Category: Solar System

Our solar system

Explore an Apollo-era mission gone wrong in sci-fi mystery game ‘Lifeless Moon’ (video)

NeRD

Lifeless Moon – Launch Trailer – YouTube Watch On With an eerie “The Twilight Zone” vibe and surreal cosmic elements, Stage 2 Studios and Serenity Forge’s sci-fi video game called “Lifeless Moon” has arrived and we’ve got the odd launch trailer to share that highlights its immersive old-school storyline. It’s appears to be a trippy 3D action adventure release designed with platform stages that combine logic and puzzle-solving skills, where a pair of Apollo-era astronauts encounter a strangely familiar desert town during a dream-like expedition to the Moon.  “Lifeless Moon”…

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Signs of life could survive on solar system moons Enceladus and Europa

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If life exists on the icy ocean moons of Enceladus and Europa, detectable trace molecules could survive just below their frozen surfaces.  Scientists have long theorized that both Enceladus, one of Saturn’s 146 known moons, and Europa, one of Jupiter‘s four large Galilean moons among its total 95 moons, could host vast liquid water oceans that harbor life. If this is the case, then complex organic molecules like amino acids and nucleic acids, the building blocks of life as we know it, could serve as “biosignatures” of life on the…

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New ‘Star Trek’ novel calls back Dr. Gillian Taylor of ‘Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home’

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New York Times bestselling novelist Greg Cox is a household name within the Trekkie literary community who’s penned dozens of “Star Trek” universe novels and short stories over the years. Now he’s back with “Star Trek: The Original Series: Lost to Eternity,” a new 400-page trifecta of “Star Trek” movie-era tales arriving July 23, 2024, tied together with the common theme of an ancient extraterrestrial civilization and the reappearance of a fan favorite character from “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.” Remember the sassy, pizza loving whale biologist named Dr.…

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United Nations marks Apollo 11 55th with international moon missions stamps

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Photos of the moon captured by American, Russian, European, Japanese, Indian, Korean and Chinese spacecraft are the subject of new United Nations (UN) postage stamps commemorating the 55th anniversary of the NASA‘s Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. The UN Postal Administration (UNPA) will release six se-tenant postage stamps and three souvenir sheets on Saturday (July 20) to celebrate International Moon Day. Since 2021, the UN has recognized the day that astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon “to raise awareness about the commitment to sustainable lunar exploration…

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This Week In Space podcast: Episode 120 —Remembering Apollo 11 & Looking Ahead

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Remembering Apollo 11 & Looking Ahead – Plus Artemis II and Starship 5 – YouTube Watch On On Episode 120 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik dive into the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, discussing the mission’s highlights, challenges, and historical significance. They also cover recent space news, including Elon Musk’s plans to move SpaceX‘s headquarters to Texas, the Falcon 9 upper stage failure, and the cancellation of NASA‘s VIPER rover mission. Looking ahead, the hosts speculate on the future of the Artemis…

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What became of the flags Apollo astronauts left on the moon?

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55 years ago today, Apollo 11’s flag raising on the ancient lunar surface took all of 10 minutes during Neil Armstrong’s and Buzz Aldrin’s two-and-a-half hour moonwalking adventure in July 1969.  But that seminal event in vexillological history was not without a lot of debate, discussion and early worries that were run up the policy flagpole about “who owns the moon?” (Vexillology is the study of the history, symbolism and usage of flags.) Matthew Ward is a senior lecturer in history at the University of Dundee in Scotland. He notes…

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Polaris Dawn crew shows off new SpaceX spacesuits for 1st private spacewalk (photos)

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This first ever private spacewalk will be bringing some serious style to outer space. SpaceX‘s privately-funded crewed mission, Polaris Dawn, is moving toward a launch sometime this summer. The four-person crew, which includes the mission’s funder, billionaire philanthropist Jared Isaacman, recently completed acceptance testing for SpaceX’s new extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits, which they will wear as they become the first private citizens to perform a spacewalk on orbit. In addition to Isaacman, the crew includes two lead operations engineers at SpaceX, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, serving as mission specialists,…

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NASA delays ISS spacewalks indefinitely to investigate spacesuit coolant leak

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NASA says its next spacewalk will be delayed indefinitely until engineers understand more about what caused a coolant leak on June 24. Tracy Dyson, a NASA astronaut, had a brief spacesuit leak a month ago while still in the hatch of the International Space Station (ISS). She and Mike Barrett had just opened the door for a 6.5-hour spacewalk for maintenance activities, when showers of ice particles erupted from a spacesuit connection to the ISS. The spacewalk was suspended, but the astronauts were never in any danger, NASA has emphasized.…

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A high-speed particle struck the Gaia space telescope — but Gaia came back stronger than ever

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In the eleventh year of its mission, the European Space Agency (ESA)’s Gaia space telescope has suffered a pair of technical snags. The telescope has spent its time in space precisely measuring the positions and motions of distant stars, offering an immense boon to astronomers. ESA said that Gaia suffered first a puncture from a fast-moving micrometeoroid, then an electronics malfunction. Due to these issues, the telescope began sending its Earthbound operators gigabytes of junk data. “Gaia typically sends over 25 gigabytes of data to Earth every day, but this…

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NASA wants fresh ideas for recycling garbage on the moon

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With crewed Artemis launches on the horizon, NASA is searching for sustainable solutions for waste management during long-term missions on the moon.  An initiative called LunaRecycle, under the space agency’s Centennial Challenges Program, aims to incentivize the design and development of recycling solutions for use on the surface of the moon and/or inside pressurized lunar habitats. The program aims to reduce solid waste streams during long duration lunar missions under the Artemis Program, as well as to improve the sustainability of future space exploration.  “As NASA prepares for future human…

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