NASA’s Parker Solar Probe started making history the very minute it launched, taking the crown as the fastest moving launch in history. It went on to pass closer to the sun than any previous spacecraft, and now NASA has released the results of scans made during the probe’s first …
Read More »Scientists Discover Black Hole Too Massive for Current Theories
Scientists have found many truly massive black holes in the cosmos, some of which weigh in at millions of billions of times the mass of our sun. These monsters lurk at the heart of galaxies like the Milky Way and M87, but smaller stellar-mass black holes can be anyplace. …
Read More »‘Dust Towers’ Spotted on Mars
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter observed a high number of ‘dust towers’ — concentrated clouds of dust that warm in sunlight and rise high into the air — during the global Martian dust storm in 2018. The yellow-white cloud in the bottom-center of this image, taken on November 30, 2010 by …
Read More »Spaceflight Can Make Astronaut’s Gut Leaky, New Study Shows
Epithelial cells that line our intestines serve as a robust barrier to invasion by viruses, bacteria and exposure to ingested agents. A new study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, shows that microgravity, such as that encountered in spaceflight, disrupts the functioning of this epithelial barrier even after removal from …
Read More »NASA Develops Concept Lander for Transporting Rovers to the Moon
NASA’s long-running Commercial Crew Program is a major part of the agency’s plans to expand spaceflight, but the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) is almost as important. As we look toward new moon landings, the CLPS will get the supplies and instruments we need to the lunar surface. Now, …
Read More »ESA’s Mars Express Orbiter Spots Fractured Ice Sheets
The two Martian hemispheres are drastically different; the smooth northern lowlands sit up to 3 km below the rugged southern highlands, and the surface in the northern regions appears to be far younger than the ancient swaths of the south. Where these regions meet, they sometimes form a transition area …
Read More »‘Dream Chaser’ Space Plane Features Fancy Space Trash Can
All the current launch platforms certified to make supply runs to the International Space Station (ISS) use a parachute to return to Earth after each mission. Although, SpaceX has designs on propulsive landings with its Dragon capsule. Sierra Nevada Corporation has something else in mind with its uncrewed Dream …
Read More »Researchers Find Extraterrestrial Sugars in Meteorites
An international team of scientists from Japan and the United States has found ribose and other bioessential sugars in two primitive meteorites, NWA 801 and Murchison. A model of the molecular structure of ribose and an image of the Murchison meteorite. Image credit: Yoshihiro Furukawa. Sugars are indispensable molecules for …
Read More »NASA Photos Show Insect- and Reptile-Like Life Forms on Mars, Entomologist Says
Ohio University Emeritus Professor William Romoser has analyzed photos from NASA’s various Mars rovers, mostly from the rover Curiosity, and found insect/arthropod- and reptile-like organisms (both as fossils and living creatures) in the images. Various anatomical structures seen in different photos: (A – E) and probably (F) are ‘beelike,’ but …
Read More »Boeing CST-100 Starliner Heads to Launch Site Ahead of Maiden Voyage
Boeing is in the final stages of preparing its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for launch next month. The vehicle will one day carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS), but first, it has to complete its maiden voyage. Boeing just rolled the CST-100 out to the launch …
Read More »