Editor’s note: In fall 2013, researchers aboard a NASA C-130 traveled to Greenland to study changes in the ice sheet and sea ice following the summer melt season. Other airborne campaigns, like NASA’s Operation IceBridge, study changes on an annual basis and this is the first large-scale airborne survey of seasonal change. The C-130, equipped […]
ISS Daily Summary Report – 10/30/13
Spinal Ultrasound Scans: Flight Engineer (FE)-3 Hopkins supporting as the operator conducted Flight Day 150 cervical and lumbosacral ultrasound scans of FE-5 Parmitano with remote guidance from the ground team. This investigation aims to characterize microgravity-associated spinal alterations during and after spaceflight using in-flight ultrasound. Results from this research will provide data to enhance crew health …
What Will MAVEN Do? Have a Look
Best of the Archives: Oh, Sandy
One year ago today, citizens of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and much of the northeastern United States woke up to flooded avenues and homes, wind-ravaged neighborhoods, blackouts, and ripped up trees, coastlines, and lives. In the dark, early hours of October 30, 2012, the VIIRS instrument on the Suomi NPP satellite caught this glimpse […]
Welcome to NASA’s Coverage of the Preparations and Launch of the MAVEN Mission
Hello from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida where the MAVEN spacecraft is undergoing careful preparations at the hands of engineers and technicians ahead of its launch to study the upper atmosphere and history of Mars. Adjacent to Kennedy, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, teams are readying a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 10/29/13
Ice Crystal-2 Troubleshooting: Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Nyberg measured the resistance of the Temperature Control Cable and Ice Cell 2 in the Solution Crystallization Observation Facility (SCOF) with a multimeter to check the conduction state prior to the reconfiguration of signal cables tomorrow. Ice Crystal-2 operations are planned to begin the week of November 18th. JAXA’s …
Halloween Fun with Meteor Cameras

We never know what we are going to see when we check the NASA Marshall meteor cameras each morning. Over time, we’ve acquired quite a collection of startling and fascinating images captured by various cameras. In the spirit of Halloween fun, we’ve put together a collection that reminds us of All Hallow’s Eve. We’ve found …
Comet Ison Roars Through Leo

In the early morning of October 25, 5:45 a.m. CDT, a scientist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, using a 14” inch telescope captured this image of Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON), which is brightening as it approaches the Sun. The comet shines with a faint green color just to the left of center; the diagonal …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 10/28/13
Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)-4 Undocking: ATV-4 successfully undocked from the Service Module at 03:54 am CDT this morning. The ISS crew monitored and took photographs of the undocking. ATV-4 delivered more than 2489 kg of cargo to the ISS when it arrived on June 15th and will be disposing of more than 2160 kg. ATV-4’s …
October Puzzler
– Each month, Earth Observatory offers up a puzzling satellite image here on Earth Matters. The October 2013 puzzler is above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us what part of the world we are looking at, when the image was acquired, and why the scene is interesting. How to answer. […]


