#RobotsinSpace

illustration (not a photo) via ESAspacescience : An artist's impression of the orbit insertion in 2006 of the ESA's Venus Express interplanetary probe, that was sent to become a temporary satellite of the planet Venus. It passed within 200 km over the Venusian north pole, and passed as low as 130km over the planet surface on its closest approach. Originally on a 2-year mission, it lasted for more than 9 years in the end. After multiple orbits and out of on-board fuel, the spacecraft would have been irretrievably caught by Venusian gravity, collided with the planet's atmosphere, crumpled and scorched, before it hit the surface of the planet, that National Geographic calls "Earth's Hellish Sister". "Surface pressures are 90 times higher than on Earth, and visitors are not tolerated for long." Probably burned up or blew up or imploded as it plunged into the planet's atmosphere. Contact was lost well before its ultimate demise. https://web.archive.org/web/20141218020323/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141217-venus-express-final-plunge-space-science/

Designed for long-term observation of the Venusian atmosphere, Venus Express operated in harsh radiation, 155 million miles (250 million km) from Earth. Its orbit decayed Jan/Feb 2015. As NatlGeographic put it the "intrepid robot slipped into a sulfuric hereafter"
#RobotsInSpace
#UnmannedExploration

NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR): Celebrating a Decade of Protecting Earth from Space Weather Since its launch a decade ago, NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) has played a crucial role in monitoring space weather.

Since 2015, this #EarthObservation spacecraft--positioned at L1 Lagrange point--provides live images of sunlit side of the planet. DSCOVR takes full-Earth pictures with the on-board EPIC camera (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera)
#EarthAlbedo
#RobotsInSpace
#OzoneLayer
#EarthFromSpace
#WarningBuoy

The Orion-Integrity crew apparently did not get a photo of the LRO in orbit around the moon, while doing their fly-by. Here's an illustration (artist's impression) of the #LunarReconnaissanceOrbiter taking photos of the moon's surface. In operation since 2009. via NASA website
#RobotsInSpace

NASA satellite image of the far side of the Moon, illuminated by the Sun, as it crosses between the DSCOVR spacecraft's Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) and telescope, and the Earth — one million miles (1.6 million km) away. The times of the images span from 3:50 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. EDT on July 16, 2015. The time of the New Moon was at 9:26 p.m. EDT on July 15. (screencap via Wikipedia) The animation version would not load to Bluesky (error msg: ozone_check_failed) but you can find it in the public domain (available as both .gif and .web versions).

from a decade ago: Moon transiting Earth, 16 July 2015. The far side of the Moon faces the camera. Image taken aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), at a distance much further than Artemis II. author: NASA/EPIC
#RobotsinSpace #photographichistory
#UncrewedExploration
#DeadMoonRock

The Moon is already on Google Maps—did Artemis II really tell us anything new? I think the biggest value here is the PR. I mean, it's getting the public excited."

In comparison to #LunarReconnaissanceOrbiter the Artemis II “biggest value is the PR.”
Everything Orion saw of the far side of the Moon was previously observed.
#Astronauts are “never going to take better images than LRO."
For 50+ years, scientists have explored with eyes of robots.
#RobotsInSpace

Earthrise over Compton crater, photo by LROC (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, in orbit around the moon since 2009), NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center / Arizona State University, 12 Oct 2015. The shadow in foreground is from the crater's central peaks. The center of the Earth in this view is 4.04°N, 12.44°W, just off the coast of Liberia. The large tan area in upper right is the Sahara desert, and just beyond is Saudia Arabia. The Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America are visible to the left. Image was taken when LRO was 134 km above the farside crater Compton (51.8°N, 124.1°E). First the spacecraft was rolled to the side (in this case 67°), then the spacecraft slewed with the direction of travel to maximize the width of the lunar horizon in the NAC image. All this takes place while LRO is traveling over 1600 meters per second (faster than 3580 mph) relative to the lunar surface below the spacecraft. As a result of these three motions and the fact that the Narrow Angle Camera is a line scanner the raw image geometry is distorted. The colors are only approximately what an intrepid explorer would see from the Moon because the human eye is fully sensitive to all colors across the visible wavelength range, whereas the WAC sees through a set of narrow band filters (combining 604 nm (orange), 556 nm (yellow-green), and 415 nm (violet) bands displayed in red, green, and blue, respectively). The Earth is much brighter (higher reflectance) than the Moon, especially from this angle; the Earth was captured near noon while the limb of the Moon was just appearing from the shadows of night, so the Moon was relatively dim. In the image the Moon and Earth were contrast-stretched separately to bring out details on the lunar surface. The contrast makes for a spectacular image, but it may be misleading in a purely scientific sense. The sharp black outline across the bottom of the Earth is from mountains still on the night side of the lunar terminator. (Wikipedia)

More #photographichistory : Earth straddling the limb of the Moon captured by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) on October 12, 2015, in orbit as close as 12 miles (20km) from the surface, much much closer than Artemis II  #BlueTue #RobotsInSpace #UncrewedExploration 
#BigBlueMarble vs #DeadMoonRock

An image of Earth straddling limb of the Moon captured by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera on October 12, 2015 source: assets-science-NASA-dotgov 2000x2914pixels

Image of Earth straddling limb of the Moon captured by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter LRO), on October 12, 2015.
#BigBlueMarble
#RobotsInSpace

Congratulations to the Artemis II crew – but the case for sending astronauts into space is rapidly shrinking | Martin Rees and Donald Goldsmith Soon, thanks to the advance of robots, the only reason left to send humans to the moon will be as an ultra-expensive sport, say astronomer royal Martin Rees and astrophysicist Donald Goldsmith

"The practical case for human spaceflight gets ever weaker with each advance in robots and miniaturisation."
e.g. James Webb Space Telescope "a sterling example of the complex missions that can be undertaken without space crews."
e.g. Rovers on Mars "requiring nothing but sunshine"
#RobotsInSpace

New community features for Google Chat and an update on C... Note:  This blog post outlines upcoming changes to Google...

Today! MT @esascience: Join us! Astronaut @astro_timpeake and @ESA_Rosetta's @mggtTaylor talk #RobotsInSpace http://bitly.com/robotsinspace… (KR)