Pesquisando por: "Earth and Moon from orbit, illustration" - Fotoarena - Agência de fotojornalismo

PIX4575998 L'orbite lunaire - Vue d'artiste - The lunar orbit - Artwork - Inclinaison de l'orbite lunaire par rapport a l'ecliptique. L'orbite de la Lune est inclinee d'environ 5* par rapport au plan de l'orbite de la Terre (ecliptique). The lunar orbit around the Earth

PIX4639037 Retour sur la Lune: le module Orion en orbite lunaire - Vue d'artiste - The Orion spacecraft in lunar orbit - Programme lunaire Constellation. Le module habite Orion en orbite autour de la Lune. Orion devrait pouvoir emmener un equipage de quatre astronautes vers la Lune en 2020 et pourrait etre utilise pour emmener des hommes sur Mars. Artist's concept of the Orion manned spacecraft in lunar orbit. The NASA's Project Constellation plans to send human explorers back to the Moon by 2020, and then onward to Mars ; each Orion spacecraft will carry a crew of four to six astronauts

PIX4639027 Retour sur la Lune: le module Orion en orbite lunaire - The Orion spacecraft in lunar orbit - Artist view - Le module habite Orion en orbite autour de la Lune. Orion devrait pouvoir emmener un equipage de quatre astronautes vers la Lune en 2020 et pourrait etre utilise pour emmener des hommes sur Mars. Vue d'artiste. The Orion manned spacecraft in lunar orbit. The NASA's Project Constellation plans to send human explorers back to the Moon by 2020, and then onward to Mars ; each Orion spacecraft will carry a crew of four to six astronauts

PIX4639036 Retour sur la Lune : vue d'artiste du depart vers la Lune - The Orion spacecraft onward to Moon - Programme lunaire Constellation. Le module habite Orion est arrime au module d'alunissage en orbite terrestre et propulse vers la lune par un etage de la fusee Ares 5. Ares 5 est une fusee cargo qui sera utilisee vers 2020 pour emmener le module d'alunissage ainsi que les differents elements necessaires a la construction d'une base sur la Lune. This is a NASA artist's rendering of the Orion crew exploration vehicle docking with the Altair lunar lander, contained within the earth departure stage of an Ares V rocket. This rendezvous will take place in low earth orbit before the earth departure stage, Orion and Altair make the transit toward the moon. The earth departure stage will be discarded on the way

PIX4638999 Retour sur la Lune : vue d'artiste du depart vers la Lune - The Orion spacecraft onward to Moon - Artist view - Programme lunaire Constellation. Le module habite Orion est arrime au module d'alunissage en orbite terrestre et propulse vers la lune par un etage de la fusee Ares 5. Ares 5 est une fusee cargo qui sera utilisee vers 2020 pour emmener le module d'alunissage ainsi que les differents elements necessaires a la construction d'une base sur la Lune. NASA's Constellation Program is getting to work on the new spacecraft that will return humans to the moon and blaze a trail to Mars and beyond. This artist's rendering represents a concept of departure stage engines firing to take a crew exploration vehicle (CEV) and a lunar lander out of Earth's orbit

PIX4638967 Retour sur la Lune: Vue d'artiste du depart vers la Lune - The Orion spacecraft onward to Moon - Artist view - Le module habite Orion est arrime au module d'alunissage en orbite terrestre et propulse vers la lune par un etage de la fusee Ares 5. Ares 5 est une fusee cargo qui sera utilisee vers 2020 pour emmener le module d'alunissage ainsi que les differents elements necessaires a la construction d'une base sur la Lune. The Orion manned spacecraft, docked to the lunar module in lunar orbit, propelled by an Ares 5 stage rocket toward the Moon. The NASA's Project Constellation plans to send human explorers back to the Moon by 2020, and then onward to Mars ; each Orion spacecraft will carry a crew of four to six astronauts

