. Setting Guardrails for Mars Lander Testing. Morgan Montalvo, an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, sets guardrails on the floor below a prototype of the lander being designed for the agency's Mars Sample Return campaign. These guardrails were used to test a scenario where the lander would stub a toe against a rock while touching down on Mars. The Sample Retrieval Lander, estimated to weigh as much as 5,016 pounds (2,275 kilograms), would be the heaviest spacecraft ever to land on the Red Planet. To study the physics involved in landing such a massive spacecraft, engineers have been testing a lander prototype that's about one-third the size it would be on Mars. Mars Sample Return will revolutionize our understanding of Mars by bringing scientifically selected samples to Earth for study using the most sophisticated instrumentation around the world. NASA's planned Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign would fulfill one of the highest priority solar system exploration goals identi

. Setting Guardrails for Mars Lander Testing. Morgan Montalvo, an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, sets guardrails on the floor below a prototype of the lander being designed for the agency's Mars Sample Return campaign. These guardrails were used to test a scenario where the lander would stub a toe against a rock while touching down on Mars. The Sample Retrieval Lander, estimated to weigh as much as 5,016 pounds (2,275 kilograms), would be the heaviest spacecraft ever to land on the Red Planet. To study the physics involved in landing such a massive spacecraft, engineers have been testing a lander prototype that's about one-third the size it would be on Mars. Mars Sample Return will revolutionize our understanding of Mars by bringing scientifically selected samples to Earth for study using the most sophisticated instrumentation around the world. NASA's planned Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign would fulfill one of the highest priority solar system exploration goals identi
SuperStock offers millions of photos, videos, and stock assets to creatives around the world. This image of . Setting Guardrails for Mars Lander Testing. Morgan Montalvo, an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, sets guardrails on the floor below a prototype of the lander being designed for the agency's Mars Sample Return campaign. These guardrails were used to test a scenario where the lander would stub a toe against a rock while touching down on Mars. The Sample Retrieval Lander, estimated to weigh as much as 5,016 pounds (2,275 kilograms), would be the heaviest spacecraft ever to land on the Red Planet. To study the physics involved in landing such a massive spacecraft, engineers have been testing a lander prototype that's about one-third the size it would be on Mars. Mars Sample Return will revolutionize our understanding of Mars by bringing scientifically selected samples to Earth for study using the most sophisticated instrumentation around the world. NASA's planned Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign would fulfill one of the highest priority solar system exploration goals identi by piemags/PL Photography Limited is available for licensing today.

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United States Microgravity Payload-4 (USMP-4) experiments are prepared to be flown on Space Shuttle mission STS-87 in the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). This horizontal tube is known as MEPHISTO, the French acronym for a cooperative American-French investigation of the fundamentals of crystal growth. This experiment, designed for the study of solidification (or freezing) during the growth cycle of liquid materials used for semiconductor crystals, aims to aid in the development of techniques for growing higher quality crystals on Earth. All STS-87 experiments are scheduled for launch on Nov. 19 from KSC
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MPLM Hoist. The Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), used during the Space Shuttle Program to transfer cargo to and from the International Space Station, is lowered by crane into its transport container inside the Space Station Processing Facility high bay at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 20, 2023. The MPLM is being prepared for transport to Ellington Field in Houston, where it will then be transported by road to Axioms facility near Ellington to be utilized to further commercialization of space. Three MPLMs were built by Thales Alenia Space Italia (TASI) for the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and named after Italian masters (Leonardo, Raffaello, and Donatello). Only two ever flew to the space station, Leonardo and Raffaello, with Axiom intending to use Raffaello as a future element that will attach to a segment being built by the company for addition to the space station.
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GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The Core Observatory will link data from a constellation of current and planned satellites to produce next-generation global measurements of rainfall and snowfall from space.On Feb. 11, the Core Observatory was moved into the spacecraft fairing assembly building and into the Encapsulation Hall. Final inspections and preparations were completed for the installation into the fairing, which began on Feb 13. The fairing is the part of the rocket that will contain the spacecraft at the top of the H-IIA rocket.The encapsulation process for the H-IIA is very different than for most U.S. rockets. For U.S. rockets, the fairing is usually in two pieces that close around the payload like a clamshell. To install the GPM Core Observatory into the fairing of the H-IIA rocket, first the Core Observatory and the Payload Attach Fitting (PAF) are set up in scaffolding in the Encapsulation Hall. Then, the fairing i
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- On Launch Pad 17-A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the first half of the fairing is moved toward the Phoenix Mars Lander for installation. Phoenix is targeted for launch on Aug. 3 aboard a Delta II rocket. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the Delta II upper stage booster and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent. Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar, permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. Landing on Mars is planned in May 2008 on arctic ground where a mission currently in orbit, Mars Odyssey, has detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil. NASA/George Shelton
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In the Vertical Processing Facility, the Chandra X-ray Observatory is lowered toward the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) in a workstand beneath it. There it will be mated with the IUS and then undergo testing to validate the IUS/Chandra connections and to check the orbiter avionics interfaces. Following that, an end-to-end test (ETE) will be conducted to verify the communications path to Chandra, commanding it as if it were in space. With the world's most powerful X-ray telescope, Chandra will allow scientists from around the world to see previously invisible black holes and high-temperature gas clouds, giving the observatory the potential to rewrite the books on the structure and evolution of our universe. Chandra is scheduled for launch July 22 aboard Space Shuttle Columbia, on mission STS-93
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The 2.5-meter infrared telescope peers out from its cavity in the SOFIA airborne observatory during nighttime line operations testing at Palmdale, Calif.
