Category: Space

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Rocket blast from the past: Voyager 1 fires thrusters last used in 1980

sudshr47 December 2, 2017

 While some spacecraft get the chance to go out in a blaze of glory, others are in it for the long haul – Voyager 1 more so than any other. The mission celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, but it’s not just a lump of metal floating through interstellar space: that baby still runs. Thrusts, rather. Read More

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Jupiter has the blues, just like the rest of us

sudshr47 December 1, 2017

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It’s been a pretty crappy week here on Earth, so let’s take our bad moods on a little interplanetary excursion.

Jupiter seems to be a nice fit. 

The giant planet’s roiling clouds, churning in its northern hemisphere, make it look like a peaceful Van Gogh painting in this newly-released photo taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft. 

“The Juno spacecraft captured this image when the spacecraft was only 11,747 miles (18,906 kilometers) from the tops of Jupiter’s clouds — that’s roughly as far as the distance between New York City and Perth, Australia,” NASA said in a statement about the image taken on October 24.  Read more…

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That ‘alien’ bacteria on the Space Station? It’s probably not aliens.

sudshr47 November 30, 2017

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By now you should know that it’s (almost) never aliens.

Still, earlier this week, Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov told the Russian state news agency TASS that he had collected bacteria from outside of the International Space Station (ISS) that was from “outer space” — meaning that it’s of alien origin. 

When contacted, the Russian space agency Roscosmos did not refute Shkaplerov’s claims. Instead, it shared two previous stories from TASS, one of which stated that the exterior of the Space Station might serve as a “temporary custodian of biomaterial of extraterrestrial origin.” By this rationale, perhaps bits of space rock or dust from a comet containing alien microbes could have smacked against the station — and stayed there.   Read more…

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View More That ‘alien’ bacteria on the Space Station? It’s probably not aliens.
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SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy launch will now take place in 2018

sudshr47 November 30, 2017

 SpaceX had been planning to launch its huge Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time this year, with a timeframe set most recently for sometime in November. Here on the last day of November, we know that’s not happening – but now we also know we won’t see a Falcon Heavy launch before early 2018 at least. We shouldn’t have to wait that long into next year, however;… Read More

View More SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy launch will now take place in 2018
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The supermoon ain’t all it’s cracked up to be

sudshr47 November 30, 2017

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Have you heard? The supermoon is coming. Yes, that’s right. On December 3, the first and last supermoon of 2017 will rise around the world. 

And if the media circus surrounding the supermoon is to be believed, it will be an astounding cosmic show that you can’t miss. The moon! It’s going to be super! You have to see it! 

Well, I’m here to burst your supermoon bubble.

Here’s the deal: It’s literally just a full moon. You know what a full moon looks like? Yeah, the supermoon looks like that. 

Supermoons — which is a term first coined by an astrologer — occur because the moon’s orbit around the Earth isn’t exactly circular. When the moon reaches its closest point in orbit during the full phase, that’s what has become popularly known as a supermoon.  Read more…

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Breathing the New Delhi air is at times equivalent to smoking 45 cigarettes per day

sudshr47 November 28, 2017

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Pollution in India’s capital city has skyrocketed to dangerous levels. At times, just breathing in the outside air can be equivalent to smoking 45 cigarettes per day.

Smog in New Delhi arises from various sources like late fall weather patterns, which limit the movement of air masses, agricultural fires, factories, power plants, and vehicles. Read more…

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View More Breathing the New Delhi air is at times equivalent to smoking 45 cigarettes per day
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It looks like a Russian space mission failed on Tuesday, jeopardizing multiple satellites

sudshr47 November 28, 2017

It’s not looking good for Russia’s newest weather satellite, which was launched on Tuesday morning. 
Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, released a statement after the launch of the Meteor-M polar-orbiting weather satellite along with 18 small pay…

View More It looks like a Russian space mission failed on Tuesday, jeopardizing multiple satellites