Space News

pigfarmer said:
Probably DEI or some craptastic variant. I haven't followed the story only result. You wouldn't want to harm anyone by actually requiring anything of them would you? As in, what they are paid to do ? Your blatant racism makes me sick. I need to go to a federally provided safe space and hug myself now.

This is a blatant thread hijack but it's sad that we provide twelve years of public education that is often squandered, and then what ? Send your kid off to obtain an expensive an utterly useless degree with some expectation that the federal government will use a magic wand made up of our tax dollars to wipe away and concern over repayment ? How's that working out? Your kid is still in his bedroom at age 30?

In NY they did away with any Regents diplomas, sort of an advanced level. That's socialism for you - dilute dilute dilute until everything is equally crappy. My nephew graduated high school (not in NY) just after COVID and he's an idiot, can barely write. Not to put to fine a point on it...........

I'd love to see philanthropists support scholarships in engineering, mathematics, physics, material sciences, trade schools to name a few, not to support riots over Palestine or any of that nonsense or talk about my **** anymore. Back in the 80s my **** was good for only two things and one was bad advice, now it has to be relevant every conversation.
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Not that I love being hated, but it all boils down to IQ.

In the name of inclusivness IQ is predominately socially treated in the same way small d**ks are, like in "its not important how big it is, but how you use it". Unfortunatelly, as any girl will tell you in utmost cofidence previous statement is complete fallacu,

Analogy aside, regarding IQ here, back some time in 20th century US Army issued a request for a set of psyhological metrics that will enable them to predict future performance of soldiers, so that Army can assign them various duties and even send them for officer training. Amongst all the methods that psyhyatrists tried IQ was effectively the only one that had consistently shown predictive abilities. So, IQ test's staying power comes from the fact that it works.

What IQ means is that 50% of people in any country have IQ lower then average. So, in US with 350 M people that's 175 M with bellow average IQ, and in China with 1,500 M people 750 M people have IQ bellow average. These are both staggering and frightening numbers. Now, these guys first, make a gigantic customer base, for example for religion, as well as sports audience, readers of yellow press, listeners of perpetual songs about relationships, etc. So, nobody would want to offend his 175 M / 750 M customers, right? Second, its more likely that they'll turn emotional or violent then they'll keep cool and stick to a line up of rational arguments.

Obvious downside of discounting for this influence is when we make a decissions as a group, like in democracy. As far as UK goes, good example of adverse effect of this imposed equality was Brexit,
 
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"Stranded" NASA astronaut on International Space Station photographed from Earth in world first​

In an incredibly rare event, an amateur photographer on Earth has captured an incredible image of a “stranded” NASA astronaut floating outside the International Space Station (ISS) as it passed overhead. Astronaut Suni Williams was snapped during a recent space walk, when she broke the record for most non-consecutive hours spent space walking by a female astronaut.

On January 30, Charline Giroud, a biochemist at the University of Oxford, England, and astrophotography enthusiast took the photograph using a small telescope as the ISS passed over Oxfordshire at an altitude of around 250 miles (410 kilometers). If that doesn’t impress you, the shot took extreme precision as the ISS was traveling at roughly 17,500 mph (28,000 km/h).

Speaking to Spaceweather.com Giroud said “I was very lucky to capture this event under clear skies with my telescope from my hometown, it was a fantastic moment.” She reveals on her Facebook feed that she shot the image using her Celestron C11 Edge HD telescope on a Sky-Watcher EQ6R-Pro equatorial mount, using a 2x Barlow and a ZWO 664MC camera.

At the time of the shot, ISS commander Sunita “Suni” Williams was conducting her fifth career space walk, also referred to as extravehicular activity (EVA). She was walking outside the ISS to help remove a broken part of the station. The mission put Williams’ total time space walking up to 62 hours and 6 minutes floating in space, overtaking retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson’s leading record.

In the photo, Williams appears as a tiny white speck attached to the end of a robotic arm, named Canadarm-2. As well as breaking the impressive record, Williams is "also the first female astronaut to be photographed from the ground during a spacewalk," Giroud said. "Congratulations Suni!"

Williams and fellow astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore have been “stranded” on the ISS since June 06, 2024. They were only scheduled to stay in space for around one week, however, they became stuck when the Boeing Starliner capsule that delivered them to the station experienced multiple leaks, forcing it out of action temporarily. The pair could now spend a total of 300 days in space, orbiting the Earth due to technical and logistical difficulties.