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This video shows the propulsion system on an engineering model of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander being successfully tested.
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A780980 U12N DIABLO HAWK X-RAY FILM PLACEMENT F. DEAN (Project Engineer) JUL 31 78 EG&G/NTS PHOTO LAB Publication Date: 7/31/1978 DEAN, F.; DIABLO HAWK; DIABLO HAWK TEST; EDGERTON, GERMESHAUSEN & GRIER; EG&G; EQUIPMENT & INSTRUMENTS; EQUIPMENT (SNL); INSTRUMENTS & EQUIPMENT; NEVADA; NEVADA TEST SITE; NTS; NUCLEAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGY; NUCLEAR TESTING; NUCLEAR TESTS; PIPES; STATION #3; TEST SITES; UGT; UNDERGROUND; UNDERGROUND TESTING; X-RAY FILM; X-RAY FILM PLACEMENT; X-RAYS; DIABLO HAWK-X-RAY FILM historical images. 1972 - 2012. Department of Energy. National Nuclear Security Administration. Photographs Related to Nuclear Weapons Testing at the Nevada Test Site.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - On Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, workers wait for the arrival of the two fairing components that will be installed around NASA's Kepler spacecraft, seen at left. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the rocket and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent. The liftoff of Kepler aboard the Delta II rocket is currently targeted for launch in a window extending 10:49 to 10:52 p.m. EST March 6 from Pad 17-B. Kepler is designed to survey more than 100,000 stars in our galaxy to determine the number of sun-like stars that have Earth-size and larger planets, including those that lie in a star's "habitable zone," a region where liquid water, and perhaps life, could exist. If these Earth-size worlds do exist around stars like our sun, Kepler is expected to be the first to find them and the first to measure how common they are.
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iss048e004552 (6/20/2016) --- Image taken to document re-installation of the Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation and Stabilization (CEVIS) at LAB1P3 following inflight maintenance (IFM) on the Direct Current to Direct Current Converter Unit-1 (DDCU-1) Rack. Image was taken in the Destiny U.S. Laboratory.
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iss048e049168 (8/4/2016) --- A view of the assembled NanoRacks External Platform (NREP) on the Platform Cover attached to JPM1A5 in the Kibo Japanese Experiment Pressurized Module (JPM). The NanoRacks External Platform is a compact research platform fitted for versatile use on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS).
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STS088-359-026 (4-15 Dec. 1998) --- An interior shot of the Russian-built FGB (called Zarya) module reveals the work of the crew who had earlier spent hours readying the International Space Station (ISS) module for its impending release. The crew members were in the midst of a video conference at the time the photo was taken. After devoting the major portion of its mission time to various tasks to ready Zarya and the docked United States-built node (called Unity), the six-member crew released the tandem from the Space Shuttle Endeavours cargo bay toward missions end.
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iss063e035115 (7/6/2020) --- A view of the Spacecraft Atmosphere Monitor in the Node 2 module aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The Spacecraft Atmosphere Monitor investigation demonstrates the capabilities of a small, reliable, portable gas chromatograph mass spectrometer instrument aboard the ISS to conduct major and minor elements of air measurement. The instrument transmits data back to the ground research team every two seconds, providing a continuous analysis to the ground research team.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Inside the mobile service tower on Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, workers help guide one section of the payload fairing into place around NASA's Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the Delta II upper stage booster and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent. GLAST is a powerful space observatory that will explore the Universe's ultimate frontier, where nature harnesses forces and energies far beyond anything possible on Earth; probe some of science's deepest questions, such as what our Universe is made of, and search for new laws of physics; explain how black holes accelerate jets of material to nearly light speed; and help crack the mystery of stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts. The launch date is targeted no earlier than June 3.
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Astrotech, workers check the movement of the Dawn spacecraft, at left, toward the upper stage booster at right. The two elements will be mated for launch. Dawn's goal is to characterize the conditions and processes of the solar system's earliest epoch by investigating in detail the largest protoplanets that have remained intact since their formations: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. They reside in the extensive zone between Mars and Jupiter together with many other smaller bodies, called the asteroid belt.
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. Mars Sample Return (MSR)
Mars|