Multimedia — NASA Science

Successful Flight Through Enceladus Plume: Content: Image; Description: The Cassini spacecraft has weathered the Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, flyby of Saturn’s moon Enceladus in good health and has been sending images and data of the encounter back to Earth.

Spring Bloom in New Zealand Waters: Content: Image; Description: Off the east coast of New Zealand, cold rivers of water that have branched off from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current flow north past the South Island and converge with warmer waters flowing south...

X-38 Crew Return Vehicle Finds New Home: Content: Image; Description: One of NASA's three X-38 Crew Return Vehicle technology demonstrators that flew at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., a decade ago has found a new home in America's heartland.

Operation Ice Bridge Studies Antarctic Sea Ice: Content: Image; Description: An iceberg is seen out the window of NASA's DC-8 research aircraft as it flies 2,000 feet above the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica on Wednesday, Oct., 21, 2009.

Spirit Embedded in Soft Soil on Mars: Content: Image; Description: This view from the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the terrain surrounding the location called "Troy," where Spirit became embedded in soft soil during the spring of 2009.

All for One: Content: Image; Description: The International Space Station's Expedition 1 crew took a break from training in the systems integration facility at the Johnson Space Center to pose for a crew photo in this picture from May 2000.

Glenn and STS-95 Go to Space: Content: Image; Description: The seven crew members in training for the STS-95 mission aboard Discovery pose for photographers prior to participating in a training session at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Ares I-X at the Launch Pad: Content: Image; Description: NASA's Ares I-X rocket is seen on Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Monday, Oct. 26, 2009. The flight test of Ares I-X, scheduled for today, Oct. 27, 2009, will provide NASA with an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Tattooed Mars: Content: Image; Description: This high-resolution picture from the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows twisting dark trails criss-crossing light-colored terrain on the Martian surface. Newly formed trails like these had presented researchers with a tantalizing mystery but are now known to be the work of miniature wind vortices known to occur on the red planet, in other words Martian dust devils. Such spinning columns of rising air heated by the warm surface are also common in dry and desert areas on planet Earth. Typically lasting only a few minutes, dust devils become visible as they pick up loose red-colored dust leaving the darker and heavier sand beneath intact. Ironically, dust devils have been credited with unexpectedly cleaning the solar panels of the Mars rovers. Image Credit: NASA, HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona)

Building an Original: Content: Image; Description: Platforms surround the Ares I-X in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building before it was moved to the launch pad on Oct. 20, 2009. Closer in height to the hulking Saturn V moon rockets than the space shuttle, Ares I-X looks unlike any rocket that's ever stood at Launch Complex 39. But it blends familiar hardware from existing programs with newly developed components. Four first-stage, solid-fuel booster segments are derived from the Space Shuttle Program. A simulated fifth booster segment contains Atlas-V-based avionics, and the rocket's roll control system comes from the Peacekeeper missile. The launch abort system, simulated crew and service modules, upper stage, and various connecting structures all are original. Image Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller

Spirit's Robotic Stretch: Content: Image; Description: NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit recorded this forward view of its arm and surroundings during the rover's 2,052nd Martian day, or sol, on Oct. 11, 2009. Bright soil in the left half of the image is loose, fluffy material churned by the rover's left-front wheel as Spirit, driving backwards, approached its current position in April 2009 and the wheel broke through a darker, crusty surface. Spirit used its front hazard-avoidance camera to take this image. The turret of tools at the end of the rover's robotic arm is positioned with the Moessbauer spectrometer up and the rock abrasion tool extending toward the right. Spirit's right-front wheel, visible in this image, has not worked since 2006. It is the least-embedded of the rover's six wheels at the current location, called "Troy." Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, have been working on Mars for more than 58 months in what were originally planned as 3-month missions on Mars. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Friction Stir Weld: Content: Image; Description: This close-up view of the friction stir weld tack tool used to manufacture of space shuttle external tanks shows the process of tack welding barrel panels together. Barrels were previously fabricated using traditional fusion welding, but friction stir welding is different in that the materials are not melted. A rotating tool pin uses friction and applied pressure to join the 20-foot longitudinal panels together. Friction stir welding is the most recent upgrade to the space shuttle's external tank, the largest element of the shuttle and the only element that is not reusable. The new welding technique utilizes frictional heating combined with forging pressure to produce high-strength bonds virtually free of defects. Friction stir welding transforms the metals from a solid state into a "plastic-like" state, and then mechanically stirs the materials together under pressure to form a welded joint. Invented and patented by The Welding Institute, a British research and technology organization, the process is applicable to aerospace, shipbuilding, aircraft and automotive industries. One of the key benefits of this new technology is that it allows welds to be made on aluminum alloys that cannot be readily fusion arc welded, the traditional method of welding. Image Credit: NASA

NASA Science: Multimedia