U.S. president Donald Trump has made it a priority to return Williams and Wilmore to Earth since entering the oval office, and has "ordered" Elon Musk to return the pair on a SpaceX capsule before the proposed March return date, Space.com recently reported. However, it is currently unclear how or if this will happen.

Photos of Suni Williams (left) and Butch Wilmore (right) show where they were when the new photo was taken (Image credit: Charline Giroud )


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Firefly's Blue Ghost lander captures amazing moon views after orbit maneuver​



Blue Ghost Prepares for Landing, NASA Instrument Breaks Record​

Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 is nearly one week away from its Moon landing on Sunday, March 2, after launching on Jan.15. In preparation for landing, Blue Ghost will complete its final lunar orbit maneuver scheduled for Monday, Feb. 24. This maneuver will insert Blue Ghost into a near-circular low lunar orbit, bringing the lander closer to the lunar surface. Then about one hour before touchdown, Blue Ghost will complete its Descent Orbit Insertion burn, which will initiate the lander’s descent trajectory toward its landing site, Mare Crisium, on the near side of the Moon.

Live coverage of the landing, jointly hosted by NASA and Firefly, will air on NASA+ starting at 2:30 a.m. EST, approximately 75 minutes before Blue Ghost touches down on the Moon’s surface. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media. The broadcast will also stream on Firefly’s YouTube channel. Coverage will include live streaming and blog updates as the descent milestones occur.

All 10 NASA instruments on this flight are currently healthy and ready to operate on the lunar surface. The payloads that are able to power on and operate have also collected some noteworthy data during lunar transit. Two highlights include:

The Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) acquired and tracked Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals for the first time in lunar orbit – a new record! This achievement, peaking at 246,000 miles, suggests that Earth-based GNSS constellations can be used for navigation in transit to, around, and potentially on the Moon. It also demonstrates the power of using multiple GNSS constellations together, such as GPS and Galileo, to perform navigation. After lunar landing, LuGRE will operate for 14 days and attempt to break another record – first reception of GNSS signals on the lunar surface.

The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager, or LEXI, telescope was turned on successfully shortly after launch on Jan. 15. The instrument has operated for several hours every day conducting checkouts and initial commissioning, operating for a total of more than 50 hours so far in preparation for collecting images from the lunar surface.

Follow along on NASA’s Artemis Blog as Blue Ghost Mission 1 continues its journey to the Moon. Additional mission updates can also be found on Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 page.
 

NASA's stranded astronauts finally snap as they appear to let slip who's to blame for leaving them there​

NASA's stranded astronauts have put on a brave face throughout their uncertain nine-month stay on the International Space Station - but that appeared to slip in a recent interview. Barry Wilmore seemed to suggest he and his crewmate Sunita Williams had been caught up in political games in Washington.

SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, whose spaceflight company was tasked with bringing Williams and Wilmore home later this month, has repeatedly said the Biden administration 'abandoned' them for 'political reasons.' Musk has also said that former president Joe Biden rejected his offer to bring the astronauts home early because it would've made Donald Trump and his supporters 'look good.'

During a Tuesday press conference, Williams and Wilmore were asked if the Biden administration did in fact decline Musk's offer to bring them home early, to which Wilmore replied that Musk's claim 'is absolutely factual.'

'I can only say that Mr Musk, what he says, is absolutely factual,' Wilmore said, noting he and Williams were not briefed on what happened behind closed doors. So I believe him. I don't know all those details, and I don't think any of us really can give you the answer that maybe that you would be hoping for,' he added.

The astronaut then gushed over Trump and Musk, saying 'we have the utmost respect for them.'

NASA's stranded astronauts finally snap as they appear to let slip who's to blame for

(More on the link)

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All the aminoacids that were used in forming life on Earth were confirmed to be found on the asteriod Benu. Amino acids are used in creation of RNA and DNA. What is even more interesting is handedness, because life on Earth strictly is one-handed and amino-acids from Benu are other-handed:


View: https://youtu.be/nKb4zcyqjXQ
 
Private Intuitive Machines moon lander declared dead after falling on its side in crater at the lunar south pole

I couldn't help but think we're leaving garbage on the Moon and then remembered this shot which reminds me we're stinkin' the joint up on Mars and Venus too. Having read John Varley's Titan I can't help but wonder if Saturn was bothered much by Cassini's death dive or not and Huygens is still sitting where they left it.

How long before we have a problem like in Earth orbit or even on Mt. Everest ?

