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Archive for the ‘space’ category: Page 316

Dec 26, 2021

MIT Scientists Say Life May Have Been Detected on Venus After All

Posted by in category: space

The hypothesis remains a bit of a stretch: that clouds in the planet’s thick, carbon dioxide-filled atmosphere could harbor lifeforms that also happen to be resistant to the incredibly caustic droplets of sulfuric acid surrounding them.

And indeed, other scientists have also thrown cold water on the hypothesis, calling out the possibility of a processing error that throws the data itself into question.

But now, a new study is giving new life to the tantalizing theory. Sulfuric acid, MIT scientists say, could be neutralized by the presence of ammonia, which astronomers also suspect to be present in the planet’s atmosphere thanks to the Venera 8 and Pioneer Venus probe missions in the 1970s.

Dec 25, 2021

NASA Is Launching an Asteroid-Smashing Spacecraft Today and It’s Powered by an Ion Drive

Posted by in category: space

NASA is launching a spacecraft destined to slam into an asteroid as part of its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission tonight, from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Its purpose: to test whether we’re capable of deflecting a killer asteroid before it strikes Earth.

But before it meets its final destination, NASA is using the spacecraft to test out brand new ion drive technology — and it’s straight out of a science fiction movie.

The space agency’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster-Commercial (NEXT-C) uses the spacecraft’s solar power to create an electrical field. This field then accelerates a xenon propellant to speeds of up to 90,000 mph, harnessing the resulting stream of “thousands of ion jets” as propulsion.

Dec 25, 2021

Astronauts on International Space Station send Christmas video message to Earth

Posted by in category: space

Astronauts on the International Space Station shared a festive message for people on Earth as they prepare to spend the holidays in orbit.

Expedition 66 crew members, including NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron, and Mark Vande Hei, ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, will be celebrating Christmas aboard the orbiting lab this year. The crew shared a special holiday message on Twitter, explaining what Christmas means to each of them and reflecting on childhood memories spent with family.

Dec 25, 2021

Earth and Mars formed from colliding material, new study suggests

Posted by in categories: materials, space

Little planetary embryos formed these rocky worlds.


A new study suggests Earth and Mars formed from colliding material in the inner Solar System, which could shape planetary formation theories.

Dec 25, 2021

NASA: Moon “wobble” in orbit may lead to record flooding on Earth

Posted by in category: space

(July ‘21)


A wobble in the moon’s orbit will raise high tides even higher, exacerbating the devastating effects of sea-level rise.

Dec 25, 2021

Comet Leonard Views from ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter Spacecraft

Posted by in category: space

Comet Leonard streaks across the field of view of the SoloHI telescope aboard ESA/NASA’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft on Dec. 17–19, 2021. The comet’s apparent backward movement is due to the spacecraft’s relative motion.

Credits: ESA/NASA/NRL/SoloHI/Guillermo Stenborg

Dec 25, 2021

The most powerful telescope ever built has successfully launched

Posted by in category: space

The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s premier observatory of the next decade, successfully launched to space Saturday morning. The telescope will study exoplanets in new ways and look deeper into the universe than we’ve ever been able to before.

Dec 25, 2021

Giant reservoir of ‘hidden water’ discovered on Mars

Posted by in categories: futurism, space

The hidden water was found at a site as large as the Netherlands.


The water likely exists as ice, making the region ripe for future exploration.

Dec 24, 2021

What happens after the James Webb telescope is launched? A six-month roadmap

Posted by in category: space

The long awaited space telescope is just days from launch, but it’s dozens of steps, and millions of miles, away from doing science.

Dec 24, 2021

Does the Universe Exist if We’re Not Looking?

Posted by in category: space

Eminent physicist John Wheeler says he has only enough time left to work on one idea: that human consciousness shapes not only the present but the past as well.