Questions tagged [identify-this-object]
Questions which ask for an object in a photograph or other media to be identified and/or have its function described.
208
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8
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1answer
1k views
What is the blue and purple glitter dinosaur above NASA astronaut Robert Behnken in this video?
The NASA video Expedition 63 Inflight with New York Times, Fox News, and USA Today - July 7, 2020 includes NASA astronaut Dr. Robert Behnken, and above can be seen a blue and purple glitter covered ...
12
votes
1answer
936 views
Viking Lander descent engine design feature
The Viking Lander Terminal Descent Engine (3 per vehicle) was a ~600 lbf monopropellant hydrazine engine with an unusual exhaust system of 18 small nozzles. Multiple sources state that the reason ...
5
votes
1answer
86 views
Which shuttle mission is this video from?
At 12 minutes and 19 seconds into the NASA video Space Shuttle Documentary (Narrated by William Shatner), there’s a really neat video of a space shuttle lighting up the clouds from underneath and then ...
7
votes
1answer
169 views
On the ISS what is that frame with a criss-cross of rubber bands?
You can see below a picture of Steven Swanson doing a detailed tour of the ISS.
I was wondering what is that frame with rubber bands on the right? It just seems to block access to the racks behind.
...
11
votes
1answer
2k views
What is this propeller-like object on top of the SpaceX Hopper?
In the spirit of Why does this rocket have a nose cone “cozy”? I'd like to ask why the SpaceX Hopper has a propellor on top, or at least something that looks reminiscent of Beany's propeller.
What is ...
12
votes
1answer
341 views
What is this device/object that the SpaceX astronauts are holding?
Watching the SpaceX Demo-2 launch preparation livestream, I saw both Bob and Doug using some sort of little gadget. It looks like a chunky cell phone, or a flat gopro. It appears to have an LCD on the ...
2
votes
1answer
117 views
What is this hovering “jet propulsion device” that “moves like a ufo”? [duplicate]
I encountered this reddit post, which is a video of a test of some sort of device hovering precisely in place & maneuvering using some slightly underexpanded reaction control system. I'm also ...
8
votes
1answer
1k views
What's is this very CGI looking clip in this NASA video of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer installation?
This is the NASA video AMS Time Lapse Installation a time-lapse of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) installation at the International Space Station. At about ...
9
votes
1answer
578 views
What are beta cloth and beta marquisette, materials used in Apollo-era space suits?
The NASA PDF Space Suit which contains CSM21 Spacesuits pp 223-228 in the url name mentions beta cloth and beta marquisette several times.
Question: What are they ...
1
vote
1answer
122 views
Do we know what is the approximate size of this object on Pluto's surface?
Reportedly this object has been captured on Pluto's surface.
Which mission does this image originate from and can we estimate its size?
2
votes
2answers
128 views
How to explain the fast motion of the Starlink satellite in this video?
My friend in Łódź sent me this video today:
https://i.imgur.com/EmpNzfs.mp4
This was observed in Widzew district, at 20:42 Warsaw time. He has two questions:
given that it looks like it's Starlink ...
48
votes
1answer
4k views
Why is there a Saturn V in the background of this Gemini-Titan launch?
In this photo, a Gemini-Titan is lifting off in the foreground, while a Saturn V is visible in the background.
The last Gemini flight was in late 1966, but the first flight of a Saturn V wasn't ...
11
votes
1answer
2k views
Did astronaut Scott Kelley eat cake in space?
From what I understand and remember the first cookies baked in space were returned to Earth for testing and I think part of the reason that no cookies baked on the ISS's oven could be eaten is that ...
1
vote
1answer
116 views
Which Viking-1 orbiter photo is this? When was it taken and what part of Mars is shown?
This answer to Are there any photos of the Martian terminator from low Mars orbit? includes (without credit) what looks like an oft-repeated photo of Mars. A comment written from reverse image ...
2
votes
1answer
62 views
Satellite positions online (also historical)
Around 19:30 CET (UTC+1) we saw a satellite over Prague with my friend, and at 19:50 another one. The second one could have been ISS, according to http://www.isstracker.com/historical.
But how do I ...
0
votes
3answers
193 views
Why do these two Hubble Space Telescope star cameras point in nearly the same direction, and what's the other window for?
The article in Forbes Former Astronauts Share Ways To Cope With Social Distancing & Isolation includes the following image of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Question: I believe that those three ...
27
votes
2answers
3k views
Apollo Command Module heatshield tube - what was it for?
