SpaceX launched its gigantic Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time in more than three years, sending satellites for the military to orbit. The rocket took off amid heavy fog at Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, November 1, and a few minutes later two booster segments returned to Earth, sticking the side-by-side landings back at Cape Canaveral.
Continue reading “Falcon Heavy Launches for the First Time in Over Three Years, Carrying Military Satellites to Orbit”Just Four Robots Could Deploy a Huge Radio Telescope on the Far Side of the Moon
For decades, astronomers have advocated building radio telescopes on the far side of the Moon. This “radio-quiet” zone always faces away from Earth and would provide the perfect location to study a variety of astronomical phenomena that can’t be observed in low radio frequencies from our planet, or even by Earth-orbiting space telescopes. But the costs and logistics of such a project have pushed most of these concepts to the realm of futuristic dreams.
But now a group of astronomers and engineers have worked out a concept for a radio telescope placed on the lunar far side that could be as large as 100 square kilometers across, and it could be deployed from a robotic lunar lander and four two-wheeled rovers.
Continue reading “Just Four Robots Could Deploy a Huge Radio Telescope on the Far Side of the Moon”Lucy Took This Picture of Earth as it was Making its Gravity Assist Maneuver
We may take it for granted, but every day we receive picture postcards from the robotic travelers we have sent out to explore our Solar System. Usually, we get to see faraway planets, moons, asteroids, or comets. But sometimes we get to see ourselves.
The Lucy spacecraft took a couple of amazing images of our home planet as the spacecraft was approaching Earth for the first of three slingshot gravity assists on its way out to explore the Trojan asteroids along Jupiter’s orbit.
Continue reading “Lucy Took This Picture of Earth as it was Making its Gravity Assist Maneuver”Webb and Hubble Peer Into the Wreckage of a Galactic Collision
Earlier this month we asked, what could be better than a pair of galaxies observed by a pair of iconic space telescopes? Now, there is an exciting new answer. Even better than a pair of galaxies is a pair of galaxies that are colliding!
The Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope have each taken a look at a pair of intertwined galaxies that are 270 million light-year away from Earth, together called IC 1623. Scientists say this galactic collision has ignited frenzied star formation called a starburst, creating new stars at a rate more than 20 times that of our Milky Way.
Continue reading “Webb and Hubble Peer Into the Wreckage of a Galactic Collision”The New Ariane 6 Heavy Lift Rocket is Finally on the Launch Pad, But Won’t Liftoff Until Late 2023
A prototype of ESA’s new heavy lift rocket is now fully assembled and sitting on the launchpad at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. But according to officials at a briefing last week, the space agency and the rocket’s prime contractor, ArianeGroup, have decided to delay the first flight of the Ariane 6 to the fourth quarter of 2023 after several issues were brought to the fore in an external review.
Continue reading “The New Ariane 6 Heavy Lift Rocket is Finally on the Launch Pad, But Won’t Liftoff Until Late 2023”NASA Just Ordered Three More Orion Capsules, for Artemis VI, VII, and VIII
Lockheed Martin announced that NASA has ordered three more Orion spacecraft for future Artemis missions. The new order includes capsules for the Artemis VI, VII and VII missions, which are expected to launch in the late 2020s to early 2030s. The three additional capsules are on order for $1.99 billion.
Continue reading “NASA Just Ordered Three More Orion Capsules, for Artemis VI, VII, and VIII”Curiosity Arrives in a Salty Region of Mars. Was it Left Over From a Dying Sea?
The Curiosity rover has now reached its primary target on Mount Sharp on Mars, the mountain in the middle of Gale Crater the rover has been climbing since 2014. This target is not the summit, but a region over 600 meters (2,000 feet) up the mountain that planetary geologists have long anticipated reaching.
Known as the “sulfate-bearing unit,” the region is a boundary between the rocks that saw a lot of water in their history and those that didn’t; a possible shoreline, if you will. That boundary is already providing insights into Mars’ transition from a wet planet to dry, filling in a key gap in the understanding of the planet’s history.
Continue reading “Curiosity Arrives in a Salty Region of Mars. Was it Left Over From a Dying Sea?”Remembering the Gutsy and Hilarious Apollo Astronaut Jim McDivitt
Former NASA astronaut Jim McDivitt, who commanded the important Gemini IV and Apollo 9 missions – both crucial for NASA’s ability to reach the Moon — has died at age 93. His family said he passed away peacefully in his sleep on October 13, 2022.
Continue reading “Remembering the Gutsy and Hilarious Apollo Astronaut Jim McDivitt”Arecibo Won’t Be Rebuilt
The National Science Foundation announced last week that it won’t rebuild or replace the iconic Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, which collapsed in 2020. Instead, the NSF says they have solicited calls for proposals to build a multidisciplinary educational center at the site.
Additionally, the plans do not appear to allow for any future science or observing from the other facilities at the Arecibo site, as the NSF said they will not provide any “operational support for current scientific infrastructure, such as the 12-meter radio telescope or Lidar facility,” also on location.
The announcement has been met with disappointment and disbelief.
Continue reading “Arecibo Won’t Be Rebuilt”Mars Express Watched Deimos Pass in Front of Jupiter and its Moons
That’s no moon … wait … yes, it is, and more!
ESA’s Mars Express has captured an unusual and rare occultation, all from its vantage point in orbit of Mars. The spacecraft’s orbit brought it to the right place where it could witness the moment Mars’ small moon Deimos passed in front of Jupiter and its four largest moons. Scientists say that celestial alignments like these enable a more precise determination of the Martian moons’ orbits.
Continue reading “Mars Express Watched Deimos Pass in Front of Jupiter and its Moons”