Month: March 2021

NASA’s new batch of wild space tech ideas includes Titan sample-return concept and more

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NASA’s newest fleet of far-out exploration ideas include projects that could one day return samples from Saturn’s moon Titan, allow astronauts to experience artificial gravity in space, or send staggering quantities of planetary data back to Earth. The agency announced the latest recipients under the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, which examines early-stage ideas for exploring the universe. While many of these projects may be decades from launch, NASA and related groups may use some of the ideas in future programs. This year’s round provides the Phase I recipients up…

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20 trailblazing women in astronomy and astrophysics

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Image 1 of 20 (Image credit: Michelle Bridges / Alamy Stock Photo) Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) Caroline Herschel is the first woman credited with discovering a comet, and is also the first to receive honorary membership with Britain’s prestigious Royal Society. Herschel’s childhood passions included music, and she sang as a sopranos in several performances in her early 20s.  But with her older brother, William, it was Herschel’s enthusiasm in astronomy that she is best remembered for. Herschel at first polished mirrors and did other assistant tasks for her brother. She…

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Integrating diverse satellite images sharpens our picture of activity on Earth (op-ed)

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Amanda Ziemann is a remote sensing scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. She contributed this article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Being able to accurately detect changes to Earth’s surface using satellite imagery can aid in everything from climate change research and farming to human migration patterns and nuclear nonproliferation. But until recently, it was impossible to flexibly integrate images from multiple types of sensors — for example, ones that show surface changes (such as new building construction) versus ones that show material changes (such…

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Lego reveals space shuttle Discovery set featuring Hubble Space Telescope

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Once described as the most complex flying machine ever built, comprised of more than 2.5 million moving parts, you can now assemble your own model of NASA’s space shuttle using just 2,354 pieces. Lego on Monday (March 22) revealed its new NASA Space Shuttle Discovery set, which not only replicates its full-size counterpart in amazing detail, but does so as it was configured for one of its most well-known and historic missions: the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. “I always liked that combination of very compact, almost miniature, but…

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This epic new Lego space shuttle set will let you recreate NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope mission

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Prepare for liftoff, space fans, because soon you’ll be able to recreate one of NASA’s most famous shuttle missions in Lego form. A new set from the building company recreates the STS-31 mission on space shuttle Discovery that launched the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit in April 1990. Crew members of the space shuttle Discovery deployed the observatory on what has become a multi-decade exploration of the cosmos. The Lego Space Shuttle Discovery set (MSRP $199.99 USD) will be available directly from Lego stores and from Lego.com starting April 1.…

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