Beijing (XNA) Sep 18, 2022
A research team from China has discovered geological evidence of at least four layers of volcanic lava flows that flooded the landing region of the Chang'e-5 lunar exploration mission, according to a press release from the National Space Science Center (NSSC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. China's Chang'e-5 mission brought a total of 1,731 grams of lunar samples back to Earth at the e

Houston TX (SPX) Sep 18, 2022
Intuitive Machines, LLC ("Intuitive Machines" or the "Company"), a leading space exploration, infrastructure, and services company founded in 2013, and Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: IPAX, IPAXU, IPAXW) ("Inflection Point"), a special purpose acquisition company, has announced that they have signed a definitive business combination agreement that will result in Intuitive Machines be

Boston MA (SPX) Sep 18, 2022
Satellite IM, a fully decentralized peer-to-peer communications platform at the forefront of data privacy, has announced the launch of their communications platform that will allow users to chat directly in a secure, serverless and feature rich environment. The application is a first-of-its-kind, Web3 native social application that gives users full and exclusive ownership of their data. De

Columbia MD (SPX) Sep 18, 2022
Twisted magnetic fields around binary systems can reveal how the stellar system came together. Circumbinary planets - planets that orbit around two stars, like the fictional Star Wars planet Tatooine and its two suns - exist in the Universe, and are sometimes referred to as Tatooine planets. Systems in which two stars rotate around each other, called binary star systems, are incredibly com

Exeter UK (SPX) Sep 18, 2022
The quest to uncover intricacies of the atmospheres of faraway planets has reached an important milestone. An international team, including astrophysicists from the University of Exeter, is taking lessons and techniques learned from Earth climate science to pave the way to robustly model atmospheres of planets orbiting distant stars, aiding in the search for potentially habitable exoplanet

Tempe AZ (SPX) Sep 18, 2022
Our sun is surrounded by multi-million-degree plasma called the corona, beautifully visible during a total solar eclipse. About once a day, a magnetic explosion on the sun will send a chunk of the corona hurtling into interplanetary space. This is called a coronal mass ejection (CME) and scientists believe that this almost certainly happens on other stars. Average CMEs will produce a

Washington DC (SPX) Sep 18, 2022
NASA is seeking proposals for sustainable lunar lander development and demonstration as the agency works toward a regular cadence of Moon landings. Through Artemis missions, NASA is preparing to return humans to the Moon, including the first woman and first person of color, for long-term scientific discovery and exploration. Under the solicitation, Human Landing System Sustaining Lunar Dev

The ozone layer in our upper atmosphere protects Earth from the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation. The use of human-produced chemicals in our atmosphere used for many years depleted Earth’s ozone layer. However, the reduction in the consumption of ozone-depleting substances driven by the Montreal Protocol – an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer – has allowed for the ozone hole to slowly recover. This global agreement demonstrates the power of international commitment and immediate global action in protecting our environment.

ESA has been involved in monitoring the ozone for over two decades. Today, 16 September, marks

Washington (AFP) Sept 15, 2022
Discovered by Galileo 400 years ago, the rings of Saturn are about the most striking thing astronomers with small telescopes can spot in our solar system. But even today, experts cannot agree on how or when they formed. A new study published Thursday in the prestigious journal Science sets out to provide a convincing answer. Between 100-200 million years ago, an icy moon they named C

Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 16, 2022
As Dr. Abigail Fraeman noted a couple weeks ago, Curiosity is navigating through terrain that is difficult to traverse. At the start of today's planning cycle, Curiosity's operations team received data that informed us that our previously planned drive came up short, only completing 36 cm of a planned ~7 m drive. Curiosity remained surrounded by a mix of large rocks and sand, neither of wh