Space and astronomy news
Rocket science is hard. So far, no commercial rocket launch company has ever successfully gotten to orbit on the first try. The first flight of Firefly‘s Alpha rocket prototype did not break that streak last week when it exploded two and a half minutes after takeoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Continue reading “Space Continues to be Hard. Firefly’s Alpha Rocket Detonates Shortly After Launch”
All hail the occulter: an orbiting starshade for ground-based telescopes.
Continue reading “Ground-Based Observatories Could use Starshades to see Planets too”
In this decade, multiple space agencies and commercial space entities will be taking us back to the Moon. But unlike the Apollo Era, the goal of these programs is not “footprints and flags,” but to establish the necessary infrastructure to keep going back. In particular, NASA, the ESA, Roscosmos, and China are all planning on establishing outposts that will allow for scientific research and a sustained human presence.
The ESA is currently showcasing what its outpost will look like at the 17th annual Architecture Exhibition at the La Biennale di Venezia museum in Venice. It’s known as the International Moon Village, which was designed by the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) with technical support from the ESA. This same company recently unveiled a prototype of the skeletal metal component that will one day be part of the Village’s lunar habitats.
Continue reading “This is a 3D-Printed Steel Floor Prototype for a Lunar Habitat”
NASA is a sprawling organization that has to talk to everything from politicians in Washington DC to space probes that have left the solar system. Discussions with the first might be as simple as a written letter for informal conversation, while the second requires a high-power network of ground-based antennas. Known as the Deep Space Network (DSN) this series of antennas spread over three continents is the backbone of NASA’s communications with its various space probes. Now the DSN is in the process of implementing a well-deserved upgrade.
Continue reading “NASA has too Many Spacecraft to Communicate With. Time to Build More Dishes”
You may have heard this one before, but encouraging news comes from NASA, ESA, and Arianespace today: they are now targeting December 18, 2021 as the new launch date for the oft-delayed James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Continue reading “Pencil December 18th (tentatively) into your calendar. That’s when James Webb probably launches”
New research suggests that the humble asteroid Vesta may have cracked open like an egg.
Continue reading “What Formed the Strange Troughs on Vesta?”
Fall 2021 offers up an all-night parade of challenging telescopic comets.
Ready for the next big one? If you’re like us, the surprise appearance of Comet F3 NEOWISE last summer was a great teaser of what could be. To be sure, we’re still long overdue for the next great naked eye comet, but there’s always a steady stream of fainter fuzzies out there for owners of large light buckets to hunt down. Fall of 2021 sees half a dozen comets knocking on binocular visibility around +10th magnitude, from dusk ‘til dawn. So without further fanfare, here are the best cometary targets for September into October 2021:
Continue reading “A Flurry of Fall Binocular Comets”
Mars is bombarded with radiation. Without a protective magnetic shield and a thick atmosphere like Earth’s, radiation from space has a nearly unimpeded path to the Martian surface. Our machines can roam around on the surface and face all that radiation with impunity. But not humans. For humans, all that radiation is a deadly hazard.
How can any potential human explorers cope with that?
Well, they’ll need shelter. And they’ll either have to bring it along with them or build it there somehow.
Or maybe not. Maybe they could use natural features as part of their protection.
Continue reading “There are Natural Features on Mars That Could Serve as Radiation Shelters”
What happens when you slam a neutron star (or black hole, take your pick) into a companion star? A supernova, that’s what. And for the first time ever, astronomers think they’ve spotted one.
Continue reading “A Black Hole or Neutron Star Fell Into Another Star and Triggered a Supernova”
How bad is the drought in the western United States? A stunning depiction of the record dry spell comes in images of Lake Mead, the reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. NASA satellite images, below, from Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 show the difference in lake levels between August 2000 and August 2021.
Continue reading “Here’s Lake Mead’s Record Low Water Levels Seen From Space”