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.
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What are these things on the side of the GSLV Mk 3 SRBs?
Circled in green
Images found by looking up “gslv mk 3”
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What is the object seen in this Apollo 11 film?
At 3:42 in this Apollo 11 (16-mm magazine 1079-H) footage you can see a bright dot traversing the field of view towards the Moon. What is that?
Could it be some mirror reflection due to the relative ...
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Why is a cartoon character visible in the artist's rendition of the McDonnell Douglas X-33 proposal?
I think I have figured out the what, it’s just the who, when, where and why that I don’t have the answer to.
In 1995 during Phase I of the X-33 program NASA received proposals from Rockwell, McDonnell ...
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What are these weird things on the McDonnell Douglas X-33?
Got another mystery.
What are these things (highlighted) that are attached to to the heatshield of the McDonnell Douglas X-33 proposal?
All I can think is maybe OMS?
X-33 Proposal by McDonnell ...
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What is the Modified Apollo option for a potential LEO transport?
In this website (scroll to the bottom), it mentions that
” Nixon’s advisors and NASA officials shifted their attention to developing a new transportation system to low Earth orbit. Options included a ...
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Which (vintage?) CAD software is this in the Scott Manley video regarding The Titan Rocket
I was recently surprised by seeing a CAD software in the Scott Manley video that seems to be running on old computers in a command line like interface.
Which software is this? and is it still used by ...
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What is pictured in this SHERLOC camera?
This picture was taken by one of the cameras on the Perseverance rover. What is pictured here ? And what is the purpose of this image?
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Were there any external markings or features that allow the Gemini VI and VII capsules to be identified in photographs taken on-orbit?
(Inspired by What are these on the Gemini Spacecraft?)
Gemini VI-A and VII rendezvoused and pictures of the spacecraft were taken.
Given only the pictures and no other information, are there markings ...
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What are these on the Gemini Spacecraft?
What are these (circled in red) protruding from the retrograde section of the Gemini spacecraft?
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What is this tube in the Space Shuttle Orbiter?
I found this picture of the left panel of the Orbiter:
What is the function of that small detachable tube?
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Is the author mistaken regarding this Apollo transposition and docking photo?
I came across this question, which asks about a photo with caption in this 1971 journal (google books link) of Comment: The Relevance of Space, by Arthur Kantrowitz, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists ...
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What is the rotating gold object on the outside of ISS?
What is the rotating gold object on the outside of ISS?
It is sometimes in view on the Live_ISS_Stream SD video feed:
https://video.ibm.com/channel/live-iss-stream#
A Google search gives no current ...
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What are these wires visible in Space Shuttle ODS/APAS-95?
What are these three wires connected in a y-shape called and what is their role? Some sort of alignment guide? Sorry for the hard to see picture.
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What is this thing that goes zipping past the Electron launch?
Watching the Electron launch 07 October 2022 on https://www.rocketlabusa.com/live-stream, what do I see in the video at T + 9:12, just after they confirm secondary engine cut off?
I thought it was a ...
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What is that cone-shaped thingy on most orbiters?
Whether you're Looking at MRO, Odyssey, Juno, or MAVEN, you might notice it. That odd cone on the top or bottom of the spacecraft. Does anyone know what it is?
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What is the cabling on the exterior of the SLS solid rocket boosters that wasn't on the shuttle solid rocket boosters?
I noticed what appears to be foamed-over cabling running roughly parallel to the systems tunnel on the exterior of the SLS Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). The cabling appears to run all the way from the ...
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What is this beige, pill shaped object on the back of the Apollo Lunar Module?
Is it an antenna, or something else?
Image from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Apollo_11_Lunar_Lander_-_5927_NASA.jpg
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What are these things on SLS' engine mount?
Watching the scrubbed inaugural launch of SLS, there has been plenty of close up views from the vehicle, including a close up of the SSME engine mount, that exhibits those white extruded squares or ...
