2023 Goddard Summer Film Fest

This narrated movie introduces Artemis III, reveals the mission's 13 candidate landing regions near the lunar South Pole, and briefly discusses some of the criteria that narrowed the selection to these regions.Music provided by Universal Production Music: Best Days to Come – Matteo Pagamici and Max Molling.This video can also be viewed on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || NASA has identified 13 regions near the Moon's South Pole as candidate landing regions for Artemis III, the first crewed mission to the Moon's surface since 1972. The visuals here show the locations of all 13 regions. ||

Universal Production Music: Home To You by William Baxter Noon [PRS], Pluck Up Courage by John Griggs [PRS], Philip Michael Guyler [PRS], Wafer Thin by Adam Leslie Gock [APRA], Dinesh David Wicks [APRA], Mitchell Stewart [APRA], The Magpie's Pie by Quentin Bachelet [SACEM], Romain Sanson [SACEM], Ticking Tension by Quentin Bachelet [SACEM], Romain Sanson [SACEM], Reward Drawer by Ehren Ebbage [BMI] Additional images courtesy of Alaska Satellite Facility - University of Alaska FairbanksThis video can be freely shared and downloaded. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, some individual imagery provided by ASF is obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines/index.htmlComplete transcript available. ||

Mars Sample Return is a multi-mission campaign designed to retrieve scientifically selected samples of rock and sediment that the Perseverance rover is collecting on the surface of Mars. Bringing those samples to Earth would allow scientist to study them using the most advance laboratory instruments-those that will exist in the coming decade and those in the decades to follow. The campaign is one of the most ambitious endeavors in spaceflight history, involving multiple spacecraft, multiple launches, and multiple government agencies. Goddard is currently designing and developing the Capture, Containment, and Return System that would deliver the Mars sample tubes back to Earth.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Music is "Tumbleweed" by Paul Osborne, "Old as the Hills" by Matthieu Ouaki, and "Texas Moon" by Anders Johan Greger Lewen of Universal Production Music. ||

This is a collection of raw footage of the integration and testing of the instruments and spacecraft for the Plankton, Aerosols, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission. || Beauty shots of the PACE spacecraft in the cleanroom with engineers. || PACE enters the thermal vacuum chamber for testing. || Beauty shots of the PACE spacecraft in the cleanroom with engineers. || Integration of the SPEXone instrument on the PACE spacecraft. || Integration of the bus assembly. || Integration of the bus assembly. ||

"Cosmic Cycles: A Space Symphony" is a groundbreaking collaboration between acclaimed composer Henry Dehlinger, NASA, and the National Philharmonic, featuring a unique fusion of music and video in seven multimedia works on the Sun, Earth, Moon, Planets, and Cosmos. This transformative project takes the audience on a captivating voyage through the universe, showcasing the beauty and power of the marriage between music and science.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic credit: “Earth, Our Home" from Cosmic Cycles: A Space Symphony by Henry Dehlinger. Courtesy of the composer.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. ||

In this series, we dive into the legacy of Goddard's lead role in developing laser altimetry, which has revolutionized the way we map our planet, the Moon and other planets. Each chapter looks at the successes and failures of these lidar instruments, beginning with the Mars Observer Laser Altimeter in the late 1980s, through the current generation of laser altimeters on ICESat-2 and GEDI. Through dozens of interviews and archival footage, the history, challenges and legacy of lidar are uncovered. ||

Overview of NASA's DAVINCI Mission.Music is "Blackened Skies" by Enrico Cacace and Lorenzo Castellarin of Universal Production Music. || Inspired by the Renaissance vision of Leonardo da Vinci, NASA is presently preparing its scientific return to Venus’ atmosphere and surface with a mission known as the “Deep Atmosphere of Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging” (DAVINCI). The DAVINCI mission will “take the plunge” into Venus’ enigmatic history using an instrumented deep atmosphere probe spacecraft that will carry five instruments for measuring the chemistry and environments throughout the clouds and to the surface, while also conducting the first descent imaging of a mountain system on Venus known as Alpha Regio, which may represent an ancient continent. In addition, the DAVINCI mission includes two science flybys of Venus during which it will search for clues to mystery molecules in the upper cloud deck while also measuring the rock types in some of Venus highland regions. All of these new and unique measurements will make the ‘exoplanet next door’ into a key place for understanding Earth and Venus sized exoplanets that may have similar histories to our sister planet. DAVINCI will pave the way for a series of missions by NASA and ESA in the 2030’s by opening the frontier as it searches for clues to whether Venus harbored oceans and how its atmosphere-climate system evolved over billions of years. DAVINCI’s science will address questions about habitability and how it could be “lost” as rocky planets evolve over time. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight center leads the DAVINCI Mission as the PI institution. ||

From Orbit to A.I. - Harnessing Machine Learning with Landsat Data || Over the past few years, machine learning techniques have been increasingly used to analyze the vast amount of data collected by the Landsat mission, which has been circling the globe for over 50 years. The data has been used to classify different types of land cover, detect changes to landscapes over time, and map the impact of human activity on the environment. With the field constantly evolving, researchers are developing new deep learning models to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the analysis and extract even more information from the data. Here are just a few examples of how the combination of Landsat data and machine learning is providing a better understanding of our planet's past, present, and future. ||

