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By NASA
8 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Virtual meetings feeling a little stale? NASA has just unveiled a suite of new Artemis backgrounds to elevate your digital workspace.
From the majesty of the Artemis I launch lighting up the night sky to the iconic image of the Orion spacecraft with the Moon and Earth in view, these virtual backgrounds allow viewers to relive the awe-inspiring moments of Artemis I and glimpse the bright future that lies ahead as the Artemis campaign enables humans to live and work at the Moon’s South Pole region.
Scroll through to download your next virtual background for work, school, or just for fun, and learn about all things Artemis as the agency and its partners cross off milestones leading up to Artemis II and missions beyond.
Artemis I Launch
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft launches on the Artemis I flight test on Nov. 16, 2022, from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Artemis I mission was the first integrated flight test of the agency’s deep space exploration systems: the Orion spacecraft, SLS rocket, and ground systems. SLS and Orion launched at 1:47 a.m. EST from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy.
Artemis II Crew
Credit: NASA Meet the astronauts who will fly around the Moon during the Artemis II mission. From left are Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency.
Astronaut Regolith
Credit: NASA An artist’s concept of two suited Artemis crew members working on the lunar surface. The samples collected during future Artemis missions will continue to advance our knowledge of the solar system and help us understand the history and formation of Earth and the Moon, uncovering some of the mysteries that have long eluded scientists.
Exploration Ground Systems
Credit: NASA NASA’s mobile launcher, atop Crawler Transporter-2, is at the entrance to High Bay 3 at the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on Sept. 8, 2018, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This is the first time that the modified mobile launcher made the trip to the pad and the VAB. The mobile launcher is the structure that is used to assemble, process, and launch the SLS rocket.
Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky NASA’s SLS rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop a mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B on Nov. 4, 2022, as Crawler Transporter-2 departs the pad following rollout at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Credit: NASA After Orion splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, west of Baja California, the spacecraft was recovered by personnel on the USS Portland from the U.S. Department of Defense, including Navy amphibious specialists, Space Force weather specialists, and Air Force specialists, as well as engineers and technicians from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, and Lockheed Martin Space Operations. Personnel from NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems led the recovery efforts.
Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop a mobile launcher as it rolls out to Launch Complex 39B for the first time on March 17, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At left is the Vehicle Assembly Building.
First Woman
Credit: NASA “First Woman” graphic novel virtual background featuring an illustration of the inside of a lunar space station outfitted with research racks and computer displays. To learn more about the graphic novel and interactive experiences, visit: nasa.gov/calliefirst/
Credit: NASA “First Woman” graphic novel virtual background featuring the illustration of the inside of a lunar space station outfitted with research racks and computer displays, along with zero-g indicator suited rubber duckies floating throughout. To learn more about the graphic novel and interactive experiences, visit: nasa.gov/calliefirst/
Credit: NASA This “First Woman” graphic novel virtual background features an illustrated scene from a lunar mission. At a lunar camp, one suited astronaut flashes the peace sign while RT, the robot sidekick, waves in the foreground. To learn more about the graphic novel and interactive experiences, visit: nasa.gov/calliefirst/
Gateway
Credit: NASA The Gateway space station hosts the Orion spacecraft and SpaceX’s deep space logistics spacecraft in a polar orbit around the Moon, supporting scientific discovery on the lunar surface during the Artemis IV mission.
Credit: Northrop Grumman and Thales Alenia Space The Gateway space station’s HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) module, one of two of Gateway’s habitation elements where astronauts will live, conduct science, and prepare for lunar surface missions, successfully completed welding in Turin, Italy. Following a series of tests to ensure its safety, the future home for astronauts will travel to Gilbert, Arizona, for final outfitting ahead of launch to lunar orbit. Gateway will be humanity’s first space station in lunar orbit and is an essential component of the Artemis campaign to return humans to the Moon for scientific discovery and chart a path for human missions to Mars.
Lunar Surface
Credit: SpaceX Artist’s concept of SpaceX Starship Human Landing System, or HLS, which is slated to transport astronauts to and from the lunar surface during Artemis III and IV.
