NASA’S AMES RESEARCH CENTER

NASA’s water-seeking robotic Moon rover just booked a ride to the Moon’s South Pole. Astrobotic of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been selected to deliver the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, to the Moon in 2023. During its 100-Earth-day mission, the approximately 1,000-pound rover will roam several miles and use its four science instruments to sample various soil environments in search of water ice. Its survey will help pave the way for a new era of human missions to the lunar surface and will bring us a step closer to developing a sustainable, long-term robotic and human presence on the Moon as part of the Artemis program. Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-astrobotic-to-fly-water-hunting-rover-to-the-moon Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center The video may be downloaded at https://images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-20200610-AAV3276-VIPER-CLPSAnnounce-RptrPkg-NASAWeb-1080p

NASA’s flying telescope SOFIA captured a crisp infrared image of the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Spanning more than 600 light-years, the panorama reveals details within the dense swirls of gas and dust, opening the door to future research into how massive stars are forming and what’s feeding the black hole at our galaxy’s core. Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center This video can be downloaded from the NASA Image and Video Library at: https://images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-20200103-AAV3244-SOFIA-GalacticCenter-RptrPkg-NASAWeb NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nasaames Twitter https://twitter.com/nasaames Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nasaames

NASA has developed a flexible way to test new designs for aircraft that use multiple rotors to fly. The Multirotor Test Bed, or MTB, will let researchers study a wide variety of rotor configurations for different vehicles, including tiltrotor aircraft, mid-sized drones and even air taxis planned for the coming era of air travel called Urban Air Mobility. This video shows the MTB set up in a four-rotor configuration during a recent demonstration inside the U.S. Army's 7- by 10-foot wind tunnel at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. While spinning, the rotors move between a forward, airplane-like orientation and an upward, helicopter-like one that can simulate vertical takeoff and hovering. The entire structure tilts, too, mimicking different orientations of an aircraft as it flies. To highlight this range of motion, the video is shown at 8x normal speed starting at 0:38. Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/testing-air-taxis-drones-and-more-with-nasa-s-multirotor-test-bed Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center This video can be downloaded from the NASA Image and Video Library at: https://images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-20191204-AAV3241-Multirotor-WindTunnel-TestRun-NASAWeb NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nasaames Twitter https://twitter.com/nasaames Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nasaames

This visualization, made from a simulation of the Pad Abort 1 flight test of Orion's Launch Abort System, helps researchers better understand the unsteady fluid dynamics in the plume of the system’s abort motors. The abort motor that propels the system produces four large high-speed exhaust plumes that flow toward the sides of the spacecraft. The entire system accelerates upward and banks, as if to pull the crew module away from a rocket. The video shows animated particles — technically called passive particle renderings — that literally “go with the flow” of the plumes. The color of the particles represents the velocity of the plumes, with white showing the highest velocity regions and darker tones representing slower velocities. The speed of the video was slowed down by a factor of approximately 38 times as compared to the equivalent portion of the 2010 flight test. At the end of the video, the system reached approximately 277 feet in altitude and 32 feet downrange of the starting position. The simulation was performed on the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division’s Electra supercomputer. The technology is helping advance NASA’s missions by making it possible to run tests in a supercomputer at lower cost and with faster turnarounds before flight, ultimately making NASA exploration systems safer. Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/ames/predicting-extreme-acoustic-vibrations-to-keep-astronauts-safe-during-launch   Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center/Timothy Sandstrom, Cetin Kiris, Francois Cadieux, Michael Barad The video may be downloaded at https://images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-20200109-AAV3245-Orion-EscapeAbortViz-NASAWeb NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nasaames Twitter https://twitter.com/nasaames Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nasaames

This supercomputing simulation depicts the gas in and around an evolving galaxy over 13 billion years. The purple-to-yellow colors indicate the gas density, with the purple tracing lower density gas and the yellow tracing higher density gas. The blue-to-red colors indicate gas temperature, the redder colors tracing the hotter gas. The colder, denser gas flows in along cosmic filaments to form the galaxy, where stars (not shown) are forming. These stars then blow up as supernovae that drive galactic superwinds from the galaxy; these are seen predominantly as the hotter diffuse gas blowing out of the galaxy. As there is more star formation and thus more supernovae at early times, these winds become calmer as the galaxy evolves. This visualization shows data from the Figuring Out Gas and Galaxies in Enzo project, known as FOGGIE, run on NASA’s Pleiades supercomputer by researchers at the Space Telescope Science Institute from Johns Hopkins University. Enzo is a specialized computing code used in astrophysics. Video credit: Johns Hopkins University/Molly Peeples; NASA Ames/Timothy Sandstrom Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/ames/illuminating-gas-between-galaxies NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nasaames Twitter https://twitter.com/nasaames Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nasaames

