space

Mars trip radiation exposure levels revealed 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- September 22, 2018
Scientists have calculated the minimum level of radiation that an astronaut will be exposed to on a trip to Mars.

By David Aragorn
A new method for type synthesis of non-holonomic underactuated parallel mechanisms 0
- From Around the Web, Science & Technology, Space
- September 21, 2018
Researchers at Shanghai University have developed a new method to achieve type synthesis of non-holonomic underactuated parallel mechanisms. Their method, presented in a paper published in Acta Astronautica, could aid the development of space robots for on-orbit servicing operations.

By David Aragorn
NASA telescope discovers two new planets five months after launch 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- September 21, 2018
A planet-hunting orbital telescope designed to detect worlds beyond our solar system discovered two distant planets this week five months after its launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, officials said on Thursday.

By David Aragorn
Gaia Sees Effects of Milky Way’s Close Encounter with Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- September 21, 2018
Astronomers analyzing data from the second release of ESA’s star mapping mission Gaia have shown that our Milky Way Galaxy is still enduring the effects of a near collision that set millions of its stars moving like ripples on a pond. The close encounter likely took place sometime in the past 300-900 million years, and the culprit could be the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, an elliptical loop-shaped galaxy located 78,300 light-years away. It was discovered because of the pattern of movement it has given to stars in the Milky Way disk.

By David Aragorn
There’s a planet exactly where Star Trek said Vulcan should be 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- September 21, 2018
Countdown: 45 years left until ‘First Contact’

By David Aragorn
New Horizons Spots Its Next Flyby Target: Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- September 20, 2018
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has made its first detection of its next target, the Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, more than four months ahead of its 2019 close encounter.

By David Aragorn
Staring at the sun: Solar Orbiter telescopes will get closest view yet 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- September 20, 2018
European Space Agency’s seven-year, €1bn mission will investigate the effects of the sun on satellite technology

By David Aragorn
The TESS space telescope has spotted its first exoplanet 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- September 20, 2018
Pi Men c’s size and mass suggest it may have lots of water

By David Aragorn
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Spies Its Target Asteroid 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- September 20, 2018
After an almost two-year journey through space, NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) caught its first glimpse of Bennu, a carbonaceous asteroid whose makeup may record the earliest history of our Solar System, last week and began the final approach toward the asteroid. Using its multipurpose PolyCam camera, the spacecraft obtained the image of Bennu from a distance of 1.4 million miles (2.2 million km), or almost six times the distance between the Earth and Moon.

By David Aragorn
Our Solar System’s Largest Asteroid Is Covered in Ice Volcanoes 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- September 19, 2018
We usually associate volcanoes with extreme heat. But new results demonstrate that the Solar System’s largest asteroid, Ceres, is covered in volcanoes that have spewed ice throughout their history.

By David Aragorn