Credit: Blue Origin Artist’s concept of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon MK-2 human lunar lander, which is slated to land astronauts on the Moon during Artemis V.
Credit: NASA The “Moon buggy” for NASA’s Artemis missions, the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV), is seen here enabling a pair of astronauts to explore more of the Moon’s surface and conduct science research farther away from the landing site. NASA has selected Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Venturi Astrolab to advance capabilities for an LTV.
Credit: JAXA/Toyota An artist’s concept of the pressurized rover — which is being designed, developed, and operated by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) — is seen driving across the lunar terrain. The pressurized rover will serve as a mobile habitat and laboratory for the astronauts to live and work for extended periods of time on the Moon.
Logo
Credit: NASA The NASA “meatball” logo. The round red, white, and blue insignia was designed by employee James Modarelli in 1959, NASA’s second year. The design incorporates references to different aspects of NASA’s missions.
Credit: NASA The NASA meatball logo (left) and Artemis logo side by side.
Moon Phases
Credit: NASA The different phases of the Moon, shown in variations of shadowing, extend across this virtual background.
Orion
Credit: NASA On flight day 5 during Artemis I, the Orion spacecraft took a selfie while approaching the Moon ahead of the outbound powered flyby — a burn of Orion’s main engine that placed the spacecraft into lunar orbit. During this maneuver, Orion came within 81 miles of the lunar surface.
Credit: NASA On flight day 13 during Artemis I, Orion reached its maximum distance from Earth at 268,563 miles away from our home planet, traveling farther than any other spacecraft built for humans.
Credit: NASA This first high-resolution image, taken on the first day of the Artemis I mission, was captured by a camera on the tip of one of Orion’s solar arrays. The spacecraft was 57,000 miles from home and distancing itself from planet Earth as it approached the Moon and distant retrograde orbit.
Silhouettes
Credit: NASA In this virtual background, various scenes from Earth, Moon, and Mars are depicted within the silhouette outlines of three suited astronauts, artistically representing the interconnected nature of human space exploration from low Earth orbit to the Moon and, one day, human missions to Mars.
SLS (Space Launch System)
Credit: Joel Kowsky In this sunrise photo at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA’s SLS rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop the mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B as preparations continued for the Artemis I launch.
Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky In this close-up image, NASA’s SLS rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop the mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B on Nov. 12, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky NASA’s SLS rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen at sunrise atop the mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B on Nov. 7, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Earth, Moon, and Mars
Credit: NASA From left, an artist’s concept of the Moon, Earth, and Mars sharing space. NASA’s long-term goal is to send humans to Mars, and we will use what we learn at the Moon to help us get there. This is the agency’s Moon to Mars exploration approach.
Credit: NASA In this artist’s concept, the upper portion of a blended sphere represents the Earth, Moon, and Mars.
Credit: NASA An artist’s concept showing, from left, the Earth, Moon, and Mars in sequence. Mars remains our horizon goal for human exploration because it is a rich destination for scientific discovery and a driver of technologies that will enable humans to travel and explore far from Earth.
About the Author
Catherine E. Williams
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Last Updated Dec 02, 2024 Related Terms
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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 The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 3 min read
Sols 4368-4369: The Colors of Fall – and Mars
This image shows all the textures — no color in ChemCam remote-imager images, though — that the Martian terrain has to offer. This image was taken by Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) aboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Nov. 18, 2024 — sol 4367, or Martian day 4,367 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — at 02:55:09 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL Earth planning date: Monday, Nov. 18, 2024
I am in the U.K., where we are approaching the time when trees are just branches and twigs. One tree that still has its full foliage is my little quince tree in my front garden. Its leaves have turned reddish-brown with a hint of orange, fairly dark by now, and when I passed it this afternoon on my way to my Mars operations shift, I thought that these leaves have exactly the colors of Mars! And sure enough, today’s workspace is full of bedrock blocks in the beautiful reddish-brown that we love from Mars. But like that tree, it’s not just one color, but many different versions and patterns, all of many reddish-brown and yellowish-brown colors.