This video is a simulation of the climate on Mars spanning one year, from spring through winter in the northern hemisphere. It shows the annual cycle of three important components of the Martian climate: water-ice clouds (gray), dust (yellow) and frozen carbon dioxide on the surface (white). As the north pole’s carbon dioxide ice cap shrinks, its southern counterpart grows large. Carbon dioxide gas makes up 95% of Mars’ atmosphere and a considerable portion of it freezes out onto the surface as the poles reach their coldest point. As fall arrives in the simulation, a dust storm forms at the north pole and soon encircles the entire planet, dying down over the course of the winter. The simulation was run on the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility's Pleiades supercomputer using data produced by the Mars Climate Modeling Center, both at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The MCMC’s work assists NASA in planning missions to Mars and helps us understand our solar system better by answering questions about how planets evolve and whether conditions on Mars could once have been favorable for life. Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center/D. Ellsworth Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/mcmc This video may be downloaded at: https://images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-20191118-AAV3240-Mars-SeasonsAnimation-NASAWeb1080 NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nasaames Twitter https://twitter.com/nasaames Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nasaames

NASA is sending a mobile robot to the south pole of the Moon to get a close-up view of the location and concentration of water ice in the region and for the first time ever, actually sample the water ice at the same pole where the first woman and next man will land in 2024 under the Artemis program. About the size of a golf cart, the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, will roam several miles, using its four science instruments — including a 1-meter drill — to sample various soil environments. Planned for delivery in December 2022, VIPER will collect about 100 days of data that will be used to inform development of the first global water resource maps of the Moon. Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-viper-lunar-rover-to-map-water-ice-on-the-moon Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center The video may be downloaded at: https://images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-20191025-AAV3233-VIPERShareable-NASAWeb

NASA in Silicon Valley Live is a talk show that features conversations with scientists, researchers, engineers and all-around cool people who work at NASA to push the boundaries of innovation. In this episode streamed on Dec. 19, 2019, we talk about air taxis and the future of flight. Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center This video can be downloaded from the NASA Image and Video Library at: https://images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-20191219-AAV3243-NiSV-S2E7-Drones-NASAWeb NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nasaames Twitter https://twitter.com/nasaames Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nasaames

NASA in Silicon Valley Live is a talk show that features conversations with scientists, researchers, engineers and all-around cool people who work at NASA to push the boundaries of innovation. In this episode streamed on Oct. 24, 2019, we host our second annual NASA-themed Halloween costume and cosplay contest! Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nasaames Twitter https://twitter.com/nasaames Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nasaames

NASA in Silicon Valley Live is a talk show that features conversations with scientists, researchers, engineers and all-around cool people who work at NASA to push the boundaries of innovation. In this episode streamed on Sept. 19, 2019, we talk about how we’re developing new tools to search for life on Mars. Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nasaames Twitter https://twitter.com/nasaames Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nasaames

This unnarrated animation depicts NASA’s first coordinated maneuver between two CubeSats in low-Earth orbit as part of NASA’s Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration mission. The twin OCSD spacecraft, each approximately the size of a tissue box, were orbiting Earth about 5.5 miles apart when they established a radio frequency communications crosslink to “talk” with each other. One spacecraft issued a command to the second to activate its thruster and close the gap between the two. The fuel tanks on both spacecraft are filled with water. During this propulsive maneuver, the water was converted to steam by the thrusters to propel the spacecraft. Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should get in touch with the technology media contact at NASA’s Ames Research Center, listed here: https://www.nasa.gov/ames/media Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center This video may be downloaded at: https://images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-20190801-AAV3211-OCSD-OrbitalManeuver-NASAWeb.html Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nasaames Twitter https://twitter.com/nasaames Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nasaames

NASA in Silicon Valley Live is a talk show that features conversations with scientists, researchers, engineers and all-around cool people who work at NASA to push the boundaries of innovation. In this episode streamed on August 29, 2019, we talk about how we design and build robots to work with humans in space. Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nasaames Twitter https://twitter.com/nasaames Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nasaames

NASA in Silicon Valley Live is a talk show that features conversations with scientists, researchers, engineers and all-around cool people who work at NASA to push the boundaries of innovation. In this episode we talk about how to get an internship at NASA.

