Tag

Space Science

All articles tagged with #space science

space6 days ago•5 min saved

Psyche’s Mars flyby primes its long-awaited asteroid rendezvous

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft used a Mars flyby as a gravity assist to gain speed and adjust its orbit on the way to the metal-rich asteroid Psyche in 2029, while testing its science suite (a dual-camera multispectral imager, gamma-ray/neutron spectrometer, and magnetometer). The Mars encounter yielded rare imagery from a high phase angle, including a crescent view and a southern polar to Valles Marineris panorama, helping calibrate instruments ahead of the asteroid mission. The gravity assist boosted speed by about 1,000 mph and nudged the orbit by roughly 1 degree; Psyche launched in Oct 2023 and will complete a 2.2-billion-mile journey.

via Ars Technica|

#asteroid-psyche #gravity-assist #mars-flyby

space-science9 days ago•4 min saved

Earth Plows Through Ancient Supernova Debris Preserved in Antarctic Ice

A new study detects iron-60 in Antarctic ice aged 40,000–80,000 years, tying Earth’s passage through the Local Interstellar Cloud to debris from a past supernova. Using accelerator mass spectrometry on hundreds of kilograms of ice and corroborating isotopes, researchers show the cloud around the Solar System contains material from an ancient stellar explosion, with the iron-60 signal varying over tens of thousands of years and supporting the idea that our cosmic neighborhood records such events.

via SciTechDaily|

#antarctic-ice #interstellar-medium #iron-60

science1 month ago•2 min saved

Hubble’s 36th Anniversary Reveals a New View of the Trifid Nebula, the Cosmic Sea Slug

NASA marks Hubble’s 36th year in orbit with a sharper image of the Trifid Nebula, showcasing the telescope’s 1.7 million observations, 22,000+ papers, and 1.3 million citations while highlighting its role in studying star formation and nebular dynamics.

via New York Post|

#astronomy #cosmic-sea-slug #hubble-space-telescope

space-and-spaceflight1 month ago•16 min saved

Curiosity Unearths Giant Honeycomb Textures Across Martian Rocks

NASA’s Curiosity rover captured Mastcam mosaics showing thousands of polygonal, honeycomb-like textures across rocks near Antofagasta crater in Gale Crater, a pattern scientists are evaluating as a clue to Mars’ ancient watery past; researchers are testing hypotheses from drying/wetting cycles and groundwater mineralization, complementing other recent findings of organics in Martian rocks.

via Gizmodo|

#curiosity-rover #honeycomb-patterns #mars

space-science1 month ago•5 min saved

Euclid Lens Hunt Invites the Public to Map Dark Matter with Space Warps

The European Space Agency’s Euclid telescope is powering a new citizen-science project on Zooniverse called Space Warps, enlisting volunteers to identify strong gravitational lenses in Euclid’s high‑quality images. This work helps study dark matter, dark energy, and cosmic expansion, with around 300,000 AI‑preselected images guiding the search and the team expecting to uncover more than 10,000 new lens candidates from Euclid Data Release 1.

via European Space Agency|

#citizen-science #dark-energy #dark-matter

space-science1 month ago•6 min saved

Titan and Beyond: A New Model Reveals Giant, Slow Waves on Alien Seas

MIT and Woods Hole researchers unveiled a generalized wave-model showing that ocean waves on alien seas (like Titan’s methane/ethane lakes) can be dramatically different from Earth’s, driven by gravity, liquid composition, and atmospheric density; on Titan, simulations predict tall, slow-moving waves due to its low gravity and thick atmosphere, reshaping expectations for shoreline erosion, sediment transport, and the design of future landers or floating probes.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#methane #modeling #oceans

science3 months ago•36 min saved

Space Mutations Boost Phages in the Battle Against Superbugs

A UW–Madison-led study compared a E. coli–T7 phage clash on Earth and in microgravity aboard the ISS. In space, phages infect more slowly but still acquire mutations that improve their ability to bind bacterial receptors, while the bacteria develop space-specific defenses—demonstrating space-driven evolutionary paths that could inform phage-based strategies against drug‑resistant pathogens on Earth.

