London, UK (SPX) Mar 27, 2023
Stars with less than half the mass of our Sun are able to host giant Jupiter-style planets, in conflict with the most widely accepted theory of how such planets form, according to a new study led by UCL and University of Warwick researchers. Gas giants, like other planets, form from disks of material surrounding young stars. According to core accretion theory, they first form a core of roc

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Mar 27, 2023
An international team has used artificial intelligence to analyze the chemical abundances of old stars and found indications that the very first stars in the Universe were born in groups rather than as isolated single stars. Now the team hopes to apply this method to new data from on-going and planned observation surveys to better understand the early days of the Universe. After the Big Ba

Seville, Spain (SPX) Mar 27, 2023
A group of scientists from the University of Seville, in collaboration with experts from the University of the Basque Country, has led the first detailed study of the evolution of the discontinuity of Venus's clouds, a gigantic atmosphere wave with the appearance of a "tsunami" that is propagated in the planet's deepest clouds and which, it is believed, may be playing a very significant role in

San Antonio TX (SPX) Mar 27, 2023
A study co-authored by Southwest Research Institute Senior Research Scientist Dr. Jason Hofgartner explains the unusual radar signatures of icy satellites orbiting Jupiter and Saturn. Their radar signatures, which differ significantly from those of rocky worlds and most ice on Earth, have long been a vexing question for the scientific community. "Six different models have been published in

Washington DC (SPX) Mar 27, 2023
Ever since its launch in 1990, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has been an interplanetary weather observer, keeping an eye on the largely gaseous outer planets and their ever-changing atmospheres. NASA spacecraft missions to the outer planets have given us a close-up look at these atmospheres, but Hubble's sharpness and sensitivity keeps an unblinking eye on a kaleidoscope of complex activities ov

El Paso TX (SPX) Mar 27, 2023
The University of Texas at El Paso has joined a project led by NASA to leverage 3D-printing processes with the aim of manufacturing rechargeable batteries using lunar and Martian regolith, which is the top layer of materials that covers the surface of the moon and Mars. "UTEP is a national leader in additive manufacturing for space applications," said Kenith Meissner, Ph.D., dean of the UT

Washington DC (UPI) Mar 24, 2021
SpaceX launched 56 Starlink satellites from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Friday. The satellites were carried into low-Earth orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket which lifted off at 11:43 a.m. EDT. The reusable first stage booster separated shortly after liftoff and returned to Earth where it landed on the "Shortfall of Gravitas" drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean approxim

Pasadena CA (JPL) Mar 27, 2023
The Perseverance rover spent the first two Earth years of its mission on Mars driving and sampling within Jezero crater. As anticipated, Jezero was found to be rich with interesting geological features, and the rover used 21 of its precious 43 sample tubes in the region. The rover wrapped up this science campaign by dropping 10 of these samples in a backup depot area for retrieval by a future mi

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 27, 2023
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is cruising back to Earth with a sample it collected from the rocky surface of asteroid Bennu. When its sample capsule parachutes down into the Utah desert on Sept. 24, OSIRIS-REx will become the United States' first-ever mission to return an asteroid sample to Earth. After seven years in space, including a nail-biting touchdown on Bennu to gather dust and rock

Long Beach CA (SPX) Mar 27, 2023
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has launched its 35th Electron rocket, deploying two multi-spectral Gen-2 satellites to low Earth orbit for BlackSky (NYSE: BKSY) through launch services provider Spaceflight, Inc. The mission took place just seven days following the Company's previous Electron mission from Launch Complex 2 in Virginia, setting a new company record for fastest turnaround betwe