PIX4638985 Retour sur la Lune : vue d'artiste du depart vers la Lune - The Orion spacecraft onward to Moon - Programme lunaire Constellation. Le module habite Orion est arrime au module d'alunissage en orbite terrestre et propulse vers la lune par un etage de la fusee Ares 5. Ares 5 est une fusee cargo qui sera utilisee vers 2020 pour emmener le module d'alunissage ainsi que les differents elements necessaires a la construction d'une base sur la Lune. This is a NASA artist's rendering of the Orion crew exploration vehicle docking with the Altair lunar lander, contained within the earth departure stage of an Ares V rocket. This rendezvous will take place in low earth orbit before the earth departure stage, Orion and Altair make the transit toward the moon. The earth departure stage will be discarded on the way

PIX4639038 Back to the Moon: MPCV module - Artist view - The MPCV spacecraft in space - The Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) above Earth. This capsule should be able to take a crew of six astronauts to the moon and could be used to take men to Mars. The Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is a spacecraft project currently being developed by Lockheed Martin for NASA. Based on specifications and tests already performed for the Orion spacecraft. It was announced by NASA on 24 May 2011. The next generation Deep Space Vehicle (DSV) may be flying within the next decade. Like the Apollo Command/Service Modules which last flew in 1973, the DSV will be a crewed spacecraft capable of independently navigating beyond Earth orbit to the Moon and beyond

PIX4639046 Space exploration: MPCV module - Artist view - The MPCV spacecraft in space - The Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) above Earth. This capsule should be able to take a crew of six astronauts to an asteroid, the Moon or to take men to Mars. Here, the vehcule is connected to an additional housing module for a mission of more than three months. The Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is a spacecraft project currently being developed by Lockheed Martin for NASA. Based on specifications and tests already performed for the Orion spacecraft. It was announced by NASA on 24 May 2011. For even longer missions the Deep Space Vehicle (DSV) could be mated with an Extended Stay Module (ESM). The ESM would offer additional life support and accommodations for a crew of three or four for deep space missions lasting 90 days or longer

PIX4639090 Space exploration: MPCV module - Artist view - The MPCV spacecraft in space - The Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) above Earth. This capsule should be able to take a crew of six astronauts to an asteroid, the Moon or to take men to Mars. Here, the vehcule is connected to an additional housing module for a mission of more than three months. The Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is a spacecraft project currently being developed by Lockheed Martin for NASA. Based on specifications and tests already performed for the Orion spacecraft. It was announced by NASA on 24 May 2011. For even longer missions the Deep Space Vehicle (DSV) could be mated with an Extended Stay Module (ESM). The ESM would offer additional life support and accommodations for a crew of three or four for deep space missions lasting 90 days or longer

PIX4646287 The points of Lagrange and the satellite SOHO - Lagrangian points with Soho spacecraft - Schema showing the different points of Lagrange and the position of the satellite SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory), place near the point of Lagrange L1. Launched in December 1995, this satellite observes the Sun. Artwork showing the different Lagrange points with the Soho spacecraft located around the L1 point

PIX4640207 Ascenseur spatial - Vue d'artiste - Space elevator - Artist view - Projet d'ascenseur relie a une station spatiale en orbite geostationnaire. A space elevator linked to a space station in gestationnary orbit

PIX4638880 Depart to the Moon - Artist view - Tug and lunar lander leaving Earth - Artist view - A spaceship leaves Earth orbit for a three-day journey to the Moon. Following a powerful burst from its primary thruster, a trans-moon space tug accelerates itself and the attached lunar lander into a much larger Earth orbit that will intercept the moon in about three days

