Space – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Jun 29
2021

Wow! NASA photographer spots space station crossing the sun during spacewalk (video)

The mosaic image is a composition of seven subsequent frames taken from Nellysford, Virginia, as the space station traversed the face of the sun at the speed of roughly 5 miles per second, which is about 18000 mph (29000 kph), according to a NASA photo description.

The six-hour and 45-minute spacewalk was the third for Pesquet and Kimbrough in less than two weeks as they completed work on augmenting the space station’s power systems. The iROSA panel deployed on Friday was the second of six new panels to be installed at the station.

Friday’s extravehicular activity (EVA) positioned the second iROSA opposite the first on the far left, or port side of the space station’s backbone truss. Now both the 2B and 4B power channels on the port 6 (P6) truss have the new arrays deployed.

Jun 28
2021

See Ingenuity on the surface of Mars in NASA’s new 3D photo drop

Well, that’s cool.

Jun 28
2021

Supermoon calendar 2021 and 2022: Dates, times, and how to see one

Supermoons typically occur once or twice a year when the Moon is full and at its closest point to the Earth. Don’t miss the opportunity to see the next one.

Jun 27
2021

SpaceX delays rare-trajectory Cape Canaveral launch to this week

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX is targeting no earlier than this week for its upcoming Falcon 9 launch from Florida, a rare polar mission that will see the rocket pivot south and hug the state’s east coast, according to News 6 partner Florida Today.

The company on Friday confirmed teams were targeting no earlier than 2:56 p.m. Tuesday, June 29, for the 230-foot rocket’s flight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission named Transporter-2 was originally slated to fly from Launch Complex 40 on Friday, June 25.

“This mission will launch 88 spacecraft to orbit and more customer mass than SpaceX’s previous dedicated rideshare mission,” SpaceX said Friday.

Jun 26
2021

‘Mega comet’ 60 miles wide is coming in 2031

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.

Jun 26
2021

Travelling to the Exotic Moon of Saturn May Be Possible in Just 2 Years

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.

Jun 26
2021

China Releases Plans for Permanent Mars Base

Who will get to Mars first?

Jun 26
2021

How NASA’s Perseverance Rover Takes a Selfie

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.

Selfies allow engineers to check wear and tear on the rover over time.

For more information on Perseverance, visit https://mars.nasa.gov/perseverance.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Jun 26
2021

Why does outer space look black?

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

Jun 26
2021

We finally know when the first stars in the universe switched on

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.