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Juno: Exploring Jupiter’s Intense Radiation

Since 2011, our Juno spacecraft has been heading towards Jupiter, where it will study the gas giant’s atmosphere, aurora, gravity and magnetic field. Along the way, Juno has had to deal with the radiation that permeates space.

All of space is filled with particles, and when these particles get moving at high speeds, they’re called radiation. We study space radiation to better protect spacecraft as they travel through space, as well as to understand how this space environment influences planetary evolution. Once at Jupiter, Juno will have a chance to study one of the most intense radiation environments in our solar system.

Near worlds with magnetic fields – like Earth and Jupiter – these fast-moving particles can get trapped inside the magnetic fields, creating donut-shaped swaths of radiation called radiation belts.

Jupiter’s radiation belts – the glowing areas in the animation below – are especially intense, with particles so energetic that they zip up and down the belts at nearly the speed of light.

Earth also has radiation belts, but they aren’t nearly as intense as Jupiter’s – why? First, Jupiter’s magnetic field is much stronger than Earth’s, meaning that it traps and accelerates faster particles.

Second, while both Earth’s and Jupiter’s radiation belts are populated with particles from space, Jupiter also has a second source of particles – its volcanically active moon Io. Io’s volcanoes constantly release plumes of particles that are energized by Jupiter’s magnetic field. These fast particles get trapped in Jupiter’s radiation belts, making the belts that much stronger and more intense.  

In addition to studying this vast space environment, Juno engineers had to take this intense radiation into consideration when building the spacecraft. The radiation can cause instruments to degrade, interfere with measurements, and can even give the spacecraft itself an electric charge – not good for something with so many sensitive electronics.  

Since we know Jupiter is a harsh radiation environment, we designed Juno with protections in place to keep it safe. Most of Juno’s electronics live inside a half-inch-thick titanium vault, where most of the radiation can’t reach them. We also planned Juno’s orbit to swoop in very close to Jupiter’s surface, underneath the most intense pockets of radiation in Jupiter’s radiation belts.

Juno arrives at Jupiter on July 4th. Throughout its time orbiting the planet, it will send back data on Jupiter’s magnetic field and energetic particles, helping us understand this intense radiation environment better than ever before.

For updates on the Juno mission, follow the spacecraft on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Tumblr.

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Will there be a livestream to the solar eclipse on the NASA website?

Yup! We’ll have a live stream up https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/eclipse-live-stream They I believe will also be covering events that are happening across the US. A bunch of my office mates here are going across the US to help with the coverage and to collect data! It should be incredibly exciting! 

Excited about the #CountdownToMars? We've got you covered.

We've created a virtual Mars photo booth, 3D rover experience and more for you to put your own creative touch on wishing Perseverance well for her launch to the Red Planet! Check it out, HERE. 

Don’t forget to mark the July 30 launch date on your calendars! 

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For NASA, Earth Day is Every Day!

With a fleet of spacecraft orbiting our home planet collecting data on everything from the air we breathe to natural disasters that impact our lives, Earth is always in focus. Join us as we celebrate our home with beautiful views from our unique vantage point of space.

On December 17, 1972, the crew of Apollo 17 snapped this iconic image of planet Earth. Dubbed the Blue Marble, this image was taken as Apollo 17 rocketed toward the moon. 

On the way to the moon or from the surface of Mars, our spacecraft have photographed the beauty of Earth from many vantage points. In this image, the most powerful telescope orbiting Mars captured this view of Earth and its moon, showing continent-size detail on the planet and the relative size of the moon. The image combines two separate exposures taken on November 20, 2016, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on our Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. 

In this image taken on July 19, 2013, the wide-angle camera on our Cassini spacecraft captured Saturn's rings and our planet Earth and its moon in the same frame.

Our Suomi-NPP satellite also observed the Earth at night. Earth’s "night lights" often have a gee-whiz curiosity for the public , but have also served as a tool for fundamental research for nearly 25 years. They have provided a broad, beautiful picture, showing how humans have shaped the planet and lit up the darkness. 

You can be mesmerized by the constant swirls in these visualizations of ocean currents. The swirling flows of tens of thousands of ocean currents were captured using the largest computations of their kind ever undertaken, using high-end computing resources at our Ames Research Center. 

We’ve all seen iconic photographs of Earth shot by astronauts. But even satellites and robotic spacecraft often get in on the act. The above image, called “Pale Blue Dot,” was taken Voyager 1 in February 1990 from a distance of 4 billion miles.