I went to the Science Museum in London last year, where I saw (amongst many other wonderful things!) the Apollo 10 CM, Charlie Brown. Looking at the heat shield, I saw two circular indentations with a ...
4
votes
1answer
201 views
How does Indonesia's development and test vehicle work? Could something like this reach space or even orbit when scaled up?
Phys.org's Blast off: space minnow Indonesia eyes celestial success says
It's a very long way from a Mission Control in Houston, but the Southeast Asian archipelago's answer to NASA has big hopes and ...
0
votes
1answer
115 views
Did the Saturn IB have eight equally spaced fins around its circumference?
This answer to Saturn V Small Rectangles On S-II Stage includes images and links related to the Saturn IB rocket. It shows what I think is an unwrapped representation of part of a circumference which ...
9
votes
1answer
822 views
Atlas Rocket Burning Hose
I was just watching The Right Stuff for the 100th time,and I've always wondered what is that hose spewing flame/burning propellant out of the bottom of the rocket. It's definitely not an engine,and ...
1
vote
0answers
83 views
What are these two items sticking out of Soyuz capsule MS-13 with returning Expedition 61 Crew? [duplicate]
At 18:55and 19:00 in NASA Videos' NASA Television Video File- MS 13 Hatch Closing Undocking Landing - February 6, 2020 what ...
3
votes
1answer
214 views
How does this large, flat antenna made from overlapping circles at Australia's Carnarvon Space Tracking Center work?
@Fred's comment links to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's How the Apollo 11 Moon landing was achieved with the vital help of Carnarvon Tracking Station which links to their Carnarvon space ...
10
votes
2answers
352 views
What likely is the chemical composition of the thin piece of material on the surface of Mars on the image below?
Note: The MAHLI images below were acquired when both the two groups of white light LEDs and the ultraviolet LEDs were off.
When looking for the damage on the wheels of Curiosity on the raw images i ...
0
votes
0answers
65 views
what are the fast moving white objects in JCSAT-18 separation video
Fast moving objects seen at 0:27 (bottom), 0:30 (middle), 0:32 (top and bottom right) etc. What are they?
They don't seem to originate from the rocket or the payload.
...
4
votes
0answers
198 views
What is the mysterious object flying by in this SpaceX video?
In the last second of this video tweeted by spaceX, you can see an object fly by on screen. Did this come from the SpaceX ship, or is it foreign space junk? If it turns out to be the latter, is that a ...
5
votes
1answer
992 views
In multiple parachutes, is each offset by a weight/hole?
Source: NASA via wikimedia.org
As the image shows, in multiple parachutes, each assumes a position away from the center. The post, Why don't 3-parachute descent systems collide and collapse?, ...
30
votes
1answer
5k views
What is this large fan in front of the Space Shuttle during Ground Turnaround?
In this amazing video of multiple camera angles of Endeavour landing and post-landing processing, at around the 15:45–15:56 minute mark, we see a large propeller running in front of the Orbiter.
It ...
13
votes
2answers
2k views
What happens differently when ISS is inside this red boundary (Russia & Europe & …)?
The question Why are there advertisements in the Russian ISS flight control room? shows the image below. There is a large red boundary that looks like the boundary of the overlap of several circles ...
15
votes
1answer
2k views
What's the shiny silver turnip on the bottom of this Ariane 5 launcher?
The beautiful cutaway drawing included in this answer shows a metallic turnip-shaped object attached to the bottom of the Ariane V core stage.
What is that object?
3
votes
1answer
110 views
How to identify an object in orbit last night?
I saw an object last night (November 24, 2019) in the sky that was rather unusual and am curious about what it might have been. It had the luminosity and speed of movement across the sky (generally ...
1
vote
1answer
79 views
What is the purpose of the pairs of cylinders on the interstage of PSLV?
In the following images, it can be seen that the interstage (separating the first stage PS1 and the second stage PS2) of the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (...
5
votes
1answer
103 views
What is the reason behind the chromatic aberration on this DISCOVR picture?
Earlier in a question on this website, I saw the following picture:
If you look to the right side of the moon, you will see a massive yellow transparent area.
I am wondering what caused the yellow, ...
3
votes
1answer
127 views
How often did Apollo astronauts wear red helmets?
Images of NAsA astronaut David R. Scott performing a spacewalk during Apollo 9 show a red helmet.
When did NASA's use of red-colored helmets begin, and when did it end, and was there a special name ...
10
votes
2answers
2k views
What antenna is this in an Apollo 15 LM photo?
