An Optical Illusion
NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, back-end imager optics. This picture shows the imager optics which are mounted at the back of the optical system.
NASA Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory OCTL dome is located in Table Mountain, California. It is used in conjunction with the The Optical PAyload for Lasercomm Science OPALS.
S65-42598 (10 Nov. 1965) --- Douglas S. Idlly, Electromagnetic Systems Branch, Instrumentation and Electronic Systems Division, illustrates an Optical Communications Transmitter (LASER) during a briefing at the news center of the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas. Photo credit: NASA
Next Generation PIAA mirrors were made by Tinsley and are inside the enclosure. Shows dummy set-up uning early PIAA mirors made by Axsys on loan to Ames from JPL.
It’s an age-old astronomical truth: To resolve smaller and smaller physical details of distant celestial objects, scientists need larger and larger light-collecting mirrors. This challenge is not easily overcome given the high cost and impracticality of building and — in the case of space observatories — launching large-aperture telescopes. However, a team of scientists and engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has begun testing a potentially more affordable alternative called the photon sieve. This new-fangled telescope optic could give scientists the resolution they need to see finer details still invisible with current observing tools – a jump in resolution that could help answer a 50-year-old question about the physical processes heating the sun's million-degree corona. Read more: <a href="http://go.nasa.gov/2abhanr" rel="nofollow">go.nasa.gov/2abhanr</a> Credit: NASA/Goddard/W. Hrybyk
Miria Finckenor collects Optical Witness Samples and swab samples for analysis to verify that the NEA Scout thermal vacuum bake-out is complete and the chamber is clean.
jsc2019e048247 (9/28/2018) — Preflight imagery of the Fiber Optic Production hardware. Physical Optics Corporation’s (POC’s) Fiber Optic Production investigation will create optical fibers with high commercial value aboard the International Space Station (ISS)and will operate within the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG).
jsc2019e048246 (9/28/2018) — Preflight imagery of the Fiber Optic Production hardware. Physical Optics Corporation’s (POC’s) Fiber Optic Production investigation will create optical fibers with high commercial value aboard the International Space Station (ISS)and will operate within the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG).
jsc2019e048245 (3/6/2019) — Preflight imagery of the Fiber Optic Production hardware. Physical Optics Corporation’s (POC’s) Fiber Optic Production investigation will create optical fibers with high commercial value aboard the International Space Station (ISS)and will operate within the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG).
This time-exposure picture of the asteroid Gaspra and background stars is one of four optical navigation images made by NASA Galileo imaging system to improve knowledge of Gaspra location for the spacecraft flyby. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00229
NASA release April 1, 2010 The gamma-ray output from Cen A's lobes exceeds their radio output by more than ten times. High-energy gamma rays detected by Fermi's Large Area Telescope are depicted as purple in this gamma ray/optical composite of the galaxy. Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration, Capella Observatory To learn more about these images go to: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/smokestack-plumes.html" rel="nofollow">www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/smokestack-plumes.html</a> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
NASA release April 1, 2010 The gamma-ray output from Cen A's lobes exceeds their radio output by more than ten times. High-energy gamma rays detected by Fermi's Large Area Telescope are depicted as purple in this gamma ray/optical composite of the galaxy. Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration, Capella Observatory To learn more about these images go to: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/smokestack-plumes.html" rel="nofollow">www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/smokestack-plumes.html</a> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
Engineer Jordan Rupp is shown at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in September 2022 with the optical bench for the Coronagraph Instrument on NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Light from the telescope is directed to the optical bench and passes through series of lenses, filters, and other components that ultimately suppress light from a star while allowing the light from orbiting planets to pass through. Mirrors redirect the light and keep it contained within the optical bench. In this image, the bench is partly assembled at the start of the integration and testing period for the instrument. The large black circles are surrogate components that are standing in for the actual instrument hardware. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25439
Looking for a faster computer? How about an optical computer that processes data streams simultaneously and works with the speed of light? In space, NASA researchers have formed optical thin-film. By turning these thin-films into very fast optical computer components, scientists could improve computer tasks, such as pattern recognition. Dr. Hossin Abdeldayem, physicist at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Al, is working with lasers as part of an optical system for pattern recognition. These systems can be used for automated fingerprinting, photographic scarning and the development of sophisticated artificial intelligence systems that can learn and evolve. Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
N-213 Laser Optics Laboratory
iss048e057073 (8/12/2016) --- A view of Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) installed on ExPRESS (Expedite the Processing of Experiments to Space Station) Logistics Carrier-1 (ELC-1). The Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) aims to demonstrate optical communications technology. This is accomplished by transferring a video from hardware onboard the ISS to our ground receiver at JPL’s Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory (OCTL) in Wrightwood, California.
iss048e052292 (8/6/2016) --- A view of Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) installed on ExPRESS (Expedite the Processing of Experiments to Space Station) Logistics Carrier-1 (ELC-1). The Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) aims to demonstrate optical communications technology. This is accomplished by transferring a video from hardware onboard the ISS to our ground receiver at JPL’s Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory (OCTL) in Wrightwood, California.
