Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life beneath its surface, study finds
Friday, 23 April 2021 11:09
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As NASA's Perseverance rover begins its search for ancient life on the surface of Mars, a new study suggests that the Martian subsurface might be a good place to look for possible present-day life on the Red Planet.
The study, published in the journal Astrobiology, looked at the chemical composition of Martian meteorites - rocks blasted off of the surface of Mars that eventually landed on Scientists propose new formation mechanism for solar coronal rain
Friday, 23 April 2021 11:09 Write a comment
Rain is a common phenomenon on Earth. There is a similar phenomenon on the Sun, called coronal rain. It is related to the coronal heating and magnetic field, and plays a fundamental role in the mass cycle between the hot, tenuous corona and the cool, dense chromosphere.
Coronal rain usually takes place in post-flare loops and the non-flaring active region coronal loops. It is generally cla Using exoplanets as dark matter detectors
Friday, 23 April 2021 11:09 Write a comment
In the continuing search for dark matter in our universe, scientists believe they have found a unique and powerful detector: exoplanets.
In a new paper, two astrophysicists suggest dark matter could be detected by measuring the effect it has on the temperature of exoplanets, which are planets outside our solar system.
This could provide new insights into dark matter, the mysterious s The science of spin as asteroseismologists confirm older stars rotate faster than expected
Friday, 23 April 2021 11:09 Write a comment
Stars spin faster than expected as they age according to a new study led by scientists at the University of Birmingham which uses asteroseismology to shed new light on this emerging theory.
All stars, like the Sun, are born spinning. As they grow older, their spin slows down due to magnetic winds in a process called 'magnetic braking'. Research published in 2016 by scientists at Carnegie O Mars-directed coronal mass ejection erupts from the sun
Friday, 23 April 2021 11:09 Write a comment
NASA's STEREO-A and ESA/NASA's SOHO spacecraft detected a coronal mass ejection, or CME, leaving the sun on April 17 at 12:36 p.m. EDT. This CME did not impact Earth but did move toward Mars, passing the planet in the late evening and early morning hours of April 21 and 22.
The CME reached Mars two days after NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter became the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet. NASA tracks such solar eruptions because solar eruptions can trigger particle and radiation events that pose a risk to astronauts and sensitive spacecraft electronics.
Asteroid that hit Botswana in 2018 likely came from Vesta
Friday, 23 April 2021 11:07 Write a comment
An international team of researchers searched for pieces of a small asteroid tracked in space and then observed to impact Botswana on June 2, 2018. Guided by SETI Institute meteor astronomer Peter Jenniskens, they found 23 meteorites deep inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and now have published their findings online in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science.
"Combining the observations of the small asteroid in space with information gleaned from the meteorites shows it likely came from Vesta, second largest asteroid in our solar system and target of NASA's DAWN mission," said Jenniskens.
Mission Alpha in images
Friday, 23 April 2021 09:40 Write a comment
Mission Alpha in images
Image gallery of the Mission Alpha
Mission Alpha launch in images
Friday, 23 April 2021 09:40 Write a comment
Mission Alpha launch in images
Image gallery of the Mission Alpha
SpaceX launches NASA Crew-2 mission
Friday, 23 April 2021 09:02 Write a comment
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — SpaceX launched a Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying four astronauts from three nations April 23 as the commercial crew program moves firmly into operations.
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A here at 5:49 a.m.
Mission Alpha liftoff
Friday, 23 April 2021 09:00 Write a comment
Video:
00:04:13
Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft with ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, and Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide. The Crew-2 spend around 24 hours travelling to the International Space Station. The rocket lifted off at 11:49 on 23 April 2021 from Launchpad 39A in Cape Canaveral at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.
Thomas is the first ESA astronaut to fly in space in a vehicle other than the Russian Soyuz or the US Space Shuttle, and the first ESA astronaut to leave Earth from Florida, USA, in
China rolls out Long March 5B rocket for space station launch
Friday, 23 April 2021 08:16 Write a comment
HELSINKI — China is set to launch the first module for its own space station next week after rolling out a Long March 5B rocket at Wenchang spaceport late Thursday.
Astronauts arrive at pad for SpaceX flight on used rocket
Friday, 23 April 2021 07:10 Write a comment
ESA-backed autonomous driving lab set for Italy
Friday, 23 April 2021 07:10 Write a comment
Central Italy – already home to an ambitious national autonomous driving research initiative – will be the site of the ESA-backed P-CARS laboratory, intended to certify positioning devices for use within driverless cars.
SpaceX set for pre-dawn launch to ISS
Friday, 23 April 2021 07:00 Write a comment
SpaceX is set to launch its third crew to the International Space Station an hour before sunrise Friday, recycling a rocket and spacecraft for the first time.
The Crew-2 mission blasts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:49 am Eastern Time (0949 GMT), after being delayed a day by adverse weather along the flight path.
Around 2:30 am (0630 GMT), Thomas Pesquet of France—the first European on a SpaceX mission—along with Americans Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide strode out in their suits to say goodbye to their families.
Earth from Space: Laizhou Bay
Friday, 23 April 2021 07:00 Write a comment
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the sediment-stained waters in Laizhou Bay, located on the southern shores of the Bohai Sea, on the east coast of mainland China.