Lifeboat Foundation

A comet that hasn’t zipped past the Sun in millions of years was just discovered and could be one for the record books. Don’t worry, it’s steering clear of Earth.

There are many ways in which humans may one day be able to reach the icy and exotic moon of Saturn known as Titan in just two years, This direct fusion drive holds the most promise.

Who will get to Mars first?

NASA’s Perseverance rover captured a historic group selfie with the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on April 6, 2021. But how was the selfie taken? Vandi Verma, Perseverance’s chief engineer for robotic operations at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California breaks down the process in this video.

Video taken by Perseverance’s navigation cameras shows the rover’s robotic arm twisting and maneuvering to take the 62 images that compose the image. The rover’s entry, descent, and landing microphone captured the sound of the arm’s motors whirring during the process.

Continue reading “How NASA’s Perseverance Rover Takes a Selfie” »

Here’s why space is black, even though the sky is blue.

The most detailed observations of some of the most distant galaxies we have ever seen have revealed the timing of cosmic dawn, when the first stars began to shine.

SpaceX prepared for its first all-civilian flight and completed a mission for the U.S. Space Force the week of June 17–23, while scientists made surprising discoveries about insects and animals on Earth.

SpaceX’s Inspiration4 all-commercial crew remains in training for its flight in September, and discoveries from deep space and Earth’s ancient past abound this week.

Great new episode with former Fermilab physicist Gerald Jackson who chats about antimatter propulsion and the politics of advanced propulsion research. This one is out a bit later in the week than normal, but please listen. Good stuff.

Guest Gerald Jackson, former Fermilab physicist and advanced propulsion entrepreneur chats about his plans for an Antimatter Propulsion interstellar robotic probe. First stop would be Proxima Centauri. In a wide-ranging interview, Jackson talks about the politics and pitfalls of advance propulsion research. Too many people seem to think antimatter is something that is still science fiction. It’s not. It’s as real as the chair you’re sitting on.

Chinese taikonauts’ electronic devices that were brought to Tiangong space station drew Chinese IT fans’ attentions on social media Sina Weibo. Netizens have found out those devices are all produced by Chinese companies.

Netizens have found that the electronic devices brought to China’s Tiangong space station and Shenzhou-12 capsule are all produced by Chinese companies. The topic “daily life of Chinese astronauts” had 240 million views on Sina Weibo by Thursday.

Various devices including a Huawei P30 mobile phone, Lenovo ThinkPad laptop and Xiaomi electronic screwdriver can be seen clearly in the livestream, released on Wednesday.

Continue reading “Chinese products brought to space spark online discussion, including Huawei mobile phone, Lenovo ThinkPad” »