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Astronomy & Space news
Studying our solar system's protective bubble
A multi-institutional team of astrophysicists headquartered at Boston University, led by BU astrophysicist Merav Opher, has made a breakthrough discovery in our understanding of the cosmic forces that shape the protective ...
Space Exploration
21 hours ago
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Lightweight space robot with precise control developed
Robots are already in space. From landers on the moon to rovers on Mars and more, robots are the perfect candidates for space exploration: they can bear extreme environments while consistently repeating the same tasks in ...
Space Exploration
21 hours ago
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179
Antarctica experiences rare total solar eclipse
A rare total solar eclipse in Antarctica this weekend (Saturday 4 December) is giving researchers a unique opportunity to learn more about how solar eclipses affect space weather. The next total eclipse in Antarctica will ...
Astronomy
23 hours ago
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Astronomers discover hot, dense planet with eight-hour year
In a new study, published in the journal Nature, the researchers show that the planet, which is 31 light years from Earth, is one of the lightest among the nearly 5,000 exoplanets (planets outside our own solar system) that ...
Astronomy
Dec 03, 2021
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Exoplanets in debris disks
Debris disks around main-sequence stars are tenuous belts of dust thought to be produced when asteroids or other planetesimals collide and fragment. They are common: more than about a quarter of all main-sequence stars have ...
Astronomy
Dec 03, 2021
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ESA's Mars Express unravels mystery of martian moon using 'fake' flybys
By performing a series of real and 'fake' flybys, ESA's Mars Express has revealed how Mars' largest moon, Phobos, interacts with the solar wind of charged particles thrown out by the Sun—and spotted an elusive process that ...
Space Exploration
Dec 03, 2021
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Image: Tiny crystal of power as basis for solar cell
This crystal of iron pyrite, just four hundredths of a millimeter in size, could function as the light absorbing layer of a tiny solar cell—potentially a promising future source of power on the moon.
Space Exploration
Dec 03, 2021
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A new exoplanet: Meet GJ 367b, an iron planet smaller and denser than Earth
As our solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago, small grains of dust and ice swirled around, left over from the formation of the Sun. Through time, they collided and stuck to each other. As they grew in size, gravity helped ...
Astronomy
Dec 03, 2021
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Video: Rover escapes from sand trap in Mars terrain simulator
The ExoMars rover used in the Earth-based Mars Terrain Simulator makes escaping from a sand trap look easy in this exercise.
Space Exploration
Dec 03, 2021
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An upcoming asteroid mission will be able to peer 100 meters under the surface
Engineers only get one shot at making a spacecraft work as intended—or at least they only get one shot in space. In the preparation leading up to that final, climactic moment, there are typically thousands of hours of tests ...
Space Exploration
Dec 03, 2021
1
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NASA awards $415 mn to fund three commercial space stations
NASA on Thursday awarded three companies hundreds of millions of dollars to develop commercial space stations it hopes will eventually replace the International Space Station, which is due to retire around the end of the ...
Space Exploration
Dec 03, 2021
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TESS discovers a planet the size of Mars but with the makeup of Mercury
Ultra-short-period planets are small, compact worlds that whip around their stars at close range, completing an orbit—and a single, scorching year—in less than 24 hours. How these planets came to be in such extreme configurations ...
Astronomy
Dec 02, 2021
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The shortest-period gas-giant exoplanet discovered with TESS
Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international group of astronomers has detected a new, ultra-hot gas giant exoplanet with an extremely short orbital period. The newfound alien world, designated ...
Spacewalking astronauts replace antenna after debris scare
Spacewalking astronauts replaced a broken antenna outside the International Space Station on Thursday after getting NASA's all-clear for orbiting debris.
Space Exploration
Dec 02, 2021
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Study reveals that giant planets could reach 'maturity' much earlier than previously thought
An international team of scientists, in which researchers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) participate together with other institutions from Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, UK, and Mexico, has been able ...
Astronomy
Dec 02, 2021
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New evidence hints at volcanic activity within Venuses' Idunn Mons
An international team of researchers has found evidence that suggests possible volcanic activity involving Venuses' Idunn Mons. In their paper published in The Planetary Science Journal, the group describes the evidence they ...
Beads of glass in meteorites help scientists piece together how solar system formed
Ever since scientists started looking at meteorites with microscopes, they've been puzzled—and fascinated—by what's inside. Most meteorites are made of tiny beads of glass that date back to the earliest days of the solar ...
Planetary Sciences
Dec 02, 2021
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A one-way phone call from Mars
This November, ESA's Mars Express spacecraft carried out a series of experimental communication tests with the Chinese (CNSA) Zhurong Mars rover. Mars Express successfully caught data sent up 'in the blind' by the rover and ...
Space Exploration
Dec 02, 2021
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Test tanks fuelled for ESA's Themis reusable first stage
Recently completed tests of two propellant tanks set a first technological milestone in the ESA reusability roadmap towards the demonstration of a reusable first stage vehicle called Themis.
Space Exploration
Dec 02, 2021
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Two versions of a Curiosity selfie: narrow and wide
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover took this 360-degree selfie using the Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI, at the end of its robotic arm. The selfie comprises 81 individual images taken on Nov. 20, 2021—the 3,303rd Martian day, ...
Space Exploration
Dec 02, 2021
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More news
Lunar radar data uncovers new clues about moon's ancient past
Soon, 1 out of every 15 points of light in the sky will be a satellite
Space junk forces spacewalk delay, too risky for astronauts
Microbes and viruses: A threat to Mars?
Image: ISS captured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour
Other news
Research finds nasal problem plagued long-nosed crocodile relatives
Potential new gene editing tools uncovered
Understanding mouthfeel of food using physics
Fossils dug up 100 years ago rediscovered wrapped in old newspaper
Tropical forests recover after deforestation
The role of messenger RNA in DNA repair
Artificial material protects light states on smallest length scales
CMS collaboration homes in on Higgs boson's lifetime
How some tissues can 'breathe' without oxygen
Exploring together, NASA and industry embrace laser communications
ESA's riskiest flyby
Comet A1 Leonard brightens in December
Guiding Tianwen-1 to China's first successful Mars rover landing
Solar Orbiter flies by Earth before beginning final journey to Sun
Sentinel-6 returning most precise data ever on sea level
Iron selenide film reveals clues about superconductivity
Spiders' motion on a web studied as electrons orbiting a nucleus
