Currently it is winter at the Perseverance Rover location, 265° solar orbital longitude. 270° in a few days is the northern winter solstice, which means morning frost from water ice is possible. This information can be seen in my free areoHDR app on Android and iPhone / iPad.
The free areoHDR is now also available on Android! The 2nd image shows the context with the rock on the upper left side in the rover track. This wet-looking rock was originally found by 65dBnoise and he has a higher resolution Mastcam-Z image on mastodon.world/@65dBnoise@m... .
This 30cm long rock, Perseverance Mars Rover rolled over and tilted partly out of the ground, appears to have some wet soil glued to it on its lower right side. Detail from fullres Navcam image from April 17, 2026, sol 1833. More images from that day in HDR: areo.info/mars20/ecams... or areoHDR app
Uncommon bright dot in today's Mars Perseverance Rover Navcam image on sol 1834. It's about the location of comet C/2025 R3 Panstarrs, but could be lens flare. 📷 ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_l... and areo.info/mars20/ecams...
That answers as the SAW GoPro4s can view both directions with the wings rotating. Most of the time rear-facing. Also shows where the LED light is located on them which they forgot to switch off during the return when the crew tried long exposure astro photography.
power point slide showing the camera locations on the orion spacecraft. For Artemis II, the vehicle-mounted OIS comprises: • 4 Solar Array Wing (SAW) cameras • 3 in-cabin wireless cameras • 3 external wired cameras • 2 human-health monitoring cameras • 2 camera controllers • 1 Fwd Bay high speed camera Other optical systems: • 4 wireless cameras for NatGeo payload (proprietary data) • 4 Portable computing devices (tablets) with webcams • 2 Nikon D5 DSLR camera bodies (+ lenses, batteries, etc.) • 2 ZCube video encoders (prime + spare) • 1 Docking Camera (DCAM) • 1 Optical Navigation (OPNAV) camera • 1 drag-on temp-mount camera to monitor crew ingress (KSC system)
Of course I only found this post-flight, but there is a good presentation of all the camera systems installed on the Artemis II Orion spacecraft. #Artemis
Recording: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJzU...
PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20...
Too bad, that most likely means no HDR from the raw .nef until October.
Good to have that now! I was already searching for that since Artemis 1. The CMA cameras must be the Point Gray (now FLIR company). But are the 4 SAW GoPro Hero 4 really attached on the solar wings' front side?
Newest release of #Jupiter aurora from program 17408. Observation date 2025-10-17, but released a few days ago.
www.planetarylightshow.com/jupiter/prop...
Credit: Planetary Light Show
Scene from "The Martian", with nuclear power on Mars vs without: youtu.be/uT6Qc16HKh4?... and youtu.be/pZ7X67pH1uM?...
Today from the office of Science and Technology Policy: Guidance to Federal agencies for establishing a National Initiative for American Space Nuclear Power. Quote: "at least one of the selected designs should be for a reactor that is extensible up to at least 100 kWe"
whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
Original NASA video showing Josh Valcarcel taking the Artemis 2 splashdown photo with the sailboat in the background: instagram.com/reel/DXFcqzc...
Ok, not completely solved yet as a 35' Marlin is not a sailboat, also visible near the end of the video. But with only a 5NM (9.26km) exclusion zone radius the sailboat was most likely shortly beyond that.
The mystery about the sailboat near the Artemis 2 splashdown is solved: It was outside of the 5NM safety radius and the crew was in contact with the Navy. Details and view from the boat: instagram.com/reel/DXAITSe...
Yes, it flickers at 29.95Hz near the NTSC full frame movie conversion frequency of 29.97Hz which can be seen by humans near the outer field of view perimeter.
Could be, but as astronaut a bit strange not to notice the other brights planets and stars - the future destinations. Some may say, the Earth is much brighter than the Moon, but not here as it was mostly lit by reflected moonlight only at that point in the mission when the Earth was that small.
... I mean, when I'm at a remote location in nature and look at the night sky, even with the Moon shining, the stars appear bright and provide even an optical illusion of distance due to their variety in brightness and darkness wouldn't be the first thought used to describe it.
I'm wondering why many NASA astronauts point out the blackness of space. Christine Koch at 58:47 in the video: It was all the blackness around it. Earth was just this lifeboat hanging undisturbed in the universe. [9s pause] Uh - Oh. [5s pause] ...
The freeflying Artemis 2 Orion capsule was a first generation float without leeboards.
After Thor Heyerdahl's ancient ocean crossing sailing float, the addition of leeboards as Dominique Görlitz discovered and validated by sailing in the other direction with his Abora 3 reed boat from NYC in the direction of the Azores was the next generation: youtu.be/pLZZATxJm2M
... but rather as a means of communication. We are using the same stars as they did." And then the cameras moves up through the clouds into space.
📹 watch.plex.tv/movie/kon-ti... and the 1947 original: youtube.com/watch?v=gvBY...
In the 2012 Kon Tiki, based on Thor Heyerdahl's crew's balsa wood float trip from Peru to Easter Island in 1947, the crew is shown watching the skies and noticing "Early man didn't see the ocean as a barrier... 📹 watch.plex.tv/movie/kon-ti...
I really like the symbolism of this Artemis 2 splashdown photo taken by Josh Valcarcel with the sailboat in the close distance. Most likely inspired by one of the best documentary feature film scenes...
📹 watch.plex.tv/movie/kon-ti... , 📷 images.nasa.gov/details/DSC_...
Artemis 2 Integrity Orion capsule was visible during atmospheric entry from the ISS by the SEN 4K camera in the live stream! Move back to 23:54:44 on April 10, 2026 to see it for 3 seconds: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO9e...
Yes, Artemis 2 Integrity Orion capsule was visible for a few seconds! The small white dot in black space below the SEN logo shortly above the Earth's horizon:
If we are lucky, Artemis 2 atmospheric entry can be seen from the SEN 4K cameras on the ISS in this live stream in a few minutes: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO9e...
The Artemis 2 solar eclipse photo is spectacular on its own, but it's not a total solar eclipse in the direct sense, not matching it perfectly like an eclipse is commonly expected to appear. Only during Gemini XII in 1966, a perfect eclipse was seen in space ever, by Buzz Aldrin and Jim Lovell.
That sunlight scattering particle cloud doesn't appear to be the zodiacal light dust near the Sun. Could be related to the Moon's sodium cloud and tail. Animation from 1999 research by Steven Smith and Jody Wilson at Boston University: sirius.bu.edu/moontail
In 2 dimensions that angle is known from the V-shape of the bow wave front angle when moving through water or any liquid, aka Kelvin Wake Angle. It's independent from the medium and speed, at least when staying subsonic: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvin_...
Mare Orientale on the Moon, the science objective NASA chose to look at by the Artemis 2 crew, is located at the 19.5°S latitude, which is the very location of maximum volcanic or atmospheric activity on all planets in the solar system.