NASA Galileo spacecraft, now in orbit around Jupiter, returned this optical navigation image June 3, 1996, showing that the spacecraft is accurately targeted for its first flyby of the giant moon Ganymede on June 27. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00273
N-213 Laser Optics Laboratory with Dana Lynch
Instruments Overboard On July 26, 2014, scientists worked past dusk to prepare and deploy the optical instruments and ocean water sensors during NASA's SABOR experiment. NASA's Ship-Aircraft Bio-Optical Research (SABOR) experiment is a coordinated ship and aircraft observation campaign off the Atlantic coast of the United States, an effort to advance space-based capabilities for monitoring microscopic plants that form the base of the marine food chain. Read more: <a href="http://1.usa.gov/WWRVzj" rel="nofollow">1.usa.gov/WWRVzj</a> Credit: NASA/SABOR/Wayne Slade, Sequoia Scientific . <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
After removal from the handling container physical science technician, Kristen Washington, performs an inspection of the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) fold flat mirror to note any scratches or damage on the optical surface before it is integrated with the other optical components of the instrument. OCI is a highly advanced optical spectrometer that will be used to measure properties of light over portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It will enable continuous measurement of light at finer wavelength resolution than previous NASA satellite sensors, extending key system ocean color data records for climate studies. OCI is PACE's (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) primary sensor built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.
Optical engineer, Maurice Stancil, performs final optical alignment metrology measurements prior to the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) integration to the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) spacecraft. As he collects data and measures angles on OCI, he is able to determine if the flight hardware is in the correct position. OCI is a highly advanced optical spectrometer that will be used to measure properties of light over portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It will enable continuous measurement of light at finer wavelength resolution than previous NASA satellite sensors, extending key system ocean color data records for climate studies. OCI is PACE's primary sensor built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.
Optical technician, Timothy Madison, uses a theodolite to perform optical measurements on the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI). As he collects data and measures angles on OCI, he is able to determine if the newly integrated flight hardware is in the correct position. OCI is a highly advanced optical spectrometer that will be used to measure properties of light over portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It will enable continuous measurement of light at finer wavelength resolution than previous NASA satellite sensors, extending key system ocean color data records for climate studies. OCI is PACE's (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) primary sensor built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.
On July 6, 2011, ICESCAPE scientists lowered optical instruments through a hole at the bottom of a melt pond, to study the waters underneath the ice. The ICESCAPE mission, or "Impacts of Climate on Ecosystems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment," is a NASA shipborne investigation to study how changing conditions in the Arctic affect the ocean's chemistry and ecosystems. The bulk of the research took place in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas in summer 2010 and 2011. Credit: NASA/Kathryn Hansen <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
Shideh Naderi works on designing the electronics for the next generation Fiber Optic Sensing System.
iss054e005568 (12-26-2017) --- View of the Made In Space Fiber Optics Locker installed in ExPRESS (Expedite the Processing of Experiments to Space Station) Rack 7. The Optical Fiber Production in Microgravity (Made In Space Fiber Optics) investigation demonstrates the merits of manufacturing fiber optic filaments in microgravity.
The Fiber Optic Sensing System team includes in the front from left Nick Finks, Ryan Warner, Patrick Chan and Paul Bean. In the back row from left are Shideh Naderi, Jeff Bauer, Allen Parker, Frank Pena and Nathan Perreau. Lance Richards, Anthony Piazza and Phil Hamory are current FOSS team members who are not pictured.
The Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) technology demonstration's flight laser transceiver is shown at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in April 2021, before being installed inside its box-like enclosure that was later integrated with NASA's Psyche spacecraft. The transceiver consists of a near-infrared laser transmitter to send high-rate data to Earth, and a sensitive photon-counting camera to receive ground-transmitted low-rate data. The transceiver is mounted on an assembly of struts and actuators – shown in this photograph – that stabilizes the optics from spacecraft vibrations. The DSOC experiment is the agency's first demonstration of optical communications beyond the Earth-Moon system. DSOC is a system that consists of this flight laser transceiver, a ground laser transmitter, and a ground laser receiver. New advanced technologies have been implemented in each of these elements. The transceiver will "piggyback" on NASA's Psyche spacecraft when it launches in August 2022 to the metal-rich asteroid of the same name. The DSOC technology demonstration will begin shortly after launch and continue as the spacecraft travels from Earth to its gravity-assist flyby of Mars. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24569
An Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) optical lens is installed into the flight housing hardware for alignment measurements. OCI is a highly advanced optical spectrometer that will be used to measure properties of light over portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It will enable continuous measurement of light at finer wavelength resolution than previous NASA satellite sensors, extending key system ocean color data records for climate studies. OCI is PACE's (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) primary sensor built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.
