On Saturday, July 13, the moon will pass in front of bright blue star Spica in the night sky. The star will disappear behind the moon before reappearing on the other side.
Space News & Blog Articles
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'Dark comets' may have given Earth its water long ago
'Dark comets,' which have no visible tail, could also explain the strange behavior of the interstellar object 'Oumuamua.
Trio of Early Galaxies Test Our Ideas of Cosmic Evolution
Some galaxies hailing from the infant universe may already hold vast populations of old stars.
The post Trio of Early Galaxies Test Our Ideas of Cosmic Evolution appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
A Hopping Robot Could Explore Europa Using Locally Harvested Water
Various forms of hopping robots have crept into development for us[e in different space exploration missions. We’ve reported on their use on asteroids and even our own Moon. But a study funded by NASA’s Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) in 2018 planned a mission to a type of world where hopping may not be as noticeable an advantage—Europa.
The mission, developed by engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Purdue University, and Honeybee Robotics, is known as the Steam Propelled Autonomous Retrieval Robot for Ocean Worlds, or SPARROW. It’s about the size and shape of a soccer ball, with the logic, power, and control systems inside a spherical outer hollow shell.
SPARROW wouldn’t be able to operate on its own, however. It would require a lander to deposit it onto the surface and serve as a refueling and sample collection storage base. Europa Clipper, the only currently planned NASA mission to the icy moon, would have been good for hitching a ride, but its lack of a lander made it unsuitable for SPARROW.
Budget constraints are always a problem for innovative missions – as Fraser explains with Dr. Manasvi Lingam.However, the hopping robot itself is well suited for the environment in Europa. Its designers intended to make it “terrain agnostic,” meaning it could traverse even the harshest terrain the icy moon could throw at it. These would include penitentes, shards of ice that could be meters tall, and difficult for ground-based robots to traverse.
SPARROW could fly over them, collect interesting samples, and return to the lander to refuel and deposit them. Then, it could go out again in a different direction. To model this system architecture, the JPL team spent Phase I trying to determine the best propulsion system for the robot and modeling control algorithms for the flights.
Astronomers could use a synthetic cosmos to unravel dark matter mysteries
A simulated universe created by a supercomputer should help astronomers better analyze dark matter and dark energy clues delivered by "dark universe detective" telescopes Roman and Rubin.
This Week's Sky at a Glance, July 12 – 21
Mercury lurks in the sunset. The July Moon rides low across the sky this week as it waxes from first quarter to full. It occults springlike Spica, then passes summery Antares to hang with the Teapot.
The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, July 12 – 21 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Earth from Space: Hainan Strait
Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the Hainan Strait in southern China.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket suffers anomaly during Starlink satellite launch
The upper-stage engine of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket did not perform as planned during a launch of the company's Starlink satellites on Thursday night (July 11).
Resources on Mars Could Support Human Explorers
In the coming decades, multiple space agencies and private companies plan to establish outposts on the Moon and Mars. These outposts will allow for long-duration stays, astrobiological research, and facilitate future Solar System exploration. However, having crews operating far from Earth for extended periods will also present some serious logistical challenges. Given the distances and costs involved, sending resupply missions will be both impractical and expensive. For this reason, relying on local resources to meet mission needs – aka. In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) – is the name of the game.
The need for ISRU is especially important on Mars as resupply missions could take 6 to 9 months to get there. Luckily, Mars has abundant resources that can be harvested and used to provide everything from oxygen, propellant, water, soil for growing food, and building materials. In a recent study, a Freie Universität Berlin-led team evaluated the potential of harvesting resources from several previously identified deposits of hydrated minerals on the surface of Mars. They also presented estimates of how much water and minerals can be retrieved and how they may be used.
The team was led by Christoph Gross, a Postdoctoral researcher with the Planetary Sciences and Remote Sensing Group at the Institute of Geological Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin. They were joined by researchers from the SETI Institute, NASA’s Ames Research Center, the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, and the Institute of Space Systems at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Their research paper, “Prospecting in-situ resources for future crewed missions to Mars,” will be published in the October 2024 issue of Acta Astronautica.
The MOXIE unit is being placed into the Perseverance rover. Courtesy NASA/JPL.