NASA Sees ‘Otherworldly’ Wreckage on Mars With Ingenuity Helicopter

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Dejan Corovic said:
All the aminoacids that were used in forming life on Earth were confirmed to be found on the asteriod Benu. Amino acids are used in creation of RNA and DNA. What is even more interesting is handedness, because life on Earth strictly is one-handed and amino-acids from Benu are other-handed:


View: https://youtu.be/nKb4zcyqjXQ
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It is interesting that the amino acids found were both left and right handed. As all life on Earth is based on the left handed versions and it is thought that should right handed micro organisms be artificially created, they would pose an existential threat to us (our immune systems would not recognize them), would:
1. If half of the life in the universe is based on left handed amino acids and half on right handed ones, is half of life out there dangerous to the other half?
2. If through panspermia, Earth was infected by a right handed micro organism, would it create an extinction event? and might that be the mechanism of a Grand Filter Theory?
 
Non smoking gun said:
It is interesting that the amino acids found were both left and right handed. As all life on Earth is based on the left handed versions and it is thought that should right handed micro organisms be artificially created, they would pose an existential threat to us (our immune systems would not recognize them), would:
1. If half of the life in the universe is based on left handed amino acids and half on right handed ones, is half of life out there dangerous to the other half?
2. If through panspermia, Earth was infected by a right handed micro organism, would it create an extinction event? and might that be the mechanism of a Grand Filter Theory?
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That's something that confuses me a bit. If a solar system is full of both left and right-handed amiono acids, why we only find left-handed on Earth? What happened to the right-handed amino acidts?
 
Not a news per se, but a new angle on space travel things. Late Thomas Morrison was talking about this. Essentially, with just a change to constant thrust traveling time to Mars reduces to about a week, from almost a year with current bullet shot technology. This, by comparison really makes rockets look like steam engines. Now, by extension. is UFOs have "constant thrust" because of distortion of space times their travel times can be much shorter than what we are imagining.


View: https://youtu.be/AojKy1iDloQ
 
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Now this is bad and ugly, US oligarchs cutting NASA budget apparently by 50%. Particularly sinister is that Musk who built his wealth by providing servicies to NASA is now defunding its own customer. Not to mention that all the tech for Musk's rocket engine was gratituosly developed by NASA and he used that knowledge for free.

Cutting budget to NASA is shooting itself into a foot because NASA is incubator for many new fledging technologies and will strategically harm US in comparison to its competitors, like China, who are charging ahead unimpeded.

www.independent.co.uk

‘Extinction level’ cuts coming to NASA, report says

NASA’s science programs budget could be slashed by 50 percent in fiscal year 2026, people familiar with the Trump administration’s budget request warn
www.independent.co.uk www.independent.co.uk
 
As I watched the launch I was thinking that nothing much has changed from Apollo, it looks about the same. Then came the first stage separation and that booster just did it's own thing and flew itself back to the ground ..... wow .....

I'm not sure which episode exactly but on the Fighter Pilot Podcast I heard a Maine aviator talk about certifying that Dragon capsule for flight. It had to be flown manually at least once to prove that backup system was adequate. Problem is, Elon likes slick new touch displays and that highly experienced Marine was highly unamused. No buttons, no joystick. He said the shuttle looks like a city bus by comparison.

But, he did what any test pilot at that level does, he owned it. I think that's the one and only time one was flown manually.

Retired Marine Col. Doug Hurley

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NASA's stranded astronauts are FINALLY on their way home after undocking from International Space Station following nine grueling months... but face harsh reality when they splashdown​

NASA's stranded astronauts are finally on their way home after a brutal nine months in space. After months of tense anticipation, Sunita Williams and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 1.05am ET (5.05am GMT) on the Dragon spacecraft made by Elon Musk's SpaceX. The pair, along with NASA's Nick Hague and Russia's Aleksandr Gorbunov, will now make the 17 hour descent back to Earth and, if all goes according to plan, should splash down off the coast of Florida at 5.57pm ET (9.57pm GMT).

'Crew nine is going home,' Hague, the commander of departing Crew Dragon, said from the spacecraft moments after they began their journey. 'On behalf of crew nine, it was a privilege to call space home... to live and work... in cooperation for the benefit of humanity. To our colleagues and dear friends who remain on the station, we know the station is in great hands. We're excited to see what you guys are going to accomplish and we'll be waiting for ya [sic].'

NASA livestreamed the extraordinary mission, documenting every key development from the moment the duo were secured in the spacecraft and the hatch door was closed - which took place two hours prior to departure. Wilmore was strapped in on the far left of the hatch with Williams secured on the far right, both blowing kisses at the screen as the reality set in that they were finally returning home. There was a slight mishap as Takuya Onishi, one of four new astronauts replacing Williams and Wilmore, reported finding specks of dust on the hatch seals between the craft and the space station before takeoff. Those specks needed to be entirely removed - which Onishi did - before takeoff to ensure the seal remained air tight.

