These tracks on a familiar looking sandy surface aren’t from one of the many barren deserts on Earth but instead come to us from NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars. The rover was looking down down a ramp it had previously come up, at the northeastern end of “Hidden Valley” on Mars. In the distance we can also see the slopes of Mount Sharp within the Gale Crater. The rover’s Navcam was used to photograph this south facing view on its 717th day on Mars.
The drought cycle in California has seen an immense increase in the pressure being felt by residents of the state and its surrounding region. NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) has been taking satellite images of the declining level of groundwater/aquifers in California, with the loss in water supplies shown here transitioning down from 2002 to 2008 and finally at their lowest level so far in 2014. The greatest losses have been suffered by the Sacramento and San Joaquin River basins which include the fertile Central Valley – a large consumer of water used for agriculture.
NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) included two lunar probes (Ebb and Flow) that orbited the Moon’s poles to collect data on its gravity field. This topographical view uses data collected by the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter and shows the gravitational anomalies bordering the Procellarum region (in blue). Scientists interpret these anomalies in lunar gravity as likely resulting from ancient lava-flooded rift zones buried beneath volcanic plains on the Moon.
The X-38 Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) was a prototype wingless lifting body reentry vehicle to be used with the International Space Station (ISS). This picture shows a test from 1999 where the X-38 CRV was dropped from one of the wing pylons of NASA’s B-52 mothership aircraft (tail number 008 and in a role very atypical of the BUFF) based out of the Dryden Flight Research Center. Two full and one partial X-38 prototypes were built before development of this CRV was cancelled in 2002.
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured some astonishing views of the universe. This picture taken by its Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 is no slouch either, capturing a couple of galaxies in one shot. The main feature is the spiral galaxy NGC 6872 located about 300 million light-years away in the constellation of Pavo (The Peacock).
NGC 6872 is the second largest spiral galaxy discovered to date by humans. It spans over 500,000 light-years across, compared to the Milky way which is approximately 120,000 light years from end to end. This picture also captures the galaxy IC 4970 which can be seen causing a disruption in NGC 6872’s upper left spiral arm, as it transits through the larger spiral galaxy, helping it create new stars.
