June 2021 – Page 3 – NeRDs Moonbase

Up in the air! US government’s UFO report stirs range of reactions

June 28, 2021 NeRD

The release on Friday (June 25) of the U.S. government’s report about unidentified flying objects has whipped up a blend of reactions, from UFO groups to individuals in military, academic and scientific circles. Labeled as “preliminary,” the unclassified nine-page UFO report was prepared by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in consultation with the Pentagon, particularly the military’s recently established Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force, in response to a request by Congress to assess the threat posed by UFOs. (UFOs have been rebranded as UAP in military…

Venus Surface Is Fragmented Like “Pack Ice”

June 28, 2021 NeRD

A new analysis of old data suggests that some of our sister planet’s unique surface formations are due to a “squishy” crust and an active interior. The post Venus Surface Is Fragmented Like “Pack Ice” appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Space Station Transits the Sun

June 28, 2021 NeRD

This composite image made from seven frames shows the International Space Station, with a crew of seven onboard, in silhouette as it transits the Sun.

Hear the 1st sounds on Mars from China’s Zhurong rover and watch it drive in new video

June 27, 2021 NeRD

China’s first Mars rover has captured its first sounds of the Red Planet and beamed back stunning views of a drive on the dusty world. A new video released by China’s state-run CCTV news channel today (June 27) shows the first sounds recorded by the Mars rover Zhurong as it drove off its Tianwen-1 lander and onto the Martian surface on May 22. It also includes stunning video of Zhurong driving on Mars captured by stitching together images from a small camera deployed the rover. “In fact the sounds were…

Lego unveils epic Imperial Light Cruiser and more new Star Wars Mandalorian sets coming in August

June 27, 2021 NeRD

Three new Lego Star Wars spaceships were unveiled Saturday (June 26) at the first-ever Lego Con, held online and livestreamed from the toy giant’s hometown of Billund, Denmark. The newly released “Star Wars” sets include an epic hero set in the Imperial Light Cruiser, an Imperial Armored Marauder and legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett’s Starship, all tied to the Disney Plus hit series “The Mandalorian.” All three sets will be available Aug. 1 at Lego.com and at participating stores. Here’s what we know about them so far. Related: The best…

‘Observation’ video game shows how an AI solves problems in space

June 27, 2021 NeRD

[embedded content] Summer is here and may come some free time explore space in game form and one that caught our eye recently explores how a fictional artificial intelligence (AI) solves problems in space. So, naturally, we couldn’t wait to launch right into it. The game, “Observation,” developed by No Code and published by Devolver Digital, was released for a few platforms in 2019 and expanded to Microsoft Xbox last year. Unusually for space games, you play as the AI and attempt to help an astronaut who is facing a…

Mysterious flashes of radio light come in two ‘flavors,’ new survey finds

June 26, 2021 NeRD

Every two minutes, a mysterious flash of radio light explodes somewhere in the sky and fades back into darkness within a matter of milliseconds. Astronomers first noticed the bursts in data archived from 2007 and have spent the decade or so since carefully stockpiling examples of the fast radio bursts, or FRBs, looking for patterns that might reveal their origins. Now, they have a whopping 500 new bursts to study. On June 9, an international research collaboration released the first FRB catalog from the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME)…

Barbarella will launch on wild space adventures in new Dynamite comic series

June 26, 2021 NeRD

The 1968 psychedelic space opera, “Barbarella,” was best known for a scantily-clad Jane Fonda in the starring role. It’s the perfect example of excessive, Euro-style sci-fi flicks of the decade, produced by the legendary Dino De Laurentiis and directed by Fonda’s husband, Roger Vadim. “Barbarella” was adapted from a popular French comic book created by Jean-Claude Forest, with this sexy cult movie chronicling the exploits of a sultry 41st-century space agent and her mission to rescue a villainous scientist named Dr. Durand Durand. Now the sensual siren of space is…

UFO sightings remain mysterious, US government report says

June 26, 2021 NeRD

The U.S. government needs some more time to get to the bottom of the UFO mystery. That’s the main take-home message from the highly anticipated UFO report released Friday (June 25) by the Pentagon and the U.S. director of national intelligence. “The limited amount of high-quality reporting on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) hampers our ability to draw firm conclusions about the nature or intent of UAP,” the report’s executive summary states, using the military’s now-preferred term for “UFO” (presumably because that older acronym has a lot of baggage attached to…

NASA Awards Global Information Technology, Communications Contract

June 25, 2021 NeRD

NASA has awarded a new, agencywide information technology and communications services contract for Advanced Enterprise Global Information Technology Solutions (AEGIS) to Leidos Inc. of Reston, Virginia.