PIX4639391 Permanent station between the Earth and the Moon - Artist view - Lunar cycler at apogee - Artist view - Lunar Cycler is a space station placed in orbit between the Earth and the Moon whose trajectory would alternate between the Moon and the Earth. Once positioned in orbit, this gravitational assistance vessel would use very little fuel. This project would make a permanent link between the two stars. A lunar cycler has reached its furthest orbital point from the Earth - the apogee - and is rounding the far side of the Moon to begin its fall back towards Earth. At apogee the lunar cycler is about 300 thousand miles from the Earth and 50 thousand miles beyond the orbit of the Moon (further from Earth than any human has ventured yet). If frequent manned trips to the Moon become a reality, the earlier “” throw-away”” technologies of the Apollo lunar missions will be impractical for the long term. More efficient and reusable systems will need to be developed in order to minimize the labor and resources required for these extraordinary voyages. A journey to the Moon can be broken down into three basic tasks: transfer between the Earth's surface and Earth orbit, transfer between Earth orbit and lunar orbit, and transfer between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface. While the simplest solution may be a single vehicle that could do all three, no technology today or in the foreseeable future can meet all these needs. One solution would be to dedicate separate vehicles for each the three tasks. A reusable space shuttle would lift explorers off the Earth's surface, a dedicated and reusable lunar shuttle would deliver explorers to the Moon's surface and back, and in between there would be a kind of orbital way station. One such way station is known as an orbital cycler. An orbital cycler is a vehicle that's in a permanent orbit around two celestial masses. In the case of a lunar cycler, the orbit would include both the Eart

PIX4638872 A spaceship takes a lunar vehicle - Artist's view - Space tug and lunar lander in Earth orbit - A tug spacecraft in Earth orbit takes a lunar vehicle to the Moon. With the space tug firmly docked with the lunar lander, the two will function as a single spacecraft for the duration of a 3-day trip to the moon. The pair would likely spend some time in Earth orbit prior to departure, checking systems and preparing the lander for its eventual journey to the Moon's surface. The lunar lander pictured here has capacity for a crew of four plus cargo. The space tug itself could have a crew of two, making the total crew capacity of the joined spacecraft about the same as today's Space Shuttle

PIX4639597 Mission to Phobos - Appointment in Earth orbit - Phobos mission rendezvous in Earth orbit - An Orion-type space capsule, with three astronauts on board, joins a launcher in Earth orbit to reach Phobos, one of Mars's satellites. An Orion class command module with a crew of three approaches an awaiting rocket in already in Earth orbit destined for Mars' moon Phobos

PIX4639638 Mission to Phobos - Phobos mission ignition - The spaceship en route to Phobos, one of Mars's satellites. A Phobos mission rocket ignites its chemical thrusters to propel it away from the Earth into a large solar orbit that will intercept March in approximately 7 months

PIX4638869 Spaceship Tug and Space Station - Artist's View - Trans-Lunar space tug and the International Space Station - A towing spaceship joins the International Space Station (ISS) to bring material to the Moon. A trans-lunar space tug departs the International Space Station (ISS)* in preparation for retrieving a lunar lander currently in Earth orbit. What might be mistaken for wings are in fact solar voltaic panels for converting sunlight into electricity, just like those that adorn the ISS. Over two hundred miles below is the Atlantic Ocean, the Canary Islands, and the west coast of Saharan Africa. Long clouds of dust can be seen blowing westward off Morocco. If advances in astronautical engineering continue and lunar exploration becomes a regular activity it may become cost-effective to place a dedicated space tug into permanent orbit. Such a craft could serve the same purpose as the Apollo Command Modules did in the 1970s - ferrying astronauts and lunar landers between Earth orbit and lunar orbit - with the exception that this space tug could make the trip multiple times. suggestion only