via Yahoo|

#antimicrobial-resistance #bacteriophage #evolution

space3 months ago•5 min saved

2032 Moon Impact Could Unleash New Lunar Science from a Tiny Asteroid

A 60-meter asteroid (2024 YR4) has about a 4% chance to strike the Moon on December 22, 2032. If it hits, it could form a ~1 km crater with a 100 m molten pool, trigger a magnitude-5.0 “moonquake,” vaporize rock, and loft up to 400 kg of debris that could reach Earth, potentially posing risks to satellites and even ground hazards. Yet scientists see this as a rare, invaluable chance to study lunar geology, interior structure, and crater formation in real time using telescopes and space assets, while some agencies consider deflection to prevent the impact. The piece notes Universe Today as the original source.

via ScienceAlert|

#asteroid-2024-yr4 #kessler-syndrome #lunar-impact

space-science4 months ago•7 min saved

Avalanche of magnetic reconnection powers solar flare, Solar Orbiter reveals

ESA's Solar Orbiter captured a large solar flare as a cascade of rapid reconnection events—an avalanche that builds from weak disturbances to a full eruption—producing rain-like plasma blobs and high-energy X-rays; four instruments provided a detailed, multi-instrument view, supporting avalanche models and improving understanding of energy transfer from magnetic fields to plasma and particles, with implications for space weather forecasting.

via European Space Agency|

#magnetic-avalanche #magnetic-reconnection #plasma-blobs

science4 months ago•4 min saved

Perihelion: Earth's Closest Sun Point Doesn't Change Our Seasons

In 2026, Earth reached perihelion—its closest approach to the Sun—on Jan 3 at about 91.4 million miles (147,099,894 km). The roughly 3% distance change compared with its farthest point yields negligible shifts in global temperatures; seasons are driven primarily by the tilt of Earth's axis, not distance to the Sun. Perihelion matters more for highly elliptical orbits like comets or spacecraft such as NASA's Parker Solar Probe.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#astronomy #earth-orbit #kepler

science6 months ago•4 min saved

1970s Scientific Error Set Back Mars Exploration

A 50-year-old scientific conclusion from the Viking Mars mission, which declared Mars lifeless due to the absence of detected organics, is now believed to be mistaken. New evidence from recent missions suggests that Mars may harbor or have harbored life, prompting a reevaluation of past assumptions and the need for dedicated future missions to search for life on Mars.

via Big Think|

#mars-exploration #mars-life-detection #organic-compounds

science6 months ago•50 min saved

NASA Faces Challenges Amid Shutdown and Leadership Concerns

NASA's flagship science center, Goddard, faces significant cuts and closures amid a government shutdown and controversial budget implementation, risking mission safety, scientific progress, and employee morale, with allegations of illegal activity and political influence impacting the agency's operations.

via Space|

#budget-cuts #goddard-space-flight-center #government-shutdown

science-and-technology7 months ago•2 min saved

Croydon Girls School Develops Satellite for Orbit

Croydon High School in London is on track to become the first all-girls school to send a satellite into space, aiming to inspire more girls to pursue STEM fields by designing and building their own satellite for launch into low-Earth orbit, with a focus on climate science and atmospheric research.

via BBC|

#croydon-high-school #girls-in-stem #satellite

science7 months ago•2 min saved

Bill Nye Champions NASA Amid Budget Battles

Bill Nye is leading a coalition of science groups to oppose proposed 47% cuts to NASA's science budget under the Trump administration, emphasizing the importance of space exploration for scientific discovery, economic growth, and global leadership, especially as China accelerates its space missions.

via Axios|

#advocacy #bill-nye #funding-cuts

science7 months ago•1 min saved

NASA Science Captures Stunning Underwater Dive

An internal NASA chart indicates positive developments in budget allocations and project continuations at NASA Goddard, including restored funding for key divisions and rescinded cancellations, though final outcomes depend on future budget decisions and funding execution.

via NASA Watch|

#budget #funding #gsfc