Veteran Ventures Capital invests in Agile Space Industries
Friday, 27 September 2024 16:04
ISS Crew-9 will conduct research into genetics, cardiac health, and space farming
Friday, 27 September 2024 16:04
When manned crew lifts off for ISS this weekend, public can take part interactively
Friday, 27 September 2024 16:04
Chinese scientists analyze Lunar Farside samples collected by Chang'e-6
Friday, 27 September 2024 16:04
Hubble finds that a black hole beam promotes stellar eruptions
Friday, 27 September 2024 16:04
This rocky planet around a white dwarf resembles Earth - 8 billion years from now
Friday, 27 September 2024 16:04
NASA studies solar radiation with BioSentinel as auroras dance across Earth
Friday, 27 September 2024 16:04
ESO telescope reveals the most detailed infrared map of the Milky Way
Friday, 27 September 2024 16:04
Method for predicting sunspot numbers and magnetic synoptic maps developed
Friday, 27 September 2024 16:04
NASA holds Stakeholder Workshops to chart LEO microgravity strategies
Friday, 27 September 2024 16:04
Rocket Lab delivers 2nd Pioneer Spacecraft to Varda for In-Space manufacturing
Friday, 27 September 2024 16:04
Scientists begin testing space thruster that could boldly go where no one has gone before
Friday, 27 September 2024 13:56
Deep space exploration might no longer be confined to sci-fi after scientists began testing a rocket thruster which promises to boldly go further than ever before.
Astro engineers from the University of Southampton are trialing a new propulsion system which can power spaceships through the stars using any type of metal as fuel.
They say this means crafts fitted with the technology could fly indefinitely by refilling their tanks using minerals harvested from asteroids or far-off moons.
Lead scientist Dr. Minkwan Kim, from the University of Southampton, has been tasked with testing the propulsion system in his labs to measure its thrust.
He said the tech could help spaceships and probes travel to regions of the universe previously thought unreachable.
Dr. Kim added, "Spacecraft have limited amounts of fuel because of the enormous cost and energy it takes to launch them into space.
"But these new thrusters are capable of being powered by any metal that can burn, such as iron, aluminum or copper.
Week in images: 23-27 September 2024
Friday, 27 September 2024 12:11
Week in images: 23-27 September 2024
Discover our week through the lens
University researchers flag cislunar space debris concerns
Friday, 27 September 2024 11:00
Earth to capture a 'second moon' this weekend, NASA says
Friday, 27 September 2024 10:43
Earth will capture a miniature, "second moon" this week, according to NASA scientists.
The new moon is actually a tiny asteroid dubbed 2024 PT5. It will start orbiting the planet in a horseshoe path and stick around for a little less than two months before escaping Earth's gravitational pull and going back to its regular orbit around the sun.
"According to the latest data available from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Horizons System, the temporary capture will start at 15:54 EDT (on Sunday) and will end at 11:43 EDT on November 25," mini-moon event expert and Universidad Complutense de Madrid professor Carlos de la Fuente Marcos told Space.com.
2024 PT5 is part of "the Arjuna asteroid belt, a secondary asteroid belt made of space rocks that follow orbits very similar to that of Earth at an average distance to the sun of about 93 million miles," Marcos said.
He added that the asteroid, which poses no threat to the planet, will travel about 2,200 miles per hour while maintaining a distance of around 2.8 million miles from Earth.