This footage from 1969 shows researchers at NASA’s Ames Research Center examining samples of Moon rocks and soil that astronauts brought back from the Apollo 11 mission. The researchers are looking for signs of life endemic to the Moon, as well as organic compounds that are the basic building blocks of life. Of course, no lunar life was found in these samples, and we now know that the Moon does not harbor life. Nevertheless, these tests became the first time that NASA retrieved samples from another world to look for life on that world. Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center This video may be downloaded at: https://images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-20190708-AAV3208-LunarBioLab-JohnsonNarration-NASAWeb-24fps.html The raw, unedited film transfer may be downloaded at: https://images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-19700101-AAV0064-LunarLabFilm-NASAWeb.html Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nasaames Twitter https://twitter.com/nasaames Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nasaames

NASA in Silicon Valley Live is a talk show that features conversations with scientists, researchers, engineers and all-around cool people who work at NASA to push the boundaries of innovation. On July 20, 1969, humans took their first steps on the Moon. In this episode streamed on July 18, 2019, we talk about this historic achievement and our future plans to go to the Moon and on to Mars. Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nasaames Twitter https://twitter.com/nasaames Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nasaames #Apollo50th

NASA in Silicon Valley Live is a talk show that features conversations with scientists, researchers, engineers and all-around cool people who work at NASA to push the boundaries of innovation. In this episode streamed on June 19, 2019, we talk about our plans to land astronauts on the Moon by 2024 and how exploring the Moon will help us prepare to send humans to Mars. Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nasaames Twitter https://twitter.com/nasaames Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nasaames

It all started with a mission to explore flight. From our establishment in 1939 as the second U.S. national aeronautical research lab – that built the most massive and capable aerodynamics testing facilities in existence – Ames Research Center has grown deep roots of intersecting expertise. How did it all start? Learn more about our origins in the 1930s in this video produced in 2009. Join us from April through December 2019 as we celebrate 80 years of incredible history of what is now NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center This video can be downloaded from the NASA Image and Video Library at: https://images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-20100115-AAV2328-ShouldersOfGiants-Part01-1930s-NASAWeb.html Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nasaames Twitter https://twitter.com/nasaames Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nasaames

Scientists on the airborne observatory SOFIA detected the first type of molecule that ever formed in the universe. They found the combination of helium and hydrogen, called helium hydride, in a planetary nebula near the constellation Cygnus. This discovery confirms a key part of our basic understanding of the early universe and how it evolved over billions of years into the complex chemistry of today. Video Credit: NASA/Ames Research Center Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/the-universe-s-first-type-of-molecule-is-found-at-last Planetary nebula image courtesy of NASA/ESA/Hubble Processing: Judy Schmidt This video can be downloaded from the NASA Image and Video Library at: https://images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-20190417-AAV3194-SOFIA-HeHMolecule-NarratedAnimation-NASAWeb.html NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nasaames Twitter https://twitter.com/nasaames Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nasaames

Researchers discovered what is thought to be the first kind of molecule to form after the Big Bang. While theory suggested its existence, this molecule was detected for the first time in the present-day universe using the latest technology on board the flying observatory called SOFIA. Video Credit: NASA/Ames Research Center Learn more: www.nasa.gov/sofia This video can be downloaded from the NASA Image and Video Library at: https://images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-20190417-AAV3190-SOFIA-HeH-RptrPkg-NASAWeb.html NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nasaames Twitter https://twitter.com/nasaames Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nasaames

Astrobee is a free-flying robot system for the International Space Station. Designed and built at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, the system will be used to help scientists and engineers develop and test technologies for use in zero-gravity. These robots are designed to assist astronauts in Earth’s orbit and support sustained human exploration to the Moon, Mars or other deep space destinations. Video Credit: NASA/Ames Research Center Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/nasa-s-new-flying-robots-bee-ing-in-space-for-the-first-time This video can be downloaded from the NASA Image and Video Library at: https://images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-20190417-AAV3189-AstrobeeLaunch-Shareable-NASAWeb.html NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nasaames Twitter https://twitter.com/nasaames Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nasaames