Tag: Space

NASA releases first audio from Mars, video of landing

The US space agency NASA on Monday released the first audio from Mars, a faint crackling recording of wind captured by the Perseverance rover. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-02-nasa-video-perseverance-rover-mars.html…

NASA releases first audio from Mars, video of landing (Update)

The US space agency NASA on Monday released the first audio from Mars, a faint crackling recording of a gust of wind captured by the Perseverance rover. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-02-nasa-video-perseverance-rover-mars.html…

Binary stars are all around us, new map of solar neighborhood shows

The latest star data from the Gaia space observatory has for the first time allowed astronomers to generate a massive 3-D atlas of widely separated binary stars within about 3,000 light years of Earth—1.3 million of them. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-02-binary-stars-solar-neighborhood.html…

Image: Hubble views a baby star’s tantrums

Herbig-Haro objects are some of the rarer sights in the night sky, taking the form of thin spindly jets of matter floating among the surrounding gas and stars. The two Herbig-Haro objects cataloged as HH46 and HH47, seen in this image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, were spotted in the constellation of Vela (the Sails), at a distance of…

Can air pollution help us find alien life?

To find alien life in our universe, scientists have considered searches for optical lasers or even giant energy-harvesting structures known as Dyson spheres. Now they’re suggesting a more mundane sort of search, a hunt for air pollution in exoplanet atmospheres. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/can-pollution-help-us-find-alien-life…

Big ideas in small packages: The seeds and worms making their way to the ISS

On Feb. 20, 2021, Northrop Grumman will launch its Cygnus cargo spacecraft aboard an Antares rocket to deliver several tons of cargo and supplies to the International Space Station for its 15th resupply mission (CRS-15). Included in these bulky supplies will be a handful of items that weigh no more than a few grams—a sampling of seeds, some microscopic proteins, and…

A unique prototype of microbial life designed on actual Martian material

Experimental microbially assisted chemolithotrophy provides an opportunity to trace the putative bioalteration processes of the Martian crust. A study on the Noachian Martian breccia Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034, composed of ancient (ca. 4.5 Gyr old) crustal materials from Mars has delivered a unique prototype of microbial life experimentally designed on actual Martian material. As the researchers show in the current issue…

Life from Earth could temporarily survive on Mars

Some microbes on Earth could temporarily survive on the surface of Mars, finds a new study by NASA and German Aerospace Center scientists. The researchers tested the endurance of microorganisms to Martian conditions by launching them into the Earth’s stratosphere, as it closely represents key conditions on the Red Planet. Published in Frontiers in Microbiology, this work paves the way for…

James Webb Space Telescope – Hubble’s successor – to launch in October

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s most complex infrared telescope, built for a wide range of research projects. NASA is now targeting October 31 for its launch on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/james-webb-telescope-hubble-successor-to-launch…