Space and astronomy news
Picture two tissue box-sized spacecraft orbiting Earth.
Then picture them communicating, and using a water-powered thruster to approach each other. If you can do that, then you’re up to speed on one of the activities of NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology Program (SSTP.) It’s all part of NASA’s effort to develop small spacecraft to serve their space exploration, science, space operations, and aeronautics endeavors.
Continue reading “NASA Tests Water Powered Spacecraft in Orbit”
Pluto is getting some new names. In the past, prior to the New Horizons mission, there wasn’t much to name. But now that that spacecraft has flew past Pluto and observed it up close, there’s some features that need naming.
Now the IAU (International Astronomical Union) has approved a new set of names for 14 of the dwarf planet’s surface features.
Continue reading “A Bunch of New Names for Pluto’s Surface Features Were Just Approved”
Despite all we know about the formation and evolution of the Universe, the very early days are still kind of mysterious. With our knowledge of physics we can shed some light on the nature of the earliest stars, even though they’re almost certainly long gone.
Now a new discovery is confirming what scientists think they know about the early Universe, by shedding light on a star that’s still shining.
Continue reading “Traces of One of the Oldest Stars in the Universe Found Inside Another Star”
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Telescope launched back in April, 2018. After a few months of testing, it was ready to begin mapping the southern sky, searching for planets orbiting stars relatively nearby.
We’re just over a year into the mission now, and on July 18th, TESS has shifted its attention to the Northern Hemisphere, continuing the hunt for planets in the northern skies.
Continue reading “One Year, Almost 1,000 Planetary Candidates. An Update On TESS”
When a star reaches the end of its life cycle, it will blow off its outer layers in a fiery explosion known as a supernova. Where less massive stars are concerned, a white dwarf is what will be left behind. Similarly, any planets that once orbited the star will also have their outer layers blown off by the violent burst, leaving behind the cores behind.
For decades, scientists have been able to detect these planetary remnants by looking for the radio waves that are generated through their interactions with the white dwarf’s magnetic field. According to new research by a pair of researchers, these “radio-loud” planetary cores will continue to broadcast radio signals for up to a billion years after their stars have died, making them detectable from Earth.
Continue reading “Dead Planets Around White Dwarfs Could Emit Radio Waves We Can Detect, Sending Out Signals for Billions of Years”
During the development of the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) by the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory (see Part 1 and Part 2 for the complete backstory), an inauspicious event occurred sometime during 1965-1966, while the Gemini missions were going on.
The Gemini program helped NASA get ready for the Apollo Moon landings missions by testing out rendezvous and other critical techniques and technologies. Ten crews flew missions in Earth orbit on the two-person Gemini spacecraft.
Continue reading “The Story of the Apollo Guidance Computer, Part 3”
In addition to being the only solvent that is capable of supporting life, water is essential to life as we know it here on Earth. Because of this, finding deposits of water – whether in liquid form or as ice – on other planets is always exciting. Even where is not seen as a potential indication of life, the presence of water offers opportunities for exploration, scientific study, and even the creation of human outposts.
This has certainly been the case as far as the Moon and Mercury are concerned, where water ice was discovered in the permanently-shadowed cratered regions around the poles. But according to a new analysis of the data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the MESSENGER spacecraft, the Moon and Mercury may have significantly more water ice than previously thought.
Continue reading “There May be Thick Ice Deposits on the Moon and Mercury”
Since the “Golden Age of General Relativity” in the 1960s, scientists have held that much of the Universe consists of a mysterious invisible mass known as “Dark Matter“. Since then, scientists have attempted to resolve this mystery with a double-pronged approach. On the one hand, astrophysicists have attempted to find a candidate particle that could account for this mass.
On the other, astrophysicists have tried to find a theoretical basis that could explain Dark Matter’s behavior. So far, the debate has centered on the question of whether it is “hot” or “cold”, with cold enjoying an edge because of its relative simplicity. However, a new study conducted led by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA)
In the late 1950’s, before NASA had any intentions of going to the Moon – or needing a computer to get there — the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory had designed and built a small prototype probe they hoped would one day fly to Mars (read the background in part 1 of this story here). This little probe used a small, rudimentary general-purpose computer for navigation, based on the inertial systems for ballistic missiles, submarines, and aircraft the Lab had designed and built for the military since World War II.
Continue reading “The Story of the Apollo Guidance Computer, Part 2”
Despite a few setbacks in the past few months, 2019 is shaping up to be an exciting year for SpaceX. After a series of successful tethered hop tests, the ground crews at the company’s South Texas Launch Site in Boca Chica conducted the first free-flight test of the Starship Hopper late last month – which saw the test vehicle ascend to 20 meters (~65 feet), move laterally, and then land again.
Based on this success, Musk announced shortly thereafter that the company could be taking the next step and conducting a 200 meter (650 foot) hop sometime this month. This past weekend, Musk also indicated that the company will be giving further updates on the design of the finished Starship later this month, followed by a test of the “Starship Mk1”, an orbital-class prototype that will feature three Raptor engines.
Continue reading “Elon Musk Outlines the Next Few Weeks of Starship Tests”