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Identifying Antenna-Like Object with Gold Orb on ISS [duplicate]
Many photos of the Neutron Star Interior Composition ExploreR (NICER) show it partially obscured by an object which looks like a golden orb on a poll. What is this object?
Attempted Solution
Zooming ...
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Why is there a white panel in astronaut’s fabric headcover they wear inside the hard helmet?
Astronauts always have a black fabric headcover worn over their hair or scalp, when they are wearing the spacesuit and helmet for takeoff or EVAs. There’s always a white panel that looks about 3 ...
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What are the "disks" seen on the walls of some NASA space shuttles?
I'm deep-dive researching older NASA shuttles, and a few elements in this image of a toilet (which could be found on display at JSC in the early aughts) stood out to me. See the red circles I added to ...
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What is the orange material seen within the window frames of the Columbia Shuttle?
I'm seeing this orange material within the windows of Columbia shuttles -- any thoughts on its precise function? The ISS's Cupola also contains similar international orange bands, though they seem ...
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What is this squiggly moving line in the recent SpaceX SARah-1 Mission?
I watched the livestream of the launch of the SpaceX SARah-1 Mission.
Shortly after the boostback burn there is this squiggly white line that moves away from the first stage, starting at T+03:54. It ...
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What parts of the InSight lander are missing between these two photos?
The below photo is of the Mars InSight lander shortly after landing, and one final time before power-down (note the dust on the solar panels)
There are three things noticeably missing in the latter ...
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What was this stationary, then moving light point seen at daylight?
While lying on the garden couch looking straight up I noticed a point light directly above me, similar to a star. This surprised me as it was about an hour before sunset and the sky was still bright. ...
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What's this small source of glowing blue plasma next to Psyche's Hall effect thruster for? What does it do and why does the plasma curve and connect?
PV Magazine's NASA’s 1.5 billion-mile Psyche asteroid mission will be solar-powered includes the image below which is PIA24030 and the relevent part of the NASA caption is:
The photo on the left ...
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What is the purpose of these three taut cables near an ISS astronaut during EVA? To what do they connect and why do two appear intertwined?
During CBS News senior space analyst Bill Harwood's explanations in the video Russia's space agency severs ties with the U.S. and its European partners they keep showing the same five seconds of an ...
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Will the NASA Commercial Crew "zip line away from the tower and into" this "military armoured truck" in case of emergency? Does the truck have a name?
The NASA Commercial Crew @Commercial_Crewtweet
The #Crew4 astronauts have been busy getting ready for their upcoming mission to the
@Space_Station!
The crew recently participated in simulations ...
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What can we know or at least deduce about this "mysterious blob in an Ingenuity navcam image"?
Near the end of Mars Guy's new video Mars helicopter escapes sand trap linked below there's an image taken by the Ingenuity helicopter where an out-of-focus bit of debris passes in front of the navcam ...
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Why does this "satellite antenna at the Laguna Peak Tracking and Injection Facility" look so weird? (two dishes back-to-back)
The video 1967 Navy Satellite Navigation training film (IBM 7094 data center) after 11:57 (older version here) the narrator says:
For every pound of satellite in ...
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What are the black stripes on Kepler's image sensor?
Kepler Focal Plane Array with each tile partly covered by something looking like a bar chart.
If real, what is it?
EDIT: I do not mean the seam between the two CCDs of each tile but the slighly curved ...
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What is this South Korean rocket and why does it have separate yellow and blue exhaust plumes?
The BBC's Watching North Korea from a supersonic fighter jet (screenshot from YouTube) shows the launch of a South Korean rocket.
I notice that it has both a very long, nicely expanded blue exhaust ...
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What 1960s era launch pad and vehicle is shown in this still from stock footage?
The interesting question Identify this 1960's launch site and mission? contains some screenshots of launch pad stock footage. Most are of LC39, but as @Puffin points out in a comment, one does ...
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What are all these packages attached to a side module of the ISS? How did they all get there?
