NASA astronaut Don Pettit has captured another remarkable shot, this one showing the Betsiboka River estuary in Madagascar.
“Betsiboka river in Madagascar, remind me of the arteries in your retina,” Pettit said in a post accompanying the image that he captured from the International Space Station (ISS) some 250 miles above Earth.
Betsiboka river in Madagascar, remind me of the arteries in your retina. pic.twitter.com/ZM7KG0nFgx
— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) January 23, 2025
The bright red color is due to the high concentration of iron-rich sediments carried by the waterway. The estuary is a excellent example of rapid coastal change due to extensive deforestation, according to NASA’s Earth Observatory website. A century of logging there has led to severe erosion, with the bright red soils washing into rivers after rains. Other astronauts viewing the scene from the ISS have described it as Madagascar “bleeding into the ocean.”
Sediment accumulation has even clogged waterways, preventing ships from traveling upriver as they once did. Tropical storms also exacerbate erosion in the area, as seen in 2004 when Cyclone Gafilo caused massive flooding and sediment flow. The government has implemented programs to address deforestation, promote reforestation, and reduce soil erosion in a bid to mitigate these environmental challenges.
Pettit has a sharp eye for dramatic vistas like this, and he’s usually quick to find a camera to record them. A similarly striking waterway image shared by Pettit last year shows moonlight reflecting off of locations in the Amazon basin in South America, a scene that he said looked like “flowing silver snakes.” Another image, showing light reflecting off SpaceX Starlink satellites, reminded him of “cosmic fireflies.”
The American, who’s been to space four times and at 69 years old is NASA’s oldest serving astronaut, recently talked about his photography work in an interview from the orbital laboratory.
And he likes to have fun, too, evidenced by a recent video that he shared showing how microgravity conditions can assist in changing camera lenses.
After 13 suborbital test flights and more than $15 billion in development costs, SpaceX's Starship has finally reached orbit. The 407-foot megarocket, the most powerful ever built, lifted off from Starbase, Texas, on Monday and delivered its first real payload on it's 14th attempt. The celebration came with an asterisk, though, since SpaceX had to cut the planned 10-hour mission to roughly three hours.
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/2104601695711904180
SpaceX is finally ready to give Starship its biggest test yet. The company says the massive rocket's 14th test flight is scheduled for September 22, when it will attempt to put the upper stage into Earth orbit for the first time. The launch is currently pending regulatory approval, with a 75-minute window opening at 7:15 a.m. CT.
Starship has 26 Starlink satellites to deliver
For decades, humanity has looked up at the Moon and wondered what it would be like to live on it. Think sprawling cities, factories, research centers, and permanent human settlements. Unfortunately, there is one fairly fundamental problem with that vision.
A new study published in Frontiers in Space Technologies argues that even the Moon's potentially enormous reserves of frozen water may be nowhere near enough to support city-sized populations sustainably. Researchers Martin Elvis and Jonathan McDowell estimate that the permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles could contain roughly one billion tons of water. It sounds like an extraordinary amount until you put a million thirsty humans next to it.