Items tagged with space
Space mining company AstroForge has raised $40 million toward the first-ever private asteroid mining mission in 2025. The $40 million Series A funding round brings the total raised to date to $55 million, with investors representing what the company calls “some of the most forward-thinking and innovative folks in...
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New findings by India’s Chandrayaan lunar probe seem to validate an idea called the Lunar Magma Ocean theory concerning how the Moon formed. Scientists have hypothesized that when the Moon formed some 4.5 billion years ago, it started to cool and a lighter mineral called anorthosite rose to the top, forming the Moon’s...
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While it may seem like NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunni Williams have been stuck in space since arriving at the International Space Station, the space agency is making it clear they are not. Williams and Wilmore arrived at the ISS on June 6, and have been integrated into the Expedition 71 crew while they await...
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SpaceX is preparing for its upcoming Polaris Dawn mission, which will feature the space company’s first-ever spacewalk attempt. The four-person crew will comprise billionaire Jared Isaacman, colleague Scott Poteet, and two SpaceX employees, Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis, and is scheduled to launch no sooner than August...
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Next week’s full Moon is a rare Supermoon, also referred to as a Blue Moon, Sturgeon Moon, or Dog Moon, among other names. The term “supermoon” was coined by astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979, referring to either a new or full Moon that occurs when the Moon is within 90% of its closest approach to Earth.
While the...
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An international group of astronomers may have solved an 843-year-old mystery surrounding the origins of a zombie star. The researchers connected ancient records from China and Japan, which spoke about a supernova event near the constellation Cassiopeia in the year 1181, to a zombie star seen today, called guest star...
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Mars and Jupiter are set to dazzle stargazers in a rare event tonight, as the two planets appear just a third of a degree from one another in the night sky. The close conjunction of the two planets has not occurred since 2015, and won’t happen again until 2033.
All of the major planets in the solar system orbit the...
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NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were only meant to stay onboard the International Space Station for a week or so in space after docking aboard Boeing’s Starliner. Now, the duo who have already been on the ISS for a little over two months, may end up having to extend their stay another six...
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As China attempts to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, the country’s first launch for an upcoming Chinese megaconstellation ended up littering a bunch of space junk in low-Earth orbit (LEO). US Space Command confirmed the break-up of a Chinese Long March 6A rocket that launched on August 6, 2024, resulting in...
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A small group of scientists and engineers have proposed releasing metal nanorods into the atmosphere of Mars to make the planet more habitable for life. The researchers created models that point to aerosols made from materials that are readily available on the Red Planet, such as 9-micrometer long nanorods made from...
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NASA has postponed Boeing Starliner Crew-9’s return to Earth to give teams time to evaluate the spaceship’s reliability. The delay also allows time for the next SpaceX rotation with the upcoming Soyuz handover, which is scheduled for no earlier than mid-September.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived...
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Space company Honeybee has proposed a 100 meter tall tower that will potentially light the path for future NASA Artemis astronauts on the moon. The LUNARSABER (Lunar Utility Navigation with Advanced Remote Sensing and Autonomous Beaming for Energy Redistribution) tower is a deployable structure that integrates solar...
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Be sure to look up this month, as night skies in August will be filled with cosmic wonders, ranging from meteor showers, the Lagoon Nebula, and Jupiter and Mars converging. So, pack a blanket, grab a few friends, and enjoy the celestial shows occurring throughout the month.
About a week after August’s new moon, the...
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New research by scientists at the Smithsonian Institute are proposing a plan to safeguard Earth’s endangered biodiversity by cryogenically preserving biological material on the moon. According to the research, the permanently shadowed craters on the moon's surface, or perhaps lunar underground caves, are cold enough...
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NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission, the first-ever planetary defense test, has provided information beyond whether redirecting the orbit of an asteroid with a spacecraft is possible or not. New research using data and images collected during the DART mission has been used to further understand the...
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United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched an Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 this morning at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida as part of the classified USSF-51 mission. The mission marks the 58th and final national security launch on Atlas V as ULA begins its transition to the next generation...
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The night skies will light up this week with not just one meteor shower, but two. The Delta Aquariids, known for its bright and fast meteors, and the Alpha Capricornids, known for producing slower, more colorful shooting stars, will peak simultaneously on Tuesday, July 30.
Scientists estimate that about 48.5 tons...
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Since NASA shared the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope in July 2022, the space observatory has continued to amaze with its ability to capture deep space in exquisite detail, such as the Penguin and the Egg image (seen at top) that celebrated Webb’s second anniversary. From “Cosmic Cliffs,” to an...
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A vein-filled rock on Mars has caught the attention of the science team at NASA. The rock, nicknamed “Cheyava Falls,” was found by the Mars Perseverance rover, and has traits that lead scientists to think it may have harbored microscopic life from billions of years ago.
Since landing on the Red Planet, NASA’s...
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An international team of astronomers employing NASA’s Webb Space Telescope captured an exoplanet 12 light years away, and in a location that may be familiar to fans of science fiction. The alien planet orbits the K-type star Epsilon Indi A, which is around the same age as Earth’s Sun, but is slightly cooler.
The...
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A recent solar outburst may cause an aurora across the northern and upper Midwest states from New York to Idaho tonight. The G2 Geomagnetic Storm Watch was triggered by a coronal mass ejection (CME) that erupted on July 21, 2024.
It was only a couple months ago that many across much of the continental US were able...
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To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, NASA released 25 never-before-seen images from the iconic telescope. However, because of budget cuts, NASA may be forced to bring the space telescope’s life to a premature end.
The Chandra X-ray Observatory launched aboard the space shuttle...
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