Universe Today (Page 416)

Weekly Space Hangout: October 23, 2019 – Aileen Yingst: Space Geologist Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain) Dave Dickinson (www.astroguyz.com / @astroguyz) Dr. Kimberly Cartier (KimberlyCartier.org / @AstroKimCartier ) Veranika Klimovich ( @VeronikaSpace) Dr. R. Aileen Yingst is a Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, a research institution headquartered in Tucson, AZ. She is Principal Investigator for the Heimdall camera system being built for a … Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout: October 23, 2019 – Aileen Yingst: Space Geologist” The post Weekly Space Hangout: October 23, 2019 – Aileen Yingst: Space Geologist appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

A Private Company in China Plans to Launch Reusable Rockets by 2021 A Chinese company is planning to launch a rocket with a reusable booster in 2021. The company is called i-Space, and the rocket is called Hyperbola-2. They’ve already developed and launched another rocket, called Hyperbola. i-Space, not to be confused with the Japanese company ispace, showed Hyperbola-2 at the 2019 Zhongguancun Forum in Beijing. (Zhongguancun … Continue reading “A Private Company in China Plans to Launch Reusable Rockets by 2021” The post A Private Company in China Plans to Launch Reusable Rockets by 2021 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

Boeing and Airstream Show off Their New Astronaut Transport Vehicle: the Astrovan II When it comes to brand recognition, Airstream‘s got game. Their silver, space-age looking travel trailers and touring coaches are iconic. Almost everyone recognizes their riveted aluminum bodies. Airstream has teamed up with Boeing to produce the Astrovan 2, a vehicle that will carry astronauts to the CST-100 Starliner’s launchpad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. It’s a … Continue reading “Boeing and Airstream Show off Their New Astronaut Transport Vehicle: the Astrovan II” The post Boeing and Airstream Show off Their New Astronaut Transport Vehicle: the Astrovan II appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

Elon Musk Tweets with Starlink. Services Could be Available Next Year. Starlink could be offering services by this time next year, and Musk just tested it by sending out the inaugural tweet (spoiler alert, it worked!) The post Elon Musk Tweets with Starlink. Services Could be Available Next Year. appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

James Webb Tests its Sun-Shield. So Far, So Good. Rigorous testing is at the heart of any successful space mission. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be a million miles away when it deploys its mission-critical sun-shield, and if it doesn’t function as planned, that’s it. Game over. The Webb is the most advanced space telescope ever built. It’s an infrared telescope, and … Continue reading “James Webb Tests its Sun-Shield. So Far, So Good.” The post James Webb Tests its Sun-Shield. So Far, So Good. appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Did an Ancient Supernova Force Humans to Walk Upright? A new study hints at a possible fascinating twist in human evolution. Did a chain of cosmic events triggered by a nearby ancient supernova force humans to walk upright? The study, out earlier this year, points to an unlikely source for modern human bipedal locomotion: the effect on our environment of a nearby supernova or … Continue reading “Did an Ancient Supernova Force Humans to Walk Upright?” The post Did an Ancient Supernova Force Humans to Walk Upright? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Now that Many Countries Have the Ability to Destroy Satellites, the US is Figuring Out Ways to Make Them More Armored With all the advances made in anti-satellite technology, Sandia National Laboratories is seeking partnerships to develop satellites that can defend themselves The post Now that Many Countries Have the Ability to Destroy Satellites, the US is Figuring Out Ways to Make Them More Armored appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

A NASA Panel Says We Don’t Need to be so Careful About Infecting Other Worlds It’s time to update the rules. That’s the conclusion of a panel that examined NASA’s rules for planetary protection. It was smart, at the dawn of the space age, to think about how we might inadvertently pollute other worlds with Earthly microbes as we explore the Solar System. But now that we know a lot … Continue reading “A NASA Panel Says We Don’t Need to be so Careful About Infecting Other Worlds” The post A NASA Panel Says We Don’t Need to be so Careful About Infecting Other WorldsRead More →

Time-lapse Captured from the International Space Station 400 photos. 11 minutes. That’s what it took to create this time-lapse of the Earth and stars as the International Space Station over Namibia toward the Red Sea. NASA astronaut Christina Koch captured these images. It’s obvious that the circular streaks in the sky are star-trails. But the lights on the ground have different sources. … Continue reading “Time-lapse Captured from the International Space Station” The post Time-lapse Captured from the International Space Station appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