PIX4639150 Space Exploration: Soyuz and Orion Ships - Artist's View - CEV-Soyuz Joint Mission - An American Orion ship mooring has a Soyuz TMA-M spaceship during a distant space exploration mission. Here, the ship is approaching a satellite stationed at a point in Lagrange. Illustration. An Orion class Crew Exploration Vehicle (AKA Deep Space Vehicle) is paired with a Soyuz TMA-M manned spacecraft for a joint deep space rendezvous with a satellite parked in a gravitationally stable Lagrangian point about 1 million miles beyond the orbit of the Earth's Moon. At this position, in this case a Lagrangian point 2, or L2, the Earth is between the spacecraft and the Sun resulting in the Earth eclipsing much of the Sun's light, however at this distance the Earth does not subtend an angle large enough to cover the entire disk of the Sun. What's visible of the Sun is a brilliant ring of light illuminating the spacecraft. (The streamers of light around the Sun are not the Sun's corona, but rather a way of illustrating the brilliance of the Sun's light as it may appear to the human eye.) The manned spacecraft is directing a spotlight on a hypothetical satellite in order to better examine it. The core of this satellite is protected from the Sun via an attached shade like its real-world L2 counterparts the Herschel and Planck Space Observatories, and the James Webb Space Telescope currently under construction

PIX4639605 Mission to Phobos - Appointment in Earth orbit - Phobos mission rendezvous in Earth orbit - An Orion-type space capsule (left), with three astronauts on board, joins a launcher in Earth orbit to reach Phobos, one of Mars's satellites. An Orion class command module, lower left, with a crew of three approaches an awaiting rocket already in Earth orbit. The rocket and command module are destined for Mars' moon Phobos

PIX4639413 Permanent station between the Earth and the Moon - Artist view - Lunar cycler near Earth - Artist view - Lunar Cycler is a space station placed in orbit between Earth and Moon whose trajectory would lead it alternately near the Moon and near the Earth. Once positioned in orbit, this gravitational assistance vessel would use very little fuel. This project would make a permanent link between the two stars. The station is seen here arriving as close as possible to Earth, a space shuttle is preparing to reach it. A lunar cycler rounds the south pole of the Earth near perigee - its closest approach to the Earth - while a trailing future generation space shuttle prepares for a rendezvous. Once a lunar cycler has been propelled into its elliptical Earth/Moon orbit, it would require relatively little fuel over the ensuing years to maintain its orbit. One thing to note about a lunar cycler is that while it does continually orbit between the Earth and Moon, it is not a tug, i.e., the cycler does not add any momentum to a docking space shuttle nor to any other craft that connects to it. Any ship that docks with the cycler must itself supply the initial energy required to reach an orbit matching the cycler's.

PIX4639561 Permanent station between Mars and the Earth - Artist view - Mars cycler and manned maneuvering units - Artist view - Mars Cycler arrives near the Earth. Astronauts are conducting an extravehicular exit. Mars Cycler is a space station placed in orbit between Mars and Earth whose trajectory would alternate between Mars and Earth. Once positioned in orbit, this gravitational assistance vessel would use very little fuel. This project would make a permanent link between the two planets. A Mars cycler swings by the Earth and onward to Mars while two astronauts in manned maneuvering units (AKA, MMUS) watch from afar. A Mars cycler is a permanently orbiting vehicle with a path that alternately brings it near Earth and Mars. Once a cycler has been accelerated into orbit it continues on its own momentum, going back and forth between the two planets, only requiring propellant for occasional course adjustments. A one-way trip between Earth and Mars involves six to eight months of space travel, therefore a large and well-equipped Mars cycler would offer space explorers, and possibly even space tourists, better accommodations for these long journeys. Smaller spacecraft would ferry travelers between the planets and the cycle