When OSIRIS-REx touched down on asteroid Bennu, it encountered a surface of loose rocks and pebbles just barely held together by gravity.Complete transcript available.Universal Production Music: “Subsurface” by Ben Niblett and Jon CottonWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. || On October 20, 2020, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected a sample of near-Earth asteroid Bennu. This “TAG event” revealed surprising details about Bennu’s loosely-packed surface. The spacecraft’s arm sank almost half a meter into the asteroid, far deeper than expected, confirming that Bennu’s surface is incredibly weak. During the event, OSIRIS-REx collected a handful of material and kicked up roughly six tons of loose rock. It will return its sample of Bennu to Earth in September 2023.Learn more about the surface properties of asteroid Bennu. ||

Around a different star, Earth may never have developed life at all. So what makes a star friendly to life? We joined two rocket teams as they traveled to the remote Northern Territory of Australia to capture light from our closest stellar neighbors to help reveal the answer. Follow their journey in the 6-part video series High Above Down Under. Episodes released weekly starting June 27, 2023. || High Above Down Under Series TrailerWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.There are likely billions of planets in our galaxy. With over 5,000 already confirmed, how do we know which ones might hold life?Two NASA sounding rockets are launching from Australia to find out which stars make for habitable hosts. We’re following those rocket teams Down Under to show you what it takes to launch a rocket and make groundbreaking scientific measurements. Hang on tight – we’re going on an adventure High Above Down Under!Music Credit: "Epic Earth" by Andy Hopkins (PRS), Dean Mahoney (PRS), Jacob Nicholas Stonewall Jackson (PRS) via Universal Production Music ||

All monster black holes are not equal. Watch this video to see how they compare to each other and to our solar system. The black holes shown, which range from 100,000 to more than 60 billion times our Sun’s mass, are scaled according to the sizes of their shadows – a circular zone about twice the size of their event horizons. Only one of these colossal objects resides in our own galaxy, and it lies 26,000 light-years away. Smaller black holes are shown in bluish colors because their gas is expected to be hotter than that orbiting larger ones. Scientists think all of these objects shine most intensely in ultraviolet light. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image LabMusic: "In the Stars" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. ||

Music: "Eternal Hope," "Power of Night," Universal Production Music"Also Sprach Zarathustra," Composed by Richard Strauss, Performed by the United States Marine Band"PACE Fanfare," Composed by Gunnery Sergeant Scott Ninmer, Performed by the United States Marine BandRecorded sound courtesy of the U. S. Marine Band®. Use of the recorded sound does not constitute or imply endorsement by the Department of Defense, U. S. Marine Corps, or U. S. Marine Band®.The terms U. S. Marine Band® and “The President’s Own®” are trademarks of the U. S. Marine Corps, used with permission.The other works requested for use in this project are free and clear of any underlying copyright encumbrances and are in the public domain.Neither the Marine Corps nor the Marine Band accept any responsibility for any use of Marine Band sound other than our own distribution.Complete transcript available. ||

Complete transcript available. || When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted on Jan. 15, it sent a tsunami racing around the world and set off a sonic boom that circled the globe twice. The underwater eruption in the South Pacific Ocean also blasted an enormous plume of water vapor into Earth’s stratosphere – enough to fill more than 58,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. The sheer amount of water vapor could be enough to temporarily affect Earth’s global average temperature. So outside of its sheer magnitude, what makes this eruption so unique? Well, it’s really a matter of our ability to see it through NASA and ESA satellites. ||

Our intrepid Traveler has decided to visit a gamma-ray burst for their next vacation. If you’d like to follow their adventure, check out this video for tips and tricks.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterMusic: "Wanna Be Hipster" from Universal Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || Are you looking for a new vacation spot? Perhaps one with spectacular fireworks? While gamma-ray bursts produce brilliant displays of light across the entire spectrum, we cannot recommend visiting one. Before making up your mind, watch this handy video to learn more about what gamma-ray bursts are, how to find them, and safety considerations for watching one. ||

Paul Smith is a night-sky fanatic and photographer. His obsession is sprites: immense jolts of light that flicker high above thunderstorms. Last October, he guided NASA scientist Dr. Burcu Kosar through the backroads of Oklahoma to catch one herself. Although she’d studied sprites for more than 15 years, she hadn’t yet chased one.Image credits: Paul Smith, Frankie Lucena, Panagiotis Tsouras, Thomas Ashcraft. All imagery of sprites is copyrighted and used with permission. || Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.Image credits: Paul Smith, Frankie Lucena, Panagiotis Tsouras, Thomas Ashcraft. All imagery of sprites is copyrighted and used with permission.Music credits: “The Beauty Beyond” by Jeremy Noel William Abbott [PRS], Vasco [PRS]; “Outer Orbit” by Alexander Ryder Mcnair [ASCAP], Harry Gregson Williams [BMI], Ho Ling Tang [BMI]; “Wonderful Orbit” by Tom Furse Fairfax Cowan [PRS]; “Starlights” by Marc Teitler [PRS], Vasco [PRS]; “A Tranquil End” by Luke Gordon [PRS]; “Virtual Tidings” by Andrew Michael Britton [PRS], David Stephen Goldsmith [PRS]; “Winter Aurora” by Samuel Karl Bohn [PRS]; “Lava Flow” and “Water Dance” by Ben Niblett [PRS], Jon Cotton [PRS]. ||