theorists: "They're destroying the evidence!" But now NASA has come out to tell us, "It's probably just airbag material."

Voyager at 90 AU

brownpau — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 12:04:06 -0800

Far, far away. Today, Voyager 1 will reach 90 AU from the sun, around which distance it is expected to cross the "termination shock," finally crossing into the fuzzy boundary between the heliosphere and true interstellar space. (Yes, it's taken that long to get there.) Some even think that the termination shock has already been reached, but then re-expanded past the spacecraft. Tears need not be shed yet for these distant explorers: both Voyagers have juice till about 2020, and the mission remains very much alive. (No word, however, on a possible return to the Creator.)

Oh, the humanity!

konolia — Tue, 02 Sep 2003 13:07:13 -0800

Asteroid orbits Enter the designation or name of any asteroid or comet, and a 3D orbit visualization tool will appear for that object. If Chicken Little had this link he might have calmed down a little. Or not...Find out if your favorite asteroid is about to rock your world.