The video Apollo 15 landing from PDI to Touchdown (found in Why did the Apollo 15 LM violently shake & raise dust after the contact probes touched the lunar surface?) seems to pan across a still ...
2
votes
1answer
137 views
What is the purpose and necessity of this giant structure being used in tests of China's Mars lander?
Question: What is the purpose and necessity of this giant structure being used in tests of landing hovering and searching techniques to be used by China's Mars lander? It is shown in images (and a ...
1
vote
2answers
114 views
What are these Soyuz Astronauts/Cosmonauts holding in their hands before launch? [duplicate]
What are these Soyuz Astronauts/Cosmonauts holding in their left hands before launch? I suspect it must be the pump for the active cooling system by pumping water similar to those in EVA suits, but it ...
4
votes
1answer
112 views
What's the puffy fabric-like material around the upper stage at launch of Ranger 5?
The Ranger 5 mission launched 57 years ago today. In a photograph of the launch, there's an irregular shroud of wrinkled white material either next to or wrapped around the upper Agena stage of the ...
9
votes
0answers
199 views
What is the utility of this peanut-shaped ground facility?
The following image is from GSLV-F11 GSAT-7A Mission:
Location: Second Launch Pad (SLP), Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, India.
Please click here in case you want to see the image in ISRO's ...
6
votes
1answer
2k views
What are SpaceX's Starship's header tanks?
In the Everyday Astronaut video A conversation with Elon Musk about Starship after about 13:00 Musk shows Dodd a cell phone video that he shot in the top(?) of the ...
4
votes
1answer
266 views
What are these things in Elon Musk's tweeted Starship video?
I don't understand what I'm looking at in the video of this Elon Musk tweet. The text says:
Just leaving SpaceX Starship build site in Boca
These are reminiscent of funhouse mirrors. What are ...
3
votes
1answer
109 views
For which “2 billion dollar spacecraft launched in 1999” did NASA “specially design” an Aronson Trolley Positioner?
This answer to What are those tilting/rotating platforms called that hold spacecraft during assembly, testing, and sometimes transport? quotes this Weld Plus website as follows:
(The) Aronson ...
2
votes
1answer
192 views
Why does Curiosity have two images of itself on itself, or is one a QR-code?
The first image in CNN"s New images show Mars as you've never seen it before shows a partial "selfie" by the Curiosity rover which includes what looks like two images on the rover itself.
The one on ...
0
votes
1answer
99 views
What are those tilting/rotating platforms called that hold spacecraft during assembly, testing, and sometimes transport? [duplicate]
The first image from the BBC's Euclid space telescope to study 'dark Universe' makes progress reminded me of the second two, which are taken from What are these air-vent-like structures on this ...
2
votes
1answer
150 views
What did Luna 3's illuminator illuminate and why did it need a cover?
This comment below this answer to How was it possible for the Apollo 11 to film and take pictures with such radiation? links to the svengrahn.pp.se post Luna 3 - the first view of the moon's far side.
...
1
vote
1answer
117 views
Is this a NASA building in the background?
The Washington Post video It's looking more and more likely there will be a Tropical Storm Humberto near Florida shows some footage with the caption "Titusville Fla." and I've included a screen shot ...
3
votes
2answers
187 views
Does this image of 91-core OTRAG “asparagus-staging” show a real launch, or is it “space-art”?
This answer to Were there any non-state organizations to organize space flight and colonizations in the second half of the 20th century? mentions OTRAG and links to Astronautix's OTRAG page.
The ...
1
vote
1answer
127 views
What do all these vectors point to in this New Horizons trajectory/operations simulation?
Sir Brian May's New Horizons music video (below) shows an animation of the spacecraft and its launch vehicle from countdown to MU69 Ultima Thule.
Part way through the video at about ...
11
votes
2answers
1k views
Features seen on the Space Shuttle's solid booster; what does “LOADED” mean exactly?
The question Please explain the time reference shown in Shuttle launch engineering video links to the very cool video Ascent - Commemorating Shuttle. After about ...
5
votes
1answer
299 views
Why does this photo of the Hubble Space Telescope look so weird?
Question: Can someone identify this photograph of the Hubble Space Telescope seen as a still in the Los Angeles Times YouTube video Scientists witness huge cosmic crash, find origins of gold, figure ...
22
votes
1answer
2k views
Function of the separated, individual solar cells on Telstar 1 and 2? Why were they “special”?
The image below shows a part of a backup satellite for Telstar 1 and 2. In addition to the many small and highly segmented solar panels, there are what look like individual elements of the same kind ...
