Washington DC (SPX) Sep 18, 2022
Stargazers can expect excellent views of Jupiter the entire night of Monday, Sept. 26 when the giant planet reaches opposition. From the viewpoint of Earth's surface, opposition happens when an astronomical object rises in the east as the Sun sets in the west, placing the object and the Sun on opposite sides of Earth. Jupiter's opposition occurs every 13 months, making the planet appear la

Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 18, 2022
The SHERLOC and PIXL proximity science instruments on Perseverance have enabled more detailed observations of Martian chemistry and minerology than ever before. PIXL can isolate features as small as a grain of sand. To achieve this, these instruments on the end of the robotic arm must be placed at a precise distance from the feature of interest - very close, but not too close. PIXL even has a "h

Washington DC (UPI) Sep 17, 2021
Scientists believe some of the recently-collected rock samples taken by NASA's Perseverance Mars rover likely contain organic matter. The four most recent samples are all sedimentary rocks from an ancient river delta in the Red Planet's Jezero Crater, NASA confirmed this week. They mark the first-ever sedimentary rocks gathered from another planet. "The rocks that we have

Beijing (XNA) Sep 18, 2022
A research team from China has discovered geological evidence of at least four layers of volcanic lava flows that flooded the landing region of the Chang'e-5 lunar exploration mission, according to a press release from the National Space Science Center (NSSC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. China's Chang'e-5 mission brought a total of 1,731 grams of lunar samples back to Earth at the e

Houston TX (SPX) Sep 18, 2022
Intuitive Machines, LLC ("Intuitive Machines" or the "Company"), a leading space exploration, infrastructure, and services company founded in 2013, and Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: IPAX, IPAXU, IPAXW) ("Inflection Point"), a special purpose acquisition company, has announced that they have signed a definitive business combination agreement that will result in Intuitive Machines be

Boston MA (SPX) Sep 18, 2022
Satellite IM, a fully decentralized peer-to-peer communications platform at the forefront of data privacy, has announced the launch of their communications platform that will allow users to chat directly in a secure, serverless and feature rich environment. The application is a first-of-its-kind, Web3 native social application that gives users full and exclusive ownership of their data. De

Columbia MD (SPX) Sep 18, 2022
Twisted magnetic fields around binary systems can reveal how the stellar system came together. Circumbinary planets - planets that orbit around two stars, like the fictional Star Wars planet Tatooine and its two suns - exist in the Universe, and are sometimes referred to as Tatooine planets. Systems in which two stars rotate around each other, called binary star systems, are incredibly com

Exeter UK (SPX) Sep 18, 2022
The quest to uncover intricacies of the atmospheres of faraway planets has reached an important milestone. An international team, including astrophysicists from the University of Exeter, is taking lessons and techniques learned from Earth climate science to pave the way to robustly model atmospheres of planets orbiting distant stars, aiding in the search for potentially habitable exoplanet

Tempe AZ (SPX) Sep 18, 2022
Our sun is surrounded by multi-million-degree plasma called the corona, beautifully visible during a total solar eclipse. About once a day, a magnetic explosion on the sun will send a chunk of the corona hurtling into interplanetary space. This is called a coronal mass ejection (CME) and scientists believe that this almost certainly happens on other stars. Average CMEs will produce a

Washington DC (SPX) Sep 18, 2022
NASA is seeking proposals for sustainable lunar lander development and demonstration as the agency works toward a regular cadence of Moon landings. Through Artemis missions, NASA is preparing to return humans to the Moon, including the first woman and first person of color, for long-term scientific discovery and exploration. Under the solicitation, Human Landing System Sustaining Lunar Dev