Category: Space Stations

Space stations in orbit or planned

‘America First’ on the moon? US must ‘dominate’ in space, acting NASA chief says during lunar landing

NeRD

As a private lunar lander closed in on the moon early Sunday morning (March 2), poised to make history with the first fully successful landing, NASA’s acting chief Janet Petro was excited. And why not? NASA and its commercial partner Firefly Aerospace were just 24 minutes away from what became the successful landing of the Blue Ghost moon lander on the plain of Mare Crisium — a historic soft landing for a privately built spacecraft. The probe is carrying 10 instruments to study the moon for NASA as the agency’s…

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Pikoy Galaxy Projector review

NeRD

We test all sorts of star projectors, and with so many coming to the market now (thanks to TikTok and Instagram campaigns), it’s hard to know what to choose. Specifications Size: 4.1 x 4.1 x 3.9 inches (105 x 105 x 100 millimeters) Weight: 0.95 pound (430 grams) Laser: Yes, Class 1 Control: On-body, remote control Rotation: Yes Sleep timer: Yes Speaker: Yes (built-in sounds only) Projection surface: Not specified (but large) Although we have compiled a guide of the best star projectors, new models crop up all the time.…

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Is it time to revisit what NASA’s Viking lander found on Mars in 1976?

NeRD

Back in 1976, the dual NASA Viking landers came to full stop on the Red Planet. Their life detection experimental findings still reverberate within the scientific community – fueling the on-going discussion on a key question: Is there life on Mars? Fast forward to today, a new paper tackles and reconsiders the results of the Viking Biology experiments. Perchlorate finding The most significant change since those 1970’s experiments were conducted was the discovery of high levels of perchlorate on Mars. Perchlorate, plus abiotic oxidants, explains the Viking results and there…

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Russian cargo ship docks at space station with science, spacesuit and supplies

NeRD

A new delivery of food, fuel and supplies has arrived at the International Space Station by way of a Russian supply ship. Roscomsos’ Progress MS-30 (or Progress 91, as referred to by NASA) cargo spacecraft autonomously docked to the aft port of the space station’s Zvezda service module on Saturday (March 1) as the two vehicles orbited 260 miles (418 kilometers) over the South Atlantic Ocean. The 6:02 p.m. EST (2302 GMT) link up came two days after the Progress launched from the Baikonur Cosmdrome in Kazakhstan. The uncrewed spacecraft…

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‘I think we all know that hope is fading.’ Private Odin asteroid probe is tumbling in space

NeRD

The world’s first private spaceraft built to visit an asteroid is slowly tumbling in space and the outlook is dire. The spacecraft, called Odin, launched atop a SpaceX rocket on Wednesday (Feb. 26) on a mission to fly by the small asteroid 2022 OB5 for AstroForge, a company that aims to eventually mine the nearby space rock. But just hours after liftoff, Astroforge hit snags with the probe. The last contact was 20 hours after launch. “I think we all know the hope is fading as we continue the mission,”…

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Govee Star Light Projector review

NeRD

We have reviewed countless star projectors and are always excited to see new arrivals in the market. There are literally hundreds of star projectors available, so we keep an eye out for models that have unique or different functionality than those we have reviewed. Specifications Size: ‎6 x 6.3 x 8.6 inches (15.2 x 16 x 21.8 centimeters) Weight: 2.8 pounds (1.3 kilograms) Laser: Yes, Class 2 Control: On-body, app, voice Rotation: Yes Sleep timer: Yes Speaker: Yes Projection surface: 650 square feet (60 square meters) The Govee Star Light…

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US Space Operations Command unveils new motto in head banging video: ‘Always the hunter’

NeRD

US Space Operations Command recently unveiled a new motto: “Semper Venator,” Latin for “Always the hunter.” In a new video featuring a score of crunchy metal guitars and a thumping drumbeat under spacy orchestral notes, the short video begins with a nod to the Orion constellation, named after a hunter from Greek mythology. The rest of the video is a montage of U.S. Space Force members carrying out their duties. The U.S. Space Force was established in 2019. The following year, on Oct. 21, the fledgling military branch activated Space…

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Scientists warn of consequences as over 800 NOAA workers are fired: ‘Censoring science does not change the facts’

NeRD

Scientists warn that the Trump administration’s abrupt firing of hundreds of weather forecasters and climate experts across NOAA will curtail important climate research and could result in preventable deaths during extreme weather events and related disasters. Over 800 employees across most divisions of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — a premier U.S. federal agency at the forefront of climate research that provides timely weather forecasts to the public for free — were dismissed in mass layoffs that began Thursday afternoon (Feb. 27). The cuts targeted probationary employees, a…

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NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic jet clears ‘major hurdle’ ahead of 1st flight (photos)

NeRD

NASA’s experimental X-59 aircraft continues to make progress toward its first flight with a new successful round of testing. The X-59 “quiet” supersonic jet was designed to break the sound barrier without producing the thunderous sonic booms that typically accompany supersonic flight. And based on the results of the vehicle’s latest tests, conducted at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, the X-59 might accomplish that feat soon. NASA and Lockheed Martin, the latter of which built the X-59, recently put the aircraft through electromagnetic interference testing on…

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Private Athena moon lander beams home gorgeous views of Earth from space (photos)

NeRD

A newly launched lunar lander just captured some stunning shots of its home planet. Athena, the second moon lander from Houston-based company Intuitive Machines, launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Space Coast on Wednesday evening (Feb. 26). Shortly after deploying into the final frontier, Athena snapped a few selfies with Earth in the background, including one that shows the Falcon 9‘s upper stage drifting in the void beneath the lander. (Bright specks visible near the rocket stage may be some of the other payloads that launched with…

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