Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Aerospace

Curiosity Lands Safely on Mars

Curiosity

Congratulations to NASA and JPL team for the safe landing of the Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory.

Mission Information courtesy JPL/NASA:

Mission name: Mars Science Laboratory

Rover name: Curiosity rover

Size: About the size of a small SUV — 10 feet long (not including the arm), 9 feet wide and 7 feet tall — (about 3 meters long (not including the arm), 2.7 meters wide, and 2.2 meters tall), or about the height of a basketball player.

Arm Reach: About 7 feet (2.2 meters)

Weight: 900 kilograms (2,000 pounds)

Features: Geology lab, rocker-bogie suspension, rock-vaporizing laser and lots of cameras

Mission: To search areas of Mars for past or present conditions favorable for life, and conditions capable of preserving a record of life

Launch:
7:02 a.m. PST, Nov. 26, 2011
(10:02 a.m. EST)

Landing:
10:31 p.m. PDT, Aug. 5, 2012
(1:31 a.m. EDT, Aug. 6, 2012)

Length of mission on Mars: The prime mission will last one Mars year or about 23 Earth months.

Image courtesy JPL/NASA. Click to enlarge

06 Aug 2012 by Aerospace Science

Solar Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)

cme-still.jpgI just love these 3D colorized graphics that depict the motion of solar events in space. This one shows a CME directed almost directly toward Earth and Mars. Click on the image at right to view the animated CME path as forecast.

From SpaceWeather.com:

CME TARGETS EARTH, MARS:

A coronal mass ejection (CME) launched from the sun on Feb. 24th appears set to hit both Earth and Mars. According to analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the cloud should reach Earth today, Feb. 26th around 1330 UT, followed by Mars two days later. Click to view the CME’s animated forecast track.

26 Feb 2012 by Aerospace Astronomy Environment

Solar Radiation Storm and CME

These colorful solar animations are always very interesting to me. Click animation below to view full-sized version.

From SpaceWeather.com:

A radiation storm that began on Nov. 26th when a magnetic filament erupted on the sun is subsiding. Nevertheless, the Earth-effects are just beginning. The same explosion that caused the radiation storm also hurled a CME into space at about 930 km/s (2 million mph). According to analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the CME will reach our planet on Nov. 28th at 17:21 UT (+/- 7 hours).

solar-rad-cme.gif

28 Nov 2011 by Aerospace Astronomy Environment Rocket Science

Solar Plasma Flow

This video compresses about an hour of solar activity around a sunspot to a little over ten seconds.

Via APOD:

The Sun’s surface keeps changing. The above movie shows how the Sun’s surface oozes during a single hour. The Sun’s photosphere has thousands of bumps called granules and usually a few dark depressions called sunspots.

06 Nov 2011 by Aerospace Astronomy Environment

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