The tree theme continues into the naming of our targets today, with ChemCam observing the target “Big Oak Flat,” which is a flat piece of bedrock with a slightly more gray hue to it. “Calaveras,” in contrast, looks a lot more like my little tree, as it is more reddish and less gray. It’s also a bedrock target, and APXS and MAHLI are observing this target, too. APXS has another bedrock target, called “Murphys” on one of the many bedrock pieces around. MAHLI is of course documenting Murphys, too. Let’s just hope that this target name doesn’t get any additions to it but instead returns perfect data from Mars!
ChemCam is taking several long-distance remote micro-imager images — one on the Gediz Vallis Ridge, and one on target “Mono Lake,” which is also looking at the many, many different textures and stones in our surroundings. The more rocks, the more excited a team of geologists gets! So, we are surely using every opportunity to take images here!
Talking about images… Mastcam is taking documentation images on the Big Oak Flat and Calaveras targets, and a target simply called “trough.” In addition, there are mosaics on “Basket Dome” and “Chilkoot,” amounting to quite a few images of this diverse and interesting terrain! More images will be taken by the navigation cameras for the next drive — and also our Hazcam. We rarely talk about the Hazcams, but they are vital to our mission! They look out from just under the rover belly, forward and backward, and have the important task to keep our rover safe. The forward-looking one is also great for planning purposes, to know where the arm can reach with APXS, MAHLI, and the drill. To me, it’s also one of the most striking perspectives, and shows the grandeur of the landscape so well. If you want to see what I am talking about, have a look at “A Day on Mars” from January of this year.
Of course, we have atmospheric measurements in the plan, too. The REMS sensor is measuring temperature and wind throughout the plan, and Curiosity will be taking observations to search for dust devils, and look at the opacity of the atmosphere. Add DAN to the plan, and it is once again a busy day for Curiosity on the beautifully red and brown Mars. And — hot off the press — all about another color on Mars: yellowish-white!
Written by Susanne Schwenzer, Planetary Geologist at The Open University
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Last Updated Nov 20, 2024 Related Terms
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By NASA
5 Min Read Making Mars’ Moons: Supercomputers Offer ‘Disruptive’ New Explanation
A NASA study using a series of supercomputer simulations reveals a potential new solution to a longstanding Martian mystery: How did Mars get its moons? The first step, the findings say, may have involved the destruction of an asteroid.
The research team, led by Jacob Kegerreis, a postdoctoral research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, found that an asteroid passing near Mars could have been disrupted – a nice way of saying “ripped apart” – by the Red Planet’s strong gravitational pull.
The team’s simulations show the resulting rocky fragments being strewn into a variety of orbits around Mars. More than half the fragments would have escaped the Mars system, but others would’ve stayed in orbit. Tugged by the gravity of both Mars and the Sun, in the simulations some of the remaining asteroid pieces are set on paths to collide with one another, every encounter further grinding them down and spreading more debris.
Many collisions later, smaller chunks and debris from the former asteroid could have settled into a disk encircling the planet. Over time, some of this material is likely to have clumped together, possibly forming Mars’ two small moons, Phobos and Deimos.
To assess whether this was a realistic chain of events, the research team explored hundreds of different close encounter simulations, varying the asteroid’s size, spin, speed, and distance at its closest approach to the planet. The team used their high-performance, open-source computing code, called SWIFT, and the advanced computing systems at Durham University in the United Kingdom to study in detail both the initial disruption and, using another code, the subsequent orbits of the debris.
In a paper published Nov. 20 in the journal Icarus, the researchers report that, in many of the scenarios, enough asteroid fragments survive and collide in orbit to serve as raw material to form the moons.
“It’s exciting to explore a new option for the making of Phobos and Deimos – the only moons in our solar system that orbit a rocky planet besides Earth’s,” said Kegerreis. “Furthermore, this new model makes different predictions about the moons’ properties that can be tested against the standard ideas for this key event in Mars’ history.”
Two hypotheses for the formation of the Martian moons have led the pack. One proposes that passing asteroids were captured whole by Mars’ gravity, which could explain the moons’ somewhat asteroid-like appearance. The other says that a giant impact on the planet blasted out enough material – a mix of Mars and impactor debris – to form a disk and, ultimately, the moons. Scientists believe a similar process formed Earth’s Moon.