Beyond that, all systems were reported working smoothly and the space suits had passed the required leak test, with forecast clear skies and 'pristine weather' ahead of splashdown on Tuesday.

The duo are unlikely to be able to walk on their own and will almost certainly be stretchered to the hospital, making for dramatic scenes. Williams and Wilmore were only supposed to spend eight days on the floating laboratory when they launched aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 5. But numerous technical issues with their ship, including thruster failures and helium leaks, drove NASA to send Starliner home without its crew in September. Their unexpectedly long space mission became a political flashpoint following comments from President Donald Trump and Musk, who both said the Biden administration 'abandoned' the Starliner crew in space for 'political reasons.'

During a February appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast, Musk claimed he offered to bring the pair home eight months ago, but the Biden Administration shot it down because it would have made Trump 'look good' in the presidential race against Kamala Harris.

Williams and Wilmore are en route back to Earth in SpaceX's Crew-9 Dragon capsule, which docked to the ISS late last week. The pair are joined by NASA's Hague and Russia's Gorbunov, who flew to the space station in the Crew-9 Dragon in September. Four new astronauts have taken their place after arriving on the ISS over the weekend. The incoming Crew-10 is composed of NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan's Takuya Onishi, and Russia's Kirill Pesko.

Typically, a departing ISS crew shares the space station with the incoming crew for about five days in what's known as a 'handover period.' This allows them to get the new crew up to speed on space station operations and ensures a smooth transition between teams. But this time, NASA decided to shorten the handover period to just two days to conserve food on the ISS and open up more undocking opportunities for the Starliner crew in case the weather interferes with their targeted return date.

When they splash down on Tuesday, the frail duo will be placed on stretchers and immediately taken for medical evaluations.

NASA is due to give a press conference at 7.30pm ET (11.30pm GMT) and it is highly unlikely the astronauts will attend.

(More on the link)

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Frail NASA astronauts pump their fists as they are stretchered from rescue ship and rushed for medical checks after nine months stranded in space... but now the real challenge begins​

Sunita Williams (left) and Butch Willmore (right) splashed down off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida at 5:57pm ET. They were accompanied by the Crew-9 astronauts, NASA's Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. A recovery ship pulled the capsule (inset) out of the water and loaded it onto the deck. The four astronauts gradually emerged through the hatch and took their first breaths of fresh air in months. Williams and Wilmore smiled and waved at the camera, even giving a double thumbs-up as the crew wheeled them off for a medical check alongside their colleagues.

Frail NASA astronauts are stretchered from rescue ship and rushed to medical checks after

(More on the link)

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1st-ever orbital rocket launch from European soil falls to Earth and explodes seconds into flight​

The first flight of Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket ended in dramatic fashion today.

Germany-based Isar Aerospace attempted to launch the first orbital rocket from European soil on Sunday morning (March 30). The company's Spectrum rocket lifted off from Europe's Andøya Spaceport in Norway, but suffered an anomaly 18 seconds into the flight.

Dramatic video from the launch shows the rocket tumbling just seconds into flight before plummeting to the icy ground below and exploding in a brilliant fireball.

It's unclear what caused the anomaly, but it appears that Isar's Spectrum rocket began tumbling just seconds into its debut flight. Video from the incident shows the rocket plummeting to the ground with its engines off, so it's likely that flight controllers terminated the flight once the vehicle began tumbling. There were no payloads aboard Spectrum's first test flight today. Isar Aerospace was simply attempting to collect data about the vehicle during the maiden launch, according to the company's website.

This was the first rocket launch from Andøya Spaceport, which opened in 2023 along the Norwegian Sea in northern Norway. The ground stations and facilities of the spaceport were built specifically for Isar Aerospace and the Spectrum rocket, and appear to have been unharmed today.

Spectrum measures some 95 feet (28 meters) tall. SpaceX's Falcon 9, by comparison, stands 230 feet (70 meters) high. Isar Aerospace has promoted Spectrum as a small to medium-lift launch vehicle, capable of delivering up to 2,200 pounds (1,000 kilograms) to low-Earth orbit.

Spectrum has yet to reach orbit, but Isar has already signed an agreement with the Norwegian Space Agency for the rocket's first commercial missions in which it will launch the Arctic Ocean Surveillance (AOS) program satellites by 2028. It's unclear if today's anomaly will affect that timeline.


