This week, U.S. States as far south as Kansas will have the opportunity to catch sight of the brilliant aurora borealis — known as the “Northern Lights” — when a solar storm dips far south enough to be seen in cities like Seattle and Boise. The vibrant, multi-colored light show, created when solar wind collides […]
NASA’s Mars Ingenuity helicopter will make the first attempt at powered, controlled test flight on another planet in early April, the U.S. space agency said on Tuesday. If all goes to plan, the flights will be considered a proof of concept that could revolutionize space exploration. Such future aircraft would shorten expedition times and enable […]
U..S space agency NASA has released a video and the first ever audio clip from Mars, a faint wind sound captured by the Perseverance rover. Several images of the landing were released earlier, but it took days for the video signal to be relayed to Earth. The 3 minute 25 second video clip released on […]
By Zulfikar Abbany The next few weeks in February will bring nail-biting moments of truth for three countries — indeed, the world — as three separate Mars missions approach the Red Planet. The United Arab Emirates, China and the United States each launched separate missions to Mars in July 2020, and they are all about […]
By Jim Bell Editor’s note: Jim Bell is a professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University and has worked on a number of Mars missions. On Feb. 18, NASA’s Mars 2020 mission will be arriving at the red planet, and hopefully will place the Perseverance Rover on the surface. […]
By Zulfikar Abbany If you’ve ever been on a tour of a cleanroom — a sterile environment where engineers build and test satellites and other spacecraft — you will know it’s a pretty surreal experience. You’re standing there, starring up at a rough and unfinished-looking object, seemingly wrapped in kitchen aluminum foil, with wires and […]
Three men are paying $55 million each to travel to space, the AP reported. Announced on Tuesday, the first space crew consisting of private citizens plans to take off next January on a SpaceX rocket and spend eight days aboard the International Space Station. “This is the first private flight to the International Space Station. […]
By Dirk Lorenzen 2021 begins as a year of Mars. Although our red planetary neighbor isn’t as prominent as it was last autumn, it is still noticeable with its characteristic reddish color in the evening sky until the end of April. In early March, Mars shines close to the star cluster Pleiades in the constellation […]
By Matthias Klaus The CHEOPS mission blasted off from Kourou, French Guiana atop a Russian Soyuz rocket on Wednesday. The launch came 24 hours after a first attempt was delayed shortly before liftoff because of a software problem in the upper stage of the rocket. Scientists have long theorized with near certainty that there are […]