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The top space stories of the week!
These are the top space stories this week from Space.com.
Virgin Galactic Wins FAA’s OK to Fly Space Passengers: Which Billionaire Will Go First?
Virgin Galactic says it’s received the Federal Aviation Administration’s go-ahead to fly customers on its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, marking a significant step in a commercial rollout that could also feature dueling space billionaires.
Chilly, damp Mars may have hosted an ancient ocean
After months of anticipation, U.S. intelligence experts have released a report citing 18 incidents since 2004 in which unidentified flying objects — or unidentified aerial phenomena, to use the Pentagon’s term — appeared to demonstrate breakthrough technologies.
Virgin Galactic announces crew for next launch to suborbital space
For centuries, human beings have speculated about the existence of planetary systems (much like our own) orbiting other stars. However, it has only been in the past few decades that scientists have been able to detect and study these distant worlds. To date, astronomers have used various methods to confirm the existence of 4,422 extrasolar planets in 3,280 star systems, with an additional 7,445 candidates awaiting confirmation.
SpaceX rocket to land back at Cape Canaveral Thursday
Thomas Pesquet moves the new solar array to the P6 truss for installation. Image: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now.
French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and NASA crewmate Shane Kimbrough floated back outside the International Space Station Friday and deployed a 60-foot-long roll-out solar array, the second of six new blankets being installed to upgrade the lab’s power system and offset age-related degradation.
There’s a Problem With Hubble, and NASA Hasn’t Been Able to fix it yet
For over thirty years, the Hubble Space Telescope has been in continuous operation in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and revealing never-before-seen aspects of the Universe. In addition to capturing breathtaking images of our Solar System and discovering extrasolar planets, Hubble also probed the deepest reaches of time and space, causing astrophysicists to revise many of their previously-held theories about the cosmos.
Could Life Exist in the Atmosphere of a sub-Neptune Planet?
Earth is perfectly suited for organic life. It stands to reason then that similar worlds orbiting distant stars might also be rich with life. But proving it will be a challenge. One of the better ways to discover extraterrestrial life will be to study the atmospheres of inhabited exoplanets, but Earth is fairly small for a planet and has a thin atmosphere compared to larger worlds. It will be much easier to study the atmospheres of gas planets, but could such worlds harbor life? A new paper in Universe argues it could.
ESA is Developing Microbe-Killing Coatings to Make Spaceflight Healthier
A study of 36 dwarf galaxies within a volume of space spanning 13 million light-years show they all have remarkably similar histories despite the vast distances between them.
Watch live as space station astronauts make spacewalk
French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and NASA crewmate Shane Kimbrough floated back outside the International Space Station Friday and deployed a 60-foot-long roll-out solar array, the second of six new blankets being installed to upgrade the lab’s power system and offset age-related degradation.
This Week's Sky at a Glance, June 25 – July 3
Showy Venus and shy little Mars draw closer together in the western dusk. In the east, the Summer Triangle holds sway after dark with the Milky Way behind it.
Earth from Space: Lake Mar Chiquita
The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission takes us over Lake Mar Chiquita – an endorheic salt lake in the northeast province of Córdoba, Argentina.
Astronomers Map the Solar System's Edge in 3D
Collecting high-speed atoms has enabled researchers to trace the shape of our Sun’s protective bubble.
1,000-light-year "Bubble" Is the Source of All Nearby Baby Stars
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rocket fires its engines for an on-pad test-firing Tuesday at Cape Canaveral. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now
SpaceX said Thursday it has postponed the next launch of a Falcon 9 rocket, previously scheduled for Friday at Cape Canaveral, due to unspecified technical concerns. The Falcon 9 will launch on a commercial rideshare mission with more than 80 small satellites.
Lucy is off to Visit Jupiter’s Trojan Asteroids
Image:
A snap of ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet during the second spacewalk to upgrade the International Space Station’s power system, taken by NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough.
Interstage adapter installed on Space Launch System
The Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter is lowered on top of the Space Launch System core stage inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building. Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux
NASA has stacked the next piece of the agency’s first Space Launch System moon rocket at the Kennedy Space Center, adding an adapter structure to connect the launch vehicle’s core stage and upper stage, which is scheduled to be installed next week.
Hubble Trouble: NASA Works to Fix Space Telescope
NASA Engineers are working to reboot the Hubble Space Telescope, after an unexpected anomaly.
Media briefing on ESA's astronaut selection
Video: 00:51:52
Want to learn more about applications to ESA’s astronaut selection? Watch the replay of this media briefing to get an insight into the total number and spread of applications across all ESA Member and Associate Member states. Vacancies for the positions of astronaut and astronaut (with a physical disability) have closed on 18 June 2021, after a two-and-a-half-month-long application period.
Giant Oort Cloud Comet Lights Up in the Outer Solar System
Astronomers have discovered a new comet coming from the Oort Cloud — and it appears to be a big one.
Medium of the Light Bucket
Telescope operator Carla Johns is a medium to the stars.
