NASA’s next colossal rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), recently had its first successful flight back in November after years of development. Much of that development was done by aerospace contractors like Northrop Grumman and Boeing, so it is a good bet that engineers at those companies want the SLS to be seen as a …
SLS Could Launch a Sample Return Mission to Phobos and Deimos Read More »
The Mars Express orbiter, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) first interplanetary mission, entered orbit around Mars on June 2nd, 2003. Since then, the probe has mapped the Martian surface using its High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), an instrument built by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) with commercial partners. In honor of the mission’s 20th anniversary, a …
20 Years of Mars Express Images Helped Build This Mosaic of the Red Planet Read More »
Several million years ago, the core of our galaxy experienced a powerful event. It blew out a huge bi-lobed bubble that blasted through the interstellar medium in two directions. Whatever it was, it released huge amounts of energy from the central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A* for short). These bubbles contain weird, spindly …
There Are Hundreds of Mysterious Filaments at the Center of the Milky Way Read More »
When astronomers used the JWST to look at a galaxy more than 12 billion light years away, they were also looking back in time. And when they found organic molecules in that distant galaxy, they found them in the early Universe. The organic molecules are usually found where stars are forming, but in this case, …
JWST Sees Organic Molecules Ludicrously Far Away Read More »
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon spacecraft docked at the International Space Station on Tuesday. Credit: NASA TV / Spaceflight Now Closing out an automated 18-hour rendezvous, a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship loaded with 7,000 pounds of supplies and equipment, including two add-on roll-out solar blankets, caught up with the International …
New technologies utilizing material found in space are constantly popping up, sometimes from smaller companies and sometimes from larger ones. Back in 2020, one of the largest companies of them all announced a technology that could have significant implications for the future lunar exploration missions planned over the next ten years. The European aerospace giant …
Airbus Developed a System To Extract Oxygen and Metal From Lunar Regolith Read More »
Human technology is crossing another threshold. Tractor beams have been common in science fiction for decades. Now a team of researchers is working on a real-life tractor beam that could help us with our burgeoning space debris problem. Space debris is made up of human-made objects in space that are now defunct. It ranges from …
Researchers are Working on a Tractor Beam System for Space Read More »
Solar power is the fastest-growing form of renewable energy and currently accounts for 3.6% of global electricity production today. This makes it the third largest source of the renewable energy market, followed by hydroelectric power and wind. These three methods are expected to grow exponentially in the coming decades, reaching 40% by 2035 and 45% …
New Satellite Successfully Beams Power From Space Read More »
Sometimes an image is so engrossing that we can ignore what it’s telling us about its subject and just enjoy the splendour. That’s certainly true of this image of NGC 5068 released by the ESA. But Universe Today readers are curious, and after enjoying the galactic portrait for a while, they want to know more. …
The Latest JWST Image Pierces Through a Shrouded Star-Forming Galaxy Read More »
Gravitational wave (GW) observatories have been a great addition to cosmologists’ arsenal in the lack decade. With their first effective detection at the Laser Interferometric Gravitational Observatory completed in 2015, they opened up a whole new world of data collection for scientists. However, so far, they haven’t solved one of the fundamental problems at the …
It Might Take Space Telescopes to Finally Resolve the Crisis in Cosmology Read More »
