Top 10 Ways The Space Station Is Helping Get Us To Mars

REBLOG IF A VIDEO GAME ENDING HAS EVER MADE YOU CRY

(photos by Robdogbird)

@rasinblazin

this changes everything oh my god

do you understand why it trips me out that people can drive 45 minutes and be in aNOTHER COUNTRY? I drive for 45 minutes and im like

a city over 

I live in “Italy” and took a day trip to go to “Austria” and “Germany”

 #it is literally impossible to leave texas #you will be in texas #FOREVER

Chums, that’s sweet, and all, but Australia just ate Texas for breakfast. 

If you drive for 45 minutes in Australia you aren’t a city over, you’re just 45 minutes away from the city.

If you drive for 45 minutes in Australia you may not even leave the cattle station.

If you drive for 45 minutes in Canada you may not even leave your driveway.

If I drive 45 minutes in the us I’m just at another mcdonalds

If I drive for 45 minutes in Northern Ireland I’m 10 minutes into the sea.

I can’t drive. 

I will use this post to explain tumblr

Hiro:... Hey tadashi.

Tadashi: yeah?

Hiro: is that a mirror in your pants?

Tadashi: what?

Hiro: cause i can see me in 'em.

Tadashi:...

Tadashi:...

Hiro: well?

Tadashi:... Get out.

The giant pink lady is going to beat the boy on the floor with the fat puffy thing while the clear pointy-nosed thing guards him with an umbrella.

Someone who hasn’t seen Steven universe yet try to explain this scenario

Solar System: Top 5 Things to Know This Week

It’s only Tuesday and this week is already filled with news about our solar system. Here are the top five things to know this week:

1) Mars!

With five spacecraft in orbit and two rovers exploring the ground, there’s always something new and interesting about the Red Planet. Yesterday things got even more exciting when we released the most compelling evidence yet that liquid water sometimes flows on Mars today.

2) HTV-5 Cargo Ship

On Monday, the HTV-5 cargo ship was released from the International Space Station to burn up as it reenters Earth’s atmosphere. The HTV-5 carried a variety of experiments and supplies to the space station, and was docked for five weeks.

3) Pluto Continues to Excite

If you haven’t been keeping up with the weekly releases of newly downloaded pictures from our New Horizons spacecraft, you are definitely missing out. But don’t worry, we have you covered. The latest updates can be found HERE, be sure to follow along as new information is released. More images are scheduled to be featured on Oct. 1.

4) Cassini Mission

This week on Sept. 30, our Cassini spacecraft will reach the closest point to Saturn in it’s latest orbit around the planet. Just to put things in perspective, that will be Cassini’s 222nd orbit around Saturn! Learn more about this mission HERE.

5) What Happened to Mars’ Atmosphere?

Believe it or not, the Martian atmosphere we see today used to be much more substantial many years ago. What happened? Our Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft has been in orbit around Mars for one Earth year, searching for the answers. Learn more HERE.

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Water on Mars!

Did you hear? New findings from our Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars.

Using an imaging spectrometer on MRO, we found hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks are seen on Mars. One thing that researchers noticed was that the darkish streaks appear to ebb and flow over time. During warm seasons, they darken and then fade in cooler seasons.

When discovered in 2010, these downhill flows known as recurring slope lineae (RSL) were thought to be related to liquid water. With the recent spectral detection of molecular water, we’re able to say it’s likely a shallow subsurface flow explains the darkening.

Mars is so cold, how could liquid water flow there? Great question! Since this liquid water is briny, the freezing point would be lower than that of pure water. Also, these saline slopes appear on Mars when temperatures are above minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 Celsius).

The dark, narrow streaks flowing downhill in the below image are roughly the length of a football field.

So there’s water, but how much? Currently we think this area has a very small amount of water, probably just enough to wet the top layer of the surface of Mars. The streaks are around four to five meters wide and 200 to 300 meters long.

Could humans drink this water? The salts in the water appear to be perchlorates, so you probably wouldn’t want to drink the water. It would most likely be very salty and would need to be purified before human consumption.

Perchlorate…What is that? A perchlorate is a salt that absorbs water from the air. Learn more about how it’s helping us unlock the mysteries of Mars in this video:

What’s next? We want to look for more locations where brine flows may occur. We have only covered 3% of Mars at resolutions high enough to see these features.

For more information on the Mars announcement, visit our Journey to Mars landing page. There is also a full recap of the press conference HERE, and a short recap below.

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T-51 days (October 14) - OA-4 Cygnus service module arrives at KSC Marking a major milestone in its prelaunch processing flow, the service module for the Cygnus spacecraft’s return to flight arrived at Kennedy Space Center earlier this week. The pressurized cargo module for the OA-4 mission arrived at Kennedy in early August, and technicians have been checking out the module ahead of cargo stowing. OA-4 marks a significant shift in the Cygnus program, not just because it is the spacecraft’s return to flight, but also the first flight of the Enhanced Cygnus. The cargo module is 3.9 feet longer than the initial Standard Cygnus, allowing the spacecraft to transport over 3,300 extra pounds of cargo. The Service Module also boasts new Orbital ATK-made Ultraflex solar arrays, which are lighter than the original rectangular arrays made by DutchSpace. The image below shows a comparison between the two versions of the spacecraft, with the Enhanced Cygnus on the right.

Final assembly and cargo stowage is expected to occur in late October and early November. Encapsulation inside an Atlas V 400-series payload fairing will occur in mid November, followed by rollout to SLC-41 and vehicle integration in late November. Currently, the launch of OA-4 is scheduled for December 3, though that date may move up or be pushed back depending on various factors. It will be the first flight of the spacecraft since an October 29, 2014 launch failure that destroyed the spacecraft and subsequently grounded the program. The enhanced Antares 200 rocket is undergoing final integration and assembly at Wallops Island, Virginia, and Orbital ATK teams are preparing for a period of pad testing. The next flight of Cygnus on an Antares is scheduled for some time in the first half of 2016. Until then, Orbital ATK purchased two Atlas V 401 rockets to launch their enhanced Cygnus spacecraft; these missions are designated OA-4 and OA-5. The second flight is slated for sometime in spring of 2016.

Milky Way seen from the Moon, err, Death Valley [OC][3648x4713] http://space-pics.tumblr.com/