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Category: space – Page 28

NASA Announces CHAPEA Crew for Year-Long Mars Mission Simulation

Four research volunteers will soon participate in NASA’s year-long simulation of a Mars mission inside a habitat at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. This mission will provide NASA with foundational data to inform human exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Ross Elder, Ellen Ellis, Matthew Montgomery, and James Spicer enter into the 1,700-square-foot Mars Dune Alpha habitat on Sunday, Oct. 19, to begin their mission. The team will live and work like astronauts for 378 days, concluding their mission on Oct. 31, 2026. Emily Phillips and Laura Marie serve as the mission’s alternate crew members.

Through a series of Earth-based missions called CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog), carried out in the 3D-printed habitat, NASA aims to evaluate certain human health and performance factors ahead of future Mars missions. The crew will undergo realistic resource limitations, equipment failures, communication delays, isolation and confinement, and other stressors, along with simulated high-tempo extravehicular activities. These scenarios allow NASA to make informed trades between risks and interventions for long-duration exploration missions.

Astronomers uncover a hidden world on the solar system’s edge

Astronomers have uncovered a massive new trans-Neptunian object, 2017 OF201, lurking at the edge of our solar system. With an orbit stretching 25,000 years and a size that may qualify it as a dwarf planet, this mysterious world challenges long-held assumptions about the “empty” space beyond Neptune. Its unusual trajectory sets it apart from other distant bodies and may even cast doubt on the controversial Planet Nine hypothesis.

Astronomers capture breathtaking first look at a planet being born

WISPIT2b, a gas giant forming around a young Sun-like star, has been directly imaged for the first time inside a spectacular multiringed disk. Still glowing and actively accreting gas, the planet offers a unique opportunity to study planetary birth and evolution.

An international team of astronomers, co-led by researchers at University of Galway, has made the unexpected discovery of a new planet.

Detected at an early stage of formation around a young analog of our own Sun, the planet is estimated to be about 5 million years-old and most likely a gas giant of similar size to Jupiter.

“Alien Aurora” — Scientists Spot Never-Before-Seen Plasma Waves in Jupiter’s Polar Lights

Research offers new insights into protecting Earth from harmful solar radiation. A team at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities has identified and studied a previously unknown type of plasma wave within Jupiter’s aurora. The discovery provides new insight into auroral activity on other planets

41,000 Years Ago, Something Weird in Space Changed How Humans Lived on Earth

Weak magnetic fields once exposed humans to radiation. People adapted with shelter, clothing, and mineral protection. Our first meeting was a bit awkward. One of us is an archaeologist who studies how past peoples interacted with their environments. Two of us are geophysicists who investigate int

Explaining a quantum oddity with five atoms

Matter gets weird at the quantum scale, and among the oddities is the Efimov effect, a state in which the attractive forces between three or more atoms bind them together, even as they are excited to higher energy levels, while that same force is insufficient to bind two atoms.

At Purdue University, researchers have completed the immense quantum calculation required to represent the Efimov effect in five , adding to our fragmented picture of the most fundamental nature of matter.

The calculation, which applies across a broad range of physical problems—from a group of atoms being studied in a laser trap to the gases in a neutron star—contributes to our foundational understanding of matter and may lead to more efficient methods for confining atoms for study.

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