Miami FL (UPI) May 4, 2023
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 56 Starlink satellites early Thursday morning from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Falcon 9 lifted off at the scheduled 3:31 a.m. EDT launch time, with no need for a backup launch. The 56 Starlink Internet satellites were launched from Space Launch Complex 40 and carried to low-Earth orbit.

Cleveland OH (SPX) May 03, 2023
In March, the Relativity Space Terran 1 rocket lit up the night sky as it launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This was the first launch of a test rocket made entirely from 3D-printed parts, measuring 100 feet tall and 7.5 feet wide. A form of additive manufacturing, 3D printing is a key technology for enhancing capabilities and reducing cost. Terran 1 included nine addit

Munich, Germany (SPX) May 04, 2023
When Edwin Hubble observed distant galaxies in the 1920s, he made the groundbreaking discovery that the universe is expanding. It was not until 1998, however, that scientists observing Type Ia supernovae further discovered that the universe is not just expanding but has begun a phase of accelerating expansion. "To explain this acceleration, we need a source," says Joe Mohr, astrophysicist

Chicago IL (SPX) May 04, 2023
Inside a lab, scientists marvel at a strange state that forms when they cool down atoms to nearly absolute zero. Outside their window, trees gather sunlight and turn them into new leaves. The two seem unrelated-but a new study from the University of Chicago suggests that these processes aren't so different as they might appear on the surface. The study, published in PRX Energy on April 28,

Paris (AFP) May 3, 2023
Scientists said Wednesday that they have observed a dying star swallowing a planet for the first time, offering a preview of Earth's expected fate in around five billion years. But when the Sun finally does engulf Earth, it will cause only a "tiny perturbation" compared to this cosmic explosion, the US astronomers said. Most planets are believed to meet their end when their host star run

Bologna, Italy (SPX) May 04, 2023
They are called UFOs, but aliens have nothing to do with them. They are the ultra-fast outflows: space winds that emerge from the surroundings of supermassive black holes and blow at speeds close to that of light. An international research team has explored this still little-understood phenomenon, hunting for these gas emissions, which are crucial to understanding the mechanisms regulating the b

Colorado Springs, United States (AFP) May 4, 2023
The next time NASA goes to the Moon, it intends to stay. Under the Artemis program, the US space agency plans to maintain a human presence, for the very first time, on a celestial body other than Earth. But building a lunar base is no small feat. It will need power generators, vehicles and habitats, and the space industry is racing to meet the technological challenges. "It's the Super Bo

Washington DC (SPX) May 04, 2023
This year and next, Americans will have the extraordinary opportunity to witness two solar eclipses as both will be visible throughout the continental U.S. On Oct. 14, 2023, the moon will obscure all but a small annulus of the sun, producing a "ring of fire" eclipse. On April 8, 2024, the eclipse will be total in a band stretching from Texas to Maine. Both occurrences promise to be remarka

Pasadena CA (JPL) May 04, 2023
Tactical planning started an hour and a half later than usual this morning, because we had to wait for better-illuminated Navcam images of the Ubajara block (seen at bottom center in this image). The Rover Planners needed these better images to determine whether the Ubajara target can be brushed using the DRT, and promptly confirmed that they are GO for brushing! This was good news, becaus

Miami FL (UPI) May 4, 2023
The Czech Republic on Wednesday became the 24th country to sign NASA's Artemis Accords, a set of principles for countries participating in the American space program to return astronauts to the moon. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský signed the agreement at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., Wednesday. The non-binding agreement establishes a set of guidelines to guide coop