space

NASA MOXIE device will create oxygen on Mars 0
- From Around the Web, Science & Technology, Space
- November 27, 2020
The NASA Perseverance Rover has a device aboard called MOXIE that will convert the air available on Mars into oxygen.

By David Aragorn
Earth’s Second Known Minimoon is Natural Object, Astronomers Say 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- November 27, 2020
In a new paper published in the Astronomical Journal, astronomers from the United States, Canada and Europe provide a detailed characterization of the physical properties and orbital evolution of the asteroid 2020 CD3 — Earth’s second discovered temporary natural satellite, or minimoon. Their results prove that 2020 CD3 is a natural body and not some relic piece of human-made space junk.

By David Aragorn
Earth’s early atmosphere may have been toxic like the one on Venus 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- November 26, 2020
Source: New Scientist When Earth was young, its surface was probably covered in a magma ocean, and the gases rising from that seething sea may have provided it with an atmosphere nearly identical to the toxic one present on Venus today. Earth’s early magma ocean was probably created by a collision with a Mars-sized object

By David Aragorn
Groundbreaking study finally explains how the Sun shines 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- November 26, 2020
Source: Slash Gear Italy’s Borexino detector has confirmed a decades-old theory, finding the first-ever evidence of a carbon-nitrogen-oxygen (CNO) cycle that produces neutrinos in our Sun. The researchers call this a historic achievement, one confirming an 80-year-old theory about the star and shedding light on the ‘dominant channel in the universe for hydrogen burning.’ The

By David Aragorn
Spaceflight affects the human body in two major, peculiar ways 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- November 26, 2020
30 new studies show astronauts experience telomere lengthening and mitochondrial malfunction in space.

By David Aragorn
Astronomers discover new ‘fossil galaxy’ buried deep within the Milky Way 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- November 25, 2020
Source: Phys.org Scientists working with data from the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys’ Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) have discovered a “fossil galaxy” hidden in the depths of our own Milky Way. This result, published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, may shake up our understanding of how the Milky Way

By David Aragorn
Curiosity Finds Deposits from Megafloods in Martian Crater 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- November 25, 2020
NASA’s Curiosity rover has found a series of symmetrical, 10-m- (33-foot-) high gravel ridges — sedimentologic evidence of ancient giant floods — in Gale Crater on Mars.

By David Aragorn
A Fireball Of Astounding Brightness And Length Lights Up Night Skies 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- November 25, 2020
Observers across central Europe from Germany to Italy were wowed by a meteor burning up in the sky while taking its time falling to its final resting place(s) on Nov. 19.

By David Aragorn
China calls launch a success as robotic spacecraft heads to moon 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- November 25, 2020
China hailed as a success its pre-dawn launch on Tuesday of a robotic spacecraft to bring back rocks from the moon in the first bid by any country to retrieve lunar surface samples since the 1970s, a mission underscoring Chinese ambitions in space.

By David Aragorn
Elon Musk Says We Need to Live in Glass Domes Before We Can Terraform Mars 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- November 24, 2020
In a reply to a tweet, Elon Musk said we will need to live in glass domes before terraforming Mars.

By David Aragorn