Category: The Moon

Our moon

NASA crew announced for simulated Mars mission next month

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NASA has selected four volunteers to go on a mission to Mars — without actually leaving Earth. The simulated mission to the Red Planet will take place at a habitat created at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston; it will simulate what it would be like for astronauts to live and work on Mars for 45 days. The team includes Jason Lee, Stephanie Navarro, Shareef Al Romaithi and Piyumi Wijesekara. The four will call the agency’s Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) home from May 10 through June 24. Two alternate…

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NASA’s Viper moon rover gets its ‘neck’ and ‘head’ installed for mission later this year

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NASA”s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) has earned its “neck” and “head,” aka its “mast,” meaning it now stands proudly at 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall.  The photo below,  taken in a clean room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center earlier this month, shows progress on quite the impressive robot. It is expected to take a trip to the South Pole of the moon later this year, embarking on a 100-day mission. The mission  will involve learning more about water on the moon and gleaning what other resources may be…

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Mars exploration, new rockets and more: Interview with ESA chief Josef Aschbacher

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Shaping an ambitious and steady space agenda for Europe requires not only diplomatic aplomb but also a firm grounding in science and engineering. Indeed, those attributes are must-haves in working with the 22 member states of the European Space Agency (ESA).  Josef Aschbacher is ESA’s director general, taking on that role in March 2021. He is responsible for evolving Europe’s space infrastructure, from rockets and spacecraft performing Earth observation, navigation, and telecommunication duties to robotic planetary exploration, as well as the ESA astronauts serving aboard the International Space Station. “It’s…

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Everything we know about James Gunn’s Superman

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Starting with his Superman reboot, James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy movies, The Suicide Squad) aims to reshape DC’s shared universe across movies and TV. Here’s everything we know so far. From Man of Steel to Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) has had its ups and downs. Its biggest issue being the mix of director-driven ambitions with muddled, inconsistent universe-building. While there were some remarkable wins, it never fully came together. DC Studios, the new hub coordinating all of DC’s efforts outside of comic books,…

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Sneak peek: Browncoats grab victory in Boom! Studios’ upcoming ‘Firefly: ‘Verses’ comic (exclusive)

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Everybody loves an invigorating space-based yarn that employs speculative interpretations of historic events — especially if that alternative reality is set within the rough-and-tumble world of “Firefly,” joining Capt. Mal Reynolds and his charismatic crew aboard the spaceship Serenity. Presenting a very different outcome in which the Alliance was defeated and the rebellious Browncoats triumphed in The Unification War 500 years in the future, Boom! Studios and 20th Century Television will release “Firefly: ‘Verses #1” on July 24, 2024.  It’s a special one-shot launched from the iconic “Firefly” universe, written…

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Russia vetoes UN resolution against nuclear weapons in space

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Russia vetoed a United Nations resolution that was aimed at preventing a nuclear arms race in space. The resolution was sponsored by the United States and Japan and called upon all nations to never deploy nuclear weapons in outer space. The resolution comes on the heels of recent reports that Russia is developing a nuclear anti-satellite weapon of some kind. The furor caused by the reports led the White House to issue a statement that the rumored weapon poses “no immediate threat to anyone’s safety.” Thirteen nations, including the United…

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Beavers are helping fight climate change, satellite data shows

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As global warming intensifies droughts, floods and wildfires around the world, scientists in western United States are turning to beavers to help reverse some of the damage. Scientists at Utah’s Boise State University and Utah State University are using satellite data to identify streams where once-eradicated beavers can be re-introduced to boost vegetation. They’re also recording how water abundance and vegetation bordering those streams changes once beavers return — metrics of environmental health. “The real value of using satellite data for monitoring is that there are people on the ground…

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Astronomers just discovered a comet that could be brighter than most stars when we see it next year. Or will it?

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This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Jonti Horner is an astronomer and astrobiologist based at the University of Southern Queensland, in Toowoomba, Queensland. Hot on the heels of the disappointing Green Comet, astronomers have just discovered a new comet with the potential to be next year’s big story – C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS). Although it is still more than 18 months from its closest approach to Earth and the sun, comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS already has social media buzzing, with optimistic articles being…

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Watch 2 gorgeous supernova remnants evolve over 20 years (timelapse video)

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When we picture what’s in deep space, we often think of static images — colorful composites of distant objects like nebulas and galaxies, frozen in time. The reality is that everything is moving, and it’s moving fast. But given the vast distances involved, it’s hard for us to see that motion. NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory, however, has been taking images for decades — long enough to compile timelapses that show the movement of deep space objects. And the team has just released two such “movies,” one of the iconic Crab…

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Boeing Starliner 1st astronaut flight: Live updates

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Refresh 2024-04-26T19:42:30.435Z 1st Starliner astronauts finish dress rehearsal before May 6 launch NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams finished a big dress rehearsal before their historic launch upon Boeing Starliner no earlier than May 6, agency officials said Friday (April 26) hours after the rehearsal finished. “Wilmore and Williams completed a series of launch day milestones including suiting up, working in a flight deck simulator, and operating the same software that will be used during the launch,” NASA officials wrote in a blog post on Friday (April 26). The…

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