N-213 Laser Optics Laboratory - double exposed polaroid by Ken McAlister (engineer) 3-17-89 with Dana Lynch
iss054e005575 (12-26-2017) --- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Norishige Kanai poses for a photo with the installed Made in Space Fiber Optics Locker and the re-installed Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF) Manufacturing Device (ManD). Photo was taken in the Destiny U.S. Laboratory abord the International Space Station (ISS). The Optical Fiber Production in Microgravity (Made In Space Fiber Optics) investigation demonstrates the merits of manufacturing fiber optic filaments in microgravity.
Mechanical technician, Andrew Scharmann, installs a shim and inspects an optic on the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) rotating telescope prior to integrating other hardware and optical components. OCI is a highly advanced optical spectrometer that will be used to measure properties of light over portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It will enable continuous measurement of light at finer wavelength resolution than previous NASA satellite sensors, extending key system ocean color data records for climate studies. OCI is PACE's (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) primary sensor built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.
This graph depicts the increased signal quality possible with optical fibers made from ZBLAN, a family of heavy-metal fluoride glasses (fluorine combined zirconium, barium, lanthanum, aluminum, and sodium) as compared to silica fibers. NASA is conducting research on pulling ZBLAN fibers in the low-g environment of space to prevent crystallization that limits ZBLAN's usefulness in optical fiber-based communications. In the graph, a line closer to the black theoretical maximum line is better. Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center
Patrick Chan demonstrates one way that the Fiber Optic Sensing System is used by bending a fiber with a 3D representation of the fiber’s shape as it bends.
NASA researcher Dr. Donald Frazier uses a blue laser shining through a quartz window into a special mix of chemicals to generate a polymer film on the inside quartz surface. As the chemicals respond to the laser light, they adhere to the glass surface, forming optical films. Dr. Frazier and Dr. Mark S. Paley developed the process in the Space Sciences Laboratory at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. Working aboard the Space Shuttle, a science team led by Dr. Frazier formed thin-films potentially useful in optical computers with fewer impurities than those formed on Earth. Patterns of these films can be traced onto the quartz surface. In the optical computers of the future, thee films could replace electronic circuits and wires, making the systems more efficient and cost-effective, as well as lighter and more compact. Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center
NASA's Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center has been working to expand our view of the universe via sophisticated new telescopes. The Optics Center's goal is to develop low-cost, advanced space optics technologies for the NASA program in the 21st century, including the long-term goal of imaging Earth-like planets in distant solar systems. A segmented array of mirrors was designed by the Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center for the solar concentrator test stand at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) for powering solar thermal propulsion engines. Each hexagon mirror has a spherical surface to approximate a parabolic concentrator when combined into the entire 18-foot diameter array. The aluminum mirrors were polished with a diamond turning machine that creates a glass-like reflective finish on metal. The precision fabrication machinery at the Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center at MSFC can polish specialized optical elements to a world class quality of smoothness. This image shows optics physicist, Vince Huegele, examining one of the 144-segment hexagonal mirrors of the 18-foot diameter array at the MSFC solar concentrator test stand.
Team members prepare for an optics test on the Advanced Baseline Imager, the primary optical instrument, on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R) inside the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Carbon dioxide will be sprayed on the imager to clean it and test its sensitivity. GOES-R will be the first satellite in a series of next-generation NOAA GOES Satellites. The spacecraft is to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in November.
Team members prepare for an optics test on the Advanced Baseline Imager, the primary optical instrument, on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R) inside the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Carbon dioxide will be sprayed on the imager to clean it and test its sensitivity. GOES-R will be the first satellite in a series of next-generation NOAA GOES Satellites. The spacecraft is to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in November.
With the lights out, team members perform an optics test on the Advanced Baseline Imager, the primary optical instrument, on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R) inside the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Carbon dioxide is sprayed on the imager to clean it and test its sensitivity. GOES-R will be the first satellite in a series of next-generation NOAA GOES Satellites. The spacecraft is to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in November.
The Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) technology demonstration's flight laser transceiver can be easily identified on NASA's Psyche spacecraft, seen in this December 2021 photograph inside a clean room at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. DSOC's tube-like gray/silver sunshade can be seen protruding from the side of the spacecraft. The bulge to which the sunshade is attached is DSOC's transceiver, which consists of a near-infrared laser transmitter to send high-rate data to Earth and a sensitive photon-counting camera to receive ground-transmitted low-rate data. The DSOC experiment is the agency's first demonstration of optical communications beyond the Earth-Moon system. DSOC is a system that consists of this flight laser transceiver, a ground laser transmitter, and a ground laser receiver. New advanced technologies have been implemented in each of these elements. The transceiver will "piggyback" on NASA's Psyche spacecraft when it launches in August 2022 to the metal-rich asteroid of the same name. The DSOC technology demonstration will begin shortly after launch and continue as the spacecraft travels from Earth to its gravity-assist flyby of Mars. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24570
Scarning electron microscope images of the surface of ZBLAN fibers pulled in microgravity (ug) and on Earth (1g) show the crystallization that normally occurs in ground-based processing. The face of each crystal will reflect or refract a portion of the optical signal, thus degrading its quality. NASA is conducting research on pulling ZBLAN fibers in the low-g environment of space to prevent crystallization that limits ZBLAN's usefulness in optical fiber-based communications. ZBLAN is a heavy-metal fluoride glass that shows exdeptional promise for high-throughput communications with infrared lasers. Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center
Storm in the Sargasso Sea Scientist aboard the R/V Endeavor in the Sargasso Sea put their research on hold on July 28, 2014, as a storm system brought high waves crashing onto the deck. NASA's Ship-Aircraft Bio-Optical Research (SABOR) experiment is a coordinated ship and aircraft observation campaign off the Atlantic coast of the United States, an effort to advance space-based capabilities for monitoring microscopic plants that form the base of the marine food chain. Read more: <a href="http://1.usa.gov/WWRVzj" rel="nofollow">1.usa.gov/WWRVzj</a> Credit: NASA/SABOR/Chris Armanetti, University of Rhode Island .<b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
Fixing the "Fish" On July 19, 2014, Wayne Slade of Sequoia Scientific, and Allen Milligan of Oregon State University, made adjustments to the "fish" that researchers used to hold seawater collected from a depth of about 3 meters (10 feet) while the ship was underway. NASA's Ship-Aircraft Bio-Optical Research (SABOR) experiment is a coordinated ship and aircraft observation campaign off the Atlantic coast of the United States, an effort to advance space-based capabilities for monitoring microscopic plants that form the base of the marine food chain. Read more: <a href="http://1.usa.gov/WWRVzj" rel="nofollow">1.usa.gov/WWRVzj</a> Credit: NASA/SABOR/Wayne Slade, Sequoia Scientific .<b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
Sunset Over the Gulf of Maine On July 20, 2013, scientists at sea with NASA's SABOR experiment witnessed a spectacular sunset over the Gulf of Maine. NASA's Ship-Aircraft Bio-Optical Research (SABOR) experiment is a coordinated ship and aircraft observation campaign off the Atlantic coast of the United States, an effort to advance space-based capabilities for monitoring microscopic plants that form the base of the marine food chain. Read more: <a href="http://1.usa.gov/WWRVzj" rel="nofollow">1.usa.gov/WWRVzj</a> Credit: NASA/SABOR/Wayne Slade, Sequoia Scientific .<b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
What's in the Water? Robert Foster, of the City College of New York, filters seawater on July 23, 2414, for chlorophyll analysis in a lab on the R/V Endeavor. NASA's Ship-Aircraft Bio-Optical Research (SABOR) experiment is a coordinated ship and aircraft observation campaign off the Atlantic coast of the United States, an effort to advance space-based capabilities for monitoring microscopic plants that form the base of the marine food chain. Read more: <a href="http://1.usa.gov/WWRVzj" rel="nofollow">1.usa.gov/WWRVzj</a> Credit: NASA/SABOR/Wayne Slade, Sequoia Scientific..<b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
Seaweed and Light A type of seaweed called Sargassum, common in the Sargasso Sea, floats by an instrument deployed here on July 26, 2014, as part of NASA's SABOR experiment. Scientists from the City College of New York use the data to study the way light becomes polarized in various conditions both above and below the surface of the ocean. NASA's Ship-Aircraft Bio-Optical Research (SABOR) experiment is a coordinated ship and aircraft observation campaign off the Atlantic coast of the United States, an effort to advance space-based capabilities for monitoring microscopic plants that form the base of the marine food chain. Read more: <a href="http://1.usa.gov/WWRVzj" rel="nofollow">1.usa.gov/WWRVzj</a> Credit: NASA/SABOR/Wayne Slade, Sequoia Scientific .<b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
Catnap at Sea Ali Chase of the University of Maine, and Courtney Kearney of the Naval Research Laboratory, caught a quick nap on July 24, 2014, while between successive stops at sea to make measurements from the R/V Endeavor. NASA's Ship-Aircraft Bio-Optical Research (SABOR) experiment is a coordinated ship and aircraft observation campaign off the Atlantic coast of the United States, an effort to advance space-based capabilities for monitoring microscopic plants that form the base of the marine food chain. Read more: <a href="http://1.usa.gov/WWRVzj" rel="nofollow">1.usa.gov/WWRVzj</a> Credit: NASA/SABOR/Wayne Slade, Sequoia Scientific..<b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
ProVision Technologies, a NASA research partnership center at Sternis Space Center in Mississippi, has developed a new hyperspectral imaging (HSI) system that is much smaller than the original large units used aboard remote sensing aircraft and satellites. The new apparatus is about the size of a breadbox. HSI may be useful to ophthalmologists to study and diagnose eye health, both on Earth and in space, by examining the back of the eye to determine oxygen and blood flow quickly and without any invasion. ProVision's hyperspectral imaging system can scan the human eye and produce a graph showing optical density or light absorption, which can then be compared to a graph from a normal eye. Scans of the macula, optic disk or optic nerve head, and blood vessels can be used to detect anomalies and identify diseases in this delicate and important organ. ProVision has already developed a relationship with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, but is still on the lookout for a commercial partner in this application.
