Eugeni Quitllet has revealed GalaXsea, a proposed solar-powered sailboat that can be 3D-printed directly in space. He envisions it as a place where space visitors, artists, and scientists alike can embrace the future, all the while surrounded by the great expanse of the unknown and immersed in a unique spatial experience to awaken the senses. Read more for a video and additional information.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are fortunate enough to see the world at night on every orbit of the Earth a total of 16-times each day. One astronaut managed to capture this broad, short-lens view, looking out over the remotest central equatorial Pacific Ocean, approximately 1620 miles south of Hawaii. You can see the Milky Way angle across the view from the left margin up to the top right corner, where it is masked by parts of the ISS, and the view is toward the center of the Milky Way galaxy. All of the dark patches you see are dense dust clouds in an inner spiral arm of our galaxy that block our view of stars toward the center. Read more for additional images captured from the ISS.
NASA’s Dragonfly is a planned spacecraft and mission that will send a mobile robotic drone lander to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. It will be used to study prebiotic chemistry and extraterrestrial habitability at various locations where it will perform vertical-takeoffs and landings (VTOL). This moon is unique in having an abundant, complex, and diverse carbon-rich chemistry on the surface of a water-ice-dominated world with an interior water ocean. Read more for a video and additional information.
Remember ‘Oumuamua? It was the first known interstellar object detected that through the Solar System. Since it can’t be captured into a solar orbit, the object will eventually leave the Solar System and resume traveling through interstellar space. However, it will take the object roughly 20,000 years to travel the Solar System before leaving. Now, amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov has discovered a second interstellar object, called “C/2019 Q4”. Read more for a video and additional information.
We’re still at least a decade away from commercial trips to the Moon’s orbit or even surface, but one startup company called Lifeship wants to give you a headstart, and it won’t break the bank. LifeShip founder Ben Haldeman is planning on sending human DNA to the Moon for just $99, or at least during the initial crowdfunding phase. Read more for a video about moon colonization and additional information.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has just captured a new image of Saturn and it showcases the details of its ring system, which looks like a phonograph record with grooves that represent detailed structure within the rings. The gas giant was observed on June 20, 2019, as the planet made its closest approach to Earth, or around 845-million miles away. This image is also the second in an annual series of snapshots taken as part of the Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) project. Read more for a video and additional information.
NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are experimenting mixing cement, a key ingredient in concrete, outside of Earth’s gravity for the very first time to understand how it hardens under microgravity. When mixed with water, cement forms a crystallized micro-structure that binds everything together as it dries, and is well-suited to life on Mars. If the experiment is successful, this would mean future astronauts could simply make concrete by mixing cement with rocks and dust (or moon dust) on Mars. Read more for a video and additional information.
Despite being much larger than Earth with a radiation environment, an exoplanet called K2-18b had detected water vapor signatures detected for the first time in the atmosphere of a planet beyond our solar system that resides in a habitable zone. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope found water vapor in the atmosphere of K2-18b, an exoplanet orbiting a small red dwarf star about 110 light-years away in the constellation Leo. Once confirmed, this will be the first and only exoplanet known to have both water in its atmosphere as well as temperatures that could sustain liquid water on a rocky surface. Read more for a video and additional information.
The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft, along with its lander module Philae, was used to perform a detailed study of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P). On August 6, 2014, the spacecraft reached the comet and eventually started to orbit the comet. On September 30, 2016, the Rosetta spacecraft ended its mission by hard-landing on the comet in its Ma’at region. However, before that time, it captured over 400,000 images. Read more to see the amazing video put together by Christian.
The Crew Interactive Mobile Companion (CIMON), a spherical 11-pound robot, has just returned from the ISS. During its time there, it used microphones and cameras to record astronauts, complete with an expressive digital face, and even the ability to make small talk. Researchers at IBM and Airbus have almost have its successor, set to launch in December, ready with plenty of upgrades, including a new computer, better microphones, improved flight control and more conversation skills. Read more for a video and additional information.