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Pictures of Spacecraft
When HiRISE took a photo of Spirit's resting spot in Gusev crater on March 31, 2011, it happened to be in exactly the right position to catch a specular reflection (a glint) from the rover's solar panels. Apart from being pretty, it signifies that there was not a thick coating of dust on the panels.
Filed under pretty pictures, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Opportunity on Endeavour's rim
This HiRISE image, taken on September 10, 2011, shows the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity sitting atop some light-toned outcrops on the rim of Endeavour Crater, near a smaller crater informally named Odyssey.
Filed under pretty pictures, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Phoenix landing site monitoring from HiRISE: Jan. 26, 2012
Just before the summer solstice, the Sun is 40 degrees above the horizon. The dark bounce mark and bright parachute that originally made the landing site easy to spot have apparently vanished. Now the best way to recognize the landing site is from the dark shadows thrown by the lander and backshell.
Filed under pretty pictures, amateur image processing, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Phoenix, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Full-scale models of three generations of Mars rovers.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner, Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity, Spirit, Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory)
The HiRISE camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this view of Opportunity sitting at the edge of the 100-meter-diameter crater Santa Maria on December 31, 2010, or sol 2466 of the rover's mission.
Filed under pretty pictures, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Opportunity on Endeavour's rim (detail)
This HiRISE image, taken on September 10, 2011, shows the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity sitting atop some light-toned outcrops on the rim of Endeavour Crater, near a smaller crater informally named Odyssey.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, pics of spacecraft in space, Mars, Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Photo inside the Hayabusa sample capsule
A photo taken on June 28, 2010 through the window of its protective vacuum chamber shows the clean-looking interior of Hayabusa's small sample return capsule.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, Hayabusa (MUSES-C)
Artist's impression of the Rosetta spacecraft
Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft, Rosetta and Philae
A puff of its chemical thrusters lifts Hayabusa off from Itokawa after its dangerous first landing.
Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft, Hayabusa (MUSES-C)
Three rovers and a lander, with Carl Sagan for scale
Models of a Viking Lander, a Mars Exploration Rover (Spirit or Opportunity), Sojourner, and Curiosity, with Carl Sagan for scale.
Filed under pretty pictures, fun, spacecraft, scale comparisons, Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner, Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity, Spirit, Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory)
Microrover MUSES CN and Sojourner
Microrovers range in size from MUSES-CN to Sojourner.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, future technology, Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner
Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft, Lightsail and Cosmos-1, solar sailing
Astronauts aboard the Space Station took this photo of the underside of Endeavour on August 10, 2007 during the STS-118 mission, as part of an inspection of the Shuttle's heat-resistant tiles.
Filed under pretty pictures, spacecraft, Space Shuttle program
Huygens Art Contest First Prize Winner: "Titan Touchdown"
Hettick says: "The Titan question had been discussed at length on the International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA) member's listserver -- and I was intrigued by the conversations about �What will the surface really be like? What color will the sky turn out to be? Could Saturn or any stars actually be visible from Titan's surface? I decided to paint "Titan Touchdown" the way I would expect the surface to look and I decided to downplay the mechanical and technical aspects of the probe itself --
Filed under pretty pictures, Huygens, Titan, spacecraft, art
3d Red-blue analgyph of the "face" of Curiosity, shot by Emily Lakdawalla while in the clean room at JPL.
Filed under pretty pictures, 3D, spacecraft, Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory)
Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft, Earth observing missions
Galileo over Jupiter's moon Io
Galileo arrived at Jupiter on December 7, 1995, and plunged into the planet on September 21, 2003. The image shows the spacecraft's high gain antenna fully deployed, whereas in fact it never fully opened.
Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft, Galileo
The Falcon Heavy is SpaceX's entry into the heavy lift launch vehicle category.
Filed under pretty pictures, art, spacecraft, private spaceflight, rockets
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