The latter explanation better accounts for the paths the moons travel today – in near-circular orbits that closely align with Mars’ equator. However, a giant impact ejects material into a disk that, mostly, stays close to the planet. And Mars’ moons, especially Deimos, sit quite far away from the planet and probably formed out there, too.
“Our idea allows for a more efficient distribution of moon-making material to the outer regions of the disk,” said Jack Lissauer, a research scientist at Ames and co-author on the paper. “That means a much smaller ‘parent’ asteroid could still deliver enough material to send the moons’ building blocks to the right place.”
It’s exciting to explore a new option for the making of Phobos and Deimos – the only moons in our solar system that orbit a rocky planet besides Earth’s.
Jacob Kegerreis
Postdoctoral research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center
Testing different ideas for the formation of Mars’ moons is the primary goal of the upcoming Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) sample return mission led by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency). The spacecraft will survey both moons to determine their origin and collect samples of Phobos to bring to Earth for study. A NASA instrument on board, called MEGANE – short for Mars-moon Exploration with GAmma rays and Neutrons – will identify the chemical elements Phobos is made of and help select sites for the sample collection. Some of the samples will be collected by a pneumatic sampler also provided by NASA as a technology demonstration contribution to the mission. Understanding what the moons are made of is one clue that could help distinguish between the moons having an asteroid origin or a planet-plus-impactor source.
Before scientists can get their hands on a piece of Phobos to analyze, Kegerreis and his team will pick up where they left off demonstrating the formation of a disk that has enough material to make Phobos and Deimos.
“Next, we hope to build on this proof-of-concept project to simulate and study in greater detail the full timeline of formation,” said Vincent Eke, associate professor at the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham University and a co-author on the paper. “This will allow us to examine the structure of the disk itself and make more detailed predictions for what the MMX mission could find.”
For Kegerreis, this work is exciting because it also expands our understanding of how moons might be born – even if it turns out that Mars’ own formed by a different route. The simulations offer a fascinating exploration, he says, of the possible outcomes of encounters between objects like asteroids and planets. These events were common in the early solar system, and simulations could help researchers reconstruct the story of how our cosmic backyard evolved.
This research is a collaborative effort between Ames and Durham University, supported by the Institute for Computational Cosmology’s Planetary Giant Impact Research group. The simulations used were run using the open-source SWIFT code, carried out on the DiRAC (Distributed Research Utilizing Advanced Computing) Memory Intensive service (“COSMA”), hosted by Durham University on behalf of the DiRAC High-Performance Computing facility.
For news media:
Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should reach out to the NASA Ames newsroom.
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Last Updated Nov 20, 2024 Related Terms
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:04:30 Explore the immense power of water as ESA’s Mars Express takes us on a flight over curving channels, streamlined islands and muddled ‘chaotic terrain’ on Mars, soaking up rover landing sites along the way.
This beautiful flight around the Oxia Palus region of Mars covers a total area of approximately 890 000 km2, more than twice the size of Germany. Central to the tour is one of Mars’s largest outflow channels, Ares Vallis. It stretches for more than 1700 km2 and cascades down from the planet’s southern highlands to enter the lower-lying plains of Chryse Planitia.
Billions of years ago, water surged through Ares Vallis, neighbouring Tiu Vallis, and numerous other smaller channels, creating many of the features observed in this region today.
Enjoy the flight!
After enjoying a spectacular global view of Mars we focus in on the area marked by the white rectangle. Our flight starts over the landing site of NASA’s Pathfinder mission, whose Sojourner rover explored the floodplains of Ares Vallis for 12 weeks in 1997.
Continuing to the south, we pass over two large craters named Masursky and Sagan. The partially eroded crater rim of Masursky in particular suggests that water once flowed through it, from nearby Tiu Vallis.
The Masurky Crater is filled with jumbled blocks, and you can see many more as we turn north to Hydaspis Chaos. This ‘chaotic terrain’ is typical of regions influenced by massive outflow channels. Its distinctive muddled appearance is thought to arise when subsurface water is suddenly released from underground to the surface. The resulting loss of support from below causes the surface to slump and break into blocks of various sizes and shapes.
