Posted by SpaceSightSeer on May 4, 2009 under Unmanned Missions | 
Messenger Mission to Mercury
Messenger, NASA’s first spacecraft to visit Mercury has completed two flybys of the planet Venus and two of Mercury itself. Another flyby of Mercury is planned for later this fall before beginning a yearlong orbit in March 2011. JHU’s Applied Physics Lab has begun to release images from the October 2008 flyby of Mercury. According to investigators, the latest images revealed gave scientists a look at a previously unknown impact basin. Dubbed the Rembrant Basin, the feature is more than 430 miles or roughly the distance between Washington, D.C., and Boston.
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on April 29, 2009 under Unmanned Missions |
Cassie 3D and Titan Flyover
What could be better than pictures from an alien world? How about interactive 3d and a virtual flyover? NASA’s Cassini continues to return remarkable photos from Saturn and its moons. NASA’s JPL has cooperated with the US Geological Survey to create topographical flyover maps of Titan. And by the way, if you haven’t tried out Cassie 3D, the Cassini Virtual Tour, it’s worth taking the time to download the extra software. My recommendation: select moon mode to access the latest information and detailed 3d imagery for 7 of Saturn’s moons and visit Iapetus - the moon with a “seam”.
Earlier post:
http://spaceimagesonline.com/2009/01/19/cassini-huygens-multimedia-gallery/
Tags: 3d, Cassie, Cassini, dione, enceladus, flyover, iapetus, images, mimas, moon with a seam, photos, pictures, rhea, thethys, titan
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on April 27, 2009 under Collections, Unmanned Missions |
Soviet Space Image Catalog
Don P. Mitchell has pulled together hard-to-find space imagery from the Soviet space program. While this is a small collection, it provides a unique historical glimpse into the past. Included are lunar photos datng back to 1959 (Luna-3) along with images returned from Mars, Venus and even Halley’s Comet. Also of interest is a special section, Venera: The Soviet Exploration of Venus.
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on April 16, 2009 under Deep Space Imagery, Unmanned Missions |
Kepler Image Gallery
Kepler, NASA’s first mission capable of finding Earth-size and smaller planets around other stars, has returned its first pictures revealing millions of stars within its field of view.
“Kepler’s first glimpse of the sky is awe-inspiring,” said Lia LaPiana, Kepler’s program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “To be able to see millions of stars in a single snapshot is simply breathtaking.”
One new image from Kepler shows its entire field of view — a 100-square-degree portion of the sky, equivalent to two side-by-side dips of the Big Dipper. The regions contain an estimated 14 millions stars, more than 100,000 of which were selected as ideal candidates for planet hunting.
Over the next three-and-a-half years, Kepler will scan pre-selected stars for planetary evidence. It is the first NASA mission optimized specifically to seek out Earth-sized planets.
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on April 14, 2009 under Unmanned Missions |
Venus Express
While Mars has been stealing all the headlines, ESA’s Venus Express has been quietly exploring the planet’s atmosphere and environment. It’s mission, due to end end May of this year has been extended again until December 2009.
Venus Express has detected water molecules escaping into space, evidence of lightning in the venusian atmosphere, and provided infrared glimpses of the hot surface. The spacecraft has revealed astonishing details of the planet’s dynamic cloud system, including its striking double-eyed atmospheric vortex that dominates the south pole. This gallery includes over 150 images and videos providing a glimpse inside Venus’ mysterious atmospheric cloud.
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on January 28, 2009 under Collections, Deep Space Imagery, Manned Spaceflight, Spacecraft, Unmanned Missions |
Planetary Photojournal
This site provides easy access to the publicly released images from NASA’s various Solar System exploration programs. The site includes an excellent variety of images with intuitive navigation. There’s a bit of everything, spacecraft, deep space images, and views of the planets as well as the panoramic Marscapes sent back by the rovers. New images are added just about every day.
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on January 19, 2009 under Unmanned Missions |
Cassini-Huygens Multimedia Gallery
Folllowing a seven-year voyage, Cassini entered Saturn’s orbit in 2004. With it’s mysterious rings and 34 moons, Saturn is rich with opportunity for study. In 2005, the Huygens probe entered the atmosphere of Titan - the first-ever visit to a moon with an atmosphere. The images and data from this mission are incredible, raising as many new questions as answers about the nature of our solar system.
Related: Where is Cassini Now?
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on January 13, 2009 under Unmanned Missions |
Clementine Lunar Image Browser
A joint mission between NASA and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, the Clementine probe returned roughly 1.8 million images of the moon’s surface. This site includes a selection of those images. Visitors can zoom in to a specific location through a graphical interface or enter coordinates to find a specific location.
Posted by SpaceSightSeer on January 4, 2009 under Unmanned Missions |
Mars Express Image Browser
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter completed its primary mission and remains in orbit around the red planet viewing the martian surface with a variety of instruments. Although the Beagle 2 - it’s partner lander - was lost, Mars Express has continued to function well, returning useful images and data. The flash-based interface on this site allows visitors to click on interesting features of the martian surface to view some of the best pictures. A traditional image gallery for the mission is also available.