View: https://twitter.com/spacecoastwest/status/1906297425062428674


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Scientists find mysterious cosmic tunnel linking our solar system to distant parts of the galaxy​

New out of this world discoveries about the wonders of space never cease amaze and excite one’s imagination. As we attempt to become a multi-planet species recent research has mapped a “interstellar tunnel” from our solar system pointing toward the constellation Centaurus.

That is direction in which our nearest neighboring star, Proxima Centauri, is located as well as another superbubble. In fact, the scientists believe that there may be an entire network of tunnels connecting to other bubbles throughout the galaxy.

The Earth and our solar system with it are currently at the center of a bubble in space known as a Local Hot Bubble (LHB). This is an area of hot, low-density gas which has been theorized to exist since 1974. Using data from the eROSITA All-Sky Survey, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) were able to map in detail our LHB and create a 3D model of it. At the same time, they discovered a large-scale temperature gradient in the bubble indicating how it was formed.

The scientists also spotted something of great interest, which is featured in their study published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, an interstellar tunnel that they didn’t know existed. “The highlight of this work features the discovery of a new interstellar tunnel towards the constellation Centaurus,” states the team of MPE researchers in a press release.

The tunnel “carves a gap in the cooler interstellar medium,” says astrophysicist Michael Freyberg, one of the authors of the research paper. “This region stands out in stark relief thanks to the much-improved sensitivity of eROSITA,” he added.

The new tunnel they found could potentially connect the LHB we find ourselves in with a neighboring superbubble which is also located in the constellation Centaurus. The authors of the study believe that this tunnel could be just a local example of a wider network of tunnels throughout the galaxy connecting hot bubbles. Research has previously shown that there is a similar tunnel potentially linking the LHB to the Gum Nebula.

The bubbles themselves are believed to have been the creation of past supernova explosions. Some of these have been in just the past few million years which have expanded and reheated our LHB.

Our own bubble in space is 1,000 light-years across, at least, and the “tenuous” hot gas that fills it tips the thermometer at over 1 million degrees. The hot plasma emits soft X-rays, readings of which were used to create the researchers’ map of our LHB.

“Another interesting fact,” remarked Gabriele Ponti, a co-author, that came out of the research is that our Sun appears to occupy a relatively central position in the LHB in the team’s model. But the scientist says that this “is purely coincidental” because the solar system is constantly on the move through the Milky Way and “the Sun must have entered the LHB a few million years ago.”


View: https://twitter.com/ExploreCosmos_/status/1854881967486927087



View: https://twitter.com/ExploreCosmos_/status/1815265097217978460


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Alien life signature 'found' on mysterious ocean world 120-light-years from Earth​

Scientists have discovered what they believe to be the strongest signature yet of alien life on a distant planet 120 light years from Earth. Astronomers at the University of Cambridge say they are 99.7 per cent confident they've detected a biosignature of biological activity on K2-18b, a planet in the constellation of Leo.

The discovery, made using the James Webb Space Telescope, has been described as potentially "one of the biggest landmarks in the history of science." K2-18b is what scientists call a "Hycean world" - a planet covered in oceans with a thick hydrogen atmosphere. It's approximately 2.5 times the size of Earth and 8.6 times more massive.

Researchers believe the planet may be "teeming with life" in its vast oceans, which could be slightly warmer than Earth's. The planet orbits a red dwarf star in what astronomers call the habitable zone, where liquid water can exist. A year on K2-18b lasts just 33 days, as it orbits much closer to its star than Earth does to the Sun.

The astronomers detected dimethyl sulphide (DMS) and dimethyl disulphide (DMDS) in K2-18b's atmosphere - molecules that on Earth are only produced by living organisms, primarily marine phytoplankton. These chemical signatures were found at concentrations thousands of times higher than in Earth's atmosphere - more than 10 parts per million compared to one part per billion on Earth.

The detection was made using two different instruments on the James Webb Space Telescope, providing independent lines of evidence. Scientists say there is no known non-biological process that could explain the presence of these molecules at such high levels.

Lead scientist Professor Nikku Madhusudhan said "there is no mechanism in the literature that can explain what we are seeing without life...This is a transformational moment in the search for life beyond the solar system." Professor Madhusudhan said: "Given everything we know about this planet, a Hycean world with an ocean that is teeming with life is the scenario that best fits the data we have."

He added: "It's a question humanity has been asking for thousands of years. It's a shock to the system. It takes time to recover from the enormity of it."

Despite the confidence in their findings, the scientists emphasise that more work is needed to confirm the discovery. The current certainty level is three-sigma (99.7 per cent), but researchers want to reach five-sigma (99.9994 per cent) to declare a definitive discovery.

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