Martian sky on Rover opportunities, Dawn Spacecraft at the end of the race |



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ABOVE VIDEO: An update on our rovers on Mars, the continued progress of our Moon to Mars efforts and a return to Dawn – in its dim light … some stories to tell you – This Week at NASA!

The Martian sky on Opportunity Rover

Dust continues to settle on Mars as a result of the huge dust storm that has covered the Red Planet since at least May and interrupted operations for our Opportunity rover.

Engineers at our Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, are closely monitoring the 15-year-old solar-powered mobile for signs that it is getting enough solar power to automatically initiate recovery procedures , if possible.

New panoramic image of curiosity on Mars

Our Curiosity rover has produced a new panoramic image on Mars. The panorama, taken on August 9th as the rover explored an area known as Vera Rubin Ridge, included a view of the last Curiosity borehole, a view of the rover's bridge, and the dust storm in the sky overhead. Gale crater. A 360-degree version of the panorama is available on Jet Propulsion Laboratory's YouTube site at youtube.com/nasajpl.

The mobile launcher is heading to the mission of exploration-1

The recent movement of our mobile launcher over the Kennedy Space Center's 2-track crawler carrier in Florida is another sign of continued progress in the agency's efforts to send humans on a mission to the moon and eventually to Mars. . The 380-foot-tall mobile launcher, which was recently modified for our SLS space launch or rocket system, is currently testing for the first SLS launch with our Orion spacecraft.

RS-25 engine test at Stennis

On September 6th, engineers from our Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, conducted a hot-accreditation test of an RS-25 engine flight controller. The flight controller will be used on a future flight of the SLS rocket. It was also the last evaluation of a 3D printed part that helps prevent forces that could make the rocket unstable during the flight. SLS will use four RS-25s to launch Orion on mission to deep space destinations, including the Moon and Mars.

Dawn approaching the end of his stellar mission

Our Dawn spacecraft should soon reach the end of a mission that helped scientists characterize our first solar system and the processes that dominated its formation. At a scientific discussion forum held on September 7 at our jet propulsion laboratory, experts discussed the mission. Launched in 2007, Dawn is the only spacecraft to orbit two deep space destinations: the asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. These celestial bodies are thought to have formed early in the history of the solar system.

Watching this space highlights the commercial crew

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine:
"We have helped two partners, Boeing and SpaceX, to develop their capabilities to transport our astronauts into space."

During the last episode of "Watch This Space", our administrator, Jim Bridenstine, visits our astronaut Suni Williams and Boeing, Chris Ferguson. Williams and Ferguson will each pilot future commercial crew missions to the space station aboard the Boeing CST-100 Starliner. You can read the episodes of "Watch This Space" on nasa.gov/watchthisspace.

What is this week? @NASA

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