Lifeboat Foundation

Two huge bubbles, thousands of light-years across, have been discovered jiggling near the center of a distant galaxy. They could be spitting all over Earth.

Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and Vera Rubin all helped change the way we view the universe. So why don’t we hear more about them?

Almost 35 years after Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to walk in space, history will once again be made.

Since 1998, there have been 213 spacewalks at the International Space Station. In March, an all-female spacewalk is happening aboard the ISS.

Despite being the very first candidate planet discovered by our Kepler Mission, Kepler-1658b had a rocky road to confirmation. Ten years later, scientists have now confirmed that it is, in fact, a planet. It whips around its star every 3.85 days. Details: https://go.nasa.gov/2TDlaIl

Circa 2013

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Continue reading “Tens of billions of potentially habitable, Earth-size planets in our galaxy, say astronomers” »

Astronauts or astro-nots?

Visitors will get a chance to tackle the types of problems colonists might face on the real Mars.

China says it is working to develop a solar energy plant in space that could one day beam enough power back to Earth to light up an entire city.

If scientists can overcome the formidable technical challenges, the project would represent a monumental leap in combating the Earth’s addiction to dirty power sources which worsen air pollution and global warming.

A space-based solar power station could also provide an alternative to the current generation of earthbound and relatively ineffective renewable energy sources.

Continue reading “Exploring China’s latest space ambitions” »

Homeless free-floating planets are likely to be rampant within the Milky Way, says new study. Young, dense loose clusters of stars are pretty raucous places early in their evolution.