Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted April 21, 2020 Author Subscriber Posted April 21, 2020 'Alien comet' visitor has a weird composition The first known comet to visit us from another star system has an unusual make-up, according to new research. The interstellar comet 2I/Borisov was detected in our Solar System last year. This mysterious visitor from the depths of space has provided astronomers with an unprecedented opportunity to compare it to comets that formed around the Sun. New data suggests it contains large amounts of carbon monoxide - a possible clue to where it was "born". The findings appear in two separate scientific papers published by Nature Astronomy. In one of the papers, an international team led by Martin Cordiner and Stefanie Milam from the US space agency's (Nasa) Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, pointed the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (Alma) toward the comet on 15 and 16 December 2019. Alma consists of 66 antennas on a mountaintop in Chile that observe the sky at sub-millimetre wavelengths. In the other study, Dennis Bodewits from Auburn University in Alabama and colleagues gathered ultraviolet observations of 2I/Borisov using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. Has another interstellar visitor been found? First measurements of 'interstellar comet' Comets are made up of gas, ice, and dust; they form swirling in the disc of material that surrounds a star when its planets are being born. They can seed young worlds with the chemicals necessary for life and may have brought water to the early Earth. The teams identified two molecules in the gas ejected by the comet: hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and carbon monoxide (CO). HCN has already been detected in this interstellar visitor and is present at similar amounts to those found in Solar System comets. However, they were surprised to see large amounts of CO. The researchers using Alma for their observations estimated that 2I/Borisov's CO concentration was between nine and 26 times higher than that of an average Solar System comet. "This is the first time we've ever looked inside a comet from outside our Solar System," said Dr Cordiner, "and it is dramatically different from most other comets we've seen before." Dr Ye Quanzhi, an astronomer at the University of Maryland in College Park, called the results "very cool and surprising". The researcher, who was not involved with the studies, told BBC News: "We have learned in the past couple months that Borisov is similar to the 'dynamically new' comets in our Solar System (i.e. the indigenous comets which formed in the edge of the Solar System and tend to have a higher CO concentration), so a high-ish CO abundance is [kind of] expected, but such a high CO level (at least a couple times higher than typical Solar System comets) is very surprising - at least to me." Bizarre shape of interstellar asteroid 'Space cigar' had a violent history He added: "It's nice to see that different teams of astronomers working at different wavelengths (Hubble in ultraviolet, Alma in radio) are able to confirm each other's results". Carbon monoxide is common in space and is found inside most comets. But, for reasons which remain unclear, there's huge variation in the concentration of CO in these icy objects. This might be partly related to where in a star system a comet was formed. It may also be connected to how often a comet's orbit brings it closer to its star and leads it to release its more easily evaporated ices. Nevertheless, said Dr Cordiner, "if the gases we observed reflect the composition of 2I/Borisov's birthplace, then it shows that it may have formed in a different way than our own Solar System comets, in an extremely cold, outer region of a distant planetary system". Dr Milam commented: "The comet must have formed from material very rich in CO ice, which is only present at the lowest temperatures found in space, below -420F (-250C)." Dr Cordiner added that Alma had previously observed discs of dust and gas - from which planets are formed - surrounding young low-mass stars similar to the Sun. "Many of these discs extend well beyond the region where our own comets are believed to have formed and contain large amounts of extremely cold gas and dust. It is possible that 2I/Borisov came from one of these larger discs." Dr Bodewits offered a distinct take, arguing the comet could have originated around a red dwarf star, the most common type in the Milky Way galaxy. "These stars have exactly the low temperatures and luminosities where a comet could form with the type of composition found in comet Borisov," he explained. Based on its high speed (33km/s; 21 miles/s), astronomers suspect 2I/Borisov was flung out of its host system after a close encounter with a passing star or giant planet. It then spent millions or billions of years on a lonely journey through interstellar space before its discovery on 30 August 2019 by amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov. Astronomers continue to study the interloper, and recent observations of the comet's behaviour suggested it was fragmenting. "I do think Borisov broke into two - HST observed the comet at two different times and both showed the break-up," said Ye Quanzhi. "Our follow-up observation (led by Qicheng Zhang of Caltech) was made a few days after the initial discovery, and seemingly showed some evolution of the event - it seems one of the fragments was reduced to a blob of dust." 2I/Borisov is only the second interstellar object to be detected in our Solar System. The first, known as ʻOumuamua, was discovered in October 2017, at which point it was already high-tailing it out of our cosmic neighbourhood. While initially classified as a comet, it showed no signs of the outbursts of gas and dust characteristic of these objects (and observed in 2I/Borisov). A study published earlier this month in Nature Astronomy suggested ʻOumuamua, which has a highly elongated shape like a cigar, could be a shard from a planet ripped apart by its host star's gravity. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52353671 Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted April 21, 2020 Author Subscriber Posted April 21, 2020 Starlink space display 'set to continue all week' The spectacle of satellites passing over the UK in what looks like a chain of lights should be visible for the rest of the week, space experts say. The 60 Starlink satellites launched by Elon Musk's SpaceX firm appear in a line crossing the night sky. They were launched into space in March but their current orbital position has made them easier to see in recent days. Stargazers have been using apps and websites to check when they can spot the display. SpaceX has sent 300 satellites into space so far towards a planned network of 12,000, with the aim of improving global internet coverage. They have been taken up in batches of 60, with the most recent launch in mid-March. The most recent line of satellites has been spotted in Derbyshire, Manchester, London, Leeds and across Europe, with many people sharing their excitement on social media. The National Space Centre in Leicester said each batch was deployed to an orbit about 180 miles above Earth and had moved to about 340 miles away. Sophie Allan, from the centre, said current good visibility was down to a combination of the batch's low orbit, clear night skies and the angle of the satellites in relation to the sun. She said she expected this to continue for at least another five days. Several websites and apps allow people to track the current locations of the satellites, with the next UK display expected shortly before 22:00 BST on Monday. However, the project has been criticised by some astronomers who have branded the space technology an eyesore. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-52355706 Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted April 24, 2020 Author Subscriber Posted April 24, 2020 Hubble telescope celebrates 30 years of stunning science It's 30 years ago to the day that the Hubble Space Telescope was launched. Famously blighted by the blurred vision at the outset, the observatory was eventually repaired and upgraded. The remarkable pictures it has taken of planets, stars, and galaxies have transformed our view of the cosmos. Indeed, there are those who think Hubble is the most important scientific tool ever built. It's still far from retirement. The US space agency (Nasa), which runs the observatory in partnership with the European Space Agency (Esa), says operations will be funded for as long as they remain productive. Last year, its data resulted in almost 1,000 scientific papers being published - so it continues to stand at the forefront of discovery. And as if to emphasise this point, astronomers promise a fascinating new image from the telescope on Friday as part of the 30th birthday celebrations. FULL REPORT Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted April 25, 2020 Author Subscriber Posted April 25, 2020 (edited) Hubble celebrates 30 years in space with a gorgeous landscape of stars Happy Birthday, Hubble! To celebrate the telescope’s three decades in space, the team of researchers behind the Hubble have released an amazing new image of two nebulas in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a smaller galaxy about 163,000 light-years from our Milky Way. The larger, red nebula is NGC 2014, and the bright, newly formed stars at its heart are 10-20 times the size of the Sun, according to NASA. The blue nebula, NGC 2020, was formed when a star 200,000 times larger than our Sun ejected a huge amount of gas. Researchers thought the image looked a lot like a coral reef, titling the resulting picture ‘Cosmic Reef.’ “It’s Hubble’s exquisite vision from its orbit above Earth’s atmosphere that gives us the ability to get a clear glimpse of this kind of incredible beauty and activity.” Jennifer Wiseman, Hubble Senior Project Scientist said in a video made to accompany the image’s release. But 30 years ago, when it launched, the telescope wasn’t in great shape. “A tiny imperfection in the mirror meant that all of the images it took were fuzzy and out of focus, and it took five separate repair missions to get it to the excellent shape it’s in today.” Sean O’Kane wrote for the Hubble’s 25th anniversary. SLIDES - 1/25 “It was revolutionary to launch such a large telescope 30 years ago, and this astronomy powerhouse is still delivering revolutionary science today.” Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA said in a statement. “Its spectacular images have captured the imagination for decades, and will continue to inspire humanity for years to come.” https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/hubble-celebrates-30-years-in-space-with-a-gorgeous-landscape-of-stars/ar-BB13aEjs Edited April 25, 2020 by CaaC (John) Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted April 29, 2020 Author Subscriber Posted April 29, 2020 (edited) Dancing gargantuan black holes perform on cue Astronomers have been able to test the key consequences of Einstein's theories by studying the way a couple of black holes move around each other. One of these objects is a true colossus - a hole weighing 18 billion times the mass of our Sun; the other not quite so big at "only" 150 million Sun masses. Scientists managed to predict their interactions very precisely. They did so by including their warping effects on space-time and by assuming the larger hole had a smooth "surface". The black hole pairing, known as OJ 287, exists about 3.5 billion light-years from Earth. Hubble delivers stunning 30th birthday picture Twisting jet observed a supermassive black hole Gravitational waves: So many new toys to unwrap Scientists have long recognised a sudden brightening from this system that occurs twice every 12 years. The outburst of energy is equivalent to a trillion suns turning on at once in the holes' host galaxy. The best explanation for this extraordinary behaviour is that the smaller object is routinely crashing through a disc of gas and dust that's accreting on to its larger companion, heating the inspiraling material to extremely high temperatures in the process. But this flaring is somewhat irregular. Sometimes the brightening episodes in the 12-year period occur as little as one year apart; other times, as much as 10 years apart. It speaks to the complexity of the path the small hole takes around its partner - a complexity the research team has now built into a highly sophisticated model. "The orbit of the smaller black hole precesses. That's why the times of the impacts vary," explained Prof Mauri Valtonen from the University of Turku, Finland. "Already back in 1996, we had a model that predicted more or less what would happen. But we've just got more and more accurate," he told BBC News. One of the updated model's important parameters is the energy radiating away from the system in the form of gravitational waves. These ripples in the fabric of space-time - a consequence of Einstein's theory of general relativity - are generated by accelerating bodies, and in the super-massive circumstances of OJ 287, they have a significant influence on the way the system operates. The big test of the latest model came on 31 July last year when the appearance of the most recent flaring was identified to within 2.5 hours of what the equations had anticipated. The event was captured by the US space agency Nasa's Spitzer infrared telescope, a fortunate observation, as it turned out, because OJ 287 was on the far side of the Sun to the Earth at the time and therefore out of sight to ground-based facilities. Spitzer's separation from Earth (160 million km), on the other hand, put it in prime position. "When I first checked the visibility of OJ 287, I was shocked to find that it became visible to Spitzer right on the day when the next flare was predicted to occur," said Dr Seppo Laine, a Caltech, US, staff scientist who oversaw the Spitzer viewing. "It was extremely fortunate that we would be able to capture the peak of this flare with Spitzer because no other human-made instruments were capable of achieving this feat at that specific point in time." Another refinement in the model involved folding in details about the larger black hole's physical characteristics. Specifically, its rotation. Scientists, including the late Stephen Hawking, developed what became known as the "no-hair" theorem of black holes. This essentially states that the surface, or "event horizon", of a black hole along its rotation axis is symmetrical - there are no lumps and bumps. The observation of OJ 287 is said to be the best test yet of this no-hair idea. If there were serious irregularities, the predicted timing would not have worked out so well. Prof Achamveedu Gopakumar, from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India, worked on gravitational-wave additions to the model along with graduate student Lankeswar Dey. The professor spoke of his "elation" on seeing the Spitzer data come through. He is now looking forward to OJ 287 being imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope which produced the first-ever picture of a black hole last year. "The EHT observed the source both in 2017 and 2018. The other campaigns are suspended (because of coronavirus) and we hope to get time during the 2021 campaign," he told BBC News. Details of the Spitzer observations are published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The next flaring will be in 2022, and then in 2033 and 2034. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52464250 Edited May 9, 2020 by CaaC (John) Deleted Video, no longer available. Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted May 2, 2020 Author Subscriber Posted May 2, 2020 Nasa names companies to develop Moon landers for human missions Nasa has chosen the companies that will develop landers to send astronauts to the Moon's surface in the 2020s. The White House wants to send the next man and the first woman to the Moon in 2024, to be followed by other missions. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, Elon Musk's SpaceX and Alabama-based Dynetics were selected to work on landers under the space agency's Artemis programme. The 2024 mission will see astronauts walk on the Moon's surface for the first time since 1972. Combined, the contracts are worth $967m (£763m; €877m) and will run for a "base period" of 10 months. "With these contract awards, America is moving forward with the final step needed to land astronauts on the Moon by 2024, including the incredible moment when we will see the first woman set foot on the lunar surface," said Nasa's administrator Jim Bridenstine. "This is the first time since the Apollo era that Nasa has direct funding for a human landing system, and now we have companies on contract to do the work for the Artemis programme." FULL REPORT Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted May 6, 2020 Author Subscriber Posted May 6, 2020 (edited) Final supermoon of 2020 set to grace skies over the UK SLIDES - 1/3 The final supermoon of the year is set to rise in the sky on Thursday. The full moon in May is also known as the “flower moon”, signifying the flowers that bloom during the month. Other names include the hare moon, the corn planting moon, and the milk moon, according to Royal Observatory Greenwich. The celestial event is expected to be visible early in the morning as well as after sunset as the moon rises in the south-east. Greg Brown, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory, told the PA news agency: “Technically the exact moment of a full moon is 11.45 am, however, the moon will not be visible in the sky in the UK at that time.” But the Earth’s natural satellite will still appear bigger than usual on Thursday morning, when it sets at around 5.42 am in London, as well as on Thursday evening, when it rises at around 8.44 pm. He said: “Times for moonrise and set vary slightly across the UK, but not by more than about 10 minutes or so.” This full moon will also be a supermoon, meaning it will be about 6% larger than a typical full moon and around 14% bigger than a micro moon, which is when the moon is at its furthest point from Earth. Dr Brown told PA: “The moon’s orbit He told PA: “Because of how the dynamics of orbits work, these usually occur in runs of two or three with longer gaps of several months between each set of supermoons.” The next supermoon will be visible in April 2021. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/final-supermoon-of-2020-set-to-grace-skies-over-uk/ar-BB13F9Lj#image=1 Edited May 6, 2020 by CaaC (John) Quote
Administrator Stan Posted May 7, 2020 Administrator Posted May 7, 2020 Just watched a programme about the Hubble Telescope from a couple weeks ago. Charting it's first journey in 1983 and the first pictures of Eagle Nebula - the largest pillar is 30trillion km high, which 1000x the diameter of the solar system & Horsehead Nebula. Sheer stunning imagery. Such pure pictures and vivid scenes. They're so colourful and surreal. It really is amazing the work that would have gone in to it, and still does, is fascinating. And it's even more special given at that time, even in 1980s, technology was not as advances as it is now. The minds that would have worked on such missions decades ago were so powerful to create such a vehicle to get in to space and relay these pictures back with such clarity and precision. And then it went searching for the Black Hole! I didn't even know there were more than one to such a scale. I thought it was just that one massive black hole that everyone talks about and that's it. It's actually very brave and daring all these missions up to the telescope they create and execute, even if it's just to do running repairs on this giant piece of machinery, as if it was a general fix on your TV or something. Just casually go up in to space and replace a bit of kit with a more advanced piece of tech . It's just mind-blowing. 2 Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted May 9, 2020 Author Subscriber Posted May 9, 2020 Scientists obtain 'lucky' image of Jupiter Astronomers have produced a remarkable new image of Jupiter, tracing the glowing regions of warmth that lurk beneath the gas giant's cloud tops. The picture was captured in infrared by the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii and is one of the sharpest observations of the planet ever made from the ground. To achieve the resolution, scientists used a technique called "lucky imaging" which scrubs out the blurring effect of looking through Earth's turbulent atmosphere. This method involves acquiring multiple exposures of the target and only keeping those segments of an image where that turbulence is at a minimum. When all the "lucky shots" are put together in a mosaic, a clarity emerges that's beyond just the single exposure. Planet Jupiter's winds run deep Jupiter Great Red Spot has deep roots Infrared is a longer wavelength than the more familiar visible light detected by the likes of the Hubble telescope. It is used to see past the haze and thin clouds at the top of Jupiter's atmosphere, to give scientists the opportunity to probe deeper into the planet's internal workings. Researchers want to understand better what makes and sustains the gas giant's weather systems, and in particular the great storms that can rage for decades and even centuries. The study that produced this infrared image was led from the University of California at Berkeley. It was part of a joint programme of observations that involved Hubble and the Juno spacecraft that's currently orbiting the fifth planet from the Sun. Fast facts about Jupiter Jupiter is 11 times wider than Earth and 300 times more massive It takes 12 Earth years to orbit the Sun; a 'day' is 10 hours long In composition it resembles a star; it's mostly hydrogen and helium Under pressure, the hydrogen assumes a state similar to a metal This 'metallic hydrogen' could be the source of the magnetic field Most of the visible cloud tops contain ammonia and hydrogen sulphide Jupiter's low-latitude 'bands' play host