Week in images: 08-12 April 2024
Space News & Blog Articles
Tune into the SpaceZE News Network to stay updated on industry news from around the world.
Fallout and the Space Age: The franchise's connections and nods to the final frontier
The Fallout video game franchise (now also a streaming series) is known for its unique take on the post-apocalypse, but it's also quite interested in outer space.
ESA astronaut class of 2022 graduation ceremony
Video: 00:01:00
As they reach the end of one year of rigorous basic astronaut training, ESA astronaut candidates Sophie Adenot, Rosemary Coogan, Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Raphaël Liégeois, Marco Sieber and Australian Space Agency astronaut candidate Katherine Bennell-Pegg will receive astronaut certification at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre on 22 April 2024.
Sierra Space wants to drop cargo from orbit to anywhere on Earth in 90 minutes
Sierra Space has unveiled a new "global payload delivery" system known as Ghost that is designed to drop vital payloads from orbit to anywhere on Earth's surface within 90 minutes.
Juice’s first year in space: “it’s real now”
One year since the launch of ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice), we catch up with core team members Claire Vallat, Giuseppe Sarri, Olivier Witasse and Ignacio Tanco.
NASA is Building an Electrodynamic Shield to Deal with all that Dust on the Moon and Mars
Exploration of the Moon or other dusty environments comes with challenges. The lunar surface is covered in material known as regolith and its a jaggy, glassy material. It can cause wear and tear on equipment and can pose a health risk to astronauts too. Astronauts travelling to Mars would experience dust saucing to everything, including solar panels leading to decrease in power. To combat the problems created by dust, NASA is working on an innovative electrodynamic dust shield to remove dust and protect surfaces from solar panels to space suits.
A tour of the International Space Station with Andreas Mogensen
Video: 00:07:30
On the last day of his Huginn mission, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen takes us on a tour of the place he called home for 6 months: the International Space Station. From the beautiful views of Cupola to the kitchen in Node 1 filled with food and friends and all the way to the science of Columbus, the Space Station is the work and living place for astronauts as they help push science forward.
This Week's Sky at a Glance, April 12 – 21
Jupiter is easy to spot, shining low in the west at nightfall. Near it are Uranus and Comet Pons-Brooks, tougher catches that require binoculars or a wide-field telescope — and some finding skills.
Earth from Space: The Ebro Delta
Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image shows the delta of the Ebro River on the northeast coast of Spain.
ESA launches 'Lunar Horizons' Moon mission game in Fortnite
Suit up and get ready to launch on your own amazingly realistic Moon mission! Available now in Fortnite, Lunar Horizons is a vividly immersive experience set on the Moon during a future international mission. Released on 11 April 2024, the game was created by Epic Games, ESA and Hassell, in collaboration with Buendea and Team PWR.
Did An Ancient Icy Impactor Create the Martian Moons?
The Martian moons Phobos and Deimos are oddballs. While other Solar System moons are round, Mars’ moons are misshapen and lumpy like potatoes. They’re more like asteroids or other small bodies than moons.
My formal 2024 solar eclipse apology
I used to be an eclipse hater, and now I'm not. That's the story.
Achoo! Baby star 'sneezes' tell astronomers a lot about their development
Achoo! Baby stars "sneeze" to rid themselves of excess energy during their formation process, astronomers using the ALMA telescope array have found.
NASA’s Next Solar Sail is About to Go to Space
Everyone knows that solar energy is free and almost limitless here on Earth. The same is true for spacecraft operating in the inner Solar System. But in space, the Sun can do more than provide electrical energy; it also emits an unending stream of solar wind.
A NASA spacecraft spotted something weird orbiting the moon. It was just a lunar neighbor (photos)
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) snapped a perfectly timed photo as it crossed paths with another spacecraft orbiting the moon.
Monster star gains magnetic personality following stellar merger
A rare massive star possessing a magnetic field could have produced its dynamo after merging with another star.
Car-sized asteroid is giving Earth a really, really close shave. But don't worry.
A newly discovered space rock will harmlessly pass by Earth today. Still, at less than a tenth the distance to the moon, asteroid 2024 GJ2 will miss the planet by the skin of its teeth.
'Star Wars: Tales of the Empire' sets surprise May the 4th debut on Disney Plus (video)
A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. Before The Acolyte, Star Wars animation will return to our screens with Tales of the Empire, a brand-new anthology series.
Gravitational waves reveal 1st-of-its-kind merger between neutron star and mystery object
The mystery object, which falls right within the mass-gap range, sheds light on a long-sought, murky realm.
Trains, planes and a total solar eclipse! Watching the moon block the sun was a transportation adventure (exclusive)
My family has been in transportation for generations, in planes and trains. I finally got my two ancestral lines to meet, eclipse-style, at a Canadian rail station near an airport.
Soviet-era cosmonaut Vladimir Aksyonov, who flew into space twice, dies at 89
Soviet-era cosmonaut Vladimir Aksyonov, who flew into space twice, has died at the age of 89. Aksyonov logged almost 12 days in space and orbited Earth 189 times.