PIX4629992 Comparison between the Earth, Pluto, Charon and the Moon - Earth, Pluto, Charon, and Earth's Moon compared - Comparison at the scale of the sizes of the Earth, Pluto, Charon and the Moon. Since August 2006, Pluto is now called 134340 Pluto and is no longer considered a planet but designed as a dwarf planet. Pluto's diameter less than 20 percent that of the Earth's (smaller than the Earth's Moon). It has less than one percent the mass. If you weigh 180 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 11 pounds on Pluto. Pluto is 30 to 48 times further from the Sun than the Earth (Pluto's orbit is highly elliptical). Pluto's moon Chiron is over half the size of Pluto itself, leading astronomers to originally classify the Pluto-Charon system as a “” double planet.” They were also considered “” binary planets”” because the smaller Charon doesn't actually orbit around Pluto, rather Pluto and Charon orbit a common gravitational center (the “” barycenter ') located above Pluto's surface. In 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) demoted Pluto from its status as the Solar System's 9th planet to a dwarf planet, and as the IAU has yet to formalize a definition for binary dwarf planets, Charon is currently regarded as a satellite of Pluto

PIX4629924 Size comparison: Earth, Moon and Galilean satellites - Jupiter's four largest satellites and Earth and the Moon compared - Jupiter's four largest satellites, called Galilean satellites, compared to Earth and Moon. At the top, from left to right, in order of their distance to the planet Jupiter, we find Io, Europe, Ganymede and Callisto. Ganymede is the largest satellite in the solar system. Jupiter's four largest satellites, also known as the “” Galilean”” satellites since they were first observed by the Italian astronomer Galileo over 400 years ago, are worlds in their own right. Top row, left to right, in order from their distances from Jupiter, are: Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto Io is the most volcanic world in the Solar System, resurfacing itself continually with extremely hot and massive eruptions that spew material over 200 miles into space. Europa is about the same size as Earth's Moon, however unlike the Moon which is made up mostly of dry silicate materials, Europa is believed to be composed primarily of water ice, and may even contain a vast ocean of liquid salt water beneath its crust. For this reason, Europa is now emerging as one of the most viable candidates for hosting extraterrestrial life. Ganymede and Callisto are each larger than the planet Mercury, while Ganymede is the largest of all satellites in the Solar System. Io, Europa, and Ganymede are locked in a gravitational resonance where for every orbit Ganymede completes, Europa completes two orbits and Io completes four

PIX4639606 Mission to Phobos - Phobos mission ready for departure - A spaceship assemblies in Earth orbit is ready to depart to Phobos, one of Mars's satellites. This ship consists of several fuel tanks and an Orion-type space capsule with three astronauts on board. No landing gear is required because the mass of Phobos is so low that this satellite can be approached by astronauts in extravehicular exit. A complete rocket system for delivering a crew of three to Mars' moon Phobos and returning them to the Earth. The vast bulk of the rocket is propellant divided into stages that are each released in turn as the mission progresses. On the far right are the crew accomodations and an attached Orion class command module. No dedicated lander is required as Phobos' mass is so low that it could be easily approached by the command module and explored by suited astrogeologists in Manned Maneuvering Units (MMUS)

PIX4624052 Neptune and Triton - Illustration - Neptune from Triton orbit - Neptune and its Triton satellite (foreground). Looking like an over - ripe cantaloupe, Neptune's satellite Triton is in the foreground while Neptune itself looms on the upper right. At a distance of 220 thousand miles, Triton is about the same distance from Neptune as the moon is from the Earth. A frozen world that's somewhat smaller than the moon, Triton is the seventh and largest of Neptune's satellites, completing an orbit every six days. Triton is believed to be composed primarily of rock and water ice with traces of methane and other compounds

PIX4638963 Retour sur la Lune : la fusee Ares 5 - Vue d'artiste - The Ares 5 rocket - Artist view - Programme lunaire Constellation. Le lanceur Ares 5, une fusee cargo qui sera utilisee vers 2020 pour emmener le module d'alunissage ainsi que les differents elements necessaires a la construction d'une base sur la Lune. A concept image shows the Ares V cargo launch vehicle launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Ares V is being designed as a cargo launch capable of sending large-scale hardware and materials to the Moon, and supplying needed staples to sustain a human presence beyond Earth orbit. The NASA's Project Constellation plans to send human explorers back to the Moon by 2020, and then onward to Mars

