Space

Will new Space Force combat aliens?0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 15, 2018
The question has arisen as to whether Trump’s calling for a Space Force has anything to do with recent revelations that the Pentagon was conducting secret UFO studies.

By David Aragorn
NASA’s Planet-hunting TESS catches a comet before starting science 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 15, 2018
Before NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) started science operations on July 25, 2018, the planet hunter sent back a stunning sequence of serendipitous images showing the motion of a comet. Taken over the course of 17 hours on July 25, these TESS images helped demonstrate the satellite’s ability to collect a prolonged set of stable periodic images covering a broad region of the sky — all critical factors in finding transiting planets orbiting nearby stars.

By David Aragorn
Parker Solar Probe: last-minute hitch delays flight to the sun 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 15, 2018
US space agency postpones launch of fastest object ever made on journey to Earth’s nearest star

By David Aragorn
U.S. warns on Russia’s new space weapons 0
- From Around the Web, Science & Technology, Space
- August 14, 2018
The United States voiced deep suspicion on Tuesday over Russia’s pursuit of new space weapons, including a mobile laser system to destroy satellites in space, and the launch of a new inspector satellite which was acting in an “abnormal” way.

By David Aragorn
Trump’s Space Force aims to create ‘American dominance in space’ by 2020 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 9, 2018
What the heck is a Space Force? We finally (sort of) know.

By David Aragorn
Astronomers saw the first mass eruption from a star that’s not the sun 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 9, 2018
The coronal mass ejection was as massive as scientists expected, but less energetic

By David Aragorn
There and back again: Mantle xenon has a story to tell 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 9, 2018
The Earth has been through a lot of changes in its 4.5 billion year history, including a shift to start incorporating and retaining volatile compounds from the atmosphere in the mantle before spewing them out again through volcanic eruptions.

By David Aragorn
TESS Spots Comet C/2018 N1 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 8, 2018
Before NASA’s newest planet-hunter TESS started science operations on July 25, the spacecraft sent back a series of images showing the motion of C/2018 N1, a comet recently discovered by the agency’s NEOWISE satellite.

By David Aragorn
Air Force remains silent after huge meteor hits near US military base 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 8, 2018
A meteor hit the earth and exploded with 2.1 kilotons of force last month, but the US Air Force has made no mention of the event.

By David Aragorn
Mars Terraforming is Not Possible Using Currently Available Technology, Researchers Say 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 2, 2018
On Mars, the atmospheric pressure is around 0.6% of Earth’s. Any liquid water on the surface would very quickly evaporate or freeze. One of the challenges of terraforming the Red Planet is to increase its atmospheric pressure. The Martian polar caps, minerals, and soil could all provide sources of carbon dioxide and water to thicken the atmosphere. But a new study in the journal Nature Astronomy finds that processing all sources available on the planet would only increase the pressure to about 7% that of Earth, far short of what is needed.

By David Aragorn