A total solar eclipse is coming on April 8, 2024. It’s time to ensure you maximize your eclipse viewing experience with The Eclipse Company‘s carefully curated “The Eclipse App”. “Experiencing totality is a life-changing event for many people. The splendor is incomparable to anything else. We wanted to build an app that brings clarity around such a spectacular event.” The Eclipse App co-founder Stephen Watkins said in a press statement. The Eclipse App is a great resource for people wanting to connect with local communities that lie within the path…
Read MoreCould tardigrades have colonized the moon?
This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Laurent Palka is a microbiologist at France’s National Museum of Natural History. Just over five years ago, on 22 February 2019, an unmanned space probe was placed in orbit around the Moon. Named Beresheet and built by SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries, it was intended to be the first private spacecraft to perform a soft landing. Among the probe’s payload were tardigrades, renowed for their ability to survive in even the harshest climates.…
Read MoreARMD Solicitations
6 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Illustration showing multiple future air transportation options NASA researchers are studying or working to enable. NASA This ARMD solicitations page compiles the opportunities to collaborate with NASA’s aeronautical innovators and/or contribute to their research to enable new and improved air transportation systems. A summary of available opportunities with key dates requiring action are listed first. More information about each opportunity is detailed lower on this page. University Student Research ChallengeKey date: March 21, 2024, at 5 p.m. ET (This…
Read MoreHeaviest pair of black holes ever seen weighs 28 billion times more than the sun
Two supermassive black holes found in collision-created “fossil galaxies” are so massive that they refuse to collide and merge. The discovery could explain why, although supermassive black hole mergers are predicted theoretically, they have never been observed in progress. The supermassive black hole system is located in elliptical galaxy B2 0402+379. Together, the two black holes have a joint mass that is 28 billion times larger than that of the sun, making this the most massive black hole binary ever seen. Not only that, but the binary components of this…
Read MoreWill NASA be able to return Mars samples to Earth? New audit raises doubts
NASA’s bold plan to get pristine samples of Mars to Earth for analysis is facing major challenges, according to a new report. Design, cost and scheduling are all significant obstacles, an audit report of NASA’s Mars Sample Return (MSR) Program by the agency’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) finds. MSR aims to return Martian geological samples to Earth for scientific study. It involves landing on Mars to collect samples taken by the Perseverance rover and launching those samples to rendezvous with an orbiter, which will haul them to Earth. Related: NASA’s…
Read MoreNASA Collects First Surface Science in Decades via Commercial Moon Mission
For the first time in more than 50 years, NASA was able to collect data from new science instruments and technology demonstrations on the Moon. The data comes from the first successful landing of a delivery through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign. The six instruments ceased science and technology operations eight days after landing in the lunar South Pole region aboard Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus, meeting pre-launch projected mission operations. Known as IM-1, this was the first U.S. soft landing on the Moon in decades, touching…
Read MoreWomen’s History Month: Celebrating Women Astronauts 2024
“A bird cannot fly with one wing only. Human space flight cannot develop any further without the active participation of women.” – Valentina Tereshkova “If we want scientists and engineers in the future, we should be cultivating the girls as much as the boys.” – Sally Ride “International cooperation is very necessary. Chinese have a saying, ‘When all the people collect the wood, you will make a great fire.’” – Liu Yang As of Feb. 29, 2024, 75 women have flown in space. Of these, 47 have worked on the…
Read MoreAdam Sandler’s ‘Spaceman’ used NASA artifacts to create sci-fi film’s spaceship
There is a scene in the new science fiction film “Spaceman” where Adam Sandler, playing a Czech astronaut, floats by a brown duffle bag attached to one of the walls of his spaceship. There is nothing particularly notable about the scene and, in the context of the movie, there is nothing special about the bag. It is one of many such items that have come to be expected aboard a spacecraft. What sets it apart is that the bag is a real piece of space equipment. “That is a NASA…
Read MoreCan Volcanic Super Eruptions Lead to Major Cooling? Study Suggests No
Some 74,000 years ago, the Toba volcano in Indonesia exploded with a force 1,000 times more powerful than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The mystery is what happened after that – namely, to what degree that extreme explosion might have cooled global temperatures. Crew aboard the International Space Station photographed the eruption of Mount Etna in Sicily in October 2002. Ashfall was reported more than 350 miles away. When it comes to explosive power, however, no eruption in modern times can compare with a super eruption – which…
Read MoreIPEx Autonomy Testing
A photo taken from the ISRU Pilot Excavator as it is tested in a blacked out facility with minimal lighting that mimics the harsh, feature-less terrain of the Moon. NASA A photo taken from the ISRU Pilot Excavator as it is tested in a blacked out facility with minimal lighting that mimics the harsh, feature-less terrain of the Moon. NASA Harsh, low-angle sunlight, long and dark shadows, and a featureless terrain will make navigation difficult when NASA’s ISRU Pilot Excavator (IPEx) is sent to the Moon. Because of this, the…
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