Our satellites do more than take pretty pictures of Earth. They do everything from measure rainfall to observe weather patterns. The ten satellites in the Global Precipitation Measurement Constellation have provided unprecedented information about rain and snow fall across the entire Earth. This visualization shows the constellation in action, taking precipitation measurements underneath the satellite orbits. 

In an homage to Apollo 17′s “Blue Marble” image, Suomi-NPP, a joint NASA-NOAA Earth-observing satellite, made this composite image, by making a number of swaths of Earth's surface on January 4, 2012. 

What’s your favorite aspect of planet Earth? These kids have their own ideas. You can even “adopt” parts of the planet. Which one of the 64,000 locations will you get? 

Our home planet is constantly changing, which is why our fleet of Earth-observing satellites continuously monitor the globe, recording every moment of what they see. Luckily for us, many of the views are not only deeply informative but also awe-inspiring. 

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What Space Weather Means for You

In space, invisible, fast-moving particles from the Sun and other sources in deep space zip around, their behavior shaped by dynamic electric and magnetic fields. There are so few of these particles that space is considered a vacuum, but what’s there packs a punch. Together, we call all of this invisible activity space weather — and it affects our technology both in space and here on Earth.

This month, two new missions are launching to explore two different kinds of space weather.

Scrambled signals

Many of our communications and navigation systems — like GPS and radio — rely on satellites to transmit their signals. When signals are sent from satellites down to Earth, they pass through a dynamic zone on the upper edge of Earth's atmosphere called the ionosphere.

Gases in the ionosphere have been cooked into a sea of positive- and negative-charged particles by solar radiation. These electrically charged particles are also mixed in with neutral gases, like the air we breathe. The charged particles respond to electric and magnetic fields, meaning they react to space weather. Regular weather can also affect this part of the atmosphere.

Influenced by this complicated web of factors, structured bubbles of charged gas sometimes form in this part of the atmosphere, particularly near the equator. When signals pass through these bubbles, they can get distorted, causing failed communications or inaccurate GPS fixes.

Right now, it's hard to predict just when these bubbles will form or how they'll mess with signals. The two tiny satellites of the E-TBEx mission will try to shed some light on this question.

As these CubeSats fly around Earth, they'll send radio signals to receiving stations on the ground. Scientists will examine the signals received in order to see whether — and if so, how much — they were jumbled as they traveled through the upper atmosphere and down to Earth.

All together, this information will give scientists a better idea of how these bubbles form and change and how much they disrupt signals — information that could help develop strategies for mitigating these bubbles' disruptive effects.

Damaged satellites

The high-energy, fast-moving particles that fill space are called radiation. Every single spacecraft — from scientific satellites sprinkled throughout the solar system to the communications satellites responsible for relaying the GPS signals we use every day — must weather the harsh radiation of space.

Strikes from tiny, charged particles can spark memory damage or computer upsets on spacecraft, and over time, degrade hardware. The effects are wide-ranging, but ultimately, radiation can impact important scientific data, or prevent people from getting the proper navigation signals they need.

Space Environment Testbeds — or SET, for short — is our mission to study how to better protect satellites from space radiation.

SET aims its sights on a particular neighborhood of near-Earth space called the slot region: the gap between two of Earth’s vast, doughnut-shaped radiation belts, also known as the Van Allen Belts. The slot region is thought to be calmer than the belts, but known to vary during extreme space weather storms driven by the Sun. How much it changes exactly, and how quickly, remains uncertain.

The slot region is an attractive one for satellites — especially commercial navigation and communications satellites that we use every day — because from about 12,000 miles up, it offers not only a relatively friendly radiation environment, but also a wide view of Earth. During intense magnetic storms, however, energetic particles from the outer belt can surge into the slot region. 

SET will survey the slot region, providing some of the first day-to-day weather measurements of this particular neighborhood in near-Earth space. The mission also studies the fine details of how radiation damages instruments and tests different methods to protect them, helping engineers build parts better suited for spaceflight. Ultimately, SET will help other missions improve their design, engineering and operations to avoid future problems, keeping our space technology running smoothly as possible.

For more on our space weather research, follow @NASASun on Twitter and NASA Sun Science on Facebook.

Meet the other NASA missions launching on the Department of Defense's STP-2 mission and get the latest updates at nasa.gov/spacex.

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Pew! Pew! Pew! 

