NASA·每日一图

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover touched down eight years ago, on Aug. 5, 2012, and will soon be joined by another rover, Perseverance, which launched on July 30, 2020. Curiosity has seen a lot since it first set its wheels inside the 96-mile-wide (154-kilometer-wide) basin of Gale Crater. Its mission: to study whether Mars had the water, chemical building blocks, and energy sources that may have supported microbial life billions of years ago. Since touchdown, the rover journeyed more than 14 miles (23 kilometers), drilling 26 rock samples and scooping six soil samples along the way as it revealed that ancient Mars was indeed suitable for life. Studying the textures and compositions of ancient rock strata is helping scientists piece together how the Martian climate changed…

NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley are aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft as it is lifted onto the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship shortly after landing in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020. The Demo-2 test flight for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program was the first to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station and return them safely to Earth onboard a commercially built and operated spacecraft. Behnken and Hurley returned after spending 64 days in space. View the SpaceX Demo-2 landing gallery on Flickr. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls 2020年8月2日星期天，美国宇航局宇航员罗伯特·本肯和道格拉斯·赫尔利登上SpaceX公司的奋进号载人龙飞船，这艘飞船在佛罗里达州彭萨科拉海岸附近的墨西哥湾溅落后不久被送打捞上SpaceX公司的GO Navigator回收船NASA商业宇航员计划的Demo-2测试飞行是第一次将宇航员送入国际空间站，并在一艘商用建造和操作的飞船上安全返回地球。本肯和赫尔利在太空中度过64天后返回。 在Flickr上查看SpaceX的Demo-2溅落图库。 图片来源:NASA/Bill Ingalls

NASA astronauts Robert Behnken, left, and Douglas Hurley are seen inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship shortly after having landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020. The Demo-2 test flight for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program was the first to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station and return them safely to Earth onboard a commercially built and operated spacecraft. Behnken and Hurley returned after spending 64 days in space. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls 2020年8月2日，周日，SpaceX的奋进号载人龙飞船在佛罗里达彭萨科拉海岸附近的墨西哥湾溅落后不久，宇航员罗伯特·本肯(左)和道格拉斯·赫尔利在SpaceX GO Navigator救援船上出现。NASA商业宇航员计划的Demo-2测试飞行是第一次将宇航员送入国际空间站，并在一艘商用建造和操作的飞船上安全返回地球。本肯和赫尔利在太空中度过64天后返回了地球。 影像来源：NASA/Bill Ingalls

Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program are aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon as it approaches the International Space Station on May 31, 2020. The Crew Dragon’s nose cone is open revealing the spacecraft’s docking mechanism that would connect to the Harmony module’s forward International Docking Adapter. The astronauts launched a day earlier on the Demo-2 mission on May 30. On Sunday, Aug. 2, having spent 2 months aboard the station, Behnken and Hurley will return home. The Demo-2 mission is designed to test and validate SpaceX’s crew transportation system – from launch to in-orbit, docking, landing, and recovery operations. The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, “Endeavor,” is scheduled to undock from the space station at 7:34 p.m, Saturday, Aug 1. EDT,…

The engines fire as a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover onboard launches from Space Launch Complex 41, Thursday, July 30, 2020, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Perseverance rover is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky 2020年7月30日星期四，在佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角空军基地的41号航天发射场，美国联合发射联盟的阿特拉斯5号火箭和美国宇航局的火星毅力号火星车点火发射。毅力号火星车是美国宇航局火星探索计划的一部分，这是机器人探索火星的长期努力。 图片来源：NASA/Joel Kowsky

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard launches from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Thursday, July 30, 2020. The Perseverance rover is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky 2020年7月30日星期四，在卡纳维拉尔角空军基地的41号航天发射场，美国联合发射联盟的阿特拉斯5号火箭和美国宇航局的火星2020毅力号火星车一起发射升空。毅力号火星车是美国宇航局火星探索计划的一部分，这是机器人探索火星的长期努力。 图片来源：NASA/Joel Kowsky

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard is seen illuminated by spotlights on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41, Tuesday, July 28, 2020, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Perseverance rover is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. Launch is scheduled for Thursday, July 30. Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky 2020年7月28日星期二，在佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角空军基地的41号航天发射场，美国联合发射联盟的阿特拉斯5号火箭和美国宇航局的火星2020毅力号火星车被聚光灯照亮。毅力号火星车是美国宇航局火星探索计划的一部分，这是机器人探索火星的长期努力。发射定于7月30日星期四。 影像来源：NASA/Joel Kowsky

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard is seen as it is rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41, Tuesday, July 28, 2020, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Perseverance rover is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. Launch is scheduled for Thursday, July 30. Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky 2020年7月28日星期二，在佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角空军基地，美国联合发射联盟的阿特拉斯5号火箭搭载着美国宇航局的火星2020毅力号火星车，从41号航天发射场的垂直集成设施向发射台推出。毅力号火星车是美国宇航局火星探索计划的一部分，这是机器人探索火星的长期努力。发射定于7月30日星期四。 图片来源：NASA/Joel Kowsky

This image of Jezero Crater, the landing site for the Mars Perseverance Rover, was taken by instruments on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which regularly takes images of potential landing sites for future missions. NASA chose Jezero crater as the landing site for the Perseverance rover because scientists believe the area was once flooded with water and was home to an ancient river delta. Jezero crater tells a story of the on-again, off-again nature of the wet past of Mars. More than 3.5 billion years ago, river channels spilled over the crater wall and created a lake. Scientists see evidence that water carried clay minerals from the surrounding area into the crater lake. Conceivably, microbial life could have lived in Jezero during one or more of…