Category: Solar System

Our solar system

Rocket Lab’s Mars probes reach launch site ahead of 1st flight on Blue Origin New Glenn rocket (photos)

NeRD

Two Mars-bound smallsats that will fly on the highly anticipated debut of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket have arrived at their launch site in Florida. The satellite duo, known as ESCAPADE (“Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers”), are set to launch atop New Glenn no earlier than Oct. 13 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. They’ll arrive in Mars orbit in September 2025, on a NASA mission to study how incoming charged particles from the sun interact with and alter the planet’s magnetic environment.  The two coordinated…

Read More

This Week In Space podcast: Episode 126 —Danger! Rogue Planets!

NeRD

On Episode 126 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik talk with Rosalba Perna about errant planets. As if election season wasn’t scary enough, now we have rogue planets to worry about! Out in the vast darkness between star systems, these worlds wander through the interstellar void, sometimes in pairs, and when they encounter a solar system, havoc can result. Add to the fact that they are hard to see, and you have a recipe for worry.  Fortunately, we have astrophysicists like Dr. Rosalba Perna on the…

Read More

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket can return to flight, FAA says

NeRD

Well, that was quick. SpaceX can resume flying its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced this evening (Aug. 30). The news comes just two days after a Falcon 9 first stage crashed while attempting to land after a successful launch of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband satellites, spurring an investigation overseen by the FAA. That investigation is ongoing, but the agency has un-grounded the Falcon 9 nonetheless. “The SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle may return to flight operations while the overall investigation of the anomaly during the Starlink Group…

Read More

No, NASA’s DART asteroid impact probably won’t spark meteor showers on Earth — but maybe on Mars

NeRD

Debris from the impact of NASA’s DART spacecraft with the asteroid Dimorphos could reach Earth and Mars, astronomers have concluded. However, while the debris could result in meteors on Mars, it is rather unlikely we’ll see a meteor shower on Earth. DART, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, slammed into Dimorphos on Sept. 26, 2022, with the intention of testing whether a kinetic impact could nudge the orbit of a potentially hazardous asteroid away from Earth one day. The test passed with flying colors: Dimorphos was pushed into a shorter orbit…

Read More

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ has a sneaky Canadarm robot arm cameo at the end of time — but blink and you’ll miss it

NeRD

Canada’s famous robotic space arm just made a cameo on the silver screen. The iconic Canadarm briefly appears in the new film “Deadpool & Wolverine” — but not in space as you might expect. Instead, the space shuttle hardware shows up in a scene on the ground next to an unnamed villain, and bearing a big magnet on one of its ends. We won’t talk about why the arm is there because, you know, spoilers. But you can check the space arm in action quickly in the trailer. The maple-leaf-festooned Easter…

Read More

New record: Blue Origin launches youngest woman beyond Kármán line

NeRD

Blue Origin set a new record on its latest space tourism flight. That mission, called NS-26, sent six people to suborbital space and back this morning (Aug. 29) from Blue Origin‘s West Texas spaceport, reaching a maximum altitude of 64.6 miles (104 kilometers) above ground level. One of them was Karsen Kitchen, a 21-year-old student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). According to Blue Origin, Kitchen is the youngest woman ever to cross the Kármán line, the 62-mile-high (100 km) boundary that many people regard as…

Read More

Private astronauts of Polaris Dawn mission patiently await SpaceX launch amid multiple delays

NeRD

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The four astronauts of SpaceX’s private Polaris Dawn mission that will perform the first commercial spacewalk are taking delays to their launch in stride. The mission was initially slated to launch Aug. 27, but was delayed to Aug. 28 due to technical issues. Polaris Dawn was then postponed two more days, to no earlier than Friday, Aug. 30, due to splashdown weather concerns for the end of the mission. Now, the launch depends upon the completion of a mishap investigation required by the Federal Aviation Administration,…

Read More

Netflix’s ‘Terminator Zero’ restores faith in an ailing sci-fi franchise (review)

NeRD

Warning: Mild spoilers ahead! Watching Arnold Schwarzenegger plucking out his cybernetic eyeball in director James Cameron’s 1984 sci-fi classic “The Terminator” would tend to have a traumatic effect on any youngster seeing the film on a grainy VHS copy in the ’90s. That’s exactly what happened to “Terminator Zero’s” writer, creator and showrunner Mattson Tomlin when he was just eight years old. This new adult animated series from Netflix is that timely Terminator-centric project that fans have been praying for after suffering through the last two sequels, “Terminator Genisys” and…

Read More

Astronaut John McFall carries Paralympic flag at opening ceremony Aug. 28

NeRD

Astronaut John McFall returned to the Paralympics today (Aug. 28) to carry the games’ official flag in the opening ceremony in Paris. McFall earned a bronze in the Paralympics Games in 2008, competing in the men’s T42 100-meter race in Beijing. Today McFall has a different career, involving considerable medical expertise and participating in the European Space Agency as a reserve astronaut. “I am truly honored to be standing here today, as a Paralympian and a member of the astronaut reserve with a physical disability,” McFall said in a statement.…

Read More

FAA requires investigation into SpaceX Falcon 9 landing failure

NeRD

SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket has been grounded, at least for a little while. A Falcon 9 successfully launched 21 of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites this morning (Aug. 28), sending them to orbit on the record-breaking 23rd mission for the rocket’s first stage. That booster encountered a problem during its return to Earth, however, toppling over shortly after landing at sea on a SpaceX droneship. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced today that it’s requiring an investigation into the failed touchdown — and that the Falcon 9 won’t fly again until…

Read More