XBradTC

Nice clickbait to have “Star Trek Actress to Fly on NASA Mission“, but it seems that Nichelle Nichols, Uhura from the original Star Trek, will be riding on NASA’s Boeing 747 on the next SOFIA mission. SOFIA’s recent mission included observations of Pluto’s atmosphere as it was backlit by a star.

Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of Rosetta orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. On August 13, the comet will make its closest approach to the sun. Some of the discoveries so far include a different ratio between normal hydrogen and the hydrogen isotope deuterium than found on Earth. Comet 67P also seems to be more homogenous than expected.

The Curiosity rover celebrated its third anniversary on Mars. It has crossed Gale Crater to start ascending Mount Sharp, analyzing the rocks along the way. As of August 4, the rover has driven 6.8 miles and taken over a quarter-million photographs. So this falls under #LetsDoaScience (@SarcasticRover on Twitter) and #ILookLikeAnEngineer.

The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) captured “a view impossible to see from Earth: the far side of the moon as it passed between the Earth and the sun.” Almost looks like a photoshop. There’s a video, but it does crashy things to my computer.

And that is the roundup for today.