How to make roads on the Moon
Thursday, 12 October 2023 14:01
When astronauts return to the lunar surface they are probably going to be doing more driving than walking – but to keep billowing moondust at bay they are going to need roads. An ESA project reported in today’s Nature Scientific Reports tested the creation of roadworthy surfaces by melting simulated moondust with a powerful laser.
One small step towards lunar roads, a potentially giant leap for creating infrastructure on the moon
Thursday, 12 October 2023 14:00
It may be possible to create paved roads and landing pads on the moon by using lasers to melt lunar soil into a more solid, layered substance, reports a proof-of-concept study in Scientific Reports. Although these experiments were carried out on Earth using a substitute for lunar dust, these findings demonstrate the viability of the technique and suggest it could be replicated on the moon. However, further work may be needed to refine the process, according to the authors.
Moon dust poses a significant challenge to lunar rovers as, due to the low levels of gravity, it tends to float around when disturbed and can damage equipment. Therefore, the infrastructure such as roads and landing pads will be essential to mitigate dust issues and facilitate transport on the moon.
Hera asteroid mission on show
Thursday, 12 October 2023 13:32
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Hera asteroid mission on show Viasat has enough throughput on ViaSat-3 Americas to avoid replacement
Thursday, 12 October 2023 12:47
The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission – Testing times
Thursday, 12 October 2023 12:10
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Meet Hera, our very own asteroid detective. Together with two CubeSats – Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary – Hera is off on an adventure to explore Didymos, a double asteroid system that is typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to planet Earth.
Do Hera and her CubeSats have the right stuff to explore space? Before launch they need to prove it, with a round of testing at the ESTEC Test Centre in the Netherlands – Europe’s largest satellite test facility. Suitable for kids and adults alike, this episode of ‘The Incredible
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TIE Fighter down Scientists excited by first look at OSIRIS-REx asteroid samples
Thursday, 12 October 2023 09:10
Space set to keep people safer during emergencies
Thursday, 12 October 2023 05:20
Governments and international disaster response teams have long relied on satellites to assess the impacts of disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. Now ESA has partnered with ICEYE, a Finnish microsatellite manufacturer, to improve early warning systems for floods and wildfires and extend their geographical coverage globally.
Bennu samples contain water, carbon and organic 'building blocks of life'
Thursday, 12 October 2023 05:18
NASA said Wednesday that Bennu asteroid samples collected by the OSIRIS-Rex mission contain water, carbon and organic molecules - the building blocks of life.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said it's an exciting discovery, with the initial analysis of the material showing abundant carbon.
"At nearly 5% carbon by weight, carbon being the central element of life, far exceeding our Asteroid samples from Bennu contain carbon and water
Thursday, 12 October 2023 03:27
Initial studies of the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu sample collected in space and brought to Earth by NASA show evidence of high-carbon content and water, which together could indicate the building blocks of life on Earth may be found in the rock. NASA made the news Wednesday from its Johnson Space Center in Houston where leadership and scientists showed off the asteroid material for the Scientists raised key questions of solar wind-moon interaction
Thursday, 12 October 2023 03:27
As the nearest celestial body to Earth, Moon's space environment is distinctive to Earth's mainly because of lack of a significant atmosphere/ionosphere and a global magnetic field. From a global perspective, solar wind can bombard its surface, and the solar wind materials cumulated in the soil record the evolution of the Solar System.
Many small-scale remanent magnetic fields are scattere Researchers capture first-ever afterglow of huge planetary collision in outer space
Thursday, 12 October 2023 03:27
The study, published in Nature, reports the sighting of two ice giant exoplanets colliding around a sun-like star, creating a blaze of light and plumes of dust. Its findings show the bright heat afterglow and resulting dust cloud, which moved in front of the parent star dimming it over time.
The international team of astronomers was formed after an enthusiast viewed the light curve of the "Starquakes" could explain mystery signals
Thursday, 12 October 2023 03:27
Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are an astronomical mystery, with their exact cause and origins still unconfirmed. These intense bursts of radio energy are invisible to the human eye, but show up brightly on radio telescopes. Previous studies have noted broad similarities between the energy distribution of repeat FRBs, and that of earthquakes and solar flares.
However, new research at the Univ China announces plan to build world's largest deep-sea neutrino telescope
Thursday, 12 October 2023 03:27
China has announced plans to build the world's largest deep-sea neutrino telescope in the western Pacific Ocean.
The project, called "Trident", is expected to be completed in 2030 and will be used to study the universe's most extreme phenomena, such as supernova explosions and black hole eruptions.
Neutrinos are tiny particles that have no electrical charge and very little mass. They Removal of magnetic spacecraft contamination within extraterrestrial samples easily carried out
Thursday, 12 October 2023 03:27
For decades, scientists have pondered the mystery of the moon's ancient magnetism. Based on analyses of lunar samples, its now-deceased magnetic field may have been active for more than 1.5 billion years - give or take a billion years. Scientists believe it was generated like the Earth's via a dynamo process, whereby the spinning and churning of conductive liquid metal within a rocky planet's co