Ithaca NY (SPX) Sep 20, 2024
By staring into the hellish landscape of Jupiter's moon Io - the most volcanically active location in the solar system - Cornell astronomers have been able to study a fundamental process in planetary formation and evolution: tidal heating. "Tidal heating plays an important role in the heating and orbital evolution of celestial bodies," said Alex Hayes '03, M.Eng. '04, the Jennifer and Albe

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Sep 20, 2024
Humankind is gearing up for its return to the Moon. Set for September 2025, NASA's Artemis II will be the first crewed test flight in the Artemis program, paving the way for the Artemis III lunar landing, planned for 2026. On board the Orion spacecraft, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen will orbit the Moon several times, testing key

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Sep 20, 2024
A new study led by Postdoctoral Researcher Jiawei Gao from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGGCAS), reveals how Mars' magnetic field responds to the influence of solar winds. Unlike Earth, Mars lacks a global dipolar magnetic field but possesses localized crustal magnetic fields. The planet's interaction with the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) carried b

Dubai (AFP) Sept 19, 2024
Tech billionaire Elon Musk's satellite internet service Starlink has launched in Yemen, provoking the anger of Iran-backed Huthi rebels in the country shattered by civil war. The company - run by the world's richest person - announced its arrival in Yemen, one of the world's least developed countries, in a post on social media platform X which is also owned by the US-based tycoon. Star

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 20, 2024
On Thursday, the Expedition 71 crew aboard the International Space Station demonstrated several advanced technologies, including an artificial intelligence assistant and a cutting-edge ultra-high-resolution camera. Along with these tech advancements, the crew conducted medical scans, prepped a spacecraft for departure, and worked on life support maintenance. NASA Flight Engineers Mike Barr

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 20, 2024
Sierra Space, a prominent player in commercial space ventures and defense technologies, has announced the successful testing of its Carbothermal Oxygen Production Reactor. This proprietary system, tested in NASA's Johnson Space Center thermal vacuum chamber, marks the first instance of oxygen being extracted from simulated lunar soil in a lunar-like environment using a standalone automated syste

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Sep 20, 2024
Mars, now a cold and dry planet, once had liquid water, which raises the possibility of ancient life. In pursuit of this idea, researchers at Tohoku University developed a model showing how organic matter could have formed in Mars' ancient atmosphere. Organic matter, which can originate from living organisms or chemical processes, contains carbon isotopes that give clues about its formatio

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Sep 20, 2024
New NASA research reveals a process to generate extremely accurate eclipse maps, which plot the predicted path of the Moon's shadow as it crosses the face of Earth. Traditionally, eclipse calculations assume that all observers are at sea level on Earth and that the Moon is a smooth sphere that is perfectly symmetrical around its center of mass. As such, these calculations do not take into accoun

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 20, 2024
Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: IRDM), a leader in global satellite communications, has announced that its Board of Directors has authorized an additional $500 million share repurchase program, extending through December 31, 2027. This new authorization is the fourth of its kind in four years, bringing the total share buyback program to $1.5 billion. The latest authorization is the largest

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 20, 2024
A collaborative study by the Smithsonian and the University of Arizona provides the most detailed analysis yet of Earth's global temperature fluctuations over the last 485 million years. The research, published in 'Science' on Sept. 19, reveals a more significant variation in Earth's temperature over time than previously understood. These changes closely align with levels of carbon dioxide in th