This optical composite image shows asteroid 2017 YE5, taken on June 30, 2018, by the Cadi Ayyad University Morocco Oukaimeden Sky Survey, one of the first surveys to identify 2017 YE5 in December 2017. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22558
Mechanical technician, Andrew Scharmann, slides a lift fixture into position to ensure the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) Main Optics Bench (MOB) and Main Optics Sub Bench (MOSB) are aligned. OCI is a highly advanced optical spectrometer that will be used to measure properties of light over portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It will enable continuous measurement of light at finer wavelength resolution than previous NASA satellite sensors, extending key system ocean color data records for climate studies. OCI is PACE's (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) primary sensor built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.
NASA release April 1, 2010 The giant elliptical galaxy NGC 5128, show here in visible light, hosts the radio source known as Centaurus A. Located 12 million light-years away, it is one of the closest active galaxies. Credit: Capella Observatory To learn more about these images go to: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/smokestack-plumes.html" rel="nofollow">www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/smokestack-plumes.html</a> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
NASA's Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center has been working to expand our view of the universe via sophisticated new telescopes. The Optics Center's goal is to develop low-cost, advanced space optics technologies for the NASA program in the 21st century, including the long-term goal of imaging Earth-like planets in distant solar systems. A segmented array of mirrors was designed by the Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center for solar the concentrator test stand at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) for powering solar thermal propulsion engines. Each hexagon mirror has a spherical surface to approximate a parabolic concentrator when combined into the entire 18-foot diameter array. The aluminum mirrors were polished with a diamond turning machine, that creates a glass-like reflective finish on metal. The precision fabrication machinery at the Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center at MSFC can polish specialized optical elements to a world class quality of smoothness. This image shows optics physicist, Vince Huegele, examining one of the 144-segment hexagonal mirrors of the 18-foot diameter array at the MSFC solar concentrator test stand.
Sections of ZBLAN fibers pulled in a conventional 1-g process (right) and in experiments aboard NASA's KC-135 low-gravity aircraft (left). The rough surface of the 1-g fiber indicates surface defects that would scatter an optical signal and greatly degrade its quality. ZBLAN is part of the family of heavy-metal fluoride glasses (fluorine combined zirconium, barium, lanthanum, aluminum, and sodium). NASA is conducting research on pulling ZBLAN fibers in the low-g environment of space to prevent crystallization that limits ZBLAN's usefulness in optical fiber-based communications. ZBLAN is a heavy-metal fluoride glass that shows exceptional promise for high-throughput communications with infrared lasers. Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center
NASA research Dr. Donald Frazier uses a blue laser shining through a quartz window into a special mix of chemicals to generate a polymer film on the inside quartz surface. As the chemicals respond to the laser light, they adhere to the glass surface, forming opticl films. Dr. Frazier and Dr. Mark S. Paley developed the process in the Space Sciences Laboratory at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. Working aboard the Space Shuttle, a science team led by Dr. Frazier formed thin-films potentially useful in optical computers with fewer impurities than those formed on Earth. Patterns of these films can be traced onto the quartz surface. In the optical computers on the future, these films could replace electronic circuits and wires, making the systems more efficient and cost-effective, as well as lighter and more compact. Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center
On the second day of the 25.5-day Artemis I mission, Orion used its optical navigation camera to snap black and white photos of planet Earth. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness as a method for determining its position in space for future missions under differing lighting conditions.
Orion’s black-and-white optical navigation camera captured this view of the Moon on the fourth day of the Artemis I mission. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness as a method for determining its position in space for future missions under differing lighting conditions.