PIX4607362 New Horizons closest approach to Pluto - Artist's view of the New Horizons probe near Pluto and its largest satellite Charon. The New Horizons probe was launched on 19 January 2006 to Jupiter, then Pluto and Charon, which it will reach in 2015 and Kuiper's objects in 2020. Nasa's New Horizons unmanned spacecraft flies into the shadow of dwarf planet Pluto and its moon Charon. New Horizons has been en route to Pluto since its launch from Earth in 2006 and is scheduled to make its closest approach on 14 July 2015. New Horizons will be traveling at a velocity relative to Pluto of 30,800 mph, far too fast for it to enter orbit around and become a satellite of Pluto. Instead after passing Pluto, New Horizons will continue farther into the Kuiper belt searching for other objects with diameters of 30 to 60 miles. New Horizons is about the size and shape of a grand piano and weighed 1,054 pounds at launch. The high - gain dish antenna is about 7 feet in diameter and is employed for communication with the Earth. In this image the New Horizons spacecraft is about 6,000 miles from Pluto (left), 17,000 miles from its largest moon Charon (far left) and 2.97 billion miles from the Earth While little is known about Pluto's appearance, here this Kuiper belt dwarf planet is realized as a frozen world covered with various ices, hosting a thin atmosphere of nitrogen, methane and other hydrocarbons too possibly, with a significantly weathered surface as Pluto's 248 - year orbit alternately brings it closer then further from the warmth of the sun

PIX4607366 New Horizons near Pluto and Charon - Artist's view of the New Horizons probe near Pluto and its largest satellite Charon. The New Horizons probe was launched on 19 January 2006 to Jupiter, then Pluto and Charon, which it will reach in 2015 and Kuiper's objects in 2020. Nasa's New Horizons unmanned spacecraft flies by dwarf planet Pluto and its moon Charon. New Horizons has been en route to Pluto since its launch from Earth in 2006 and is scheduled to make its closest approach on 14 July 2015. New Horizons is about the size and shape of a grand piano and weighed 1,054 pounds at launch. The high - gain dish antenna is about 7 feet in diameter and is employed for communication with the Earth. In this image the New Horizons spacecraft is about 11,000 miles from Pluto (lower left), 23,000 miles from its largest moon Charon (upper right) and 2.97 billion miles from the Earth. While little is known about Pluto's appearance, here this Kuiper belt dwarf planet is realized as a frozen world covered with various ices, hosting a thin atmosphere of nitrogen, methane and other hydrocarbons too possibly, with a significantly weathered surface as Pluto's 248 - year orbit alternately brings it closer then further from the warmth of the sun

PIX4634813 Uranus and its satellite Puck - Illustration - Uranus and Puck - Illustration - Planet Uranus with its Puck satellite in the foreground. On the right, closer to the planet, is the Belinda satellite. Even closer to Uranus, on the left, the Portia satellite. On Uranus, a giant storm is represented. This is how Uranus and its tiny satellite Puck might look from a position in space about a thousand miles above and beyond Puck itself. With a diameter of about 100 miles, Puck is the largest and outermost of the ten known “” inner”” satellites that orbit Uranus within a radius of 51 thousand miles. Further in toward Uranus on the right is Belinda, a satellite that is about 40 miles in diameter. Even closer to Uranus on the far left is the 60 - mile - diameter satellite Portia. On Uranus itself can be seen a giant, cyclonic storm that's almost as big as the Earth

