NASA's Gateway space station Halo module moves closer to launch
Monday, 10 June 2024 23:46
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NASA's Gateway space station is moving closer to a launch after welding recently was completed on a module in Turin, Italy, the agency said Monday.
The Habitation and Logistics Outpost, or HALO, is one of four modules in which astronauts will live, conduct science and prepare for lunar surface missions.
The launch of Gateway is scheduled no earlier than 2025. In 2021, NASA awarde Frost discovered on top of giant Mars volcanoes
Monday, 10 June 2024 23:46 Write a comment
Early morning frost has been detected on the peaks of massive volcanoes on Mars, an unexpected discovery about the dispersal of water on Mars that could one day prove essential for human exploration, scientists said.
The early morning frost was spotted in images taken by the European Space Agency's Trace Gas Orbiter, according to a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience on Monday. Clemson grad student's study sheds light on planet formation in infant stars
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A little over three decades ago, we didn't know any planets existed in the universe except those that orbit our sun.
But the advent of more powerful ground-based telescopes and new space-based observatories since then has led to the discovery of thousands of exoplanets, or planets that orbit around stars other than our sun.
The vast majority of the exoplanets that have been found orb Small, cool and sulfurous exoplanet may help write recipe for planetary formation
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A surprising yellow haze of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere of a gas "dwarf" exoplanet about 96 light years away from our own solar system makes the planet a prime target for scientists trying to understand how worlds are formed.
Astronomers discovered the planet, GJ 3470 b, in 2012 when the planet's shadow crossed the star it orbits. GJ 3470 b is located in the constellation Cancer and i Webb Telescope Reveals Asteroid Collision In Neighboring Star System
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Astronomers have captured what appears to be a snapshot of a massive collision of giant asteroids in Beta Pictoris, a neighboring star system known for its early age and tumultuous planet-forming activity.
The observations spotlight the volatile processes that shape star systems like our own, offering a unique glimpse into the primordial stages of planetary formation.
"Beta Pictoris GMU Leads $19.5 Million Landolt Space Mission to Study Dark Energy
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George Mason University will be the home of the $19.5 million recently approved Landolt NASA Space Mission that will put an artificial "star" in orbit around the Earth. This artificial star will allow scientists to calibrate telescopes and more accurately measure the brightness of stars ranging from those nearby to the distant explosions of supernovae in far-off galaxies. By establishing absolut NASA's Webb Reveals Supernovae in the Early Universe
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Peering deeply into the cosmos, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is giving scientists their first detailed glimpse of supernovae from a time when our universe was just a small fraction of its current age. A team using Webb data has identified 10 times more supernovae in the early universe than were previously known. A few of the newfound exploding stars are the most distant examples of their ty Many nearby young star clusters formed in three massive regions
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An international team of astronomers led by the University of Vienna has deciphered the formation history of young star clusters. The team, led by Cameren Swiggum and Joao Alves from the University of Vienna and Robert Benjamin from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, reports that most nearby young star clusters belong to only three families, originating from very massive star-forming region New direct-to-cell satellite tech could disrupt billion-dollar military satcom programs
Monday, 10 June 2024 20:46
NASA watches Mars light up during epic solar storm
Monday, 10 June 2024 20:07 Write a comment
In addition to producing auroras, a recent extreme storm provided more detail on how much radiation future astronauts could encounter on the Red Planet.
Mars scientists have been anticipating epic solar storms ever since the sun entered a period of peak activity earlier this year called solar maximum. Over the past month, NASA's Mars rovers and orbiters have provided researchers with front-row seats to a series of solar flares and coronal mass ejections that have reached Mars—in some cases, even causing Martian auroras.
This science bonanza has offered an unprecedented opportunity to study how such events unfold in deep space, as well as how much radiation exposure the first astronauts on Mars could encounter.
The biggest event occurred on May 20 with a solar flare later estimated to be an X12—X-class solar flares are the strongest of several types—based on data from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, a joint mission between ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA.
The flare sent out X-rays and gamma rays toward the Red Planet, while a subsequent coronal mass ejection launched charged particles.
Using the moon's soil to support life, energy generation and construction
Monday, 10 June 2024 15:10 Write a comment
Imagine the moon as a hub of manufacturing, construction and even human life. It's no longer a far-fetched idea baked in science fiction lore—increased interest and investment in space exploration are pushing efforts to develop the technologies needed to make the moon a viable home for humans.
Developing lunar infrastructure requires building materials, and shuttling these over from Earth would be costly and inefficient. This has fueled research into the in-situ processing and use of raw materials naturally found on the moon's surface. However, one major challenge with this approach will be the immense amount of power the lunar resource processing will need.
A research team from the University of Waterloo's Laboratory for Emerging Energy Research (LEER) is looking into processing lunar regolith, the moon's top layer of soil and dust, into usable materials for life support, energy generation and construction. This includes investigating the use of defunct satellite material as a fuel source when mixed with lunar regolith.
NOAA's hurricane hunting GOES-U satellite nears SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch
Monday, 10 June 2024 14:00 Write a comment
Hurricanes Michael, Dorian, Ian, Nicole and Idalia have all been stared down by one of the NOAA's most powerful satellites since it took its place in geostationary orbit in late 2017. Its replacement is gearing up for launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy later this month.
The GOES-U satellite is the 19th Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite in the NOAA and NASA partnership since the first one launched in 1975. It's the fourth and final of the latest version of the satellites. The first three are already parked at more than 22,000 miles altitude and have their wide-view sites set to track tropical weather, fires, lightning and other dangerous weather on Earth.
The final satellite sits in a stark, white clean room at Astrotech Space Operations' payload processing facility just across the river from Kennedy Space Center. It's already fueled and awaits encapsulation in a SpaceX fairing before heading to KSC for launch. Liftoff is slated for June 25 at 5:16 p.m. during a two-hour window atop what will be the first Falcon Heavy launch of the year.
All four satellites are part of what NOAA calls the GOES-R series, the most powerful satellites for weather forecasting.
Frosty volcanoes discovered in Mars’s tropics
Monday, 10 June 2024 14:00 Write a comment
ESA’s ExoMars and Mars Express missions have spotted water frost for the first time near Mars’s equator, a part of the planet where it was thought impossible for frost to exist.
A milestone in digital Earth modelling
Monday, 10 June 2024 13:25 Write a comment
Destination Earth is now live! Launched today during a ceremony at the EuroHPC LUMI Supercomputer Centre in Kajaani, Finland, Destination Earth provides unprecedented insights into the complexity of our planet to advance climate change adaption and environmental resilience modelling.