Category: Solar System

Our solar system

Keep the lines of communication open by building your own infrared transmitter

NeRD

(Image credit: Future) The idea of being in a remote location, unable to communicate with civilization, is foreign to most people. With cell phones, Wi-Fi, and radio readily available to us, we hardly think about how difficult it would be to communicate over long distances without them. But that could be a reality for members of the United States Space Force in the future.  What do you do when your ability to communicate is hindered? In the second episode of the Space Force STEM Challenge, we show you how to…

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NASA is holding a total eclipse 2024 briefing tomorrow. Here’s how to watch it live

NeRD

On April 8, a total solar eclipse will sweep across North America. The path of totality — a 115-mile (185-kilometer) wide route where the moon will cover 100% of the sun‘s disk — stretches through Mexico, 15 U.S. States and Canada. It is shaping up to be one of the most watched total solar eclipses ever with over 31 million people living within the path of totality alone. With all the juiced-up anticipation for the celestial event, there is a huge amount of pressure to get “E-day” just right. The…

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Drilling for water ice on Mars: How close are we to making it happen?

NeRD

Things are looking up for digging deep on Mars. Progress is palpable on how best to extract subsurface ice to generate drinkable water, rocket fuel and other useful resources on the Red Planet. But boring down from the topside of Mars to reach available icy reservoirs is no slam dunk. Tackling that challenge is the company Honeybee Robotics, which calls its approach the RedWater concept.  Related: Mars ice deposits could pave the way for human exploration Dual purposes  Honeybee Robotics’ ice drilling hardware for Mars encompasses coiled tubing and the…

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Astronauts’ mementos packed on Boeing Starliner for crew flight test

NeRD

A NASA astronaut who had the honor of naming her spacecraft will fly items inspired by that name when she launches to the International Space Station next month. Sunita “Suni” Williams, who is set to fly with fellow NASA astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore on Boeing’s first Crew Flight Test (CFT) of its CST-100 Starliner capsule, will reveal the “Calypso”-related items once she is in orbit. “A little homage to other explorers and the ships they rode on, I think we are going to call her ‘Calypso,’” said Williams in 2019,…

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‘Spaceman’ director Johan Renck on making a romantic sci-fi fable (exclusive)

NeRD

It’s not easy to be truly original in today’s “go along to get along” world, but rebellious Swedish filmmaker Johan Renck (“Chernobyl”) has achieved that rare designation by composing a transcendent fable in the new Netflix film, “Spaceman.” Starring Adam Sandler, Paul Dano as the voice of the ancient arachnid creature named Hanuš, Carey Mulligan, and Isabella Rossellini, “Spaceman” had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival last week and will now launch onto Netflix starting on Mar. 1, 2024. Here Sandler portrays Jakub, a lonely Czech cosmonaut…

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Massive explosions may be visible on the sun during the April 8 total solar eclipse

NeRD

If you’re in the path of totality for the April 8 total solar eclipse, you’ll experience a brief period of darkness — totality — for a few seconds or minutes. This is the only safe time to look directly at the sun without solar eclipse glasses. If you observe the sun‘s corona during totality, you may see dark-pink towers and loops of electrically charged plasma stretching many times the diameter of Earth into space. During the last total solar eclipse, in Australia on April 20, 2023, these “prominences” were spectacular…

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Satellites watch Iceland volcano spew gigantic plume of toxic gas across Europe

NeRD

Scientists are tracking a massive plume of toxic gas moving across northern Europe that was spat out by the ongoing volcanic eruption in Iceland. The gas cloud is unlikely to cause any serious health problems. However, it could impact the ozone hole above the Arctic, experts warn. On March 16, an underground volcano in Icealnd’s Reykjanes Peninsula blew its top for the fourth time in as many months, opening up the largest fissure of the current eruption cycle and unleashing a massive lava flow that narrowly missed the evacuated town of Grindavík. There…

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Flight attendant becomes 1st Belarusian woman in space on ISS-bound Soyuz launch

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For the first time, a spacecraft has lifted off with a flight attendant aboard, but there will be no drink service during the flight. Marina Vasilevskaya, who also served as a flight instructor for Belavia Airlines in her home country of Belarus, traded her attendant uniform for a Russian Sokol pressure suit to become the first Belarusian woman to fly into space. On Saturday (March 23), she launched on Russia’s Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft with cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky of Roscosmos and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson on a mission to the…

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Watch shock waves ripple from SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket during 3rd test flight (video)

NeRD

The incredible power SpaceX’s Starship megarocket can be visualized in a new video of the rocket’s third test flight.  On March 14, SpaceX’s massive Starship vehicle — the world’s largest and most powerful rocket — lifted off from the company’s manufacturing and test launch facilities near Boca Chica Beach at 9:25 a.m. EDT (1325 GMT). During the launch, shock waves propagate from the rocket in a stunning new slow motion video.  Large clouds of smoke billowed out around the two-stage spacecraft, consisting of the reusable Starship cruise vessel mounted atop…

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Texas Eclipse Festival offers a ‘choose your own adventure experience’ for April total solar eclipse

NeRD

On April 8, 2024, a range of cities from Texas through Ohio and up to Maine will be in the direct path of experiencing a total solar eclipse. But instead of just having one day to take in the historic minutes while the sky goes dark, one festival will span for multiple days in Central Texas.  What organizers are calling a “celestial creation,” the Texas Eclipse Festival at Reveille Peak Ranch in Burnet will be an entire experience where you will not just watch the total solar eclipse in the…

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