Category: Solar System

Our solar system

This Week In Space podcast: Episode 128 —Starliner is Back! What Now?

NeRD

Starliner is Back! What Now? – Can Boeing Compete with SpaceX’s Dragons? – YouTube Watch On On Episode 128 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik talk about what’s going on with Boeing’s Starliner CST-100 spacecraft. Starliner is back and, by all accounts, could have returned with its crew had it been necessary. However, with NASA’s “safety forward” approach prevailing, the spacecraft landed uncrewed on September 6, three months after it docked with the International Space Station. Now, the work begins to try to solve the problems-…

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Super Harvest Moon lunar eclipse: How to watch online for free on Sept. 17

NeRD

A partial lunar eclipse of September’s Super Harvest Moon is coming, and you can watch online for free. On Tuesday (Sept. 17), the Full Harvest Moon will experience a partial lunar eclipse that will be visible for North and South America (except for Alaska), Europe, most of Africa, western Asia, and parts of Antarctica. This eclipse will take place during a “supermoon,” which will make the moon appear slightly larger in the night sky. This occurs when the moon is slightly closer to Earth, which happens because the moon’s orbit is…

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‘We just ran out of time’: Boeing Starliner astronauts on why their spaceship returned to Earth without them

NeRD

Boeing’s Starliner capsule might have been able to finish its mission as planned if time had been on its side. Starliner launched June 5 on its first-ever crewed flight, a trial run that sent NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the International Space Station (ISS). The duo were supposed to live on the orbiting lab for just a week or so, but NASA extended their stay to about three months while studying thruster issues that cropped up during Starliner‘s rendezvous with the ISS. Ultimately, the agency concluded that…

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The best 70s sci-fi movies

NeRD

When it comes to the best 70s sci-fi movies, the decade grabbed the baton passed by the decades that came before and ran away with it, ten-fold. It’s the decade where franchises were born – from deadly xenomorphs to intergalactic adventures and it was also a time where technology offered new possibilities to cinematic endeavors.  While it was a solid decade for filmmaking in general, the sci-fi genre really got a chance to expand to new heights. In the 1970s, directors were given the chance to test out some other-worldly…

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SpaceX’s Starship won’t be licensed to fly again until late November, FAA says

NeRD

SpaceX’s Starship will be grounded for a while longer yet. Starship — the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built — flew for the fourth time in June, and SpaceX has been gearing up for flight number five ever since. But that test mission is probably still at least 2.5 months away, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). “SpaceX must meet all safety, environmental and other licensing requirements prior to FAA launch authorization,” agency officials said in an emailed statement to Space.com on Wednesday (Sept. 11). “A final license…

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Sun fires off X-class solar flare, increasing aurora viewing chances into weekend

NeRD

A parade of solar activity continues to flow from the sun this week, opening up more chances to spot the aurora across the United States this weekend. On Thursday morning (Sept. 12), a sunspot region that has not been numbered yet made its presence known blasting off a X1.3 class solar flare. X-class solar flares are the most powerful of their kind, and are typically followed by a full or partial loss of high frequency (HF) radio signals for sunlit locations on our planet. The energetic eruption, which peaked at…

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SpaceX’s private Polaris Dawn astronauts talk US flag and kids’ books from orbit on historic spaceflight (videos)

NeRD

The private Polaris Dawn crew called home from space to share their historic mission with two nonprofit organizations close to their hearts. Polaris Dawn, funded and commanded by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, lifted off early Tuesday morning (Sept. 10) and has since accomplished the first commercial spacewalk and the highest orbit of a crewed vehicle since the Apollo years. But Isaacman and his crew also are supporting nonprofits through fundraising and public events to raise awareness. As an example, the four astronauts unveiled the U.S. flag in their SpaceX Crew…

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Watch SpaceX Polaris Dawn astronauts conduct 1st private spacewalk early Sept. 12

NeRD

The first-ever private spacewalk will happen early Thursday morning (Sept. 12), and you can watch the historic action live. The pioneering extravehicular activity (EVA) will be conducted by Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis, two members of the four-person Polaris Dawn mission, which launched to Earth orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket early Tuesday morning (Sept. 10). The spacewalk is expected to start at 2:23 a.m. EDT (0623 GMT), according to SpaceX. You can watch it live here at Space.com or directly via the company. Coverage will begin around 1:20…

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NASA’s Voyager 1 probe swaps thrusters in tricky fix as it flies through interstellar space

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The distant and cold Voyager 1 spacecraft did a clever thruster trick to help it phone home. Voyager 1, the most distant human object that is now flying through interstellar space, had thruster issues making it difficult for the spacecraft to stay pointed at Earth when calling home. Unless Voyager 1 could make a switch to a different thruster set, the 47-year-old spacecraft would sail on alone without help from Earth. Making matters worse, Voyager 1 is so old that sudden changes could damage the spacecraft. “All the decisions we…

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NASA’s Juno probe spots massive new volcano on Jupiter moon Io

NeRD

Researchers have spotted a huge new active volcano on Jupiter’s moon Io by comparing images taken by two NASA missions more than a quarter of a century apart. The images of the new volcano were taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft and its JunoCam as it made a flyby of Io — the solar system’s most volcanic body — on Feb. 3 this year. The images were captured on the nightside of Io, illuminated only by reflected sunlight from Jupiter.  Comparison with Galileo spacecraft imagery of the same area, just south…

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