As the authors note, NASA and other space agencies are invested in ISRU technologies to significantly reduce the overall mass that must be sent to the Moon or Mars to support human exploration efforts. In recent years, this has led to experiments like the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) on NASA’s Perseverance rover, which produced oxygen gas from Mars’ atmospheric carbon dioxide. The ESA is also preparing an ISRU Demonstration Mission to demonstrate that water and oxygen can be produced from water ice harvested on the Moon.
Watch private Cygnus cargo spacecraft leave the ISS today
Northrop Grumman's robotic Cygnus spacecraft will leave the International Space Station this morning (July 12), and you can watch it live.
How, when and where to see 2024's second 'Manhattanhenge' this week
New Yorkers can view 2024's third and fourth "Manhattanhenge" moments at sunset on two nights this weekend.
'A Quiet Place's' alien monsters explained
If you've just watched 'A Quiet Place: Day One' and have been wondering about the nature of the aliens and their origin, here's all we know.
Starliner crew confident spacecraft will bring them safely home
Boeing Starliner astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore spoke to reporters Wednesday and said they’re confident the spacecraft will bring them safely back to Earth. In the meantime, Williams said, they’re both enjoying their extended stay aboard the International Space Station. Image: NASA TV
The crew of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft said Wednesday they’re confident the capsule will carry them safely back to Earth at the end of their extended stay aboard the International Space Station, despite helium leaks in the ship’s propulsion system and trouble with maneuvering thrusters.
Launched June 5, commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams originally expected to spend about eight days in space, putting the Starliner through its paces in the ship’s first piloted test flight.
But the helium leaks and thruster issues have prompted NASA to extend their stay aboard the space station indefinitely — Wednesday marked their 35th day in orbit — while engineers carry out tests and analysis to better understand what caused the problems and to make sure the spacecraft can safely being Wilmore and Williams home.
In the meantime, NASA insists the crew isn’t “stranded” in space, and both Wilmore and Williams, speaking with reporters for the first time in more than a month, appeared to agree with that assessment.
“I think where we are right now, and what we know right now, and how the spacecraft flew as it was coming in to do the docking, I feel confident that if we had to, if there was a problem with the International Space Station, we can get in our spacecraft and we can undock, talk to our team, and figure out the best way to come home,” Williams said.
Live coverage: SpaceX to launch 20 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base
A stack of SpaceX Starlink satellites, which included the first six featuring Direct to Cell capabilities. The batch launched on the Starlink 7-9 mission, which lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Jan. 2, 2024. Image: SpaceX
SpaceX is preparing to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base Thursday night. The near-sunset flight will add another 20 Starlink satellites to its growing mega-constellation of more than 6,000 satellites in low Earth orbit.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) is set for 7:35 p.m. PDT (10:35 p.m. EDT, 0235 UTC). The mission includes an additional 13 satellites that feature the direct to cell capabilities.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about 30 minutes prior to liftoff.
The first stage booster launching this mission, tail number B1063 in the SpaceX fleet, will launch for a 19th time. Its previous launches include NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft, the Transporter-7 rideshare mission and 13 batches of Starlink satellites.
A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1063 will land on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ If successful, this will be the 96th landing on OCISLY and the 329th booster landing to date.
Lego Marvel Rocket and Baby Groot review
We love this brick-built space-faring raccoon.
Huge earthquake 2,500 years ago rerouted the Ganges River, study suggests
A new study suggests an earthquake of estimated magnitude 7.5 or 8 shook the Indian subcontinent 2,500 years ago, changing the course of the Ganges.
'Drawn to our planet:' How spaceflight changed SpaceX Inspiration4 astronaut Chris Sembroski
Space.com caught up with Inspiration4 crewmember Chris Sembroski to discuss the landmark 2021 SpaceX mission and how it affected him.
New Simulation Sheds Light on Black Hole Growth
New supercomputer simulations reveal the journey gas takes to enter a galaxy and surround and enter its black hole. That journey holds a few surprises for astronomers.
The post New Simulation Sheds Light on Black Hole Growth appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Cosmic crime scene reveals ancient supernova aftermath of dead star merger
A "guest star," briefly seen in 1181, was created by colliding dead stars.
Perseid meteor shower returns to our skies this month to kick off summer 'shooting star' season
2024 will be a very good year to watch for the Perseids, because bright moonlight will not interfere.
