Zhurong, the China National Space Administration’s Mars rover sent a historic selfie from the surface of the red planet: the rover went forward, placed a camera on the ground, and went back towards the Tianwen-1 lander for an amazing group photo – quite an effort!
Continue reading “A historic selfie from Zhurong, the Chinese Mars Rover”New Horizons Photographs Voyager 1’s Location
On December 25, 2020, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft pointed its Long Range Reconnaissance Imager in the direction of its predecessor, the Voyager 1 spacecraft, and photographed its location from the Kuiper Belt. Launched on September 5, 1977, Voyager 1 is the farthest human-made object and the first spacecraft to actually leave the solar system.
In fact, according to NASA, Voyager 1 itself is about 1 trillion times too faint to be visible in the image taken by New Horizons, its location is known precisely due to NASA’s radio-tracking (see: how far can Voyager 1 go before we lose contact?). As of April 2021, it is more than 152 astronomical units (AU, see notes 1) from the Sun.
Continue reading “New Horizons Photographs Voyager 1’s Location”Scientists want to turn tree bark and compost into aircraft wings and plastic bags
Trees, crops, and even organic waste can be transformed into a bewildering array of plastics to use in products ranging from single-use bags to heavy-duty aeroplane wings.
by Alex Whiting
Continue reading “Scientists want to turn tree bark and compost into aircraft wings and plastic bags”NASA has announced two missions to Venus by 2030 – here’s why that’s exciting
For decades, the exploration of our solar system left one of our neighbouring planets, Venus, largely unexplored. Now, things are about to change.
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University
Continue reading “NASA has announced two missions to Venus by 2030 – here’s why that’s exciting”The First US Spacewalk (June 3, 1965)
On June 3, 1965, NASA astronaut Edward Higgins White II (November 14, 1930 – January 27, 1967) made history and executed the United States’ first spacewalk during the Gemini 4 mission. The first US spacewalk lasted 23 minutes, beginning over the Pacific Ocean and ending over the Gulf of Mexico.
Continue reading “The First US Spacewalk (June 3, 1965)”Recovering drugs from sewers could reduce harm to wildlife
Common medicines that have passed through patients’ bodies are ending up in the environment, but the threat many of them pose to wildlife and human health still needs to be determined. It may even be possible to recover some of these life-saving compounds so they can be reused.
By Vittoria D’Alessio
Continue reading “Recovering drugs from sewers could reduce harm to wildlife”Measuring Meteorites to Reveal the Origins of the Earth
The planet we call home has a 4.5-billion-year history, but humans have only been around for a tiny fraction of this time. To discover what happened before life arose on Earth, and even before Earth’s formation, scientists can study objects sent from space – from icy comets and rocky asteroids to tiny particles of interstellar dust. Early in Earth’s history, primordial gases became trapped deep in the planet’s interior. By determining how they were trapped and where they might be stored, Dr. Manfred Vogt and his research group at the Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg are shedding new light on Earth’s origins.
Continue reading “Measuring Meteorites to Reveal the Origins of the Earth”Curiosity Rover’s Stunning 360-Degree View Atop Mont Mercou on Mars
NASA has published a stunning 360-degree view atop Mont Mercou of the Curiosity Mars rover. The panorama is stitched together from 132 individual images taken on April 15, 2021, the 3,090th Martian day (or sol) of the mission. You can see the amazing panorama by using the arrows in the top left on the video, or by clicking (or touching) and dragging your cursor or mouse, moving the view up/down and right/left.
Continue reading “Curiosity Rover’s Stunning 360-Degree View Atop Mont Mercou on Mars”How Businesses Can Do Their Part Against Climate Change
In a world that is becoming increasingly aware of the effects of climate change, one sector of the community holds most of the cards – businesses. The top fifteen U.S. food and beverage companies alone generate more greenhouse gases every year than the entire continent of Australia. Change at this level can make waves, yet business owners may not know how to start on the path toward a sustainable and eco-friendly future.
Continue reading “How Businesses Can Do Their Part Against Climate Change”Amazing Atlas V rocket launch from a plane
On May 19, 2021, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket has launched the SBIRS Geo-5 missile warning satellite for the US Space Force. Photographer Andy Lin (@otromundialista) witnessed the event aboard a plane, and published the video of the launch on her Twitter and Youtube accounts saying “My plane happened to be flying by Cape Canaveral during the Atlas V launch yesterday”.
Continue reading “Amazing Atlas V rocket launch from a plane”
