Space is incomprehensibly vast. So huge that the human mind struggles to even conceptualize it. The observable universe spans roughly 93 billion light-years. Even our own humble galaxy, the Milky Way — a few tiny stitches of the universal canvas — stretches across 100,000 light-years and contains hundreds of billions of stars. It’s no wonder, then, that space video games struggle so mightily with anything approaching a “realistic” interpretation of those incredible distances, especially in an age where we have yet to invent a technology that can traverse them in…
Read More149 million views! Artemis II moon mission breaks NASA’s streaming record
Nearly 150 million people shared in the “moon joy” of Artemis II on NASA channels, setting a new agency record in the process. NASA numbers indicate that 149.4 million people used agency platforms in March and April to follow the four astronauts of Artemis II as they prepped for their mission, lifted off aboard the Space Launch System rocket, flew by the moon and finally splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. The viewership figure includes the mission’s 24/7 livestreams of mission activities and views from the Orion spacecraft. “Artemis II’s…
Read MoreSpace medicine breakthrough? Kidney and liver tissue bioprinted off Earth for 1st time ever
A company just produced kidney and liver tissue in space for the first time, using a method called bioprinting, which 3D-prints living tissue. The announcement comes from California-based Auxilium Biotechnologies, whose AMP-1 orbital bioprinter made the breakthrough. The bioprinter used cell and tissue designs from the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina. “The ability to manufacture multiple tissue types alongside clinically relevant medical products highlights both the versatility and scalability of our technology,” Auxilium CEO Jacob Koffler said in a statement today (July 9). Auxilium Biotechnologies successfully…
Read MoreYour lost dog can now call home with the world’s 1st satellite-connected dog collar
Imagine you’re on a hike in a remote mountain range. Your hyperactive dog catches the scent of a deer and, powered by his hunter’s instinct, disappears in the forest. He has a GPS tracker in his collar that can send his coordinates via the cellular network. But where you are, there is no mobile coverage. You keep whistling and calling but to no avail: your dog is nowhere to be seen. That exact scenario prompted technologist Jonathan Bensamoun to develop what he describes as the world’s first satellite-connected wearable device…
Read MoreThis Week In Space podcast: Episode 218 — Which Way to the Moonbase?
Which Way to the Moonbase? – With Dr. Pascal Lee – YouTube Watch On On Episode 218 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik discuss NASA’s new moonbase plans with planetary scientist Dr. Pascal Lee. Starting with Artemis V (so far), the US plans to begin preparations for a permanent base situated in the south polar regions of the moon. Details are somewhat fluid, but one thing stands out: the poles are likely to be the most challenging places to set up shop in an already hostile…
Read MoreSci-fi action movies were better in the ’90s. ‘Independence Day’ is full of reasons why
We didn’t realize it at the time — nobody ever does — but the ’90s were a vintage era in Hollywood. It was a time when major studios were happy to take a punt on original scripts, knowing that people would, as often as not, buy theater tickets to watch quality releases. Good movies will always be made, of course — just as even the most golden of ages produce their fair share of stinkers — but this was a time when the Venn diagram circles labelled ‘acclaimed’ and ‘popular’…
Read MoreSpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches for 35th time, hauls Starlink satellites to orbit
A SpaceX rocket just inched closer to the record books. A Falcon 9 vehicle lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California tonight (July 10) at 11:01 p.m. EDT (8:01 p.m. local time; 0301 GMT on July 11), carrying 29 of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband satellites toward low Earth orbit (LEO). It was the 35th flight for this rocket’s first stage, a booster designated B1071. The SpaceX record is 36, set just a few days ago by B1067 on another Starlink mission. Previous Booster B1071 launches And, there will likely…
Read MoreA ravenous black hole in our backyard could be our window into the ancient universe
A supermassive black hole at the heart of a nearby galaxy is behaving similarly to black holes that existed just after the Big Bang, voraciously feeding on copious amounts of matter. The relatively close cosmic titan could therefore provide insight into the much more distant universe. Indeed, the intense accretion behavior demonstrated by the supermassive black hole, which sits at the center of the galaxy SDSS J110546.07+145202.4 located 1.8 billion light-years away, is something scientists have only ever seen in the earliest supermassive black holes. SDSS J110546.07+145202.4 has been shining…
Read MoreEarly Career Faculty (ECF) 2025 Awards
1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Back to ECF Home Advanced Diagnostics for High-Enthalpy Test Facilities Simulating Spacecraft Atmospheric Entry Damiano BaccarellaUniversity of Tennessee, KnoxvilleApplication of Resonance Enhanced Multi-Photon Ionization Diagnostics to the Characterization of Arcjet Flows Ciprian DumitracheColorado State UniversityUltrafast Laser Diagnostics for Nonequilibrium Flowfields Characterization in Atmospheric Entry Studies Dan FriesUniversity of Kentucky, LexingtonMultiplexed Polarization Spectroscopy for Single-Shot Multi-Species Diagnostics in High-Enthalpy Flows Yi MazumdarGeorgia Institute of TechnologySimultaneous Temperature, Species, and Velocity Measurements using Ultrafast Laser Diagnostics for Ground Testing of Spacecraft Atmospheric…
Read MoreNASA Volunteers Help Zooniverse Reach 1 Billion Classifications
Explore This Section Science Citizen Science NASA Volunteers Help… Overview Resources Opportunities Citizen Science Highlights About Science Activation The Zooniverse, a NASA grantee that runs the world’s largest platform for online people-powered research, has reached an extraordinary milestone: 1 billion classifications contributed by volunteers around the world. This milestone is a celebration of everyone who has marked a dip in a light curve, confirmed the presence of a moving object in a short video, or identified species in a camera trap image. Each of these small contributions collectively advances…
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