NASA Artemis spaceship's new moon images are really eerie
When a space rock slams into the moon, the impact crater often stays for billions of years, almost frozen in time.
That's because, unlike Earth, our lunar satellite has no weather to wash away the collision, nor intense geologic activity to blanket the surface in new rock. NASA's new Orion spacecraft — which is currently orbiting the moon on a crucial, uncrewed mission to test the capsule's spaceflight abilities — recently captured detailed images of the moon's deeply cratered ground. The space agency released these pictures from the Artemis I mission on Nov. 23.
Prime Day deals you can shop right now
Products available for purchase here through affiliate links are selected by our merchandising team. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.iRobot Roomba Combo i3+ Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum and Mop—$329.99(List Price $599.99)
Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ 10.9" 64GB Wi-Fi Tablet—$178.99(List Price $219.99)
Apple AirPods Pro 2nd Gen With MagSafe USB-C Charging Case—$199.00(List Price $249.00)
Eero 6 Dual-Band Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System (Router + 2 Extenders)—$149.99(List Price $199.99)
Apple Watch Series 9 (GPS, 41mm, Midnight, S/M, Sports Band)—$299.00(List Price $399.00)
NASA snapped the black and white images with the Orion capsule's optical navigation camera, which engineers are testing for future moon flights. "Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew," NASA wrote online.
SEE ALSO:Why landing a spaceship on the moon is still so challengingOrion captured some of these images from around 80 miles above the surface. Below are a few of the new pictures of the moon, a barren desert teeming with craters and hills. Crucially, NASA suspects some of the satellite's craters contain bounties of water ice — a necessary resource for future deep space missions.
Want more scienceand tech news delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newslettertoday.
The Orion capsule, which will one day carry up to six astronauts, has some major benchmarks just ahead. On Friday evening, NASA will fire the spacecraft's engines and send it into an orbit (called "distant retrograde orbit") that will fling it some 50,000 miles beyond the moon. There, it will orbit the moon for over six days. Then Orion will again fire its engines to leave the moon's gravity and travel back to Earth.
Related Stories
- NASA is back in the moon business. Here's what that means.
- Meet the badass woman running NASA's megarocket launch to the moon
- How NASA's new megarocket stacks up against its legendary predecessor
- Scientists make unprecedented detection on a planet 700 light-years away
- If a scary asteroid will actually strike Earth, here's how you'll know
The uncrewed spacecraft is expected to splash down into the Pacific Ocean, off of San Diego, on Dec. 11. If the mission proves successful, astronauts may fly aboard Orion as early as 2024. And though the timeline is ambitious and will likely be pushed back, astronauts may again step foot on the lunar surface as soon as 2025.
This time, they'll be looking to establish a permanent presence on the resource-rich moon. NASA wants to stay.
相关文章
- 抖音超600万次传播量!广东省农事运动会乡村直播大赛火出圈_南方+_南方plus抖音平台超600万次流量!上千名乡村主播投稿!日前,作为广东省农事运动会乡村直播大赛线上海选赛区,在抖音平台上,带有话题2024-09-22
U.N. rapporteur calls for accountability over N.K. human rights abuse
The U.N. special rapporteur on North Korea's human rights situation on Thursday called for accountab2024-09-22Police say will use paint to nab violent protestors
Amid mounting tensions ahead of the upcoming Dec. 5 antigovernment rally, the police renewed its det2024-09-22- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that planning for a meeting between U.S. Presi2024-09-22
New image shows the North Star is changing. And it has spots.
Some 430 light-years from Earth lies our stalwart cosmic beacon, the North Star.Except this star is2024-09-22Trump's online donation tracker is anything but live
Donald Trump's campaign website appeared to show a donation tracker scrolling across the top of the2024-09-22
最新评论