2024 hurricane season should be busy, NOAA says

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With La Nina conditions evolving in the Pacific and near-record warm waters in the Atlantic, scientists expect the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season to be a busy one. Forecasters at the Climate Prediction Center (CPC), part of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service, release an outlook every year ahead of hurricane season that includes what kind of storm activity they predict between June 1 and Nov. 30.  CPC researchers say there’s an 85% chance that this year’s hurricane season will be more active than normal, with…

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The future is bright for astronomy, and very expensive

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Astronomy has a bright future.  The universe is being revealed in exquisite detail with the current generation of large optical telescopes, reaching back close to the big bang. There’s hope that the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy will be solved. Thousands of exoplanets have been discovered, and astronomers may be closing in on the first detection of life beyond Earth. However, observations into the cosmic frontier involve extremely faint targets and astronomers are always hungry for more light. In order to keep peering farther into unknown reaches of…

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NASA’s ‘Mohawk Guy’ cameo in ‘3 Body Problem’ explained (exclusive)

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Helping to search for extraterrestrial life in all the right places, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) systems engineer Bobak Ferdowsi is a crowd favorite when it comes to building robotic spacecraft and solving complex aerospace problems all while sporting a super cool mohawk haircut. Currently, Ferdowsi acts as the Fault Protection lead on the NISAR joint Earth observation mission with India and Europa Clipper’s Mission Planner at NASA’s JPL. Prior responsibilities have included Launch, Cruise, Approach Engineering Lead and Flight Director on Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity and Science Planner on the…

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Black hole singularities defy physics. New research could finally do away with them.

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Black holes are some of the most enigmatic objects in the universe, capable of deforming the fabric of space around them so violently that not even light can escape their gravitational grip. But it turns out, much of what scientists know about these mysterious objects could be wrong. According to new research, published in April in the journal Physical Review D, black holes could actually be entirely different celestial entities known as gravastars. “Gravastars are hypothetical astronomical objects that were introduced [in 2001] as alternatives to black holes,” study co-author…

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NASA Launches Small Climate Satellite to Study Earth’s Poles

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Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 1 at Māhia, New Zealand at 7:41 p.m. NZST May 25, 2024 (3:41 a.m. EDT) carrying a small satellite for NASA’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission. Rocket Lab The first of a pair of climate satellites designed to study heat emissions at Earth’s poles for NASA is in orbit after lifting off atop Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand at 7:41 p.m. NZST (3:41 a.m. EDT) on Saturday. The agency’s PREFIRE (Polar…

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This Week In Space podcast: Episode 112 —Mars on Pause?

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On Episode 112 of This Week In Space, Rod and Tariq talk with Rob Manning, Chief Engineer Emeritus of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, about Mars exploration and, in particular, Mars Sample Return. As we discussed in episode 107, that project is in a bit of trouble. Rob was the Chief Engineer of every Mars rover up through Perseverance and the overall Chief Engineer on Perseverance, and he has some unique insights on how we have explored Mars, why it matters, and what the future holds… especially with regard to returning…

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Towel Day 2024: What’s the deal with towels in ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?’

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Today is Towel Day, that officially recognized revelry of rags that breaks out each year on May 25 amid the quirky fandom of author Douglas Adams and his satirical 1979 sci-fi masterpiece, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” If you don’t understand all this fuss about towels, don’t panic! We’ve got you covered. This special occasion is meant to honor Adams’ life and the legacy of laughs he left behind in the wake of that most irreverent of all interstellar reference materials,  “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” The 1979…

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A billionaire hopes to upgrade the Hubble Telescope on a private SpaceX mission, but could it really happen?

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NASA’s iconic Hubble observatory still has years of life left in it, and there are ideas in the works to perhaps keep it going for longer — but those proposals may be facing uphill battles. The Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990, has been serviced five times by astronauts and remains in good health. But the telescope is aging and slowly falling toward Earth through natural drag from the atmosphere, so billionaire entrepreneur and private astronaut Jared Isaacman helped spearhead a proposal to send a maintenance mission to the telescope…

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NASA TACP Team Visits with UCF Students, Faculty

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1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Representatives of NASA’s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program (TACP) pose with students and faculty from the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando who are participating in the agency’s University Leadership Initiative (ULI). From left: Ramees Khaleel Rahman; John Cavolowsky, NASA’s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program director; Marc Heinrich; Andrew Provenza, NASA’s University Innovation deputy project manager for tchnology; Connor Wall; Lucas Cavalcante; Andrew Menendez; Jayanta Kapat, principal investigator of UCF’s ULI project; Claire-Phonie Silaire; Koushik Datta, NASA’s University Innovation project…

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HiCAM 2024 Spring Review

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1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Composites Consortium team members gathered during May 2024 at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia for a technical review of all tasks in progress for the Hi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing project. NASA and its partners in the Advanced Composites Consortium gathered at the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, May 7-9. Team members from 20 organizations across the country recently discussed progress on all technology development tasks underway in NASA’s Hi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing (HiCAM) project. The project…

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