Ars Technica's New images of the International Space Station reveal that it is still a jewel includes the photo below and I've added a view of a side module with a collection of various rectangular ...
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Very slow blinking object — high orbit satellite or some balloon? Any idea?
Could anyone help me to explain?
This evening I played with a Gen 3 night vision binocular. I spotted a very slow blinking light 5 hours after sunset. I made a 5 minute video, I but can't attach that ...
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What space capsule is this part from?
One of my relatives has this metal component sitting in their backyard. It was a souvenir that my grandfather got to keep from his days working in the aerospace industry (primarily for Boeing). My ...
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What is the "recovery" helicopter for the Electron booster carrying?
This Rocket Lab tweet says
While we won’t be attempting a mid-air capture today, for the first time a helicopter will be stationed in the recovery zone offshore to track and observe the descending ...
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What is that yellow fixture that the launch vehicle is resting on?
What is that fixture called as? I think it is used to support the launch vehicle during integration. Please correct if wrong.
source - https://www.ruaviation.com/news/2019/3/12/13107/?h
here's ...
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What is this pin on John Glenn's suit jacket?
I'm watching the documentary "The Real Right Stuff". Around the 14 minute mark they show a clip of a news interview of the 7 mercury astronauts describing how their family feels about them ...
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Which pipeline is this, found outside the launch vehicle?
which pipeline is this found on the electron launch vehicle?
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What flag is flying over the landing site of the Shenzhou 12 crew astronauts returning from Tiangong? What does it say?
NBC News has a short video clip Astronauts Return After 90-day Mission To China's Space Station
A trio of Chinese astronauts touched down in the Gobi Desert after completing China's longest space ...
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Which "Rockwell van" ran incredibly rough for the first two minutes? (call to the radio program Car Talk)
A caller to the long-running NPR radio talk show Car Talk described a problem with their Rockwell van. While it started fine, it ran "incredibly rough" for the first two minutes.
Is it ...
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What are these squiggly lines in Jonathan McDowell's tweets about Yunhai-1?
Anton Petrov's new video Another Satellite Collided in Space, But Everyone Missed It Until Now (below) is fun to watch, and links to Jonathan McDowell's tweet string which begins
Space-Track catalog ...
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What spacesuit helmet is this?
There's a classic series of black-and-white photos from the mid-80s showing early shuttle astronaut Anna Fisher in a helmet; one was reportedly on the cover of Life magazine.
Image source: reddit, ...
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Which two spacecraft are being shown disconnecting here, and what was the connection for?
The new Wall Street Journal video China's Answer to the Aging International Space Station: The Tech Behind Tiangong | WSJ shows what looks like it might be a fuel transfer connection decoupling at <...
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Cartoon-like characters on the side of the Tianwen-1 Mars lander?
Scott Manley's excellent new video China's Mars Rover Zhurong Has Completed Its Primary Mission, Reaches New Milestone is chock-full of space-sleuthing goodies and interesting information about the ...
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Does the beeping satellite shown at the end of NASA Goddard videos represent any spacecraft in particular?
Just as an example, the end of the NASA Goddard video NASA’s OSIRIS-REx: Mission to Bennu has a double-beeping satellite at the end, which performs a flyby of the camera.
It's shiny and spherical and ...
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What is this complicated experimental apparatus being pulled out of another complicated apparatus inside the ISS?
The new NASA video Science Launching on SpaceX's 23rd Cargo Resupply Mission to the Space Station a bit after 01:20 shows a large experimental apparatus which looks ...
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What is the origin of this space station design concept and animation?
In the beginning of the ABC News video STEM industries are growing, but face shortage of qualified workers an illustration of a space station is shown, first with two cross-trusses each with solar ...
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What are these two devices extending from each end of the Progress MS16 cargo ship's solar panels?
CNET's See astronaut's wild view of a discarded ISS module burning up includes the image below. I've cropped, magnified and sharpened bits from each end of the Progress module's solar panels to reveal ...
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