Mars has a daytime temperature of 73 ºF, but a nighttime temperature of -100 ºF. Nearly 95% of the martian atmosphere is carbon dioxide, and the planet is constantly exposed to intense radiation. So why are humans so eager to … Continue reading
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has detected signs of icy bodies raining down in an alien solar system. The downpour resembles our own solar system several billion years ago during a period known as the “Late Heavy Bombardment,” which may have brought water and other life-forming ingredients to Earth. Continue reading
A Russian-built Soyuz space capsule landed safely back on Earth late Thursday (Sept. 15), returning an American astronaut and two cosmonauts home after more than five months in space. The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft touched down at about 9:59 a.m. Friday local time at their landing site on the steppes of Kazakhstan in central Asia. Continue reading
The powerful jets of radio waves that can explode from monster black holes at the center of galaxies may erupt from much closer to these giants than previously thought, scientists say. Although black holes entrap anything that falls onto them, a vast amount of energy can radiate outward from matter rushing into the black holes. Continue reading
Sample return is something of a holy grail to planetary explorers. The advantage is that age dating and extensive compositional analysis can be done better with modern instruments in Earth-based laboratories than on miniaturized instruments that have to prepared years in advance for space flight. Continue reading
This is the second part to the article about tether propulsion. It will focus on space missions that tested tethers in space. Gemini 11 mission: 1966 Gemini 11 mission with tether visible. Image credit: NASA. The first such mission took … Continue reading