On the second day of the 25.5-day Artemis I mission, Orion used its optical navigation camera to snap black and white photos of planet Earth. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness as a method for determining its position in space for future missions under differing lighting conditions.
Testing is crucial part of NASA's success on Earth and in space. So, as the actual flight components of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope come together, engineers are testing the non-flight equipment to ensure that tests on the real Webb telescope later goes safely and according to plan. Recently, the "pathfinder telescope," or just “Pathfinder,” completed its first super-cold optical test that resulted in many first-of-a-kind demonstrations. "This test is the first dry-run of the equipment and procedures we will use to conduct an end-to-end optical test of the flight telescope and instruments," said Mark Clampin, Webb telescope Observatory Project Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "It provides confidence that once the flight telescope is ready, we are fully prepared for a successful test of the flight hardware." The Pathfinder is a non-flight replica of the Webb telescope’s center section backplane, or “backbone,” that includes mirrors. The flight backplane comes in three segments, a center section and two wing-like parts, all of which will support large hexagonal mirrors on the Webb telescope. The pathfinder only consists of the center part of the backplane. However, during the test, it held two full size spare primary mirror segments and a full size spare secondary mirror to demonstrate the ability to optically test and align the telescope at the planned operating temperatures of -400 degrees Fahrenheit (-240 Celsius). Read more: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/nasas-webb-pathfinder-telescope-successfully-completes-first-super-cold-optical-test" rel="nofollow">www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/nasas-webb-pathfinder-telesc...</a> Credit: NASA/Goddard/Chris Gunn <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
NASA scientist, in the Space Sciences lab at Marshall, works with capillary optics that generate more intense X-rays than conventional sources. This capability is useful in studying the structure of important proteins.
Alejandro Rodriguez Perez and Joe Thomes, members of the fiber optic & photonic team, configure the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) Engineering Test Unit (ETU) Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) Detector Asembly and Multi-lens Array (MLA) fibers for thermal testing. OCI is a highly advanced optical spectrometer that will be used to measure properties of light over portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It will enable continuous measurement of light at finer wavelength resolution than previous NASA satellite sensors, extending key system ocean color data records for climate studies. OCI is PACE's (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) primary sensor built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.
Mechanical technicians reorient the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) Optical Module on a rotation fixture to allow for additional hardware integration. OCI is a highly advanced optical spectrometer that will be used to measure properties of light over portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It will enable continuous measurement of light at finer wavelength resolution than previous NASA satellite sensors, extending key system ocean color data records for climate studies. OCI is PACE's (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) primary sensor built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.
This pair of images of the Long Island, New York region is a comparison of an optical photograph (top) and a radar image (bottom), both taken in darkness in April 1994. The photograph at the top was taken by the Endeavour astronauts at about 3 a.m. Eastern time on April 20, 1994. The image at the bottom was acquired at about the same time four days earlier on April 16,1994 by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) system aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. Both images show an area approximately 100 kilometers by 40 kilometers (62 miles by 25 miles) that is centered at 40.7 degrees North latitude and 73.5 degrees West longitude. North is toward the upper right. The optical image is dominated by city lights, which are particularly bright in the densely developed urban areas of New York City located on the left half of the photo. The brightest white zones appear on the island of Manhattan in the left center, and Central Park can be seen as a darker area in the middle of Manhattan. To the northeast (right) of the city, suburban Long Island appears as a less densely illuminated area, with the brightest zones occurring along major transportation and development corridors. Since radar is an active sensing system that provides its own illumination, the radar image shows a great amount of surface detail, despite the night-time acquisition. The colors in the radar image were obtained using the following radar channels: red represents the L-band (horizontally transmitted and received); green represents the L-band (horizontally transmitted and vertically received); blue represents the C-band (horizontally transmitted and vertically received). In this image, the water surface - the Atlantic Ocean along the bottom edge and Long Island Sound shown at the top edge - appears red because small waves at the surface strongly reflect the horizontally transmitted and received L-band radar signal. Networks of highways and railroad lines are clearly visible in the radar image; many of them can also be seen as bright lines i the optical image. The runways of John F. Kennedy International Airport appear as a dark rectangle in Jamaica Bay on the left side of the image. Developed areas appear generally as bright green and orange, while agricultural, protected and undeveloped areas appear darker blue or purple. This contrast can be seen on the barrier islands along the south coast of Long Island, which are heavily developed in the Rockaway and Long Beach areas south and east of Jamaica Bay, but further to the east, the islands are protected and undeveloped. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01785
A technician operates articulating equipment to rotate the Near-Earth Object Surveyor (NEO Surveyor) mission's aluminum optical bench – part of the spacecraft's telescope – in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on July 17, 2024. NEO Surveyor's sole instrument is a "three-mirror anastigmat telescope," which will rely on a set of curved mirrors to focus light onto its infrared detectors in such a way that minimizes optical aberrations. When complete, the telescope will be housed inside an instrument enclosure – being built in a different JPL clean room – that is fabricated from dark composite material that allows heat to escape, helping to keep the telescope cool and prevent its own heat from obscuring observations. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26387
On July 6, 2011, Don Perovich, of Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, used a spectroradiometer to measure the amount of sunlight reflected from the surface of ice and melt ponds in the Chukchi Sea. The ICESCAPE mission, or "Impacts of Climate on Ecosystems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment," is a NASA shipborne investigation to study how changing conditions in the Arctic affect the ocean's chemistry and ecosystems. The bulk of the research took place in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas in summer 2010 and 2011. Credit: NASA/Kathryn Hansen <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
STS075-310-002 (22 Feb.-9 March 1996) --- Astronaut Maurizio Cheli, STS-75 mission specialist, works with the Tether Optical Phenomenon System (TOPS) on the flight deck of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Columbia. Cheli, representing the European Space Agency (ESA), joined four other astronauts and an international payload specialists for 16 days of scientific research in Earth-orbit.
