Apollo 17 Saturn V Credit: NASA Near Pad A at Launch Complex 39, the Apollo 17 Saturn V space vehicle stands tall, riding atop a gigantic crawler transporter. Training for Space Credit: NASA Apollo 17 mission command module pilot astronaut Ronald E. Evans prepares for extravehicular activity training in a Building 5 water tank. Scanning […]
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2 Bizarre Ancient Galaxies Found in a Colossal Sea of Dark Matter
An artist’s impression of a pair of galaxies from the very early universe. Two enormous galaxies seen merging in the distant universe have astronomers rethinking the leading theory of how galaxies form. When the universe was in its infancy, the very first galaxies were tiny “dwarf galaxies” that clumped together to form the larger galaxies […]
Rocky and Habitable? 'Super-Earth' Exoplanet May Be Much Like Our Own
Artist’s illustration of the potentially life-supporting “super-Earth” planet K2-18b and its newfound neighbor, K2-18c. Both planets orbit the red-dwarf star K2-18, which lies 111 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Leo. A possibly habitable alien world may be rocky like Earth — and it has a neighbor, a new study reports. The potentially rocky exoplanet […]
Cygnus Spacecraft Departs the Space Station: Here's the Awesome Science It's Doing
The Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo ship S.S. Gene Cernan is released from the International Space Station via robotic arm in this photo by NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik taken during release operations on Dec. 6, 2017. The Cygnus delivered 7,700 lbs. (3,500 kilograms) of supplies to the station in November. HOUSTON — Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft […]
Quentin Tarantino Developing 'Star Trek' Film (With Help from J.J. Abrams): Report
Quentin Tarantino is in talks with “Star Trek” producer (and former director) J.J. Abrams to write and direct a new Star Trek film , according to The Hollywood Reporter . The duo reportedly plan to organize a writers room to flesh out the project before formally pitching it to Paramount Pictures. Tarantino has previously stated his appreciation […]
ESPRESSO Planet Hunter Ready to Drink in the Universe for Alien Worlds
Spectral data from the “first light” of the ESPRESSO instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. The light from a star has been dispersed into its component colors. This view has been colorized to indicate how the wavelengths change across the image, but these are not exactly the colors that would […]
Discovery: Why Strange, Chalky Swirls Cover the Southern Ocean
An image shows the pale-blue swirls of the Great Calcite Belt. Behold the Great Calcite Belt, ring around the Southern Ocean, coverer of 16 percent of all the global seas, and shiny bloom of microscopic phytoplankton so large it’s best seen from space. Organisms called coccolithophores — tiny, single-celled photosynthesizers that are neither plants nor […]
NASA Expects Commercial Crew Providers to Achieve Safety Requirements
A NASA manager says Boeing and SpaceX should be able to achieve, or come close to, safety requirements established by NASA for their commercial crew spacecraft. WASHINGTON — As the two companies developing commercial crew vehicles prepare for test flights in the next 12 months , a NASA official said the agency expects those companies to […]
'Expanse' Sci-Fi Book Series Nears End with 'Persepolis Rising'
“Persepolis Rising,” the seventh book in the “Expanse” series from James S.A. Corey. The latest installment in James S.A. Corey’s “Expanse” series is the beginning of the end for James Holden’s crew, setting a course for the final books of the series. Corey’s “Persepolis Rising ” (Orbit, 2017), out today (Dec. 5), is the seventh […]
Gaia Spacecraft Finds Previously Hidden Star Cluster (Video)
Sometimes, even the most dazzling celestial wonder might be hiding right before your eyes. Case in point: Gaia 1, a brilliant star cluster scientists have found by mining observations from the European Space Agency’s Gaia space observatory . Astronomers use a surprisingly simple method to find clusters of stars: measure a star’s distance and position, […]
Google Lunar X Prize Teams Make Last-Ditch Fundraising Appeals
SpaceIL says it needs to raise $20 million from the public and Israeli government by the end of the year or else it will have to end work on its entry in the Google Lunar X Prize. WASHINGTON — With less than four months remaining in the competition, two of the remaining teams in the […]
Netflix's 'Black Mirror' Is Doing a 'Star-Trek'-Themed Episode!
The science-fiction show “Black Mirror” ventures where no one has gone before in the “Star Trek”-themed Season 4 episode called “USS Callister,” coming in 2018. A smarmy captain oversees a space crew filled with people wearing bizarre hairstyles and clothing. Yup, it’s got to have something to do with “Star Trek .” Netflix’s “Black Mirror” […]
Mathematicians Awarded $3 Million for Cracking Century-Old Problem
Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics Laureates James McKernan (L) and Christopher Hacon attend the 2018 Breakthrough Prize at NASA Ames Research Center on December 3, 2017 in Mountain View, California. Two mathematicians have each earned the (massive but countable) sum of $3 million for a proof that could one day help scientists understand extra dimensions. Christopher […]