The life-support system for generating livable conditions inside the Orion capsule is not being fully tested during the spaceship's debut uncrewed mission Artemis 1.
Space News & Blog Articles
Construction Begins on the Square Kilometer Array
At twin ground-breaking ceremonies today in South Africa and Australia, project leaders formally marked the start of construction on what will be the largest radio telescope ever built. Dubbed the Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO) – referring to the total area the antennas and dishes will cover when complete – the telescope is not a single detector but rather a collection of them, connected across two continents using a technique known as interferometry (the same technique used by the Event Horizon Telescope, which took the first ever photograph of a black hole in 2019).
SOFIA Fails to Find Phosphine in the Atmosphere of Venus, But the Debate Continues
The on-again, off-again detection of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus appears to be off-again – for now. The latest study, based on data from the SOFIA telescope, reveals that the flying observatory didn’t see any signs of phosphine. According to the results, if there is any phosphine present in Venus’s atmosphere at all, it’s a maximum of about 0.8 parts per billion, much smaller than the initial estimate.
Hubble Spots Two Open Clusters. One is Also an Emission Nebula
Open star clusters are groups of stars in loosely-bound gravitational associations. The stars are further apart than the stars in their cousins, the globular clusters. The weak gravity from the loose clusters means open clusters take on irregular shapes. They usually contain only a few thousand stars.
Ground Telescopes can Adapt to Satellite Megaconstellations if They get Accurate Telemetry Data
The growing population of communication satellites such as Starlink and OneWeb is posing challenges for Earth-based astronomy facilities. Since such constellations will not be going away soon, astronomers want to find ways to work around the issue.
Want to Colonize Space? Unleash the Power of Microbes
If space colonization is in our future, we’ll have to use the resources available there. But we won’t be able to bring our established industrial methods and processes from Earth into space. Transporting heavy mining machinery to the Moon, Mars, or anywhere else in space is not feasible. And each of those environments is wildly different from Earth. We’ll need novel approaches to solve all of the problems facing us, and the approaches will have to be sustainable.
See Mars at opposition pass behind the moon this week for free online
This week offers multiple opportunities to get a great look at Mars thanks to several livestreams of Red Planet astronomical events.
Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft suffered power blip hours before its close lunar flyby
The Orion spacecraft had a brief power issue on Sunday (Dec. 4) but did complete its planned engine burn to return home as planned today.
Artemis 1 capsule beams back spectacular farewell views of the moon
The Orion spacecraft captured this stunning view of a crescent Earth and the limb of the moon after completing the return powered flyby maneuver for the Artemis 1 mission Monday. Credit: NASA TV / Spaceflight Now
Flying just 80 miles (130 kilometers) off the lunar surface, NASA’s Orion capsule fired its main engine Monday to slingshot around the moon and set a course for splashdown Dec. 11 in the Pacific Ocean to complete the Artemis 1 test flight.
'Andor' sound and VFX wizards on bringing a grittier 'Star Wars' to life (exclusive)
An exclusive interview with "Andor's" VFX producer TJ Falls and sound editor David Acord reveals how the gritty, realistic feel of the series was created.
By Looking Back Through Hubble Data, Astronomers Have Identified six Massive Stars Before They Exploded as Core-Collapse Supernovae
The venerable Hubble Space Telescope has given us so much during the history of its service (32 years, 7 months, 6 days, and counting!) Even after all these years, the versatile and sophisticated observatory is still pulling its weight alongside more recent addition, like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and other members of NASA’s Great Observatories family. In addition to how it is still conducting observation campaigns, astronomers and astrophysicists are combing through the volumes of data Hubble accumulated over the years to find even more hidden gems.
Construction begins on world's largest radio telescope after decades of preparations
Ground has finally been broken today at two sites in Africa and Australia that will host the Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO), the largest radio telescope in the world.
Mars sports massive hidden plume of searing rock
A plume of searing hot rock as wide as the continental U.S. is rising up from near the core of Mars and might help explain recent volcanism and earthquakes seen at the Red Planet, scientists say.
Under Uncooperative Skies
An abundance of astro images can make up (a little) for cloudy skies and other things in life that may keep us from observing.
Artemis lunar flyby: Orion is coming home
Today at 17:43 CET (16:43 GMT) the European Service Module for Orion fired its main engine at less than 127 km from the Moon's surface to put the Artemis spacecraft on a collision course with Earth.
NASA's Lucy asteroid-scouting mission resumes work on solar arrays in deep space
The team behind NASA's Lucy asteroid mission is resuming work with the spacecraft to fully deploy and latch its second solar array after a recent successful Earth flyby.
Maybe we don’t see Aliens Because They’re Waiting to Hear a Signal From us First
We’ve had a long-running series here at UT on potential solutions Fermi Paradox – why aren’t we able to detect any alien life out there in the Universe? But more possible solutions are being developed all the time. Now, another paper adds some additional theory to one of the more popular solutions – that aliens are just too busy to care about us.
Massive eruption from icy volcanic comet detected in solar system
Astronomers observed a major eruption from a volcanic comet flying through the solar system, likely spewing more than 1 million tons of debris into space.
NASA Wants to Build Landing Pads on the Moon
NASA has started engaging with commercial partners are some out-there projects. One of the most recent is a six year, $57.2 million deal with ICON, a company based in Austin, Texas that specializes in in-situ resource utilization 3D printing technologies.
Peer into the exposed heart of a galaxy in mesmerizing new image
A new image shows the exposed heart of a distant galaxy in stunning detail, demonstrating the promise of a recent addition to the Very Large Telescope.
Replay: MTG-I1 pre-launch briefing
Video: 00:43:38
Watch the replay of the Meteosat Third Generation Imager-1 pre-launch press briefing held on 5 December 2022. Speakers include Simonetta Cheli, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes; Phil Evans, Director General of Eumetsat; Bertrand Denis, Vice President Observation and Science at Thales Alenia Space and Simon Keogh, Head of Space Applications and Nowcasting Research & Development at the UK Met Office.