Sergey Brin’s secretive airship company LTA Research and Exploration is planning to power a huge disaster relief airship with an equally record-breaking hydrogen fuel cell. From a report: A job listing from the company, which is based in Mountain View, California and Akron, Ohio, reveals that LTA wants to configure a 1.5-megawatt hydrogen propulsion system for an airship to deliver humanitarian…
Tag: Pathfinder
Get ready for Perseverance’s landing on Mars February 18
Some call attempts to land on Mars “7 minutes of terror.” The Perseverance mission will provide the most detailed video and photos of a landing yet. We’ll watch ourselves land on another planet, for the first time ever. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/get-ready-nasa-perseverance-landing-feb2021…
Space weather in Proxima’s vicinity dims hopes of habitable worlds
Astronomers used radio waves to study conditions in the vicinity of Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our sun. The results suggest Proxima’s 2 known planets are likely bathed in intense radiation from this star, casting doubt on the planets’ potential for life. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/proxima-centauri-space-weather-planets-uninhabitable…
Australian Telescope Maps New Atlas of the Universe In Record Speed
A powerful new telescope developed by Australian scientists has mapped three million galaxies in record speed, unlocking the universe’s deepest secrets. The Guardian reports: The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (Askap) broke records as it conducted its first survey of the entire southern sky, mapping approximately three million galaxies in 300 hours. Scientists used the telescope at an observatory in outback…
Australian telescope creates a new atlas of the universe
The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), developed and operated by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, mapped approximately three million galaxies in just 300 hours. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-australian-telescope-atlas-universe.html…
Curiosity rover spots signs of ancient megafloods on Mars
We already know that Gale Crater on Mars used to hold a lake or series of lakes a few billion years ago. Now, NASA’s Curiosity rover has found evidence for ancient giant floods that washed through the region as well. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/megafloods-gale-crater-mars-life-curiosity-rover…
Astronomers ponder Odd Radio Circles in space
Scientists in Australia have discovered a strange new phenomenon in deep space – “Odd Radio Circles” – that appear in radio telescope images as mysterious circles or rings. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/astronomers-ponder-odd-radio-circles-in-space…
Radio relic detected in a merging galaxy cluster
Using the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), an international team of astronomers has detected a radio relic in a merging galaxy cluster known as SPT-CL 2023-5535. The discovery is reported in a research paper published July 16 on the arXiv pre-print repository. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-07-radio-relic-merging-galaxy-cluster.html…
Has mystery of universe’s missing matter been solved?
Cosmologists have only been able to find half the matter that should exist in the universe. With the discovery of a new astronomical phenomenon and new telescopes, these researchers say they’ve just found the rest. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/cosmic-bursts-unveil-universe-missing-matter-mystery…
Water in the shadows of boulders on Mars?
A new study from the Planetary Research Institute suggests that briny water could temporarily form on Mars’ surface in the shadows of boulders for just a few days each Martian year. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/water-on-mars-brines-boulders-sublimation…