to very strong east-west winds The Great Red Spot is a giant storm vortex wider than Planet Earth https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52587488 1 Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted May 9, 2020 Author Subscriber Posted May 9, 2020 (edited) Britain's £5 billion rival to EU's Galileo satellite project faces scrap Plans for Britain to join the space race with its own satellite navigation system face being scrapped as officials conclude that the ambitious post-Brexit project would be a waste of taxpayer funds. The Telegraph understands that mandarins in the Cabinet Office and Department for Business are pressing ministers to shut down work on the programme, which was set up after Brussels froze the UK out of the EU’s Galileo satellite scheme. Boris Johnson has signalled his support for the £5 billion projects, saying that Britain should “get going” on its own alternative to Galileo and America’s GPS, the system used to power smartphone location services, sat-navs and military applications. But civil servants are pushing for ministers to begin winding down the programme in the coming weeks, arguing that it would not represent value for money. Sir Mark Sedwill, the Cabinet Secretary, has urged ministers at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to decide on the project’s future as the Prime Minister focuses on the national response to the coronavirus pandemic. Sir Mark is understood to have argued that the satellite project is unaffordable. A British GPS could provide a private and ultra-accurate encrypted signal for military uses such as drones and missiles. The defence has been a central argument for a UK alternative after the armed forces were denied access to Galileo’s secure “PRS” signal. A recent report into a UK satellite system prepared for the UK Space Agency, seen by The Telegraph, has also concluded that it could earn hundreds of millions of pounds a year from private companies by 2030. The analysis by the consultancy McKinsey, shared with industry partners, estimated that a secure commercial service could make up to £480 million a year by licensing a secure signal to driverless car manufacturers and shipping firms, potentially covering the annual running costs of the system. The cost of the system has been estimated at £3 billion to £5 billion. Scrapping the project would be a major blow to Britain’s space industry, which has been seen as a national priority and which was due to play a key role in Galileo before the UK was barred from the programme. Global navigation systems use a constellation of satellites with atomic clocks to provide accurate location and timing signals for energy grids and mobile networks as well as smartphones. The British economy could lose an estimated £1 billion a day if the American GPS system currently relied on were to go offline. In 2018 Theresa May handed the UK Space Agency £92 million to assess the feasibility of a UK satellite system. The money is believed to have largely been spent, and Space Agency officials are now weighing up the cost of scrapping the programme or keeping their options open by maintaining industry contracts and deciding whether to go ahead at a later date. Mr Johnson backed the project in his first speech as Prime Minister last year, saying: “Let's get going now on our own position navigation and timing satellite and earth observation systems - UK assets orbiting in space, with all the long term strategic and commercial benefits for this country.” Britain was blocked from full access to Galileo, which is due to be fully operational this year, in 2018 after the EU said allowing a non-member state to use its military-grade signal would endanger security. A spokesman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “The Government has made clear its ambitions for space and is developing a new National Space Strategy to bring long-term strategic and commercial benefits for the UK. “We are working closely with the UK Space Agency as it investigates the requirements, design specifications and costs of a UK Global Navigation Satellite System capability, within this ambition.” https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/britains-£5-billion-rival-to-eus-galileo-satellite-project-faces-scrap/ar-BB13O7Jq Edited May 9, 2020 by CaaC (John) Quote
Administrator Stan Posted May 9, 2020 Administrator Posted May 9, 2020 I've seen shooting stars on a few occasions but how fucking insane would it be to see this with your own eyes 1 Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted May 9, 2020 Author Subscriber Posted May 9, 2020 "I've seen shooting stars on a few occasions but how fucking insane would it be to see this with your own eyes" Not insane @Stan but to me, it would have been mystical, magical and awe-inspiring to know you have just seen something from the depths of outer space and maybe billions of years old...sigh...I wished I had seen it in person. Quote
Bluewolf Posted May 11, 2020 Posted May 11, 2020 Margaret Hamilton stands next to all the code she wrote for Apollo by hand... 1 Quote
Subscriber RandoEFC+ Posted May 11, 2020 Subscriber Posted May 11, 2020 1 hour ago, Bluewolf said: Margaret Hamilton stands next to all the code she wrote for Apollo by hand... My kind of woman. Quote
Administrator Stan Posted May 11, 2020 Administrator Posted May 11, 2020 3 hours ago, Bluewolf said: Margaret Hamilton stands next to all the code she wrote for Apollo by hand... 1 hour ago, RandoEFC said: My kind of woman. Pretty sure it's fake - it's Daniel Radcliffe with a wig and all the Harry Potter books... Quote
