The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), located in Greenbelt, Maryland, was named after the father of rocketry, Dr. Robert H. Goddard. His zest for innovation and discovery still lives, from the engineers that design and build new technology, to the scientists who study the earth, the solar system, and the universe.
When we feel The Earth beneath our feet, see it with our eyes, hear it when the wind blows, we perceive only the most obvious filaments of a far more complex place. Only with exquisite machines--spacecraft in orbit and powerful computers on the ground--can humanity begin to uncover the elegant nature of our complex home. Presented here are a collection of data visualizations based on observations gathered by a fleet of spacecraft. In various depictions we see the currents of the world's oceans, changes in temperature and land cover over time, and precipitation as it cycles energy and water around our living planet. But The Earth is only one part of a dynamic sphere, and with its companion The Moon nearby, we cannot hlep but remeber that our whole planet travels in a wider ocean. This video presents Earth's Moon with data gathered by the remarkable Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, an advanced probe designed to map our planetary companion in unprecedented detail. Finally, our place in space would be cold and lifeless if it were not for our omnipresent star, The Sun. Shining ceaselessly in the void, it bathes our home planet in life giving energy, and holds The Earth, The Moon, and everything else in the solar system in its gravitational thrall. The data used in the creation of this video come from a wide range of spacecraft, all part of NASA's broader Science Mission Directorate. Credit: Michael Starobin, Producer All data visualizations provided by the Scientific Visualization Studio
It’s always shining, always ablaze with light and energy that drive weather, biology and more. In addition to keeping life alive on Earth, the sun also sends out a constant flow of particles called the solar wind, and it occasionally erupts with giant clouds of solar material, called coronal mass ejections, or explosions of X-rays called solar flares. These events can rattle our space environment out to the very edges of our solar system. In space, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, keeps an eye on our nearest star 24/7. SDO captures images of the sun in 10 different wavelengths, each of which helps highlight a different temperature of solar material. In this video, we experience SDO images of the sun in unprecedented detail. Presented in ultra-high definition, the video presents the dance of the ultra-hot material on our life-giving star in extraordinary detail, offering an intimate view of the grand forces of the solar system.
Perhaps more than all other federal agencies, NASA tells stories about big things: big places, big data, big ideas. Using extraordinarily high resolution data sets from some of the most innovative and powerful scientific instruments ever built, the media team at NASA Goddard presents PURSUIT OF LIGHT. The presentation showcases top level goals of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, with an eye toward capturing the imagination of mainstream audiences. Data visualizations at resolutions far greater than HDTV present NASA's science goals like never before. Interspersed with inventive live action footage also designed to make use of that vast canvas, this six and a half minute presentation captivates and moves viewers. PURSUIT OF LIGHT was designed expressly for a screen technology called The Hyperwall, a system largely perfected at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The Hyperwall itself is a platform best suited for big themes. With colossal screen resolution and an ultrawide presentational style, moving images played there take on a vast sense of scale and power. PURSUIT OF LIGHT employs the strength of this remarkable system and pushes it further than ever before, presenting stories about the Earth, The Moon, The Sun, The Planets, and the deep sky, wrapped in poetic implication about the humanity's imperative need to explore. This show will play prominently on touring Hyperwalls around the country as well as on the web. Credits: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC): Animator Alex Kekesi (GST): Animator Ernie Wright (USRA): Animator Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC): Animator Tom Bridgman (GST): Animator Victoria Weeks (HTSI): Video Editor, Videographer Michael Starobin (HTSI): Producer, Videographer, Writer
Bennu's Journey is a 6-minute animated movie about NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, asteroid Bennu, and the formation of our solar system. Born from the rubble of a violent collision, hurled through space for millions of years, asteroid Bennu has had a tough life in a rough neighborhood - the early solar system. Bennu's Journey shows what is known and what remains mysterious about the evolution of Bennu and the planets. By retrieving a sample of Bennu, OSIRIS-REx will teach us more about the raw ingredients of the solar system and our own origins. The animation was produced in an 8 x 3 aspect ratio at a resolution of 5760 x 2160 and is available in its full resolution, 4K Ultra HD, 1080HD and 720HD versions in letterboxed format. Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab Walt Feimer (HTSI): Lead Animator, Producer, Writer Michael Lentz (USRA): Lead Animator, Video Editor, Writer Chris Meaney (HTSI): Animator Rich Melnick (HTSI): Video Editor Jason Charles Miller: Narration Dan Gallagher (USRA): Producer, Writer Dante Lauretta (University of Arizona): Scientist Edward Beshore (University of Arizona): Scientist Aaron E Lepsch (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Project Support Michael Starobin (HTSI): Writer Steven Archer: Music Composer
In the summer of 2015 a NASA-funded team of researchers camped out on the ablation zone or melt zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Their goal: to conduct a bold and coordinated set of measurements that should help us better understand how meltwater is transported from the ice sheet and into the sea, and ultimately how much that process will affect sea level rise. Larry Smith from UCLA led a team of hydrologists who conducted 72 straight hours of measurements across a river of meltwater, just upstream from where that river plunged into a moulin, or hole in the ice. Smith and Berkeley researcher Vena Chu also placed drifting science beacons in three tributaries of that river to monitor the water as it moved downstream. A few hours after their deployment all three beacons driften by camp, having accomplished their mission. This footage chronicles the flight from Kangerlussuaq, Greenland by helicopter en route to the main camp, as well as the deployment of the drifting beacons. Produced by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