Imagine slow-motion fireworks that started exploding 170 years ago and are still continuing. This type of firework is not launched into Earth's atmosphere, but rather into space by a doomed super-massive star, called Eta Carinae. 

Enjoy the the latest view from our Hubble Space Telescope. 

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More Space...in Space

How do you create more space…in space? The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is one solution to creating additional working space on the International Space Station.

BEAM will be deployed to its full size this Thursday, May 26, and begin its two-year technology demonstration attached to the space station. The astronauts aboard will first enter the habitat on June 2, and re-enter the module several times a year throughout the test period. While inside, they will retrieve sensor data and assess conditions inside the module.

Why Use an Expandable Habitat?

Expandable habitats are designed to take up less room on a spacecraft, but provide greater volume for living and working in space once expanded. This first test of an expandable module will allow investigators to gauge how well it performs and specifically, how well it protects against solar radiation, space debris and the temperature extremes of space.

BEAM launched April 8 aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft, and is an example of our increased commitment to partnering with industry to enable the growth of commercial use of space.

Get Involved!

During expansion, we will provide live Mission Control updates on NASA Television starting at 5:30 a.m. EDT on Thursday, May 26.

Make your own origaBEAMi!

To coincide with the expansion, here is a simple and fun activity called “origaBEAMi” that lets you build your own miniature inflatable BEAM module. Download the “crew procedures” HERE that contain step-by-step instructions on how to print and fold your BEAM module. You can also view a “how to” video HERE.

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Solar System: Things to Know This Week

Our solar system is huge, let us break it down for you. Here are a few things you should know this week: 

1. Closeup of a King

For the first time since it entered orbit around Jupiter in July, our Juno spacecraft has flown close to the king of planets—this time with its eyes wide open. During the long, initial orbit, Juno mission managers spent time checking out the spacecraft "from stem to stern," but the science instruments were turned off as a precaution. During this latest pass, Juno's camera and other instruments were collecting data the whole time. Initial reports show that all went well, and the team has released a new close-up view that Juno captured of Jupiter's north polar region. We can expect to see more close-up pictures of Jupiter and other data this week.

+Check in with Juno

2. Getting Ready to Rocket

Our OSIRIS-REx mission leaves Earth next week, the first leg of a journey that will take it out to an asteroid called Bennu. The mission will map the asteroid, study its properties in detail, then collect a physical sample to send back home to Earth. The ambitious endeavor is slated to start off on Sept. 8.

+See what it takes to prep for a deep space launch

3. New Moon Rising

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has already mapped the entire surface of Earth's moon in brilliant detail, but the mission isn't over yet. Lunar explorers still have questions, and LRO is poised to help answer them.

+See what’s next for the mission

4. A Mock-Eclipse Now

We don't have to wait until next year to see the moon cross in front of the sun. From its vantage point in deep space, our Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) sometimes sees just that. Such an event is expected on Sept. 1.

+See the latest sun pictures from SDO

5. Jupiter’s Cousins

Our galaxy is home to a bewildering variety of Jupiter-like worlds: hot ones, cold ones, giant versions of our own giant, pint-sized pretenders only half as big around. Astronomers say that in our galaxy alone, a billion or more such Jupiter-like worlds could be orbiting stars other than our sun. And we can use them to gain a better understanding of our solar system and our galactic environment, including the prospects for finding life.

Want to learn more? Read our full list of the 10 things to know this week about the solar system HERE. 

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10 Things: Mysterious 'Oumuamua

The interstellar object 'Oumuamua perplexed scientists in October 2017 as it whipped past Earth at an unusually high speed. This mysterious visitor is the first object ever seen in our solar system that is known to have originated elsewhere.  Here are five things we know and five things we don’t know about the first confirmed interstellar object to pass through our solar system.

1. We know it’s not from around here.

 The object known as 1I/2017 U1 (and nicknamed ‘Oumuamua) was traveling too fast (196,000 mph, that’s 54 miles per second or 87.3 kilometers per second) to have originated in our solar system. Comets and asteroids from within our solar system move at a slower speed, typically an average of 12 miles per second (19 kilometers per second) . In non-technical terms, 'Oumuamua is an “interstellar vagabond.”

Artist impression of the interstellar object ‘Oumuamua. Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, ESO, M. Kornmesser

2. We’re not sure where it came from.

'Oumuamua entered our solar system from the rough direction of the constellation Lyra, but it’s impossible to tell where it originally came from. Thousands of years ago, when 'Oumuamua started to wander from its parent planetary system, the stars were in a different position so it’s impossible to pinpoint its point of origin. It could have been wandering the galaxy for billions of years.

