Editor’s note: Experts expect the crash did occur as predicted, but are still waiting for visual verification. This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. On March 4, a lonely, spent rocket booster smacked into the surface of the moon at nearly 6,000 mph. Once the dust has settled, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will move into position to get an up-close view of the smoldering crater and hopefully shed some light on the mysterious physics of planetary impacts. As a planetary scientist who studies the moon, I…
Read MoreMonth: March 2022
Sinkholes as big as a skyscraper and as wide as a city street open up in the Arctic seafloor
Repeated surveys with MBARI’s mapping AUVs revealed dramatic changes to seafloor bathymetry from the Arctic shelf edge in the Canadian Beaufort Sea. This sinkhole developed in just nine years. (Image credit: Eve Lundsten © 2022 MBARI) Giant “sinkholes” — one of which could devour an entire city block holding six-story buildings — are appearing along the Arctic seafloor, as submerged permafrost thaws and disturbs the area, scientists have discovered. But even though human-caused climate change is increasing the average temperatures in the Arctic, the thawing permafrost that’s creating these sinkholes…
Read MoreNew Image Reveals Possible Origins of “Odd Radio Circles”
This faint ring of radio emission might signal a momentous event in galactic evolution. Then again, it might be something else entirely. The post New Image Reveals Possible Origins of “Odd Radio Circles” appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MoreOur universe may have a twin that runs backward in time
A wild new theory suggests there may be another “anti-universe,” running backward in time prior to the Big Bang. The idea assumes that the early universe was small, hot and dense — and so uniform that time looks symmetric going backward and forward. If true, the new theory means that dark matter isn’t so mysterious; it’s just a new flavor of a ghostly particle called a neutrino that can only exist in this kind of universe. And the theory implies there would be no need for a period of “inflation” that rapidly expanded the size of…
Read MoreNASA set to launch 2 rockets into the northern lights
A NASA-funded sounding rocket launches into an aurora in the early morning of March 3, 2014, over Venetie, Alaska. NASA will launch a similar small sounding rocket in late March 2022. (Image credit: NASA/Christopher Perry) Researchers plan to launch two rockets into the heart of the northern lights. The launch window for NASA’s Ion-Neutral Coupling during Active Aurora mission opened Wednesday (March 23) and runs through April 1; another window is open from April 3–7. The Wednesday launch was scrubbed due to bad weather. Led by Clemson University astronomer Stephen…
Read MoreSolar Orbiter spacecraft takes its closest look at the sun
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft will make its closest approach to the sun on Saturday (March 26), passing at about one third of the sun-Earth distance. And we can expect some fabulous new record-breaking images to follow soon! The daring European mission (with contribution from NASA), will look at the sun from a distance of “only” 30 million miles (48.3 million km) on Saturday morning at 7:50 a.m. EDT (1150 GMT). Doing that, the probe is set to break its own previous record for the closest images of the sun ever…
Read MoreNASA to Host Briefings, Interviews for Agency’s SpaceX Crew-4 Mission
NASA to Host Briefings, Interviews for Agency’s SpaceX Crew-4 Mission
Read MoreAnnual State of NASA Address, Media Budget Briefing Set for March 28
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will give the 2022 State of NASA address at 2 p.m. EDT on Monday, March 28, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Read MoreSpace Station Science Highlights: Week of March 21, 2022
Crew members aboard the International Space Station conducted scientific investigations during the week of March 21 that included testing a method of producing semiconductor crystals, analysis of how microgravity affects a person’s ability to grip and manipulate objects, and pairing two exterior observatories to respond to celestial events.
Read MoreNASA Astronaut Mark Vande Hei’s Scientific Journey Aboard Station
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei is returning to Earth after living in space for 355 days, the record for the longest single spaceflight by a NASA astronaut.
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