Marseille, France | International Space Station
High-res image
An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) shot this photograph of Marseille, the second largest city in France. Known as Massalia in the days of the Roman Empire, the city sits along the Mediterranean coast.

From above, Marseille has a distinct red hue due to the clay terra cotta tiles covering the roofs of most buildings. Clay deposits are mined locally in Var, northeast of Marseille. Those signature roof tiles have influenced architectural styling in parts of Australia and New Zealand since the late 1800s.

The international spread of French culture and products can be attributed to Marseille’s coastal location. The city has been a major trading port since 400 BC, and the current Port of Marseille-Fos serves as the second largest port on the Mediterranean Sea. Today, the city is known for international trade and commerce of hydrocarbon products, iron, steel, ships, construction materials, alcohol, and food.

Adjacent to Marseille lies Calanques National Park, Europe’s first peri-urban national park—it is located at the transition between town and country. Founded in 2012, the park encompasses both land and water, while protecting the region’s natural landscapes, terrestrial and marine biodiversity, and cultural heritage.

Astronaut photograph ISS050-E-51867 was acquired on February 19, 2017, with a Nikon D4 digital camera using an 1150 millimeter lens and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 50 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public.

Credit: NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth
Caption Credit: Andrea Meado, Jacobs Technology, JETS Contract at NASA-JSC
Image Date: February 19, 2017
Release Date: July 8, 2018

+NASA Earth Observatory

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OSIRIS-REx: The International Asteroid Mission
OSIRIS-REx Targets Arrival at Asteroid Bennu on Dec. 3rd
This graphic provides an overview of the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample-return mission. OSIRIS-REx seeks answers to the questions that are central to the human experience: Where did we come from? What is our destiny? Asteroids, the leftover debris from the solar system formation process, can answer these questions and teach us about the history of the sun and planets.

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is traveling to Bennu, a carbonaceous asteroid whose regolith may record the earliest history of our solar system. Bennu may contain the molecular precursors to the origin of life and the Earth’s oceans. Bennu is also one of the most potentially hazardous asteroids, as it has a relatively high probability of impacting the Earth late in the 22nd century. OSIRIS-REx will determine Bennu’s physical and chemical properties, which will be critical to know in the event of an impact mitigation mission. Finally, asteroids like Bennu contain natural resources such as water, organics, and precious metals. In the future, these asteroids may one day fuel the exploration of the solar system by robotic and manned spacecraft.

OSIRIS-REx’s key science objectives include:
- Return and analyze a sample of Bennu’s surface
- Map the asteroid
- Document the sample site
- Measure the orbit deviation caused by non-gravitational forces (the Yarkovsky effect)
- Compare observations at the asteroid to ground-based observations

OSIRIS-REx marks Canada's first participation in an asteroid sample-return mission. Using Canadian instrument OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA), the spacecraft will create a 3D map of Bennu's surface, allowing scientists to select a sample site. Canada will receive a portion of the asteroid material.

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) contribution to NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is an advanced laser system known as the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA). OLA is a hybrid of the lidar on the CSA's weather station aboard NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander and an instrument flown on the 2005 US Air Force eXperimental Satellite System-11 (XSS-11).

Both instruments were built by a Canadian company, MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA), now known as Maxar Technologies Ltd. As the CSA's prime contractor, MDA designed, built and tested OLA. A lidar works by firing short laser pulses that can measure precisely the distance to the surface by timing the delay for the light to bounce back from the surface to the sensor. OLA will scan and measure the entire surface of the asteroid to create a highly accurate 3D model of the asteroid, and provide mission scientists with unprecedented information on the asteroid's shape, topography, distribution of boulders, rocks and other surface features.

Learn more about Canada's contributions to the OSIRIS-REx Mission:
http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/satellites/osiris-rex/default.asp

Credit: Canadian Space Agency (CSA)
Release Date: September 9, 2016

+OSIRIS-REx Mission
+Canadian Space Agency
+The University of Arizona
+NASA Goddard
+NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
+NASA Solar System Exploration
+CNES
+Lockheed Martin
+Ontario Science Centre
+Science Teachers' Association of Ontario
+National Science Teachers Association

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NASA's OSIRIS-REx: Deep Space Maneuver Successful
OSIRIS-REx Targets Arrival at Asteroid Bennu on Dec. 3rd
New tracking data confirms that NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully completed its second Deep Space Maneuver (DSM-2) on June 28, 2018. The thruster burn put the spacecraft on course for a series of asteroid approach maneuvers to be executed this fall that will culminate with the spacecraft’s scheduled arrival at asteroid Bennu on Dec. 3, 2018. OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is now over 93 million km (58 million miles) from Earth. It currently takes more than five minutes for OSIRIS-REx transmissions to reach Earth.

The DSM-2 burn, which employed the spacecraft’s Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM) thruster set, resulted in a 37 miles per hour (16.7 meters per second) change in the vehicle’s velocity and consumed 28.2 pounds (12.8 kilograms) of fuel.

Tracking data from the Deep Space Network provided preliminary confirmation of the burn’s execution, and the subsequent downlink of telemetry from the spacecraft shows that all subsystems performed as expected.

DSM-2 was OSIRIS-REx’s last deep space maneuver of its outbound cruise to Bennu. The next engine burn, Asteroid Approach Maneuver 1 (AAM-1), is scheduled for early October. AAM-1 is a major braking maneuver designed to slow the spacecraft’s speed from approximately 1,130 to 320 miles per hour (506.2 to 144.4 meters per second) relative to Bennu and is the first of four asteroid approach maneuvers scheduled for this fall.

Asteroid Bennu Facts:
Equatorial Diameter: ~500 m
Polar Diameter: ~510 m
Average Speed: 63,000 mph
Rotation Period: 4.3 hrs
Orbital Period: 1.2 yrs
Orbital Inclination: 6 degrees
Earth Approach: Bennu comes close to Earth every 6 yrs

OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Specifications
Length: 20.25 ft (6.2 m) with solar panels deployed
Width: 8 ft (2.4 m) x 8 ft (2.4 m)
Height: 10.33 ft (3.2 m)
TAGSAM Length: 11 ft (3.4 m)
Dry Mass (unfueled): 1,940 lbs (880 kg)
Wet Mass (fueled): 4,650 lbs (2,110 kg)
Power: Two solar panels totaling 91 ft² (8.5 m²) generate between 1,226 and 3,000 watts, depending on the spacecraft’s distance from the Sun.
Payload: Five science instruments, the TAGSAM, and the SRC allow the spacecraft to gather data, collect a sample, and safely return it to Earth.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson, is the principal investigator, and the University of Arizona also leads the science team and the mission’s observation planning and processing. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built the spacecraft and is providing spacecraft flight operations. Goddard and KinetX Aerospace are responsible for navigating the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the agency’s New Frontiers Program for its Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Credit: OSIRIS-REx Mission Team/University of Arizona
Release Date: July 3, 2018

+OSIRIS-REx Mission
+The University of Arizona
+NASA Goddard
+NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
+NASA Solar System Exploration
+Canadian Space Agency
+CNES
+Lockheed Martin

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