Month: January 2022

A physics problem that has plagued science since the days of Isaac Newton is closer to being solved, say a pair of Israeli researchers. The duo used “the drunkard’s walk” to calculate the outcome of a cosmic dance between three massive objects, or the so-called three-body problem. For physicists, predicting the motion of two massive objects, like a pair of stars, is a piece of cake. But when a third object enters the picture, the problem becomes unsolvable. That’s because when two massive objects get close to each other, their…

This illustration shows the diamond rain on Neptune.  (Image credit: Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory) The ice giants Uranus and Neptune don’t get nearly enough press; all the attention goes to their larger siblings, mighty Jupiter and magnificent Saturn.  At first glance, Uranus and Neptune are just bland, boring balls of uninteresting molecules. But hiding beneath the outer layers of those worlds, there may be something spectacular: a constant rain of diamonds. Related: Icy planets’ diamond rain created in laser laboratory “ice giants” may conjure the image of a Tolkien-esque…

HOUSTON — One month after being announced to the world, NASA’s ten new astronaut candidates are reporting to work to begin two years of training. The four women and six men, who were chosen from a pool of more than 12,000 applicants, are starting their new careers as future space station crew members and possible moonwalkers on Monday (Jan. 10). They are NASA’s 23rd class of trainees and the 22nd to based at Johnson Space Center in Houston since 1962. “NASA’s Johnson Space Center is the home of our nation’s…

A large robotic arm on China’s space station has successfully grasped and maneuvered a cargo spacecraft in a crucial test ahead of upcoming module launches. The 33-foot-long (10 meters) robotic arm on the Tianhe module of China’s new Tiangong space station took hold of the Tianzhou 2 supply ship and moved it around 20 degrees, before returning it to the forward port on Tianhe’s docking hub.  The 47-minute operation began at 5:12 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Jan. 5 (2212 UTC, 6:12 am Beijing time Jan. 6) to test the procedures…

Work for the James Webb Space Telescope is just beginning. On Saturday (Jan. 8), the new observatory, the largest space telescope ever built, successfully unfolded its final primary mirror segment to cap what NASA has billed as one of its most complicated deployments in space ever. The Webb mission team is now turning its attention to directing the telescope to its final destination, while getting key parts of the observatory online for its astronomy work. Webb is expected to arrive at its “insertion location” by Jan. 23, putting it in…

Dr. Michaela Musilova is the director of Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) program, which conducts analog missions to the moon and Mars for scientific research at a habitat on the volcano Mauna Loa. She commanded the two-week Selene V lunar mission and contributed this report to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Commander’s report for the Selene V moon mission at HI-SEAS Lunar Day 14 (April 13, 2021) Our luck ran out. I was thinking this a couple of days ago, when I was alone and underground in…