Fun Facts About Mars

Solar System: Things to Know This Week

Time for a little reconnaissance. 

Our New Horizons spacecraft won't arrive at its next destination in the distant Kuiper Belt—an object known as 2014 MU69—until New Year's Day 2019, but researchers are already starting to study its environment thanks to a few rare observational opportunities this summer, including one on July 17. This week, we're sharing 10 things to know about this exciting mission to a vast region of ancient mini-worlds billions of miles away.

1. First, Some Background 

New Horizons launched on Jan. 19, 2006. It swung past Jupiter for a gravity boost and scientific studies in February 2007, and conducted a six-month reconnaissance flyby study of Pluto and its moons in summer 2015. The mission culminated with the closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015. Now, as part of an extended mission, the New Horizons spacecraft is heading farther into the Kuiper Belt.

2. A Kuiper Belt refresher

The Kuiper Belt is a region full of objects presumed to be remnants from the formation of our solar system some 4.6 billion years ago. It includes dwarf planets such as Pluto and is populated with hundreds of thousands of icy bodies larger than 62 miles (100 km) across and an estimated trillion or more comets. The first Kuiper Belt object was discovered in 1992.

3. That's Pretty Far

When New Horizons flies by MU69 in 2019, it will be the most distant object ever explored by a spacecraft. This ancient Kuiper Belt object is not well understood because it is faint, small, and very far away, located approximately 4.1 billion miles (6.6 billion km) from Earth.

4. Shadow Play 

To study this distant object from Earth, the New Horizons team have used data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Gaia satellite to calculate where MU69 would cast a shadow on Earth's surface as it passes in front of a star, an event known as an occultation.

5. An International Effort 

One occultation occurred on June 3, 2017. More than 50 mission team members and collaborators set up telescopes across South Africa and Argentina, aiming to catch a two-second glimpse of the object's shadow as it raced across the Earth. Joining in on the occultation observations were NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Gaia, a space observatory of the European Space Agency (ESA).

6. Piecing Together the Puzzle 

Combined, the pre-positioned mobile telescopes captured more than 100,000 images of the occultation star that can be used to assess the Kuiper Belt object's environment. While MU69 itself eluded direct detection, the June 3 data provided valuable and surprising insights. "These data show that MU69 might not be as dark or as large as some expected," said occultation team leader Marc Buie, a New Horizons science team member from Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

7. One Major Missing Piece 

Clear detection of MU69 remains elusive. "These [June 3 occultation] results are telling us something really interesting," said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute. "The fact that we accomplished the occultation observations from every planned observing site but didn't detect the object itself likely means that either MU69 is highly reflective and smaller than some expected, or it may be a binary or even a swarm of smaller bodies left from the time when the planets in our solar system formed."

8. Another Opportunity 

On July 10, the SOFIA team positioned its aircraft in the center of the shadow, pointing its powerful 100-inch (2.5-meter) telescope at MU69 when the object passed in front of the background star. The mission team will now analyze that data over the next few weeks, looking in particular for rings or debris around MU69 that might present problems for New Horizons when the spacecraft flies by in 2019. "This was the most challenging occultation observation because MU69 is so small and so distant," said Kimberly Ennico Smith, SOFIA project scientist.

9. The Latest 

On July 17, the Hubble Space Telescope will check for debris around MU69 while team members set up another "fence line" of small mobile telescopes along the predicted ground track of the occultation shadow in southern Argentina.

10. Past to Present 

New Horizons has had quite the journey. Check out some of these mission videos for a quick tour of its major accomplishments and what's next for this impressive spacecraft.

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How did your launch abort affect your future space flights?

Did you have mentors that helped you?

Space Station Research: Cardiovascular Health

Each month, we highlight a different research topic on the International Space Station. In February, our focus is cardiovascular health, which coincides with the American Hearth Month.

Like bones and muscle, the cardiovascular system deconditions (gets weaker) in microgravity. Long-duration spaceflight may increase the risk of damage and inflammation in the cardiovascular system primarily from radiation, but also from psychological stress, reduced physical activity, diminished nutritional standards and, in the case of extravehicular activity, increased oxygen exposure.

Even brief periods of exposure to reduced-gravity environments can result in cardiovascular changes such as fluid shifts, changes in total blood volume, heartbeat and heart rhythm irregularities and diminished aerobic capacity.

The weightless environment of space also causes fluid shifts to occur in the body. This normal shift of fluids to the upper body in space causes increased inter-cranial pressure which could be reducing visual capacity in astronauts. We are currently testing how this can be counteracted by returning fluids to the lower body using a “lower body negative pressure” suit, also known as Chibis.

Spaceflight also accelerates the aging process, and it is important to understand this process to develop specific countermeasures. Developing countermeasures to keep astronauts’ hearts healthy in space is applicable to heart health on Earth, too!