PIX4607329 Artist's view of the New Horizons probe near Pluto - New Horizons over Pluto and Charon - Artist's view of the New Horizons probe near Pluto and its largest satellite Charon. The New Horizons probe was launched on 19 January 2006 to Jupiter, then Pluto and Charon, which it will reach in 2015 and Kuiper's objects in 2020. Nasa's New Horizons unmanned spacecraft over dwarf planet Pluto and its moon Charon. New Horizons has been en route to Pluto since its launch from Earth in 2006 and is scheduled to make its closest approach on 14 July 2015. New Horizons is about the size and shape of a grand piano and weighed 1,054 pounds at launch. The high - gain dish antenna is about 7 feet in diameter and is employed for communication with the Earth. In this image the New Horizons spacecraft is about 10,000 miles from Pluto (upper right), 22,000 miles from its largest moon Charon (upper left) and 2.97 billion miles from the Earth. Dominating this side of the spacecraft with an 8 inch aperture is the Long - Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), a digital camera with a large telephoto telescope fortified to operate in the cold, hostile environs of deep space. At 90 days before closest approach to Pluto, Lorri's images will surpass the quality of the best Hubble Space Telescope images of Pluto. While little is known about Pluto's appearance, here this Kuiper belt dwarf planet is realized as a frozen world covered with various ices, hosting a thin atmosphere of nitrogen, methane and other hydrocarbons too possibly, with a significantly weathered surface as Pluto's 248 - year orbit alternately brings it closer then further from the warmth of the sun

PIX4607323 Artist's view of the New Horizons probe near Pluto - New Horizons over Pluto and Charon - Artist's view of the New Horizons probe near Pluto and its largest satellite Charon. The New Horizons probe was launched on 19 January 2006 to Jupiter, then Pluto and Charon, which it will reach in 2015 and Kuiper's objects in 2020. Nasa's New Horizons unmanned spacecraft approaches dwarf planet Pluto and its moon Charon. New Horizons has been en route to Pluto since its launch from Earth in 2006 and is scheduled to make its closest approach on 14 July 2015. New Horizons is about the size and shape of a grand piano and weighed 1,054 pounds at launch. The high - gain dish antenna is about 7 feet in diameter and is employed for communication with the Earth. In this image the New Horizons spacecraft is about 15,000 miles from Pluto (upper right), 27,000 miles from its largest moon Charon (lower left) and 2.97 billion miles from the Earth. This side of the spacecraft on the left can be seen the Visible/Near Infrared Multi - Spectral Imager and the Short Wavelength Infrared Spectral Imager (aka “” Ralph”), and the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (aka “” Alice””). On the right extending about four feet from the main body of the spacecraft is the radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) which provides constant electric power for the 10 year mission from heat produced by 24 pounds of plutonium - 238. While little is known about Pluto's appearance, here this Kuiper belt dwarf planet is realized as a frozen world covered with various ices, hosting a thin atmosphere of nitrogen, methane and other hydrocarbons too possibly, with a significantly weathered surface as Pluto's 248 - year orbit alternately brings it closer then further from the warmth of the sun

PIX4607275 The Dawn probe orbiting around Ceres - Artist's view - Dawn in orbit around Ceres - Artist's view of the Dawn probe orbiting around the dwarf planet Ceres. In march 2015 the unmanned Dawn spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the dwarf planet Ceres. The 65 foot long, 2.5 ton probe was launched from the Earth in 2007, passed March in 2009, and went into orbit around the protoplanet Vesta in July 2011 where it stayed until September 2012. Once in orbit around Ceres, Dawn is expected to operate for about a year making observations of this largest object in the asteroid belt. In this image Dawn is entering orbit around Ceres. In late November 2015 Dawn will descend to its closest orbit around Ceres at a distance of about 230 miles. While no close - up observations of yet been made of Ceres itself, here it is rendered as appearing similar to a much smaller version of the Earth's Moon, heavily cratered with the addition of surface water ice and hypothesized plumes of ice crystals from water geysers on its surface

