News (Page 780)

Covert NRO Satellite Fades into Capes Cloudy Night Skies Shrouded in Liftoff Secrecy: Gallery – As ULA Atlas Wins Landsat Launch Covert NROL-52 spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office fades into cloudy nighttime skies shrouded in secrecy after liftoff on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket at 3:28 a.m. EDT on Oct. 15, 2017 from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FL — As one Atlas rocket carrying a covert spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to monitor Earth for national security purposes faded into cloudy nighttimeRead More →

Good News Everyone! There are Less Deadly Undiscovered Asteroids than we Thought Beyond Earth’s orbit, there are innumerable comets and asteroids that are collectively known as Near-Earth Objects. On occasion, some of these objects will cross Earth’s orbit; and every so often, one will pass too close to Earth and impact on its surface. While most of these objects have been too small to cause serious damage, some have been large enough to trigger Extinction Level Events (ELEs). For this reason, NASA and other space agencies have spent decades cataloging and monitoring the larger NEAs in order to determine if they might collide with EarthRead More →

Looking for Signs of Life on Distant Planets Just Got Easier When it comes to searching for worlds that could support extra-terrestrial life, scientists currently rely on the “low-hanging fruit” approach. Since we only know of one set of conditions under which life can thrive – i.e. what we have here on Earth – it makes sense to look for worlds that have these same conditions. These include being located within a star’s habitable zone, having a stable atmosphere, and being able to maintain liquid water on the surface. Until now, scientists have relied on methods that make it very difficult to detect water vaporRead More →

Sky Pointing Curiosity Captures Breathtaking Vista of Mount Sharp and Crater Rim, Climbs Vera Rubin Seeking Hydrated Minerals NASA’s Curiosity rover raised robotic arm with drill pointed skyward while exploring Vera Rubin Ridge at the base of Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater – backdropped by distant crater rim. This navcam camera mosaic was stitched from raw images taken on Sol 1833, Oct. 2, 2017 and colorized. Credit: NASA/JPL/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo 5 years after a heart throbbing Martian touchdown, Curiosity is climbing Vera Rubin Ridge in search of “aqueous minerals” and “clays” for clues to possible past life while capturing “truly breathtaking” vistas of humongousRead More →

Nope, our Temporary Moon Isn’t Space Junk, it’s an Asteroid In April of 2016, astronomers became aware of a distant object that appeared to be orbiting the Sun, but was also passing close enough to Earth that it could be periodically viewed using the most powerful telescopes. Since then, there has been ample speculation as to what this “Temporary Moon” could be, with most astronomers claiming that it is likely nothing more than an asteroid. However, some suggested that it was a burnt-out rocket booster trapped in a near-Earth orbit. But thanks to new study by a team from the University of Arizona’s Lunar andRead More →

Bigelow and ULA are Sending a Habitat to Lunar Orbit by 2022 Bigelow Aerospace and United Launch Alliance announced on Tuesday that they’ll be sending their own inflatable habitat to lunar orbit by 2022. They’re calling it the Lunar Depot. Part laboratory, part hotel, the habitat will serve as a destination for anyone planning to visit the Moon. Suddenly the Moon has become all the rage for anyone planning trips to space. Of course, SpaceX noted that their BFR (Big Freaking Rocket) should be capable of sending the BFR spaceship to land on the Moon and return. NASA was instructed by the Trump Administration toRead More →

Where Do Comets Come From? Exploring the Oort Cloud Before I get into this article, I want to remind everyone that it’s been several decades since I’ve been able to enjoy a bright comet in the night sky. I’ve seen mind blowing auroras, witnessed a total solar eclipse with my own eyeballs, and seen a rocket launch. The Universe needs to deliver this bright comet for me, and it needs to do it soon. By writing this article now, I will summon it. I will create an article that’ll be hilariously out of date in a few months, when that bright comet shows up. LikeRead More →

Forecast for Titan: Cold, with a Chance of Noxious Ice Clouds During the 13 years and 76 days that the Cassini mission spent around Saturn, the orbiter and its lander (the Huygens probe) revealed a great deal about Saturn and its systems of moons. This is especially true of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon and one of the most mysterious objects in the Solar System. As a result of Cassini’s many flybys, scientists learned a great deal about Titan’s methane lakes, nitrogen-rich atmosphere, and surface features. Even though Cassini plunged into Saturn’s atmosphere on September 15th, 2017, scientists are still pouring over the things it revealed.Read More →

More Evidence Presented in Defense of Planet 9 In January of 2016, astronomers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin published the first evidence that there might be another planet in our Solar System. Known as “Planet 9” (“Planet X” to those who reject the controversial 2006 Resolution by the IAU), this hypothetical body was believed to orbit at an extreme distance from our Sun, as evidenced by the fact that certain Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) all seem to be pointing in the same direction. Since that time, more and more evidence has been produced that show how the presence of Planet 9 affected the evolution of theRead More →

Stable Lava Tube Could Provide a Potential Human Habitat on the Moon On October 5th, 2017, Vice President Mike Pence announced the Trump administration’s plan to return astronauts to the Moon. Looking to the long-term, NASA and several other space agencies are also intent on establishing a permanent lunar base there. This base will not only provide opportunities for lunar science, but will facilitate missions to Mars and beyond. The only question is, where should such a base be built? For many years, NASA, the ESA and other agencies have been exploring the possibility of stable lava tubes as a potential site. According to newRead More →

Metal-Eating Bacteria Could Have Left their “Fingerprints” on Mars, Proving it Once Hosted Life Today, there are multiple lines of evidence that indicate that during the Noachian period (ca. 4.1 to 3.7 billion years ago), microorganisms could have existed on the surface of Mars. These include evidence of past water flows, rivers and lakebeds, as well as atmospheric models that indicate that Mars once had a denser atmosphere. All of this adds up to Mars having once been a warmer and wetter place than it is today. However, to date, no evidence has been found that life ever existed on Mars. As a result, scientistsRead More →