America’s First Asteroid Sampling Mission OSIRIS-REx Arrives at Florida Launch Base
America’s First Asteroid Sampling Mission OSIRIS-REx Arrives at Florida Launch Base
Artist’s conception of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft at Bennu. Credits: NASA/GSFC
America’s first ever mission ever designed to retrieve samples from the surface of an asteroid and return them to Earth – OSIRIS-Rex – has arrived at its Florida launch base for processing to get ready for blastoff barely three and one half months from today.
NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource…
Massive 400 Ft. Tsunamis On Ancient Mars
Massive 400 Ft. Tsunamis On Ancient Mars
About 3.4 billion years ago, (according to a new study) when the Late Heavy Bombardment had ended, and the first cells resembling prokaryotes were appearing on Earth, two enormous meteoroids slammed into the ancient, frigid ocean on Mars. These impacts generated massive 400 ft. high tsunamis that reshaped the shoreline of the Martian ocean, leaving behind fields of sediments and boulders.
It was…
Weekly Space Hangout – May 20, 2016: Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin
Weekly Space Hangout – May 20, 2016: Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin
Host: Fraser Cain (@fcain)
Special Guests:
Mike Brown is the Richard and Barbara Rosenberg Professor of Planetary Astronomy at CalTech. Konstantin Batygin is Assistant Professor of Planetary Science at CalTech. They’ll be here discussing their discovery of Planet 9 and what’s been happening since that amazing announcement.Guests:
Morgan Rehnberg (MorganRehnberg.com / @MorganRehnberg)
Kimberly…
SpaceX Calls In The Lawyers For 2018 Mars Shot
SpaceX Calls In The Lawyers For 2018 Mars Shot
A manned mission to Mars is a hot topic in space, and has been for a long time. Most of the talk around it has centred on the required technology, astronaut durability, and the overall feasibility of the mission. But now, some of the talk is focussing on the legal framework behind such a mission.
In April 2016, SpaceX announced their plans for a 2018 mission to Mars. Though astronauts will not be…
Hubble Telescope Zooms In On Mars
Hubble Telescope Zooms In On Mars
On May 12, the Hubble Space Telescope took this photo of Mars. Some prominent features of the planet are clearly visible: the ancient and inactive shield volcano Syrtis Major (far right and partly covered by clouds); the heavily eroded Arabia Terra in the center of the image; the dark features of Sinus Sabaeous and Sinus Meridiani below center and the small north polar cap (top).
We’re in store…
Orbital ATK Proposes Manned Lunar-Orbit Outpost by 2020 for Link Up with NASA’s Orion
Orbital ATK Proposes Manned Lunar-Orbit Outpost by 2020 for Link Up with NASA’s Orion
Artist rendering of Orbital ATK concept for an initial lunar habitat outpost, as it would appear with NASA’s Orion spacecraft in 2021. Credit: Orbital ATK
Orbital ATK has unveiled a practical new proposal to build a near term manned outpost in lunar orbit that could launch by 2020 and be operational in time for a lunar link-up with NASA’s Orion crew module during its maiden mission, when American…
New Horizons Sends Back First Science On Distant Kuiper Belt Object
New Horizons Sends Back First Science On Distant Kuiper Belt Object
Even the most curmudgeonly anti-space troll has to admit that the New Horizons mission to Pluto has been an overwhelming success.
It’s not like New Horizons discovered life or anything, but it did bring an otherwise cold, distant lump to life for humanity. Vivid images and detailed scientific data revealed Pluto as a dynamic, changing world, with an active surface and an atmosphere. And we…
NASA’s Orion EM-1 Crew Module Passes Critical Pressure Tests
NASA’s Orion EM-1 Crew Module Passes Critical Pressure Tests
Lockheed Martin engineers and technicians prepare the Orion pressure vessel for a series of tests inside the proof pressure cell in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
The next Orion crew module in line to launch to space on NASA’s Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) has passed a critical series of proof pressure…
30 km Wide Asteroid Impacted Australia 3.4 Billion Years Ago
30 km Wide Asteroid Impacted Australia 3.4 Billion Years Ago
New evidence found in northwestern Australia suggests that a massive asteroid, 20 to 30 kilometres in diameter, struck Earth about 3.5 billion years ago. This impact would have dwarfed anything experienced by humans, and dinosaurs, releasing as much energy as millions of nuclear weapons. Impacts this large can trigger earthquakes and tsunamis, and change the geological history of Earth.
The…
Friendly Giants Have Cozy Habitable Zones Too
Friendly Giants Have Cozy Habitable Zones Too
It is an well-known fact that all stars have a lifespan. This begins with their formation, then continues through their Main Sequence phase (which constitutes the majority of their life) before ending in death. In most cases, stars will swell up to several hundred times their normal size as they exit the Main Sequence phase of their life, during which time they will likely consume any planets…