Subscriber RandoEFC+ Posted May 11, 2020 Subscriber Posted May 11, 2020 2 hours ago, Stan said: Pretty sure it's fake - it's Daniel Radcliffe with a wig and all the Harry Potter books... He has nice legs. Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted May 14, 2020 Author Subscriber Posted May 14, 2020 One-in-a-million: 'Super-Earth' discovered near the centre of our galaxy Another day, another super-Earth? Not so fast. This one really is special. Calling it "incredibly rare," New Zealand astronomers say that the planet "is one of only a handful that has been discovered with both size and orbit comparable to that of Earth," according to a statement. The research about the discovery was published recently in a study in the Astronomical Journal. © NASA Super-earth found, only 31 light-years away How does this distant world and its star compare to our neighbourhood? According to the study, the super-Earth's host star is about 10% the mass of our sun, and the planet would have a mass somewhere between that of Earth and Neptune. It would also orbit its star at a location between Venus and Earth. However, as for life, or water, study authors say not to get our hopes up: "Although it’s not too much bigger than Earth, and orbiting its star at a similar distance, this planet would be very cold because its star is smaller than the sun and emits much less light," study co-author Michael Abrow of the New Zealand's University of Canterbury told USA TODAY. "Water could not exist in a liquid state and the likelihood of life would be very low," he said. "Only a very few planets have been detected that may have suitable conditions for life." Another difference: Due to the host star having a smaller mass than our sun, the planet would have a "year" of approximately 617 days. Study lead author Antonia Herrera-Martin, also of the University of Canterbury, said the planet was discovered using a technique called "gravitational microlensing." View on the planet Earth from the Moon surface. Elements of this image are furnished by NASA “The combined gravity of the planet and its host star caused the light from a more distant background star to be magnified in a particular way," he said. "We used telescopes distributed around the world to measure the light-bending effect.” The microlensing effect is rare, he said, with only about one in a million stars in the galaxy being affected at any given time. In addition, this type of observation does not repeat, and the probabilities of catching a planet at the same time are extremely low, Martin said. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/one-in-a-million-super-earth-discovered-near-center-of-our-galaxy/ar-BB143Ekq?li=BBoPWjQ Quote
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted May 18, 2020 Author Subscriber Posted May 18, 2020 Space Plane: Mysterious US military aircraft launches The US Air Force has successfully launched its Atlas V rocket, carrying an X-37B space plane for a secretive mission. The rocket launched on Sunday from Cape Canaveral, a day after bad weather halted plans for a Saturday launch. The aircraft, also known as an Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), will deploy a satellite into orbit and also test power-beaming technology. It is the plane's sixth mission in space. The launch was dedicated to front line workers and those affected by the pandemic. A message including the words "America Strong" was written on the rocket's payload fairing. Mysterious US space plane returns US spaceplane 'spying on China' X-37B is a classified programme and very little is known about it. The Pentagon has revealed very few details about the drone's missions and capabilities in the past. "This X-37B mission will host more experiments than any other prior missions," Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett said earlier this month. One of the experiments will test the effect of radiation on seeds and other materials. The X-37B programme started in 1999. The aircraft resembles a smaller version of the manned space shuttles that were retired by the US space programme in 2011. It can glide back down through the atmosphere to land on a runway, just as the shuttle did. Built by Boeing, the plane uses solar panels for power in orbit, measures over 29ft (9m) long, has a wingspan of nearly 15ft and a weight of 11,000lbs (4,989 kg). The first plane flew in April 2010 and returned after an eight-month mission. The most recent mission ended in October 2019, after 780 days in orbit, bringing the aircraft's time in space to more than seven years. The length of this mission is currently unclear. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52698133 Quote
nudge Posted May 19, 2020 Posted May 19, 2020 NASA has released the Artemis Accords, a set of principles for international Moon exploration. https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-accords/index.html 1 Quote
Bluewolf Posted May 20, 2020 Posted May 20, 2020 Just found this picture while searching about and I remember my dad spending about 6 weeks putting one of these together in secret late in the night just so it would be ready for Xmas morning at the bottom of my bed when I was young.. must have been about 3 feet tall... Love ya dad... always something there to remind me.. 1 1 Quote
nudge Posted May 27, 2020 Posted May 27, 2020 On 23/05/2020 at 12:57, CaaC (John) said: Just over 5 hours left until the launch! Very excited about this! Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.