Paris, France (SPX) Jun 06, 2024
Ever since aurora chasers discovered Steve, a mysterious ribbon of purple light in the night sky, scientists have wondered whether it might have a secret twin. Thanks to a photographer's keen eye and data from ESA's Swarm satellites, we may have found it. Steve was first identified a few years ago by the Alberta Aurora Chasers Facebook group. Its mauve hue and fleeting appearance different

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jun 06, 2024
Exoplanets are common in our galaxy, with some located in the habitable zone of their stars. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is currently observing several of these small, potentially habitable planets. Drs. Knicole Colon and Christopher Stark, Webb project scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, discuss the challenges in studying these worlds. "A potentially habitable planet i

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jun 06, 2024
A rare exoplanet near its host star has retained a puffy atmosphere, defying expectations of being stripped down to bare rock due to the star's intense radiation. This discovery is challenging current theories about planetary evolution in extreme environments. Nicknamed "Phoenix," the newly discovered planet shows the vast diversity of solar systems and the complexity of planetary evolutio

Washington DC (UPI) Jun 5, 2024
SpaceX is gearing up to launch Starship's fourth test flight just after sunrise Thursday from Texas, two days after the Federal Aviation Administration gave the mega rocket a license to fly. "The FAA has approved a license authorization for SpaceX Starship Flight 4," the agency said in a statement Tuesday. "SpaceX met all safety and other licensing requirements for this test flight."

Paris, France (SPX) Jun 06, 2024
The first ESA instrument to land on the Moon has detected the presence of negative ions on the lunar surface produced through interactions with the solar wind. The European team working with the Negative Ions at the Lunar Surface (NILS) instrument confirmed the success of this scientific mission that flew to the far side of the Moon aboard the Chang'e-6 spacecraft. The discovery of a

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jun 06, 2024
China's Chang'e 6 mission has focused global attention on its methodical approach to lunar exploration. The mission aims to return samples from the Moon's far side, emphasizing engineering precision and strategic planning. After landing in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin, Chang'e 6 gathered about 2 kilograms of lunar material from the surface and up to 2 meters below ground. These sample

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jun 06, 2024
Olivine is the earliest mineral to crystallize from basaltic magma. Accurate knowledge of olivine/melt partition coefficients (DOl-melt) for first-transition row elements (FTREs) Ga and Ge is crucial in modeling petrogenetic processes in planetary basalts. Many studies have focused on this topic, often concentrating on minor elements in olivine. These exper

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jun 06, 2024
Axiom Space astronaut Peggy Whitson and NASA astronaut Douglas Wheelock conducted integrated testing in Axiom Space's new spacesuit for NASA's Artemis campaign, aimed at returning astronauts to the Moon by September 2026. This test was the first to involve Artemis III partners - NASA, SpaceX, and Axiom Space - in a pressurized simulation since the Apollo era. NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX,

Washington DC (UPI) Jun 5, 2024
Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko on Wednesday literally set an out-of-this-world record when he became the first human to spend a total of 1,000 days in space. "Today, at 00:00:20 Moscow time, Roscosmos state corporation cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, who currently works at the International Space Station, has booked a record of 1,000 days for the first time in the world in terms of total sp

Boca Chica And Medford Colonia, United States (AFP) June 6, 2024
Starship, SpaceX's massive prototype rocket that may one day send humans to Mars, is poised for its next flight on Thursday. It will be the fourth test for the most powerful launch system ever built, vital to NASA's plans for landing astronauts on the Moon later this decade and to SpaceX CEO's Elon Musk's hopes of one day colonizing the Red Planet. A two-hour liftoff window from the comp