Just beyond this chaotic array of blocks is Galilaei crater, which has a highly eroded rim and a gorge carved between the crater and neighbouring channel. It is likely that the crater once contained a lake, which flooded out into the surroundings. Continuing on, we see streamlined islands and terraced river banks, the teardrop-shaped island ‘tails’ pointing in the downstream direction of the water flow at the time.
Crossing over Ares Vallis again, the flight brings us to the smoother terrain of Oxia Planum and the planned landing site for ESA’s ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover. The primary goal of the mission is to search for signs of past or present life on Mars, and as such, this once water-flooded region is an ideal location.
Zooming out, the flight ends with a stunning bird’s-eye view of Ares Vallis and its fascinating water-enriched neighbourhood.
Disclaimer: This video is not representative of how Mars Express flies over the surface of Mars. See processing notes below.
How the movie was made
This film was created using the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera Mars Chart (HMC30) data, an image mosaic made from single orbit observations of the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC). The mosaic, centred at 12°N/330°E, is combined with topography information from the digital terrain model to generate a three-dimensional landscape.
For every second of the movie, 50 separate frames are rendered following a predefined camera path in the scene. A three-fold vertical exaggeration has been applied. Atmospheric effects such as clouds and haze have been added to conceal the limits of the terrain model. The haze starts building up at a distance of 300 km.
The HRSC camera on Mars Express is operated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The systematic processing of the camera data took place at the DLR Institute for Planetary Research in Berlin-Adlershof. The working group of Planetary Science and Remote Sensing at Freie Universität Berlin used the data to create the film.
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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 The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 3 min read
Sols 4366–4367: One of Those Days on Mars (Sulfate-Bearing Unit to the West of Upper Gediz Vallis)
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Right Navigation Camera on Nov. 14, 2024 — sol 4363, or Martian day 4,363 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission – at 02:55:34 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Friday, Nov. 15, 2024
The Monday plan and drive had executed successfully, so the team had high hopes for APXS and MAHLI data on several enticing targets in the rover’s workspace. Alas, it was not to be: The challenging terrain had resulted in an awkwardly perched wheel at the end of the drive, so we couldn’t risk deploying the arm from this position. Maybe next drive!
We did plan a busy weekend of non-arm science activities regardless. Due to a “soliday” the weekend has two sols instead of three, but we had enough power available to fit in more than three hours of observations. The two LIBS observations in the plan will measure the composition of the flat, reddish material in the workspace that is fractured in a polygonal pattern (“Bloody Canyon”) and a nearby rock coating in which the composition is suspected to change with depth (“Burnt Camp Creek”). One idea is that the reddish material could be the early stage version of the thicker dark coatings we’ve been seeing.
A large Mastcam mosaic (“Yosemite”) was planned to capture the very interesting view to the rover’s north. Nearby and below the rover is the layer of rocks in which the “Mineral King” site was drilled on the opposite side of the channel back in March. This is a stratum of sulfate-bearing rock that appears dark-toned from orbit and we’re interested to know how consistent its features are from one side of the channel to the other. Higher up, the Yosemite mosaic also captures some deformation features that may reveal past water activity, and some terrain associated with the Gediz Vallis ridge. So there’s a lot of science packed into one mosaic!
Two long-distance RMI mosaics were planned; one is to image back into the channel, where there may be evidence of a late-stage debris flow at the base of the ridge. The second looks “forward” from the rover’s perspective instead, into the wind-shaped yardang unit above us that will hopefully be explored close-up in the rover’s future. This yardang mosaic is intended to form one part of a stereo observation.
The modern environment on Mars will also be observed with dust devil surveys on both sols, line-of-sight and tau observations to measure atmospheric opacity (often increased by dust in the atmosphere), and zenith and suprahorizon movies with Navcam to look for clouds. There will also be standard passive observations of the rover’s environment by REMS and DAN.
We’ll continue driving westward and upward, rounding the Texoli butte to keep climbing through the sulfate-bearing unit. It’s not always easy driving but there’s a lot more science to do!
Written by Lucy Lim, Participating Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
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Last Updated Nov 18, 2024 Related Terms
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