Day: January 29, 2025

SpaceX Starlink satellite sparks brilliant fireball as it falls from space over US (videos)

NeRD

A SpaceX Starlink internet satellite fell from space in a blaze of glory overnight, lighting up the Midwest U.S. sky with a brilliant fireball. Stargazers across parts of Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois witnessed the Starlink satellite’s fiery demise as it burned up in Earth’s atmosphere late Tuesday (Jan. 28) and were quick to share videos of the sight. “WOAH. Something big just broke apart over Northern Illinois. What a sight!” a skywatcher with the username boinksi wrote on the social media site X. A video with the post shows a…

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NASA X-ray telescope Chandra discovers black holes ‘blow’ on their food to cool it down

NeRD

Anyone who has experienced the blistering pain associated with biting into a fresh apple pastry or taking a swig of hot coffee can attest to the importance of blowing on your food or drink before introducing it to your mouth. It turns out that black holes may perform the cosmic equivalent of this routine, “blowing” on blistering hot matter before they gobble it down. This supermassive black hole-food cooling process was discovered by astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray telescope and the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to observe some of the…

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Watch a SpaceX rocket launch the next-gen SpainSat NG 1 satellite into orbit tonight

NeRD

SpaceX is set to launch a next-generation Spanish communications satellite tonight (Jan. 29) and you can watch it live online. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying SpainSat Next Generation 1 (SpainSat NG 1), a communications satellite for the European Space Agency (ESA) and Hisdesat communications, is scheduled to lift off from Pad 39A of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a two-hour window that opens at 8:34 p.m. EST (0134 GMT on Jan. 30). SpaceX will webcast the launch live beginning about 15 minutes prior to liftoff, which you can…

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NASA Invites Media to Discuss PUNCH Mission to Study Solar Wind

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Caption: Illustration of the four PUNCH spacecraft in low Earth orbit. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab NASA will hold a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Feb. 4, to share information about the agency’s upcoming PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission, which is targeted to launch no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 27. The agency’s PUNCH mission is a constellation of four small satellites. When they arrive in low Earth orbit, the satellites will make global, 3D observations of the Sun’s outer…

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Geyser Season on Mars

NeRD

Springtime in the South Polar region of Mars is a season of exciting activity. The thick coating of carbon dioxide ice that accumulated over the winter begins to sublimate (turn to vapor) as the sun rises higher in the sky and warms the ice. Sunlight penetrates through the transparent ice, and is absorbed at the base of the ice layer. The gas that forms as a result of the warming escapes through weaknesses in the ice and erupts in the form of magnificent geysers of gas and dust.

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NASA, Partners to Welcome Fourth Axiom Space Mission to Space Station

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The Axiom Mission 4, or Ax-4, crew will launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than Spring 2025. From left to right: Tibor Kapu of Hungary, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland. Credit: SpaceX NASA and its international partners have approved the crew for Axiom Space’s fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, launching from the agency’s Kennedy…

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6 NASA Experiments on Materials, Benefitting Space and Earth

NeRD

A Lysozyme crystal grown in microgravity, viewed under a microscope using X-ray crystallography. NASA Did you know that NASA conducts ground-breaking research in space on materials like metals, foams, and crystals? This research could lead to next-generation technology that both enables deep-space exploration and benefits humanity.   Here are six studies scientists have conducted on the International Space Station that could have profound implications for future space travel and also improve products widely used on Earth:   01 Advancing construction and repairing techniques with liquid metals  Researchers are looking at the effects…

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