First Flight of NASA’s New Space Launch System Will Carry 13 CubeSats
NASA says the planned 2018 inaugural flight of its new and powerful rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), will test the performance of the SLS and Orion spacecraft as an integrated system before it can be used to send humans into space. This initial flight, called Exploration Mission-1 or EM-1, will also carry 13 CubeSats […]
Most Brilliant Supernova; Protein Hunts/Kills Cancer Cells; ETI in Old Star Clusters?
Supernova: 50 Times Brighter than Milky Way Astronomers have been observing a fascinating cosmic event taking place some 3.8 billion light years from Earth. Its the most luminous supernova in the universe. Scientists say that its to be the most powerful supernova ever seen. They say the object at the center of this celestial wonder, […]
Bright Spots on Ceres; Sorry No Alien Structure; New Lie-Detector
Scientists Learn More about Dwarf Planet Ceres Scientists think they may know what’s behind the mysterious bright spots on the Ceres and where the dwarf planet may have originated. Studying data gathered by NASA’S Dawn spacecraft the researchers outlined their findings in a pair of new studies published in the journal Nature. In one study, […]
Slumbering Giant Black Hole Awakes After 26 Years
Some 8,000 light years from Earth, in the constellation Cygnus, a binary system known as V404 Cygni has come to life for the first time in 26 years. While most binary systems consist of two stars orbiting a common center of mass, V404 Cygni is made up of a black hole and a star that […]
Pluto Moons Dance in Chaotic Orbit
Pluto and its moons seem to be engaged in a kind of chaotic dance routine with each other. After a thorough analysis of data gathered by the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA scientists found that Nix and Hydra – two of Pluto’s five known moons – are wobbling and behaving erratically as they orbit the distant […]
Saturn Moon’s Wobble Could Be Clue to What’s Inside
Scientists with NASA’s Cassini Mission, which has been studying Saturn since 2004, were trying to figure out just how much one of its moons, Mimas, wobbled as it orbits the ringed planet. After reviewing and analyzing copious images snapped by the robotic probe and running several models, the scientists think the moon’s wobble could be […]
Two Martian Probes Set to Orbit Red Planet
Two unmanned spacecraft headed to Mars, one launched by the United States and the other by India, will soon reach the Red Planet within days of each other. NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) probe, launched November 18 is set for insertion into Mars orbit (MOI) on Sunday, September 21. India’s first interplanetary spacecraft, […]
Rosetta Rendezvous With Comet, Measuring Happiness with Math, Lowered Testosterone Levels Civilized Us, Bettering our Brains with Electromagentic Stimulation
ESA’s Rosetta Rendezvous with its Target Comet Today, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft became the first to rendezvous and orbit a comet. Rosetta, launched back in March, 2004, spent over a decade traveling in space to pursue its target, Comet 67P/Churyumov/Gerasimenko. Both the Rosetta and its target comet are about 405 million kilometers […]
NASA, ESA Ramp Up Planet-hunting Missions
NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler mission stirred up excitement this week when mission officials announced they’d hit the proverbial jackpot – discovering and confirming a record 715 new planets orbiting 305 stars. Nearly 95 percent of these newly found planets are smaller than Neptune, but four are about 2.5 times bigger than Earth and are located within […]
Evidence of Water Vapor Found on Dwarf Planet Ceres
Scientists have found signs of water vapor on the dwarf planet known as Ceres. “This is the first time water vapor has been unequivocally detected on Ceres or any other object in the asteroid belt and provides proof that Ceres has an icy surface and an atmosphere,” said Michael Küppers of the European Space Agency. […]