Space safety: Global push for cooperation as traffic crowds Earth orbit
NIVEDITA BHATTACHARJEE, of Reuters, reports on efforts to ensure space safety as the volume of satellites and space junk continue to rise…
Fast-forming alien planet has astronomers intrigued
Washington DC, US Reuters Astronomers have spotted orbiting around a young star a newborn planet that took only three million years to form – quite swift in cosmic terms – in a discovery that challenges the current understanding of the speed of planetary formation. This infant world, estimated at around 10 to 20 times the […]
Scientists uncover a magnetic misunderstanding about Uranus
Washington DC, US Reuters In 1781, German-born British astronomer William Herschel made Uranus the first planet discovered with the aid of a telescope. This frigid planet, our solar system’s third largest, remains a bit of an enigma 243 years later. And some of what we thought we knew about it turns out to be off […]
Wow!: World’s first wooden satellite, developed in Japan, heads to space
KANTARO KOMIYA and IRENE WANG, of Reuters, report on how the first wooden satellite is being used to test the use of timber in space exploration…
Three decades later, first brown dwarf ever found offers a surprise
Washington DC, US Reuters In 1995, astronomers confirmed the discovery for the first time of a brown dwarf, a body too small to be a star and too big to be a planet – sort of a celestial tweener. But it turns out that was not the full story. Researchers now have taken a fresh […]
NASA launches spacecraft to gauge if Jupiter’s moon Europa can host life
Reuters NASA launched a spacecraft from Florida on Monday on a mission to examine whether Jupiter’s moon Europa has conditions suitable to support life, with a focus on the large subsurface ocean believed to be lurking beneath its thick outer shell of ice. The US space agency’s Europa Clipper spacecraft blasted off from the Kennedy […]
SpaceX to return Boeing’s Starliner astronauts from space next year, NASA says
Washington DC, US Reuters Two NASA astronauts who flew to the International Space Station in June aboard Boeing’s faulty Starliner capsule will need to return to Earth on a SpaceX vehicle early next year, NASA officials said on Saturday, deeming issues with Starliner’s propulsion system too risky to carry its first crew home as planned. […]
Essay: Archaeologists conduct first ‘space excavation’ on International Space Station – and discover surprising quirks of zero-gravity life
JUSTIN ST P WALSH and ALICE GORMAN, in an article first published on The Conversation, look at the findings from the first archaeological fieldwork conducted in space…
Martian subsurface harbours oceans’ of life-giving liquid water
Singapore Reuters A study released Monday using data from NASA’s Mars InSight lander shows evidence of liquid water far below the surface of the fourth planet, advancing the search for life there and showing what might have happened to Mars’ ancient oceans. The lander, which has been on the Red Planet since 2018, measured seismic […]
One church, two astronauts: How a Texas congregation is supporting its members on the space station
HOLLY MEYER, of Associated Press, reports on how US astronauts have been able to practice their faith while in space …