Month: September 2022

It’s not just rocket science — hidden chemistry powers moon launches and sustains life in space

NeRD

This article was originally published at The Conversation. (opens in new tab) The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Curtis Ho (opens in new tab), Lecturer in Chemistry, University of Tasmania Many around the world will watch eagerly this Saturday as NASA launches Artemis 1 (opens in new tab), the agency’s first moon exploration mission since the 1970s. The spectacle involves the most powerful rocket in the world: the Space Launch System (SLS). Standing at nearly 330 feet (100 meters) tall and weighing more than 2,900 tons (2,600 tonnes), the…

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Solar Orbiter to look at Venus’ magnetic field as it swings by the planet

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The sun-studying Solar Orbiter spacecraft will swing by Venus on Saturday (Sept. 3) and gather bonus observations of our neighbor planet’s mysterious magnetic field. The Solar Orbiter mission, led by the European Space Agency (ESA), is already capturing the closest-ever images of the sun. Throughout its lifetime, the probe uses the gravity of Venus to adjust its orbit and sneak closer to our star. These regular swings past the hot and scorching planet also enable Solar Orbiter to look at the mysterious magnetic field of Earth’s planetary sister.  Today’s flyby…

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Artemis 1 moon mission is ‘go’ for Saturday launch, NASA says

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It’s official: NASA will indeed try to launch its Artemis 1 moon mission this weekend. After a meeting today (Sept. 1), the Artemis 1 team gave the go-ahead to proceed with a liftoff attempt on Saturday (Sept. 3) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The highly anticipated launch is scheduled to occur during a two-hour window that opens at 2:17 p.m. EDT (1817 GMT); you can watch it live here at Space.com when the time comes. “There’s no guarantee that we’re going to get off on Saturday, but we’re…

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The best sci-fi movies and TV shows to stream on Netflix in September

NeRD

So that you don’t have to spend hours searching through thousands of movies, some good, some bad and everything in-between, we’ve compiled a list of the best science-fiction movies and television shows currently on Netflix (opens in new tab).    Today’s best Netflix deals (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) View Deal (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) Movies 1. The Adam Project Synopsis: 13-year-old Adam Reed, still grieving the sudden death of his father a year earlier, walks into his garage…

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Chinese nuclear reactor proposal could power 10 International Space Stations

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China is moving forward on nuclear power in space. China’s Ministry of Science and Technology approved a space nuclear reactor project aiming to generate a megawatt of electricity, according to SpaceNews (opens in new tab).  That’s enough space power to keep the equivalent of 10 International Space Stations going, according to a NASA estimate (opens in new tab) showing the complex receives 120 kilowatts of electrical power at most. The media outlets cited by SpaceNews have not explained why China is looking for such a powerful reactor, nor released any…

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