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| Stardust is the first U.S. mission dedicated solely to a comet and will be the first to return extraterrestrial material from outside the orbit of the Moon. Stardust's main objective is to capture a sample from a well-preserved comet called Wild-2 (pronounced "Vilt-2"). |
Viewed: 2735 times
01/14/09 |
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| Jason 1 is an oceanography mission to monitor global ocean circulation, study the ties between the oceans and atmosphere, improve global climate forecasts and predictions, and monitor events such as El Niño conditions and ocean eddies. |
Viewed: 2370 times
01/14/09 |
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| SeaWinds on Advanced Earth Observation Satellite 2. Radar study of near-surface ocean winds |
Viewed: 2022 times
01/14/09 |
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| Kepler, a NASA Discovery mission, is a spaceborne telescope designed to look for Earth-like planets around stars beyond our solar system. Scheduled to launch in 2007, Kepler will hunt for planets using a specialized one-meter diameter telescope called a photometer to measure the small changes in brightness caused by the transits. |
Viewed: 2316 times
01/14/09 |
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| Dawn's goal is to characterize the conditions and processes of the solar system's earliest epoch by investigating in detail two of the largest protoplanets remaining intact since their formations. Ceres and Vesta reside in the extensive zone between Mars and Jupiter together with many other smaller bodies, called the asteroid belt. |
Viewed: 2311 times
01/14/09 |
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| Smart Lander and Long-range Mars Rover, with landing and hazard avoidance capabilities. NASA is studying options to launch this mobile science laboratory mission as early as 2007. |
Viewed: 1950 times
01/14/09 |
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| Deep Impact is a spacecraft that will travel to comet Tempel 1 and release a small impactor, creating a hole in the side of the comet. |
Viewed: 2026 times
01/14/09 |
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| Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI). Provides high-resolution images of many faint objects over a wide field-of-view, including galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field with 10 times the Hubble resolution. |
Viewed: 2291 times
01/14/09 |
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| Hawaii's Keck Observatory, World's Largest Ground-Based Telescope. |
Viewed: 2019 times
01/14/09 |
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| Aerogel heat shield demonstration, Low-density comet catcher on Stardust mission to collect comet dust and sample return. Even insulating from a torch, the matches won't heat up enough to ignite. |
Viewed: 1721 times
01/14/09 |
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| Comet Halley taken by the Giotto spacecraft in 1986 |
Viewed: 1519 times
01/14/09 |
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| Deep Space 1 encounter with comet Borrelly |
Viewed: 1626 times
01/14/09 |
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| Ion Engine. This image of a xenon ion engine, photographed through a port of the vacuum chamber where it was being tested at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, shows the faint blue glow of charged atoms being emitted from the engine. Part of the advanced propulsion for Deep Space Probes. |
Viewed: 1916 times
01/14/09 |
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| Galileo Spacecraft, Mission to Jupiter and its moons |
Viewed: 1517 times
01/14/09 |
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| Ulysses to study the environment around the Sun's north and south poles |
Viewed: 1453 times
01/14/09 |
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| Topex/Poseidon high-fidelity radar view of the changing heights of the seas |
Viewed: 1579 times
01/14/09 |
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| Cassini mission to Saturn. Onboard Cassini is a scientific probe called Huygens that will be released from the main spacecraft to parachute through the atmosphere to the surface of Saturn's largest and most interesting moon, Titan, which is shrouded by an opaque atmosphere. Titan's atmosphere includes organic compounds leading scientists to believe that the moon may be like a frozen vault of conditions similar to those on Earth before life began. The Cassini orbiter will also use imaging radar to map Titan's surface. |
Viewed: 1899 times
01/14/09 |
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| Mars Global Surveyor low-altitude, nearly polar orbit over Mars studying the entire surface, atmosphere and interior |
Viewed: 1426 times
01/14/09 |
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| Venera 14, Camera II, Russian lander on Venus, courtesy, click here |
Viewed: 1628 times
01/14/09 |
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| Venera 14, Camera I, Russian lander on Venus, courtesy, click here |
Viewed: 1750 times
01/14/09 |
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| Venera 14, Camera II, Russian lander on Venus, courtesy, click here |
Viewed: 2103 times
01/14/09 |
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| Venera 13, Camera II, Russian lander on Venus, courtesy, click here |
Viewed: 1895 times
01/14/09 |
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| Venera 14, Camera I, Russian lander on Venus, courtesy, click here |
Viewed: 4169 times
01/14/09 |
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| Aura Concept to investigate terrestrial atmosphere including ozone and trace chemistry |
Viewed: 1620 times
01/14/09 |
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| Artist's impression of ESA's Cluster spacecraft. Credit: ESA |
Viewed: 1429 times
01/14/09 |
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| The magnetosphere - a natural protective bubble. Credit: ESA |
Viewed: 1491 times
01/14/09 |
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| This aerogel array, which was mounted atop the Stardust spacecraft, was used to collect interstellar dust particles as well as dust from the tail of comet Wild 2. Credit: Berkeley |
Viewed: 1545 times
01/14/09 |
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| Artist's conception of Stardust spacecraft collecting dust from the tail of comet Wild 2. (NASA images) |
Viewed: 1454 times
01/14/09 |
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| In an experiment using a special air gun, particles shot into aerogel at high velocities leave carrot-shaped trails in the substance. Credit: Berkeley |
Viewed: 1509 times
01/14/09 |
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| Retrieving the stardust capsule |
Viewed: 1421 times
01/14/09 |
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| Venus conference cake |
Viewed: 1519 times
01/14/09 |
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HMS Challenger. On 21 December 1872 the Challenger sailed from Portsmouth on a 3-year voyage of marine exploration which laid the foundations of oceanography.
