Citizen scientists contribute to 3-D map of cosmic neighborhood
Wednesday, 13 January 2021 14:38
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Scientists tapped into the worldwide network of volunteers using Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 to map dozens of new brown dwarfs, or balls gas not heavy enough to be stars.
Is our solar system located in a typical Milky Way neighborhood? Scientists have gotten closer to answering this question, thanks to the NASA-funded Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project, a citizen science collaboration between professional scientists and members of the public.
Scientists tapped into the worldwide network of 150,000 volunteers using Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 to find new examples of brown dwarfs. These objects are balls of gas that are not heavy enough to be stars, since they can't power themselves through nuclear fusion the way stars do. And while "brown" is in the name, they would appear magenta or orange-red if a person could see them close up.
China moves to next stage of super heavy rocket development
Wednesday, 13 January 2021 13:41 Write a comment
HELSINKI — China’s space contractor has announced progress on rocket engines designed for major space missions, including a new engine for future lunar missions.
Next-generation Dragon cargo spacecraft returns from space station
Wednesday, 13 January 2021 12:00 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — The first in SpaceX’s new generation of Dragon cargo spacecraft completed its mission with a splashdown off the Florida coast Jan. 13.
The CRS-21 Dragon spacecraft splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico west of Tampa at 8:26 p.m.
Director General's annual press conference
Wednesday, 13 January 2021 12:00 Write a comment
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A replay of our start-of-year press conference with ESA Director General Jan Wörner, future Director General Josef Aschbacher and other ESA Directors, held online on Thursday, 14 January 2021.
They looked ahead at Europe's space activities in 2021 and answered questions from media. Highlights in 2021 include two ESA astronauts flying to the International Space Station, the new James Webb Space Telescope being launched from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, and the launch of NASA’s first Artemis mission, in a programme that will take humans to the Moon powered by ESA’s European Service Module.
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OneWeb slashes size of future satellite constellation
Wednesday, 13 January 2021 11:11 Write a comment
WASHINGTON — OneWeb says it’s drastically reducing the size of a proposed next-generation satellite constellation originally envisioned to have nearly 48,000 satellites.
In a Jan. 12 filing with the Federal Communications Commission, OneWeb sought permission to amend an application filed in May requesting to launch 47,844 satellites for its “Phase Two” constellation.
Asteroids vs. microbes
Wednesday, 13 January 2021 08:59 Write a comment
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Asteroids vs. microbes Greener polyurethanes for space and beyond
Wednesday, 13 January 2021 08:14 Write a comment
Have you heard of polyurethanes? As you read this, you’re undoubtedly close to some, or maybe sitting on them: this versatile class of chemicals is used for everything from padding your couch to insulating your windows, packaging food to carpet underlay, electronics casings to skateboard wheels. They also have vital uses in space, triggering a new ESA Clean Space project aiming to manufacture them in a greener way.
Astronomers finally measure polarized light from exoplanet
Wednesday, 13 January 2021 06:00 Write a comment
An international team led by Dutch astronomers has, after years of searching and defying the boundaries of a telescope, for the first time directly captured polarized light from an exoplanet. They can deduct from the light that a disk of dust and gas is orbiting around the exoplanet in which moons are possibly forming. The researchers will soon publish their findings in the journal Astronomy and Cultivating plant growth in space
Wednesday, 13 January 2021 06:00 Write a comment
When in space, astronauts typically eat dehydrated, nutrient-dense food, but when it comes to longer space missions, that can become a problem as they'll eventually lack nutrients from fresh vegetables. However, one chemical and biomolecular engineering professor will be researching ways astronauts can grow their own fresh vegetables more efficiently while they are on missions.
Ying Diao w DARPA seeks compact, deployable electron accelerator
Wednesday, 13 January 2021 06:00 Write a comment
Linear accelerators, LINACs for short, are devices that accelerate electrons or other sub-atomic particles along a straight line to generate a beam of high energy. LINACs have a variety of commercial uses such as generating X-rays for cargo inspection, medical diagnostics, food sterilization, and even enabling precise external radiation treatments to destroy cancer cells without damaging surroun Defense, Commerce departments join to find 5G solutions
Wednesday, 13 January 2021 06:00 Write a comment
The U.S. departments of Defense and Commerce will jointly seek public input on development of 5G communication networks, they announced on Monday.
5G, or fifth generation telecommunications standard for broadband cellular networks, offers higher download speeds and has been of particular interest to the U.S. military prior to its civilian rollout in 2019.
The Defense Department r The earliest supermassive black hole and quasar in the universe
Wednesday, 13 January 2021 06:00 Write a comment
The most distant quasar known has been discovered. The quasar, seen just 670 million years after the Big Bang, is 1000 times more luminous than the Milky Way, and is powered by the earliest known supermassive black hole, which weighs in at more than 1.6 billion times the mass of the Sun.
Seen more than 13 billion years ago, this fully formed distant quasar is also the earliest yet discover 'Old Faithful' cosmic eruption shows black hole ripping at star
Wednesday, 13 January 2021 06:00 Write a comment
You've heard of Old Faithful, the Yellowstone National Park geyser that erupts every hour or two, a geological phenomenon on a nearly predictable schedule.
Now, an international group of scientists who study space have discovered an astronomical "Old Faithful" - an eruption of light flashing about once every 114 days on a nearly predictable schedule. The researchers believe it is a tidal d Researchers use LRZ HPC resources to perform largest-ever supersonic turbulence simulation
Wednesday, 13 January 2021 06:00 Write a comment
Through the centuries, scientists and non-scientists alike have looked at the night sky and felt excitement, intrigue, and overwhelming mystery while pondering questions about how our universe came to be, and how humanity developed and thrived in this exact place and time. Early astronomers painstakingly studied stars' subtle movements in the night sky to try and determine how our planet moves i