On the space station, one of the tools we have to study heart health is the ultrasound device, which uses harmless sound waves to take detailed images of the inside of the body. These images are then viewed by researchers and doctors inside Mission Control. So with minimal training on ultrasound, remote guidance techniques allow astronauts to take images of their own heart while in space. These remote medicine techniques can also be beneficial on Earth.

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Once in how much time does a solar eclipse happen?

It depends on where you are. You can check out our interactive map here https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/interactive_map/index.html

Chandra X-Ray Observatory, We Appreciate You

On July 23, 1999, the Space Shuttle Columbia blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center carrying the Chandra X-ray Observatory. In the two decades that have passed, Chandra’s powerful and unique X-ray eyes have contributed to a revolution in our understanding of the cosmos.

Since its launch 20 years ago, Chandra's unrivaled X-ray vision has changed the way we see the universe.

Chandra has captured galaxy clusters – the largest gravitationally bound objects in the universe – in the process of merging.

Chandra has shown us the powerful wind and shock fronts that rumble through star-forming systems.

And a star school, so to speak -- home to thousands of the Milky Way's biggest and brightest.

Carl Sagan said, "We are made of star-stuff." It's true. Most of the elements necessary for life are forged inside stars and blasted into interstellar space by supernovas. Chandra has tracked them.

Thank you Chandra X-Ray! To more adventures with you!

Check out Chandra’s 20th anniversary page to see how they are celebrating.

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What's a Question you wish someone would ask?

Moon Mountain Named After Melba Roy Mouton, NASA Mathematician

Award-winning NASA mathematician and computer programmer Melba Mouton is being honored with the naming of a mountain at the Moon’s South Pole. Mouton joined NASA in 1959, just a year after the space agency was established. She was the leader of a team that coded computer programs to calculate spacecraft trajectories and locations. Her contributions were instrumental to landing the first humans on the Moon.

She also led the group of "human computers," who tracked the Echo satellites. Roy and her team's computations helped produce the orbital element timetables by which millions could view the satellite from Earth as it passed overhead.

The towering lunar landmark now known as “Mons Mouton” stands at a height greater than 19,000 feet. The mountain was created over billions of years by lunar impacts. Huge craters lie around its base—some with cliff-like edges that descend into areas of permanent darkness. Mons Mouton is the future landing site of VIPER, our first robotic Moon rover. The rover will explore the Moon’s surface to help gain a better understanding of the origin of lunar water. Here are things to know:

Mons Mouton is a wide, relatively flat-topped mountain that stretches roughly 2,700 square miles

The mountain is the highest spot at the Moon’s South Pole and can be seen from Earth with a telescope

Our VIPER Moon rover will explore Mons Mouton over the course of its 100-day mission

VIPER will map potential resources which will help inform future landing sites under our Artemis program

The VIPER mission is managed by our Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The approximately 1,000-pound rover will be delivered to the Moon by a commercial vendor as part of our Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, delivering science and technology payloads to and near the Moon.

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Chris Williams

Born in New York City, Chris Williams considers Potomac, Maryland, to be his hometown. A private pilot and Eagle Scout, Williams is a board-certified medical physicist and holds a doctorate in physics from MIT. https://go.nasa.gov/49YJJmf

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Who is the First Woman? Meet our new graphic novel hero!

Artemis is the first step in the next era of human exploration. This time when we go to the Moon, we're staying, to study and learn more than ever before. We’ll test new technologies and prepare for our next giant leap – sending astronauts to Mars.

Artemis missions will achieve many historic feats, like landing the first woman and first person of color on the Moon.

With today’s release of our graphic novel First Woman: NASA’s Promise for Humanity you don’t have to wait to join us on an inspiring adventure in space.

Meet Commander Callie Rodriguez, the first woman to explore the Moon – at least in the comic book universe.

In Issue No. 1: Dream to Reality, Callie, her robot sidekick RT, and a team of other astronauts are living and working on the Moon in the not-too-distant future. Like any good, inquisitive robot, RT asks Callie how he came to be – not just on the Moon after a harrowing experience stowed in the Orion capsule – but about their origin story, if you will.

From her childhood aspirations of space travel to being selected as an astronaut candidate, Callie takes us on her trailblazing journey to the Moon.

As they venture out to check on a problem at a lunar crater, Callie shares with RT and the crew that she was captivated by space as a kid, and how time in her father’s autobody shop piqued her interest in building things and going places.

Callie learned at a young age that knowledge is gained through both success and failure in the classroom and on the field.

Through disappointment, setbacks, and personal tragedy, Callie pursues her passions and eventually achieves her lifelong dream of becoming an astronaut – a road inspired by the real lives of many NASA astronauts living and working in space today.

So what's up with that lunar crater?

Did Callie pass her math class?

And where did RT come from?

Be a part of the adventure: read (or listen to) the full First Woman story and immerse yourself in a digital experience through our first-ever extended reality-enabled graphic novel.

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