Month in space: September 2010

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-4-15 13:47:53

Robyn Beck / AFP - Getty Images

NASA's six-legged robot

The All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer, or ATHLETE, is a prototype heavy-lift utility vehicle designed to support future human exploration of extraterrestrial surfaces. ATHLETE got a chance to flex its limbs on Sept. 15 in northern Arizona during NASA's Desert RATS field tests.

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-4-15 13:49:51

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NASA Desert RATS

Practicing for Mars

Geologists Jacob Bleacher and Jim Rice take a close look at a rock formation in northern Arizona before collecting samples on Sept. 5. The geologists took part in NASA's Desert RATS exercise, which is aimed at trying out the equipment and procedures that could come into play during a mission to Mars or other interplanetary destinations. The "RATS" in the name stands for "Research and Technology Studies."

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-4-15 13:50:08

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NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Project

Ice sculptures in space

Clouds of gas and dust in the Carina Nebula are sculpted into bizarre shapes by stellar radiation, as seen in this image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and unveiled on Sept. 16. The Hubble team compares the pillars to "cosmic ice sculptures."

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-4-15 13:51:28

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Doug Wheelock / NASA via AP

New York at night

New York City is ablaze in an image sent by NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock from the International Space Station on Aug. 28. "The City That Never Sleeps," he wrote in a Twitter tweet. "New York, New York on a clear summer night."

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-4-15 13:52:10

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Y. Beletsky / ESO

Shooting a laser at the sky

This image, released on Sept. 6, shows a laser beam shooting up from the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. The laser beam is used as a guide for the observatory's adaptive-optics system, which compensates for unsteadiness in the atmosphere to produce sharper astronomical images.

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-4-15 13:52:26

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ATK

Thar she blows!

A solid rocket motor that could be used on future NASA launch vehicles is tested Aug. 31 at ATK Aerospace Systems' test site in Promontory, Utah. The rocket motor burned for just over two minutes during the successful static test, producing about 3.6 million pounds of thrust.

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-4-15 13:53:58

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NASA / JPL-Caltech

The road ahead

NASA's Opportunity rover looks across a series of sand ripples and bedrock outcrops toward the rim of Endeavour Crater on the horizon on Sept. 6. Opportunity has just crossed the halfway mark in its trip from Victoria Crater to Endeavour. The rover headed out from Victoria in September 2008.

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-4-15 13:54:50

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NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Saturn and its children

Four of Saturn's moons join the planet for a well-balanced portrait, released by the Cassini orbiter's imaging team on Sept. 10. Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is at lower left. Tethys is at upper right. Two much smaller moons, Pandora and Epimetheus, are barely visible near the rings.

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-4-15 13:55:27

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NASA via Reuters

Moon and Earthglow

A crescent moon is just about to set below Earth's glowing horizon in a picture taken Sept. 4 from the International Space Station. The glow is sunlight scattered by Earth's atmosphere.

雪儿 · 发表于: 2011-4-15 13:55:45

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Scott Audette / Reuters

Twilight of the shuttle

Photographers gather early on the morning of Sept. 21 to take pictures of the space shuttle Discovery, just after its arrival at the launch pad. Discovery is scheduled to embark on the shuttle fleet's penultimate mission on Nov. 1. The final shuttle flight, involving Endeavour, is set for launch in February - although there's a chance that one additional mission will be flown.

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