
Ultrasonic Teeth for Lunar Bucket Excavation

Ultrasonic Teeth for Lunar Bucket Excavation

STS051-10-025 (12-22 Sept. 1993) --- (Orient Photo With Hygiene Kit At Right Center). Astronauts Frank L. Culbertson (right), mission commander, and Daniel W. Bursch, mission specialist, brush their teeth on Space Shuttle Discovery's middeck. Two sleep restraints form part of the backdrop for the photograph. The two were joined by three other NASA astronauts for almost ten full days in space for the STS-51 mission.

NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer observed the star-forming cloud NGC 281 in the constellation of Cassiopeia as it appears to be chomping through the cosmos, earning it the nickname the Pacman nebula.

iss047e136530 (6/2/2016) --- A view of Cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka, during a BIMS Experiment session in the Service module aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The Study of Processes for Informational Support of In-Flight Medical Support using an Onboard Medical Information System Integrated into the Information Control System of the ISS Russian Segment (BIMS) uses telemedicine technologies to collect information by non-contact means from the ear, nose, and throat (ENT), gums, teeth, and small areas of skin from International Space Station (ISS) crews for medical support of manned spaceflights and in-flight biomedical research.

iss047e136529 (6/2/2016) --- A view of Cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka, during a BIMS Experiment session in the Service module aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The Study of Processes for Informational Support of In-Flight Medical Support using an Onboard Medical Information System Integrated into the Information Control System of the ISS Russian Segment (BIMS) uses telemedicine technologies to collect information by non-contact means from the ear, nose, and throat (ENT), gums, teeth, and small areas of skin from International Space Station (ISS) crews for medical support of manned spaceflights and in-flight biomedical research.

S89-E-5274 (26 Jan 1998) --- This Electronic Still Camera (ESC) image shows astronaut David A. Wolf, mission specialist and cosmonaut guest researcher, holding a pen light in his teeth to get better lighting in this piece of equipment, he is working on onboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Wolf is being replaced by astronaut Andrew S. W. Thomas as the cosmonaut guest researcher onboard Russia's Mir Space Station. Thomas will be the last American astronaut to serve onboard the Mir. This ESC view was taken on January 26, 1998, at 14:28:06 GMT.

The Mast Camera, or Mastcam, aboard NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is built with two cameras – the left has a 34 mm focal length; the right, a 100 mm focal length. Behind each lens is a rotating wheel (circled in pink) arranged with filters. In addition to providing color images of the rover's surroundings, the cameras and their filters help scientists determine from afar the composition of rocks by the wavelengths of light, or spectra, they reflect in different colors. On Sept. 19, 2023, the left camera's filter wheel became stuck between the green and clear filter positions, the effects of which can be seen on the mission's raw, or unprocessed, images. The filter wheel is part of a spur-and-pinion mechanism, with the spur teeth around the filter wheel. The actuation uses a small motor that drives the pinion gear both forward and backward. Despite having been commanded at more than twice its normal torque, this motor has been unable to move in the counterclockwise direction. If unable to nudge the wheel back to the clear filter, the mission would rely on the higher resolution 100 mm right camera as the primary color-imaging system. The camera needs to take nine times more images than the left to cover the same area, which could affect how the team scouts for science targets and rover routes. The ability to observe detailed color spectra of rocks from afar would also be degraded. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26043