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Persevering Through the Storm
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By European Space Agency
Image: Spying a spiral through a cosmic lens (Webb telescope image) View the full article
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By NASA
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI Two actively forming stars are responsible for the shimmering hourglass-shaped ejections of gas and dust that gleam in orange, blue, and purple in this representative color image captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. This star system, called Lynds 483, is named for American astronomer Beverly T. Lynds, who published extensive catalogs of “dark” and “bright” nebulae in the early 1960s.
The two protostars are at the center of the hourglass shape, in an opaque horizontal disk of cold gas and dust that fits within a single pixel. Much farther out, above and below the flattened disk where dust is thinner, the bright light from the stars shines through the gas and dust, forming large semi-transparent orange cones.
Learn what the incredibly fine details in this image reveal.
Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
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By USH
EBANI stands for "Unidentified Anomalous Biological Entity," referring to a mysterious class of airborne phenomena that may be biological rather than mechanical in nature. These entities are often described as elongated, flexible, and tubular, moving through the sky in a serpentine or twisting manner.
They exhibit advanced flight capabilities, including high-speed travel, precise control, and even self-illumination. Some have been observed rendering themselves invisible, raising questions about their energy sources and possible technological origins.
Recent observations have revealed formations of translucent spheres in red, white, and blue, challenging conventional classifications of both biology and aerodynamics.
Some of these entities have a massive structure composed of thousands of clustered spheres. These entities appear to function as an aircraft carrier, releasing these smaller spheres into Earth's atmosphere for an unknown purpose.
While some researchers propose that EBANIs are natural organisms evolving in Earth's upper atmosphere under unfamiliar physical laws, others speculate they may be advanced artificial (eventually biological) constructs, potentially extraterrestrial probes or surveillance devices, given the presence of large structures expelling numerous smaller spheres.
Are they living UFOs, advanced biological organisms that function autonomously within the spheres, without the need for pilots?
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By NASA
Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio Mosaics More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions Mars Home 2 min read
Sols 4471-4472: Marching Through the Canyon
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mast Camera (Mastcam), a close-up of the rover’s Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS), an instrument that measures the abundance of chemical elements in rocks and soils on the Martian surface. Located on the turret at the end of Curiosity’s robotic arm, APXS is about the size of a cupcake, and this image shows the handwritten markings on the instrument’s sensor head. Curiosity captured this image on March 23, 2024 — sol 4134, or Martian day 4,134 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 21:59:21 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Written by Scott VanBommel, Planetary Scientist at Washington University
Earth planning date: Monday, March 3, 2025
Curiosity continued steady progress through the upper sulfate unit and toward its next major science waypoint: the boxwork structures. Our rover is currently driving south through a local canyon between “Texoli” and “Gould Mesa.” This route may expose the same rock layers observed while climbing along the eastern margin of the Gediz Vallis channel, prompting several science activities in today’s plan. With winter still gripping Gale crater and limiting the power available for science, the team carefully balanced a number of priorities.
The weekend’s drive positioned the rover within reach of light-toned laminated bedrock and gray float rock. We kicked off our two-sol plan by removing dust on a representative bedrock target, “Ramona Trail,” before analyzing with APXS and imaging with MAHLI. ChemCam acquired compositional analyses on a laminated gray float rock, “Josephine Peak,” in addition to long-distance images of Texoli. Mastcam documented key features, capturing images of Josephine Peak, Texoli, “Gobblers Knob,” and “Fort Tejon.” In addition to these science-driven images, Mastcam also acquired two images of APXS before a planned drive of about 21 meters (about 69 feet).
As Curiosity continues toward the boxwork structures, the intricate patterns we observe will provide valuable clues about the history of Mars. While the Mastcam images acquired today of the APXS sensor head won’t directly contribute to the boxwork study, they capture a more human aspect of the mission. With each “APXS horseshoe” image, such as the one featured in this blog from sol 4134, hand-written markings on the APXS sensor head appear alongside Martian terrain, a reminder that this incredible journey is driven by the human touch of a dedicated team on Earth who designed, built, and continue to operate this remarkable spacecraft.
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Last Updated Mar 05, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
Credit: NASA NASA has selected Firefly Aerospace Inc. of Cedar Park, Texas, to provide the launch service for the agency’s Investigation of Convective Updrafts (INCUS) mission, which aims to understand why, when, and where tropical convective storms form, and why some storms produce extreme weather. The mission will launch on the company’s Alpha rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
The selection is part of NASA’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract. This contract allows the agency to make fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity awards during VADR’s five-year ordering period, with a maximum total value of $300 million across all contracts.
The INCUS mission, comprised of three SmallSats flying in tight coordination, will investigate the evolution of the vertical transport of air and water by convective storms. These storms form when rapidly rising water vapor and air create towering clouds capable of producing rain, hail, and lightning. The more air and water that rise, the greater the risk of extreme weather. Convective storms are a primary source of precipitation and cause of the most severe weather on Earth.
Each satellite will have a high frequency precipitation radar that observes rapid changes in convective cloud depth and intensities. One of the three satellites also will carry a microwave radiometer to provide the spatial content of the larger scale weather observed by the radars. By flying so closely together, the satellites will use the slight differences in when they make observations to apply a novel time-differencing approach to estimate the vertical transport of convective mass.
NASA selected the INCUS mission through the agency’s Earth Venture Mission-3 solicitation and Earth System Science Pathfinder program. The principal investigator for INCUS is Susan van den Heever at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Several NASA centers support the mission, including Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Key satellite system components will be provided by Blue Canyon Technologies and Tendeg LLC, both in Colorado. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, manages the VADR contract.
To learn more about NASA’s INCUS mission, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/incus
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Tiernan Doyle
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov
Patti Bielling
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-501-7575
patricia.a.bielling@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Mar 04, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Investigation of Convective Updrafts (INCUS) Earth Science Planetary Science Division Science & Research Science Mission Directorate SmallSats Program Wallops Flight Facility View the full article
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