The SELENE Optics project was designed to send powerful laser beams into space to repower satellites and to recharge their batteries, as well as sending laser beams to the moon for the same purpose instead of relying on solar power. This project also was intended to be used for repowering extended space flights.
ISS029-E-027431 (17 Oct. 2011) --- In the International Space Station?s Destiny laboratory, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, Expedition 29 flight engineer, activates the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) in preparation for work with the Selectable Optical Diagnostics Instrument ? Colloid (SODI-COLLOID) hardware.
ISS029-E-027435 (17 Oct. 2011) --- In the International Space Station?s Destiny laboratory, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, Expedition 29 flight engineer, activates the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) in preparation for work with the Selectable Optical Diagnostics Instrument ? Colloid (SODI-COLLOID) hardware.
This king-size copper disk, manufactured at the Space Optics Manufacturing and Technology Center (SOMTC) at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), is a special mold for making high resolution monitor screens. This master mold will be used to make several other molds, each capable of forming hundreds of screens that have a type of lens called a Fresnel lens. Weighing much less than conventional optics, Fresnel lenses have multiple concentric grooves, each formed to a precise angle, that together create the curvature needed to focus and project images. MSFC leads NASA's space optics manufacturing technology development as a technology leader for diamond turning. The machine used to manufacture this mold is among many one-of-a-kind pieces of equipment of MSFC's SOMTC.
ProVision Technologies, a NASA commercial space center at Sternis Space Center in Mississippi, has developed a new hyperspectral imaging (HSI) system that is much smaller than the original large units used aboard remote sensing aircraft and satellites. The new apparatus is about the size of a breadbox. HSI may be useful to ophthalmologists to study and diagnose eye health, both on Earth and in space, by examining the back of the eye to determine oxygen and blood flow quickly and without any invasion. ProVision's hyperspectral imaging system can scan the human eye and produce a graph showing optical density or light absorption, which can then be compared to a graph from a normal eye. Scans of the macula, optic disk or optic nerve head, and blood vessels can be used to detect anomalies and identify diseases in this delicate and important organ. ProVision has already developed a relationship with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, but is still on the lookout for a commercial partner in this application.
Although the new fiber optic sensors on the Ikhana, which are located on fibers that are the diameter of a human hair, are not visible, the sealant used to cover them can be seen in this view from above the left wing. NASA Dryden Flight Research Center is evaluating an advanced fiber optic-based sensing technology installed on the wings of NASA's Ikhana aircraft. The fiber optic system measures and displays the shape of the aircraft's wings in flight. There are other potential safety applications for the technology, such as vehicle structural health monitoring. If an aircraft structure can be monitored with sensors and a computer can manipulate flight control surfaces to compensate for stresses on the wings, structural control can be established to prevent situations that might otherwise result in a loss of control.