How Long is a Day on Venus? Astronomers Make Their Best Measurement Yet There’s a problem with Venus. We don’t know how fast it rotates. For a space-faring civilization like ours, that’s a problem. Measuring the length of day, or rotation rate, of most bodies is pretty straightforward. Mark a prominent surface feature and time how long it takes to rotate 360 degrees. But Venus is blanketed in … Continue reading “How Long is a Day on Venus? Astronomers Make Their Best Measurement Yet” The post How Long is a Day on Venus? Astronomers Make Their Best Measurement Yet appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

Messier 93 – the NGC 2447 Open Star Cluster Located about 3,600 light-years from Earth in the constellation Puppis is the open star cluster known as Messier 93. The post Messier 93 – the NGC 2447 Open Star Cluster appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

The Most Massive Galaxies Spin More Than Twice as Fast as the Milky Way Based on new observations of super spiral galaxies, a team of scientists has found that they have massive dark matter halos that cause them to rotate much faster than our own! The post The Most Massive Galaxies Spin More Than Twice as Fast as the Milky Way appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Comets and Interstellar Objects Could be Exporting Earth Life Out into the Milky Way A new study suggests that comets and asteroids that graze Earth’s atmosphere might be responsible for the spread of life throughout the Universe. The post Comets and Interstellar Objects Could be Exporting Earth Life Out into the Milky Way appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Success! NASA Confirms the Mole is Working Again. After months of setbacks, NASA says that the InSight Lander’s Mole is working again. InSight landed on Mars on Nov. 26 2018 in Elysium Planitia. Its mission is to study the interior of the planet, to learn about how Mars and other rocky planets formed. InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport) … Continue reading “Success! NASA Confirms the Mole is Working Again.” The post Success! NASA Confirms the Mole is Working Again. appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

There’s the Curiosity Rover, On the Move, Seen from Space If the Curiosity rover was paranoid, would it feel like it was being watched? Well, it is being watched, by its brother in orbit, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The MRO watched Curiosity as it travelled through the ‘Clay-Bearing Unit‘ in Gale Crater, during June and July, 2019. NASA just released an animated GIF of Curiosity … Continue reading “There’s the Curiosity Rover, On the Move, Seen from Space” The post There’s the Curiosity Rover, On the Move, Seen from Space appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

What Was The First Color In The Universe? The universe bathes in a sea of light, from the blue-white flickering of young stars to the deep red glow of hydrogen clouds. Beyond the colors seen by human eyes, there are flashes of x-rays and gamma rays, powerful bursts of radio, and the faint, ever-present glow of the cosmic microwave background. The cosmos is … Continue reading “What Was The First Color In The Universe?” The post What Was The First Color In The Universe? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Here’s the Picture We’ve Been Waiting for. Hubble’s Photo of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov Leave it up to the good ole Hubble Space Telescope. The workhorse telescope has given us a photo of the new interstellar comet 2I/Borisov. Take that, fancy new telescopes. 2I/Borisov has wandered into our Solar System from the deep cold of interstellar space, but nobody knows from whence it came, or how long it’s been … Continue reading “Here’s the Picture We’ve Been Waiting for. Hubble’s Photo of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov” The post Here’s the Picture We’ve Been Waiting for. Hubble’s Photo of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

An Army of Tiny Robots Could Assemble Huge Structures in Space A team from MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA) recently unveiled their prototype for a new assembler robot, which could revolutionize construction as we know it! The post An Army of Tiny Robots Could Assemble Huge Structures in Space appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

NASA’s New Lunar Spacesuit is Going to be a Lot More Comfortable for Astronauts NASA is developing new spacesuits for their Artemis program. The new suits will give the astronauts greater mobility, will be safer, and will be designed from the ground up to fit women. The roots of modern spacesuits, or Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs) go back to the Apollo missions. In fact, the spacesuits that NASA astronauts … Continue reading “NASA’s New Lunar Spacesuit is Going to be a Lot More Comfortable for Astronauts” The post NASA’s New Lunar Spacesuit is Going to be a Lot More Comfortable for Astronauts appeared first onRead More →

SpaceX Files a Request to Launch Another 30,000 Satellites for Starlink, on Top of the 12,000 They’re Already Planning to Launch According to recent filings, SpaceX is hoping to send an additional 30,000 Starlink satellites to orbit in the coming years. The post SpaceX Files a Request to Launch Another 30,000 Satellites for Starlink, on Top of the 12,000 They’re Already Planning to Launch appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →