Week in images: 24-28 October 2022
Space News & Blog Articles
Tune into the SpaceZE News Network to stay updated on industry news from around the world.
Hubble Space Telescope watches galaxies' destructive dance in new photo
These galaxies may look like they are performing a cosmic waltz, but the spirals are actually trapped in a dance of death that will someday end in a violent crash.
Everything we know about Dune: Part 2
Here’s everything we know about Dune: Part 2 including the release date, plot, cast and more.
New Earth-monitoring weather satellite prepares for launch
The JPSS-2 satellite will seek to better understand the "butterfly effect" of how atmospheric conditions in one part of the world can cause a hurricane in another part.
Chinese launch next week will set stage for another big space-junk crash
The Long March 5B rocket expected to launch China's Mengtian module on Oct. 31 will likely fall back to Earth uncontrolled a week or so later.
SpaceX hasn't flown a Falcon Heavy rocket since 2019. Here's why.
In the 40 months since a Falcon Heavy last took flight, SpaceX has launched more than 100 missions with its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket. So why has the Heavy stayed grounded?
Mini-radar for asteroid CubeSat
Image: Mini-radar for asteroid CubeSat
This Week's Sky at a Glance, October 28 – November 5
The Summer Triangle Effect, a double shadow on Jupiter, the waxing Moon photobombing the solar system's two giants, an Algol dip — plan your skywatching week.
Earth from Space: Svalbard
Extremely high temperatures recorded this summer caused record melting across Svalbard – one of the fastest warming places on the planet. The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission captured this rare, cloud-free acquisition of the Norwegian archipelago in August 2022.
Scientists choose first Mars samples worthy of return to Earth
The first samples to be taken from Mars and sent to Earth will be sourced from Jezero Crater, where the Perseverance rover has been exploring the crater floor and nearby ancient delta. The location of an initial cache of samples, called Three Forks, is flat and free of obstacles – an ideal spot for a Mars Sample Return landing and pickup operations.
SpaceX adds 53 more Starlink satellites to internet constellation
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket fires its upper stage engine to propel 53 Starlink internet satellites into orbit. The rocket’s first stage booster and two halves of the payload fairing are visible returning to Earth for recovery and reuse. Credit: Gene Blevins / LA Daily News
SpaceX fired a Falcon 9 rocket off a launching stand in California at sunset Thursday, producing a twilight sky show visible as far away as Texas as the mission delivered 53 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit.
NASA is Mapping Giant Clouds of Methane Released by “Super-Emitters” Across the World
Everybody’s heard of methane. It’s a major part of the atmosphere in places like Uranus and Neptune. On Earth, it’s also part of our atmosphere, where it works to warm things up. Some of it gets there from natural causes. But, a lot of it comes from industrial super-emitters and other human-caused processes. That’s not good because too much methane works, along with other greenhouse gases (like carbon dioxide, or CO2) to “over warm” our atmosphere.
SpaceX fires up huge Falcon Heavy rocket ahead of Nov. 1 launch
SpaceX lit the engines of its powerful Falcon Heavy rocket on Thursday (Oct. 27), paving the way for a liftoff early next week.
Watch live: Russian cargo ship on course for docking at space station
Russia’s Progress MS-21 resupply spacecraft is on course for an automated docking with the International Space Station at 10:51 p.m. EDT (0251 GMT) to deliver more than 2.7 tons of cargo to the lab’s seven-person crew.
Here are Four Ways JWST Could Detect Alien Life
Less than a year after it went to space, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has already demonstrated its worth many times over. The images it has acquired of distant galaxies, nebulae, exoplanet atmospheres, and deep fields are the most detailed and sensitive ever taken. And yet, one of the most exciting aspects of its mission is just getting started: the search for evidence of life beyond Earth. This will consist of Webb using its powerful infrared instruments to look for chemical signatures associated with life and biological processes (aka. biosignatures).
Earth’s Hardiest Bacteria Could Survive Hundreds of Millions of Years Just Under the Surface of Mars
A few years from now, a small capsule will enter Earth’s atmosphere and float to the surface under a parachute. The parachute will likely be radar-reflective so that it can be easily tracked. It may land in Australia’s outback, a popular spot for sample returns. Scientists will take it to a sterilized, secure lab and carefully open it. Inside, there’ll be rock samples from Mars collected by the Perseverance Rover.
NASA's ailing Mars lander feels shockwaves from ice-blasting meteoroid impact
Christmas came one day early for a robotic geologist stationed on the Red Planet.
The 1st ever Election Day Blood Moon lunar eclipse is coming on Nov. 8
Early on Election Day morning, early risers will have an opportunity to observe the November Beaver Moon undergo a total eclipse.
Dwarf Planet Haumea is one of the Stranger Objects in the Solar System. How did it get That way?
There’s still a raging debate in some circles as to whether Pluto should be a planet or not. Ask an astronomer, and their typical answer would be something like – if Pluto is a planet, then there are plenty of other bodies out there in the solar system that should be considered one too. One of those is Haumea, a little explored rock in the Kuiper belt that is one of the strangest large objects out there. Now, a team from NASA has a new idea as to how it got that way.
'Andor' continues to be bold and beautiful with episode 7, 'Announcement'
'Andor' episode 7, 'Announcement,' delves into the aftermath of last week's daring raid on the Aldhani Imperial base.
