Space Stuff

Japan finds long, deep tunnel on the Moon
With fewer meteors, lower radiation and better weather, this is a nice place for a colony
empire_strikes_back_exogorth_space_slug.jpg

The moon's tunnels are hopefully free of Giant Space Slugs from the Star Wars universe
Japan's lunar orbiter has found a long, deep tunnel under the Moon's surface.

The find is significant because Earth's Moon is a nasty place: surface temperatures vary wildly, there's radiation galore to contend with and Luna's lack of an atmosphere means the surface is subject to micrometeorite bombardments.

Plans to colonise the satellite have therefore often suggested underground installations, which is a sensible idea but one complicated by the challenge of digging in an environment with all the problems mentioned above. And that's after you get the diggers up there.

But an underground Moon base now looks less complicated, as Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) says the Lunar Radar Sounder on its Selenological and Engineering Explorer orbiter (SELENE) has found “a 50-km long intact lava tube underground along a lava flow river 'rille' on the Marius Hills of the Moon”.
 
  • Like
Reactions: adz
Blue Origin just sent a jolt through the aerospace industry
"As Joe Biden would say, this is a BFD for the space industry."

New space company Blue Origin has spent the better part of this decade developing a powerful rocket engine for use in its orbital rocket, New Glenn, and potentially other US-based launchers. This engine, the liquid natural gas-powered BE-4, has been closely watched both within the aerospace industry and in military space because it uses innovative new technology, has largely been developed with private funding, and is fully reusable.

However, while there was great promise with the new engine, it still had to perform. And so the aerospace community has been watching development of the engine to see if it could pass a key hurdle—a hot-fire test. After months of waiting, that's what finally happened on Wednesday at the company's facility in West Texas when the BE-4 engine fired at 50-percent power for three seconds.
Click to expand...
 
  • Like
Reactions: adz
metalman said:
Gold and other heavy metals formed in collision of 2 neutron stars
Click to expand...

A Nearby Neutron Star Collision Could Cause Calamity on Earth

"A supernovae occurring as close as 50 light-years from Earth could pose an imminent danger to Earth's biosphere. The event would likely shower us in so much high-energy cosmic radiation that it could spark a planetary mass extinction. Twenty million years ago, a star 325 light-years from Earth exploded, showering the planet in radioactive iron particles that eventually settled in deep-sea sediments on the ocean floor. That event, researchers speculate, may have triggered ice ages and altered the course of evolution and human history."

"A kilonova begins with a burst of gamma rays that would dissolve the ozone layer on the side facing hemisphere, but the other side would be shielded by the earth . Next, the sky would go blindingly white as the visible light from the kilonova encountered our planet. Trailing far behind the light would be slower-moving material ejected from the kilonova—radioactive particles of heavy elements sandblasting the Earth"
 
metalman said:
"A supernovae occurring as close as 50 light-years from Earth could pose an imminent danger to Earth's biosphere. "
Click to expand...

On the bright side, it would take the danger at least 50 years to get here. :p
(Not that it would help us prepare as we wouldn't know about it until 50 years after it happened.)
 
Robert said:
On the bright side, it would take the danger at least 50 years to get here. :p
(Not that it would help us prepare as we wouldn't know about it until 50 years after it happened.)
Click to expand...

but we would die rich from all that gold and platinum!
 
  • Like
Reactions: adz
Jupiter flashes pulsating southern pole, boffins understandably baffled
Misbehaving gas giant's poles light up independently
jupiter_aurora.jpg

Flash, aaa-ahhh ... An aurora on one of Jupiter's poles
Jupiter’s vivid northern and southern lights flash independently from each other, a discovery that has surprised scientists.

The results published in Nature Astronomy on Monday reveal that the gas giant’s x-ray emissions are erratic at its north pole; the swirling patterns of light continuously brighten and dim over time. But at the south pole, the lights pulse steadily every eleven minutes.
 
Astroboffins spot a fat 'monster' ALIEN planet terrorizing tiny dwarf
It's the biggest faraway world found compared to the size of its parent
monster_star.jpg

Artist's impression of a sunrise on NGTS-1b. Image credit: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick
Pic Scientists have discovered a new “monster” alien world that challenges today's theories about planet formation due to its sheer size.

The giant, known as NGTS-1b, is 600 light years away and is the biggest planet compared to the size of its parent star NGTS-1 ever found. NGTS-1b is a hot Jupiter, a rare class of exoplanet. Although small M-type dwarf stars like NGTS-1 are the most common type in the galaxy, only three hot Jupiters have been spotted around them so far.

NGTS-1 has a radius about half that of the Sun, whilst its closest companion NGTS-1b has a radius about 1.33 times that of Jupiter. The two bodies are gravitationally locked close together; the mammoth planet completes an orbit in just over 2.6 days.
 
  • Like
Reactions: adz
NASA reveals Curiosity 2020's 23-camera payload
Probe to carry cams named SHERLOC and WATSON, plus chute-cam and selfie-snappers
curiosity_2020_cameras.jpg

Curiosity's cameras - Image NASA JPL & Caltech
NASA's revealed its Curiosity 2020 mission will pack 23 cameras.

That's a half-dozen more the current Curiosity's 17 cameras, and way ahead of the Pathfinder mission's measly five (two on the lander and three on the Sojourner rover).

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory announcement explains what all these cameras are for.

Curiosity 2020's descent and landing will be captured by six cameras, among other things “providing the first video of a parachute opening on another planet”. The Lander Vision System Camera will use terrain relative navigation to help guide the landing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top