PIX4573224 Exoplanets around 70 Virginis - A jovian planet orbiting 70 Virginis - Artist's view of the extrasolar planet 70 Vir B, a giant gas planet orbiting around a solar star, about 78 years old - light from the Sun. This exoplanet has about 6 times the mass of Jupiter and its distance from its star 70 Virginis is almost the same as that of Mercury from the Sun. A ringed 70 Vir B presides over the hot and airless terrain of a hypothetical moon. While it is not known if 70 Vir B has rings, it is certainly possible. 70 Vir B's rings would have no ice in them due to is proximity to its sun. Such rings would likely be less than 100 million years old and could have been formed from the shattered remnants of an asteroid that wondered too close to this giant planet. 70 Vir B's eccentric orbit would increase the likelihood of its encountering other objects in orbit around 70 Virginis. About 78 light years from the Earth astronomers believe that there is a large planet orbiting 70 Virginis, a type G5V star (similar to our own sun). Designated 70 Vir B, this planet is believed to have over six times the mass of the planet Jupiter and orbits around its sun in an eccentric orbit once every 116 days. 70 Vir B's average distance from its sun is about the same as that of the planet Mercury from our own sun

PIX4608509 Futuristic advertising poster for tourism on Trappist-1e - Illustration - Futuristic Advert for tourism on Trappist-1e - Illustration: Advertising promoting tourism on Trappist-1e. This exoplanet is orbiting in the habitable zone of the star system TRAPPIST-1, a red dwarf star located at a distance of about 40 light years from the Sun in the constellation Aquarius. At least seven exoplanets the size of the Earth orbit this star. Some 40 light-years from Earth, a planet called Trappist-1e offers a heart-stopping view: brilliant objects in a red sky, looming like larger and smaller versions of our own moon. But these are no moons. They are Earth-sized planets in a spectacular planetary system outside our own. These seven rocky worlds huddle around their small, dim, red star, like a family around a campfire. Any of them could harbor liquid water, but the planet shown here, fourth from the TRAPPIST-1 star, is in the habitable zone, the area around the star where liquid water is most likely to be detected. This system was revealed by the Transiting Planets and PlaneteSimals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST) and Nasa's Spitzer Space Telescope. Take a planet-hopping excursion through the TRAPPIST-1 system.

PIX4607298 The Dawn probe near Ceres - Artist's view - Dawn approaches Ceres - Artist view of the Dawn probe near the dwarf planet Ceres. In February 2015 the unmanned Dawn spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the dwarf planet Ceres. The 65 foot long, 2.5 ton probe was launched from the Earth in 2007, passed March in 2009, and went into orbit around the protoplanet Vesta in July 2011 where it stayed until September 2012. Once in orbit around Ceres, Dawn is expected to operate for about a year making observations of this largest object in the asteroid belt. In this image Dawn's three xenon electrostatic ion thrusters can be seen emitting ionized xenon's characteristic blue/magenta glow, gently propelling the probe toward Ceres. While the ion engines have relatively low specific thrust (about equal to the weight of a few sheets of paper), they can operate continuously for long periods making efficient use of the approximately 1,000 pounds of xenon propellant onboard. The wing - like solar arrays produce about 1,300 watts for probe's propulsion and other electrical systems. While no close - up observations of yet been made of Ceres itself, here it is rendered as appearing similar to a much smaller version of the Earth's Moon, heavily cratered with the addition of surface water ice and hypothesized plumes of ice crystals from water geysers on its surface

PIX4603520 The Orion MPVC module - Artist view - Artist view of the module lives Orion. This module is intended to take a crew to the Moon where asteroides will also be used to commute with the space station. Artist's concept of the Orion Service Module. When the Orion spacecraft blasts off atop Nasa's Space Launch System rocket in 2017, attached will be the ESA - provided service module - the powerhouse that fuels and propels the Orion spacecraft. Orion will be the most advanced spacecraft ever designed and carry astronauts farther into space than ever before. It will sustain astronauts during space travel and provide safe re - entry from deep space and emergency abort capability. Orion will be launched by NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy - lift rocket that will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS will enable new missions of exploration and expand human presence across the solar system. The service module of the Orion spacecraft will provide support to the crew module from launch through separation prior to atmospheric re - entry