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Viewed: 1816 times
01/14/09 |
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| Artist's conception of the Mars Science Laboratory rover using ChemCam to analyze a rock. Image Credit: French Space Agency (CNES) and Los Alamos National Laboratory. |
Viewed: 1532 times
01/14/09 |
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| Artist's conception of the Mars Science Laboratory moving across the planet surface. Image credit:NASA |
Viewed: 1453 times
01/14/09 |
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| Lyon, France, location of the 2006 European workshop on Astrobiology |
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01/14/09 |
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| Artist's concept of Mars Global Surveyor. Image credit: NASA/JPL |
Viewed: 1341 times
01/14/09 |
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Smart dust is able to maneuver by changing shape. Roughening the surface causes increased drag on the smart dust particle and it floats higher in the air; conversely, smoothing out the surface causes the particle to sink.
Credit: Glasgow University |
Viewed: 1633 times
01/14/09 |
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his image shows one example of dust particle components that have a size of 63 mm cubed.
Credit: UC Berkeley/Peter Menzel Photography |
Viewed: 1350 times
01/14/09 |
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NASA's Kepler mission will not only help in the search for extrasolar planets, but
will also study the rotation periods of the stars that host them.
Credit: NASA
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01/14/09 |
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MIT postdoctoral associate Aaron Edsinger gets some help from Domo, an assistive
robot he has been developing for the last three years.
Credit: Donna Coveney
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01/14/09 |
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An assistive robot has to be able to sense when a human is touching it. Domo has
springs in its arms, hands and neck that can sense force and respond to it.
Credit: Donna Coveney |
Viewed: 1417 times
01/14/09 |
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Image of the planet Jupiter's moon, Io, as seen by the New Horizons
spacecraft. A plume from a huge volcanic eruption can be seen at the
north pole of the moon. Click image to enlarge.
Credit: NASA/JHUAPL
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Viewed: 1564 times
01/14/09 |
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| Conceptual drawing of a Mars base based on bio-power. A greenhouse, microbial fuel cells, and algal growing compartments are all visible. Image by Chris Lund (c) IntAct Labs |
Viewed: 1518 times
01/14/09 |
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| Schematic of a microbial fuel cell. Microbes in the anode compartment metabolize organic fuel (in this case glucose) and release electrons, ions and C02. In the cathode compartment Electrons combine with ions and oxygen to form water and close the circuit. (c) IntAct Labs |
Viewed: 1909 times
01/14/09 |
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| Schematic drawing showing the extent of the Zacatón sinkhole system. Credit: Marcus Gary |
Viewed: 1398 times
01/14/09 |
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| John Spear, in kayak, paddles out to greet DEPTHX as it is lowered into Cenote Zacatón. Credit: Henry Bortman |
Viewed: 1373 times
01/14/09 |
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| Cenote El Zacatón, the world´ deepest water-filled sinkhole. Credit: Art Palmer |
Viewed: 1336 times
01/14/09 |
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| Bacterial mats like this one cover the walls of the sinkholes in the Zacatón system. Credit: Marcus Gary |
Viewed: 1299 times
01/14/09 |
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NASA's Dawn mission will visit two of the first bodies formed in our
solar system: the "dwarf planet" Ceres and the massive asteroid Vesta.
Credit: NASA
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Viewed: 1395 times
01/14/09 |
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In this image, workers secure the attachments of the Dawn spacecraft
onto the upper stage booster of the Delta II launch vehicle.
Credit: NASA, George Shelton
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Viewed: 1226 times
01/14/09 |
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