Photo credit: Joel Kowsky
The International Space Station (ISS) moves at five miles per second and circles our planet every 90 minutes. In a 24-hour period, crew members experience sixteen sunrises and sunsets. Despite the frequency that the station passes directly between Earth and the Sun, capturing an image of the ISS transiting is quite rare to say the least. NASA photographer Joel Kowsky captured such an occurrence from Fredericksburg, Virginia on June 24, 2020. Read more for two videos and additional information.
Commander Chris Cassidy added to the millions of pieces of junk orbiting the Earth on Friday, as he lost a small mirror as soon as he stepped out of the International Space Station for battery maintenance. It somehow became detached from the spacesuit, and fortunately, posed no risk to either the spacewalk or the station.
Photo credit: Insider
You read that right, NASA wants the public to help design a new toilet design for the Artemis moon lander. So, they are crowdsourcing a “Lunar Toilet Challenge” on HeroX. This design needs to work for seven days on the surface of the moon, as well as during that transit time to and from the moon. In other words, it needs to function in both the microgravity of space and lunar gravity. Read more for two videos about the current toilet being used on the ISS and additional information about the contest.
Ancient Earth was still a molten mass with a liquid magma surface when Pluto, along with its underground ocean, were beginning to form. Billions of years have since passed, and the liquid water beneath the surface of Pluto has remained in the distant solar system. The dwarf planet may be frigid now, but researchers say that it could have started off as a hot world that formed rapidly and violently.
So far, NASA’s Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have ever flown past Neptune, and the views it captured were as stunning as they are puzzling. They gave us a glimpse of gigantic, dark plumes of icy material spraying out from Triton’s surface. This left researchers baffled, as how could an ancient moon six times farther from the Sun than Jupiter still be active? This new mission aims to answer that question.
NASA has awarded a grant to researchers at the University of Rochester that will fund a study on technosignatures, which are detectable signs of past or present technology used on other planets. This also marks the first NASA non-radio technosignature grant ever awarded and represents an exciting new direction for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Read more for a video on technosignatures and additional information.
Astronomers have used the NASA Hubble Space Telescope’s full range of imaging capabilities to discover the chaos ensuing in two nearby young planetary nebulas: NGC 6302, the Butterfly Nebula because of its wing-like appearance and NGC 7027, a jewel bug-like insect with a colorful metallic shell. The research team found never seen before levels of complexity and rapid changes in jets and gas bubbles blasting off of the stars at the centers of both nebulas.
For those who can’t quite afford a Virgin Galactic trip to space ($250,000), but still have $125,000 and want to visit the edge of space? There’s Spaceship Neptune from Space Perspective. Think of it as a luxurious capsule that comfortably transports eight passengers and a pilot. Featuring ergonomic seats, a drink bar, full bathroom and large windows that let you take in the amazing views. Read more for a video,additional pictures and information.
The European Space Agency’s Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) has captured a brilliant green glow in the atmosphere of Mars for the first time. It occurs due to interactions between the sun’s light and oxygen molecules in Mars’ atmosphere. On Earth, glowing oxygen is produced during polar auroras when energetic electrons from interplanetary space hit the upper atmosphere, and this oxygen-driven emission of light gives them the characteristic green hue.
Photo credit: M. Kornmesser/ESO
Researchers at the University of Nottingham used the assumption that intelligent life forms on other planets in a similar way as it does on Earth to obtain an estimate for the number of intelligent communicating civilizations within our own Milky Way galaxy. They determined that there could be over 30 active intelligent civilizations in our galaxy alone. Read more for a video and additional information.