S72-49482 (November 1972) --- The Optical Recorder of the Lunar Sounder Experiment (S-209) which will be mounted in the SIM bay of the Apollo 17 Service Module. The three functional parts of the Lunar Sounder are the optical recorder, the coherent synthetic aperture radar, and the antennas, a retractable dipole for HF and a yagi for VHF. The Lunar Sounder will probe three-quarters of a mile below the moon's surface from the orbiting Apollo 17 spacecraft. Electronic data recorded on film will be retrieved by the crew during trans-Earth EVA. Geologic information on the lunar interior obtained by the sounder will permit scientific investigation of underground rock layers, lava flow patterns, rille (canyon) structures, mascon properties, and any areas containing water. A prototype lunar sounder has been flight tested in aircraft over selected Earth sites to confirm the equipment design and develop scientific analysis techniques. The Lunar Sounder Experiment was developed by North American Rockwell's (NR) Space Division for NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center to provide data for a scientific investigation team with representatives from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, University of Utah, University of Michigan, U.S. Geological Survey, and NASA Ames Research Center.
art001e000333 (Nov. 21, 2022) – On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion’s optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon below. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
art001e000344 (Nov. 21, 2022) – On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion’s optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon below. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
art001e000346 (Nov. 21, 2022) – On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion’s optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon below. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
art001e001859 (Dec. 1, 2022) Orion’s optical navigation camera captured this image of the Moon on flight day 16 of the Artemis I mission. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
art001e000340 (Nov. 21, 2022) – On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion’s optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon below. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
art001e000335 (Nov. 21, 2022) – On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion’s optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon below. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
art001e000348 (Nov. 21, 2022) – On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion’s optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon below. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
art001e000338 (Nov. 21, 2022) – On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion’s optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon below. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
art001e000345 (Nov. 21, 2022) – On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion’s optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon below. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
art001e000334 (Nov. 21, 2022) – On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion’s optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon below. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
art001e000343 (Nov. 21, 2022) – On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion’s optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon below. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
art001e000339 (Nov. 21, 2022) – On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion’s optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon below. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
art001e000403 (Nov. 22, 2022) Flight Day 7, Orion’s Optical Navigation camera captures the far side of the Moon, as the spacecraft orbited 81.1 miles above the surface, heading for a Distant Retrograde Orbit. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
art001e000342 (Nov. 21, 2022) – On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion’s optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon below. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
art001e000336 (Nov. 21, 2022) – On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion’s optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon below. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
art001e000337 (Nov. 21, 2022) – On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion’s optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon below. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
art001e000341 (Nov. 21, 2022) – On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, Orion’s optical navigation camera captured black-and-white images of craters on the Moon below. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
art001e001873 (Dec. 1, 2022) Orion’s optical navigation camera captured this image of the Moon on flight day 16 of the Artemis I mission. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
S65-43482 (20 Aug. 1965) --- Table-top view of several of the optical and photographic pieces of equipment planned for use on the Gemini-5 spacecraft before installation in the spacecraft.
NASA release April 1, 2010 It takes the addition of radio data (orange) to fully appreciate the scale of Cen A's giant radio-emitting lobes, which stretch more than 1.4 million light-years. Gamma-rays from Fermi's Large Area Telescope (purple) and an image of the galaxy in visible light are also included in this composite. Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration, Capella Observatory, and Ilana Feain, Tim Cornwell, and Ron Ekers (CSIRO/ATNF), R. Morganti (ASTRON), and N. Junkes (MPIfR) To learn more about these images go to: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/smokestack-plumes.html" rel="nofollow">www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/smokestack-plumes.html</a> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
Mechanical technician, Joseph Eddy, carefully guides the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) Main Optics Bench (MOB) during a crane lift onto its turnover fixture. This fixture allows the team to integrate additional components multiple different orientations. OCI is a highly advanced optical spectrometer that will be used to measure properties of light over portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It will enable continuous measurement of light at finer wavelength resolution than previous NASA satellite sensors, extending key system ocean color data records for climate studies. OCI is PACE's (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) primary sensor built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.
The Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) Main Optics Bench (MOB) is integrated with the Collimator Slit Assembly (CSA). The CSA is installed to measure the height, width, and depth of the hardware using a Coordinate Measurement Machine. OCI is a highly advanced optical spectrometer that will be used to measure properties of light over portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It will enable continuous measurement of light at finer wavelength resolution than previous NASA satellite sensors, extending key system ocean color data records for climate studies. OCI is PACE's (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) primary sensor built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.
Global summaries of aerosol optical thickness from NASA Terra spacecraft.
The Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) is installed on its transportation dolly and prepared for additional integration operations in a clean tent. OCI is a highly advanced optical spectrometer that will be used to measure properties of light over portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It will enable continuous measurement of light at finer wavelength resolution than previous NASA satellite sensors, extending key system ocean color data records for climate studies. OCI is PACE's (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) primary sensor built at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD.
NEA (Near Earth Asteroid) Scout Hot Box – Repress Chamber V-15 and removal of Optical Witness Samples, (OWS), for analysis
This image shows NASA 40 cm diameter Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer telescope. Here the lead optical test engineer attaches the back-end imager optics to the afocal.
NASA Optical PAyload for Lasercomm Science OPALS operations team is seen at the Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory ground station during an operations planning retreat on February 13, 2014.