Category: The Moon

Our moon

SpaceX rolls out Super Heavy rocket for Starship Flight 6 test launch (photos)

NeRD

SpaceX is deep into planning for its newest Starship launch. Super Heavy, the first stage of the rocket that hefts Starship into space, was moved to a Starbase pad for testing ahead of the planned sixth flight of the next generation space system, SpaceX officials stated on Tuesday (Oct. 22). (Starbase is the location in south Texas where Starship launches are performed.) “Flight 6 Super Heavy booster moved to the Starbase pad for testing,” SpaceX representatives wrote on X, formerly Twitter, noting they had only just returned the last Super…

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‘Futurama’ creator Matt Groening says ‘great episodes in the works’ for upcoming Season 13

NeRD

Good news everyone! Hulu’s “Futurama” Season 12 just wrapped up its weird and wacky run of 10 episodes on Sept. 30 and fans of Fry, Leela, Bender, Professor Farnsworth and their memorable 31st century misadventures are eager for more crazy cosmic missions. This past Sunday at New York Comic Con, “Futurama” faithful packed the house to honor the 25th anniversary of the animated sci-fi series created by “The Simpsons’” Matt Groening and David X. Cohen and to glean info on what to look forward to when Season 13 lands back…

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Headless ‘Halloween comet’ could already be doomed

NeRD

The latest update concerning “the other comet” of October 2024 — Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) — is that it continues on target to completely disintegrate before it sweeps around the sun early next Monday.  Back on Oct. 10, Space.com published an article indicating that this comet — which belongs to the Kreutz family of sungrazing comets — was in the process of disintegration and would likely not develop into an eye-catching object like its early October predecessor, Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS.  However, an online story published this past Monday evening (Oct. 21)…

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James Webb Space Telescope sees lonely supermassive black hole-powered quasars in the early universe

NeRD

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have peered back 13 billion years to discover surprisingly lonely supermassive black hole-powered quasars.  The James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) observations are confusing because isolated black holes should struggle to gather enough mass to reach supermassive status, especially just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. The discovery further muddies the waters when it comes to the puzzle of how some black holes grew to masses equivalent to millions or even billions of suns when the universe was less than a…

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SpaceX’s Starlink internet flies on a Boeing 777 jet for the 1st time

NeRD

SpaceX’s Starlink internet service continues to make inroads around the globe. Starlink provided Wi-Fi on a Boeing 777 jet for the first time today (Oct. 22), during a Qatar Airways flight from the Qatari capital of Doha to London. The 777 is the “largest and longest-range passenger aircraft equipped with Starlink to date,” SpaceX representatives said in an emailed statement today. #QatarAirways launches the world’s first Boeing 777 Starlink-equipped flight. @StarlinkWe are proud to be the airline that leads the way, setting new standards in the airline industry. ✈️#QatarAirwaysStarlink pic.twitter.com/347ZnclANbOctober…

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SpaceX to launch 23 Starlink broadband satellites from Florida on Oct. 23

NeRD

SpaceX plans to launch 23 more of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida’s Space Coast on Wednesday evening (Oct. 23). A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 23 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station tonight, during a 3.5-hour window that opens at 5:47 p.m. EDT (2147 GMT). SpaceX had been targeting Tuesday (Oct. 22) but called that try off due to weather concerns. SpaceX will livestream the launch on X, beginning about five minutes before liftoff. If all goes according to plan, the Falcon…

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What happens when black holes merge?

NeRD

Black hole mergers are beautiful — and some of the most violent events in the cosmos. Here’s how the process unfolds. The story begins with two black holes orbiting far from each other in long, lazy circles. They could have been born as a binary pair of stars, or they may have just randomly encountered each other in the depths of interstellar space. Either way, to merge, they must get close, which means losing a lot of orbital energy. The first step in stealing energy from the system is through…

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Matthew McConaughey introduces the monstrous Mara-Yama in creepy new ‘Exodus’ trailer (video)

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NEW EXODUS CINEMATIC — ‘The Mara Yama’ Reveal Trailer – YouTube Watch On “Do you know what fear is?  The Mara-Yama do.” “Exodus,” Archetype Entertainment’s expansive sci-fi RPG, could be 2025’s most sought-after gaming title. A new cinematic trailer for it, narrated by Matthew McConaughey, was just unleashed this week — and it might be the single most unsettling teaser you’ll see all year. The hideously deformed alien creatures, which were once human beings, in their odd arkship evoke a hellish air of Lovercraftian cosmic dread that viewers will not…

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Most of Earth’s meteorites may have come from the same 3 spots

NeRD

Earth is constantly getting pummeled by meteorites. We are unaware of most of them, as they burn up in our atmosphere before they hit the ground. Every now and again, though, something larger gets drawn into Earth’s gravitational field —  and when this happens, it usually spells bad news for any life living on our planet’s surface.  Scientists know that the vast majority of meteorites that come crashing down to Earth originate from the solar system‘s main asteroid belt: a region between Mars and Jupiter where irregularly shaped rocks left…

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Remote-control robots could help humanity explore the moon and Mars

NeRD

Teleoperated rovers could soon be working on the moon, with human controllers on Earth manipulating the rovers’ tools virtually, allowing for greater dexterity when taking samples, digging or assembling. Researchers from the robotics laboratory at the University of Bristol in England have tested their new teleoperations system at the European Space Agency‘s (ESA) European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications at Harwell in Oxfordshire. By controlling a virtual simulation of a rover, they were able to manipulate a robotic arm to dig a sample of pretend lunar regolith (called simulant).…

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