3. We know it’s out of here.

'Oumuamua is headed back out of our solar system and won’t be coming back. It’s rapidly headed in the direction of the constellation Pegasus and will cross the orbit of Neptune in about four years and cover one light year’s distance in about 11,000 years.

4. We don’t really know what it looks like.

We’ve only seen it as a speck of light through a telescope (it is far away and less than half a mile in length), but its unique rotation leads us to believe that it’s elongated like a cigar, about 10 times longer than it is wide. We can’t see it anymore. Artist’s concepts are the best guesses at what it might look like.

5. We know it got a little speed boost.

A rapid response observing campaign allowed us to watch as 'Oumuamua got an unexpected boost in speed. The acceleration slightly changed its course from earlier predictions.

“This additional subtle force on ′Oumuamua likely is caused by jets of gaseous material expelled from its surface,” said Davide Farnocchia of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “This same kind of outgassing affects the motion of many comets in our solar system.”

6. We know it’s tumbling.

Unusual variations in the comet’s brightness suggest it is rotating on more than one axis.

This illustration shows ‘Oumuamua racing toward the outskirts of our solar system. As the complex rotation of the object makes it difficult to determine the exact shape, there are many models of what it could look like. Credits: NASA/ESA/STScI

7. We don’t know what it’s made of.

Comets in our solar system kick off lots of dust and gas when they get close to the Sun, but 'Oumuamua did not, which led observers to consider defining it as an asteroid.

Karen Meech, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii’s Institute of Astronomy, said small dust grains, present on the surface of most comets, may have eroded away during ′Oumuamua's long journey through interstellar space. "The more we study ′Oumuamua, the more exciting it gets." she said. It could be giving off gases that are harder to see than dust, but it’s impossible to know at this point.

8. We knew to expect it.

Just not when. The discovery of an interstellar object has been anticipated for decades. The space between the stars probably has billions and billions of asteroids and comets roaming around independently. Scientists understood that inevitably, some of these small bodies would enter our own solar system. This interstellar visit by ‘Oumuamua reinforces our models of how planetary systems form.

9. We don’t know what it’s doing now.

After January 2018, 'Oumuamua was no longer visible to telescopes, even in space. But scientists continue to analyze the data gathered during the international observing campaign and crack open more mysteries about this unique interstellar visitor.

10. We know there’s a good chance we’ll see another one...eventually.

Because ′Oumuamua is the first interstellar object ever observed in our solar system, researchers caution that it’s difficult to draw general conclusions about this newly-discovered class of celestial bodies. Observations point to the possibility that other star systems regularly eject small comet-like objects and there should be more of them drifting among the stars. Future ground- and space-based surveys could detect more of these interstellar vagabonds, providing a larger sample for scientists to analyze. Adds, Karen Meech, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii’s Institute of Astronomy: “I can hardly wait for the next interstellar object!"

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Solar System: Things to Know This Week

From observing our moon to Saturn’s mini solar system …here are a few things you should know about our solar system this week:

1. What a Long, Strange—and Revealing—Trip It's Been

As the Cassini mission builds toward its climactic "Grand Finale," we’re taking a look back at the epic story of its journey among Saturn's mini-solar system of rings and moons.

+ Traverse the timeline

2. Our Very Own Moon

Unlike Saturn, Earth has only one moon. Let’s celebrate it! International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN) is a worldwide, public celebration of lunar science and exploration held annually. On Oct. 8, everyone on Earth is invited to observe and learn about the moon together, and to celebrate the cultural and personal connections we all have with it. 

+ Join in

3. What's Up, October?

Even more about Earth’s moon is the subject of this month's video guide for sky watchers and includes a look at the moon’s phases and when to observe them. Also featured are a guide to upcoming meteor showers and tips on how to catch a glimpse of Saturn.

+ Take a look

4. Nine Lives

Dawn's discoveries continue, even as the asteroid belt mission marks nine years in space. "For such an overachiever," writes Dawn's top scientist, "it's fitting that now, on its ninth anniversary, the spacecraft is engaged in activities entirely unimagined on its eighth."

+ Learn more

5. The Incredible Shrinking Mercury

It's small, it's hot, and it's shrinking. Research funded by us suggests that Mercury is contracting even today. This means we now know that Mercury joins Earth as a tectonically active planet.

+ Get the small details

Discover the full list of 10 things to know about our solar system this week HERE.

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