Pic of the Week: Martian Highlands

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): (ESA/DLR/FU Berlin)

This week’s image comes from the the European Space Agency (ESA). Captured by ESA’s orbiting Mars Express, you are looking at a portion of the crater-covered Arabia Terra, which is a large plain in Mars’s ancient highlands. You can read more about this Martian region by visiting this site.

Here is the ESA’s description of what you are viewing:

A high‑resolution overhead view of a rocky, desert‑like landscape on Mars. The surface is mostly reddish‑brown with patches of darker blue‑grey tones. Many circular impact craters of different sizes are scattered across the scene, some with raised rims and shadowed interiors. Subtle ridges, eroded valleys, and textured terrain patterns run diagonally through the image, giving a sense of ancient geological activity. The overall impression is of a dry, rugged, and heavily cratered Martian surface.

Pic of the Week: Annular Solar Eclipse Over Antarctica

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The’ solar eclipse as seen from the Concordia research station in Antarctica on February 17, 2026. (ESA/IPEV/PNRA-A. Traverso)

This week’s image comes from the European Space Agency (ESA). It shows the “Ring of Fire” solar eclipse earlier this month from Antarctica. It was captured over the French and Italian Concordia research station.

Here is more from ESA on this image and the Concordia research station:

Peaking at 19:47 local time (12:47 CET), the Moon passed directly in front of the Sun’s centre, leaving only a thin, glowing annulus of sunlight visible. Astronomers call this moment annularity, and it lasted just two minutes, though the full partial eclipse spanned around two hours…Concordia sits 1100 km inland at an altitude of 3200 m. It is currently summer at the station: today, the Sun stayed above the horizon for nearly 20 hours, with temperatures reaching a comparatively mild –29 °C. But soon the light will fade: from May to August, the Sun will not rise at all, plunging the station into four months of continuous darkness where temperatures can fall below –80 °C. During this polar winter, the crew must live in complete isolation and full autonomy.

Launch of Crew-12 to ISS Goes Without a Hitch

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Image (Credit): NASA’s Crew-12 launches toward the ISS via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on February 13, 2026. (NASA)

The International Space Station’s (ISS) Crew-12 is safely on its way. As NASA Administrator Isaacman noted:

With Crew-12 safely on orbit, America and our international partners once again demonstrated the professionalism, preparation, and teamwork required for human spaceflight.

The launch carried NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. The four crew members should climb aboard the ISS tomorrow afternoon.

This crew replaces Crew-11, which left the space station earlier than expected last month due to a medical emergency.

Image (Credit): Crew-12 sitting in the SpaceX Dragon capsule in preparation for this week’s launch. From left to right you have Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway and Jessica Mier, and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot. (NASA)

Update: The four member Crew-12 are now safely aboard the ISS.

MAVEN Communication Issues

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Image (Credit): Tenth anniversary poster for the MAVEN spacecraft from 2024. (NASA)

This time last year we were celebrating the 10th anniversary of NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft entering orbit around Mars. Today we are wondering about the future of that spacecraft after NASA lost contact with it.

As of earlier today, all NASA would say is the following:

The spacecraft and operations teams are investigating the anomaly to address the situation. More information will be shared once it becomes available.

MAVEN is part of the Mars Relay Network (MRN), which is used to transmit data from the Martian surface back to Earth. For instance, NASA’s two remaining rovers – Curiosity and Perseverance – utilize this network. Five NASA and European Space Agency spacecraft orbiting Mars are part of the MRN: MAVEN, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.

The last thing we need now under this administration is a weak link to Mars since finding funds to further bolster the MRN will not be easy. So let’s hope for an easy fix.

Pic of the Week: Pismis 24

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Image (Credit): The Pismis 24 star cluster as captured by the JWST. (NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI, A. Pagan (STScI))

This week’s amazingly vibrant image was captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It shows a young star cluster, called Pismis 24, which is approximately 5,500 light-years away.

Here is the rest of the story from the European Space Agency (ESA):

What appears to be a craggy, starlit mountaintop kissed by wispy clouds is actually a cosmic dust-scape being eaten away by the blistering winds and radiation of nearby, massive, infant stars. Home to a vibrant stellar nursery and one of the closest sites of massive star birth, Pismis 24 provides rare insight into large and massive stars. This region is one of the best places to explore the properties of hot young stars and how they evolve.