James Webb Space Telescope's Golden Mirror

Inside the clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the golden James Webb Space Telescope is viewed from overhead with its secondary mirror booms stowed. In the next few months, engineers will install other key elements, and take additional measurements to ensure the telescope is ready for space. via NASA http://ift.tt/1O0fSJy

Orion Crew Module for Exploration Mission-1 Lifted to Test Stand

The Orion spacecraft crew module for Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) is lifted into a test stand for pressure testing in the Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The work is an important milestone on Orion’s journey toward EM-1, its mission beyond the moon atop the Space Launch System rocket in 2018. via NASA http://ift.tt/1NX1IZI

Full-Circle Vista from 'Naukluft Plateau' on Mars

This mid-afternoon, 360-degree panorama was acquired by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on April 4, 2016, as part of long-term campaign to document the context and details of the geology and landforms along Curiosity's traverse since landing in August 2012. via NASA http://ift.tt/1T4XSz6

Light Echoes Used to Study Protoplanetary Disks

This illustration shows a star surrounded by a protoplanetary disk. A new study uses data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and four ground-based telescopes to determine the distance from a star to the inner rim of its surrounding protoplanetary disk. Researchers used a method called "photo-reverberation," also known as "light echoes. via NASA http://ift.tt/26rHbbb

Ice Scours the North Caspian Sea

The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on NASA's Landsat 8 satellite acquired this large natural-color image showing a wide view of the Caspian Sea around the Tyuleniy Archipelago on April 16, 2016. Ocean scientist Norman Kuring of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center found a puzzling feature in the image -- lines crisscrossing the North Caspian Sea. via NASA http://ift.tt/1SnBS6G

Morning Sunglint Over the Pacific

This Earth observation composite image from the International Space Station captures morning sunglint and low clouds over the central Pacific Ocean. The image was put together at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, from a series of photographs taken by Expedition 47 Commander Jeff Williams on March 25, 2016. via NASA http://ift.tt/1SgYGou

Development of High-Power Solar Electric Propulsion

A prototype 13-kilowatt Hall thruster is tested at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. This prototype demonstrated the technology readiness needed for industry to continue the development of high-power solar electric propulsion into a flight-qualified system. via NASA http://ift.tt/1VE9BLL