{"id":78422,"date":"2026-07-28T12:07:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T19:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=78422"},"modified":"2026-07-28T12:07:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T19:07:37","slug":"escapade-family-portrait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/escapade-family-portrait\/","title":{"rendered":"NAU-built space camera captures ‘family portrait’ of Earth and Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"

In November 2025, NASA\u2019s Mars-bound ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral with special cargo onboard: two camera systems designed and built by faculty and students at NAU<\/a>, with support from the University of California Berkeley and Rocket Lab.<\/p>\n

Eight months later, the twin spacecraft\u2019s cameras have captured unique photos of Earth and the Moon in visible and thermal infrared light. These photos, from July 3, were taken 363,250 miles from Earth and 115,600 miles from the Moon\u2014making the Moon appear relatively large to our eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last time we got a unique view of Earth and the Moon was when the Artemis II astronauts flew by,\u201d said Christopher Edwards<\/strong>, a professor of planetary science. Edwards, senior research scientist Chris Haberle<\/strong> and professor Michael Shafer<\/strong> led the students’ work on the cameras, with professor David Trilling<\/strong> providing additional support.<\/p>\n

\"crescents<\/a>
In this image from NASA\u2019s ESCAPADE mission, Earth (left) and Moon (right) can be seen with visible light reflected by the Sun. Credit: NASA\/UCB-SSL\/NAU-Radiant\/Lucint<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taken with the Sun only partly illuminating Earth and the Moon, the visible light image shows the two bodies as crescents, with only around 8% of each face sunlit. Yet in the thermal infrared image, the nightside hemisphere of Earth is illuminated by its own heat from both the atmosphere and surface, glowing at minus 10 to 44 degrees Fahrenheit. Without the insulating blankets of oceans and atmospheres, the Moon\u2019s nightside remains dark at a much cooler minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n

“Look close enough,” said Haberle, who processed the images, “and you may be able to spot little color variations that represent Earth\u2019s temperature extremes.” He pointed out that Antarctica, one of Earth\u2019s coldest places, is visible in thermal infrared, as is part of Africa, a continent that sees some of Earth\u2019s hottest temperatures.<\/p>\n

Mission to Mars<\/strong><\/h3>\n

These images are more than just road trip photo album snaps. They provide an important calibration check for ESCAPADE\u2019s cameras as the twin spacecraft move on to their \u201cloiter\u201d orbit around Lagrange point 2, a location in space about 1 million miles from Earth.<\/p>\n

In November 2026, the spacecraft will fly by Earth and use the planet\u2019s gravity to slingshot their way to Mars. When the spacecraft arrive in September 2027, they will study how a million-mile-per-hour stream of material flowing from the Sun, known as the solar wind, interacts with the Martian environment and how that drives atmospheric loss at the Red Planet.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This infrared image shows emitted energy from Earth (left) and the Moon (right). White rings have been added in the thermal image to show the actual size of Earth and the Moon. Credit: NASA\/UCB-SSL\/NAU-Radiant\/Lucint<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The NAU-made cameras could capture true-color views of Mars from never-before-seen angles, plus infrared images that could provide new data on Mars\u2019 polar cap evolution. If all goes to plan, Edwards and his colleagues will turn to students for help analyzing the images and adding them to an online database\u2014providing them with unparalleled experience and setting them up for career success.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the operations and analysis phase of the project, we plan to recruit students who have a strong background in computing and data analysis as well as science,\u201d Haberle said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be an exciting time operating an instrument around another planet and analyzing the data that are returned.\u201d<\/p>\n

A radiant future<\/strong><\/h3>\n

ESCAPADE is just one of many examples of a rich partnership between NAU and NASA.<\/p>\n

Edwards, who directs NAU\u2019s new Radiant Center for Remote Sensing<\/a>, said a cadre of new and existing researchers at NAU are finding creative ways to use lasers, satellites, infrared cameras and other technologies to prevent wildfire danger, improve the Southwest\u2019s water resilience, protect tropical forests and map the Moon. For example, Kristen Bennett, an associate research professor in the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, was selected in March to participate in the science team for the Artemis IV and V missions, the first crewed lunar landings since the 1970s.<\/p>\n

Edwards and the team at Radiant are a part of several space missions that are still in the works. He\u2019s been tapped to help build a spectrometer that will gather important information about the makeup of objects in the solar system\u2019s main asteroid belt. \u00a0He and others at NAU are working on science instruments designed for use on the lunar surface, including a camera for an all-terrain vehicle and a stereo and thermal camera system.<\/p>\n

Edwards said one of Radiant\u2019s goals is to involve young Lumberjacks in those future efforts\u2014a unique opportunity most college students don\u2019t get.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents building hardware for a NASA mission is the exception, not the norm,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cOur students aren\u2019t just \u2018helping,\u2019 either\u2014they\u2019re supporting the design, integration and testing of these cameras, getting a firsthand look at what it\u2019s like to be part of these missions.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of these projects exemplify a recent push at NAU to harness remote sensing technology for good.<\/p>\n

\u201cNAU’s new Radiant Center for Remote Sensing brings together faculty and researchers from a wide range of backgrounds, from anthropology to forestry to planetary science, all leveraging the same tools to solve pressing problems both on Earth and far from home,\u201d he said. \u201cThese problems range from wildfire risk and water scarcity in the Southwest to mapping the surface of the Moon and Mars. Often it’s the same sensors and the same techniques, just pointed in different directions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/span><\/p>\n


\nJill Kimball | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-2282 | jill.kimball@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In November 2025, NASA\u2019s Mars-bound ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral with special cargo onboard: two camera systems designed and built by faculty and students at NAU, with support from the University of California Berkeley and Rocket Lab. Eight months later, the twin spacecraft\u2019s cameras have captured unique…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2880,"featured_media":78425,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2880"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78422"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78428,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78422\/revisions\/78428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}