Month: May 2023

New technique could probe the heart of powerful solar storms

NeRD

Scientists may have found a way to investigate the curious processes that accelerate solar particles to tremendous speeds. Solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) — huge eruptions of superheated plasma — are two of the most energetic processes seen in the solar system.  Earth’s magnetic field protects us from the most extreme consequences of these solar storms, but powerful flares and CMEs can still disrupt our lives. For example, Earth-directed CMEs can spawn geomagnetic storms that disrupt power grids and communication networks. (It’s not all bad, however; such outbursts…

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SpaceX’s Dragon reentry and splashdown with Ax-2 astronauts looks amazing in these nighttime photos and videos

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SpaceX’s Dragon capsule Freedom splashed down off the Florida coast late Tuesday night (May 30), wrapping up the Ax-2 private astronaut mission. Freedom’s return to Earth was quite a sight, as footage posted on Twitter shows. For example, Stephanie Ivison shared a video of the capsule carving a bright orange slice into the skies above Oklahoma as it headed toward the Gulf of Mexico. “Just streaked across the sky in Tulsa at about 9:55pm. Looks like something re-entering the atmosphere. Pretty neat!” Ivison wrote. Related: Private Ax-2 astronauts get warm…

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Japan has a wild idea to launch a satellite made of wood in 2024

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A team of researchers want to put a wooden satellite into orbit. It’s not as outrageous as you might think. Results from a recent test aboard the International Space Station (ISS), which exposed different woods to the vacuum of space, have been confirmed by the project’s research team at Kyoto University, in Japan. Sure enough, the findings indicated that wood is remarkably resilient even in the environment of outer space. “Despite the extreme environment of outer space involving significant temperature changes and exposure to intense cosmic rays and dangerous solar…

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Watch China’s Shenzhou 16 astronauts enter Tiangong space station (video)

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China’s latest crew of three astronauts is now aboard the country’s Tiangong space station. The trio, the crew of the Shenzhou 16 mission, launched on a Long March 2F rocket from Jiuquan spaceport in the Gobi Desert at 9:31 p.m. EDT on May 29 (0131 GMT and 9:31 p.m. local time on May 30).  The Shenzhou 16 spacecraft completed a fast automated rendezvous and docking with Tiangong at 4:29 a.m. on May 30 (0829 GMT or 4:29 p.m. Beijing time), docking with the radial port of the station’s Tianhe core…

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Watch SpaceX launch 52 Starlink satellites to orbit early Wednesday

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SpaceX plans to launch 52 more of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit early Wednesday morning (May 31), and you can watch the action live. A Falcon 9 rocket topped with the 52 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base on Wednesday at 2:02 a.m. EDT (0602 GMT; 11:02 p.m. on May 30 local California time). Watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly via the company. Coverage is expected to begin about five minutes before launch.  Related: Starlink satellite train:…

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Watch SpaceX Dragon carrying private Ax-2 astronauts return to Earth tonight

NeRD

The four astronauts of the private Ax-2 mission are scheduled to return to Earth in their SpaceX Dragon capsule tonight (May 30), and you can watch it live. That Dragon, named Freedom, undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) today at 11:05 a.m. EDT (1505 GMT), ending an eight-day stay at the orbiting lab. Freedom is now making its way back to Earth, a 12-hour trip that will culminate with a splashdown off the Florida coast at about 11:04 p.m. EDT tonight (0304 GMT on May 31). You can watch…

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