Space & Astronomy
- phys.org SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission aiming for history with first private spacewalk
The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, a daring multiday orbital expedition that will feature the first-ever spacewalk by private citizens, is targeting liftoff early Tuesday, though weather could play spoilsport.
> If they launch, the highlight of the mission will be the first spacewalk composed entirely of non-professional astronauts, who will be wearing sleek, newly developed SpaceX extravehicular activity (EVA) suits outfitted with heads-up displays, helmet cameras, and an advanced joint mobility system.
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Scott Manley discusses Lumen Orbit's plan to data centres in space and whether it or not makes sense.
On Saturday NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore noticed some strange noises emanating from a speaker inside the Starliner spacecraft.
"I've got a question about Starliner," Wilmore radioed down to Mission Control, at Johnson Space Center in Houston. "There's a strange noise coming through the speaker ... I don't know what's making it."
Wilmore said he was not sure if there was some oddity in the connection between the station and the spacecraft causing the noise, or something else. He asked the flight controllers in Houston to see if they could listen to the audio inside the spacecraft. A few minutes later, Mission Control radioed back that they were linked via "hardline" to listen to audio inside Starliner, which has now been docked to the International Space Station for nearly three months.
- spaceweatherarchive.com Will Satellite Megaconstellations Weaken Earth’s Magnetic Field?
Feb. 1, 2024: Something unprecedented is happening in Earth orbit. In only a few short years, the satellite population has skyrocketed, more than doubling since 2020. In the past year alone, more s…
- • 100%arstechnica.com Saturn’s rings steal the show in new image from Webb telescope
Webb turned its gold-coated mirror toward Saturn this week.
- • 100%medicalxpress.com Space travel can alter gene expression in white blood cells, weakening our immune system
Evidence is mounting that astronauts are more susceptible to infections while in space. For example, astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) commonly suffer from skin rashes, as well as respiratory and non-respiratory diseases. Astronauts are also known to shed more live virus part...
cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/697648
> Exposure to microgravity causes changes to the human immune system: > > > "Here we show that the expression of many genes related to immune functions rapidly decreases when astronauts reach space, while the opposite happens when they return to Earth after six months aboard the ISS," said Dr. Odette Laneuville, an associate professor at the Department of Biology of the University of Ottawa, leading author of a new study in Frontiers in Immunology. > > doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1171103
- • 100%phys.org Evidence of the amino acid tryptophan found in space
Using data from the Spitzer space observatory, Dr. Susana Iglesias-Groth, a researcher from The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has found evidence for the existence of the amino acid tryptophan in the interstellar material in a nearby star-forming region. The research is published in Mon...
cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/659341
> This article summarizes findings showing that the Spitzer telescope has observed the spectral signature of tryptophan in an extrasolar system. > > This isn't the first instance of amino acids found extra-terrestrially (previously found on asteroids), but is the first found outside our solar system. Tryptophan has a very strong and very clear spectral signature (it is ubiquitously used in life sciences for example). > > doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad1535
- www.jpl.nasa.gov NASA Cassini Data Reveals Building Block for Life in Enceladus’ Ocean
Phosphorus, a key chemical element for many biological processes, has been found in icy grains emitted by the small moon and is likely abundant in its subsurface ocean.
- • 100%phys.org The Tarantula Nebula shouldn't be forming stars. What's going on?
The Tarantula Nebula is a star formation region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Tarantula is about 160,000 light-years away and is highly luminous for a non-stellar object. It's the brightest and largest star formation region in the entire Local Group of galaxies.
- www.thecut.com BTW Elon, That’s a Pic of the Moon
Not a very encouraging sign for the billionaire’s nascent “OCCUPY MARS” movement.