Archive for the ‘space’ category: Page 860
Jul 4, 2018
Why astronaut Chris Hadfield isn’t afraid of death
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: space
An astronaut’s odds of dying is over 1 in 20, but whether he’s going to the ISS or Mars, Chris Hadfield feels prepared for anything NASA, or space, throws him.
Jul 3, 2018
Did Something Massive Smash Into Uranus?
Posted by Michael Lance in categories: energy, space
Uranus really is strange. Not only does it rotate on an axis that sits at a 98-degree angle to its orbital plane, but, unlike the other giant planets, it doesn’t appear to release more heat than it receives from the Sun. Its magnetic field, too, appears warped compared to the Earth’s. An impact could perhaps help explain some of these strange traits.
Scientists have been simulating giant impacts into Uranus since the early 1990s, according to the new paper published in the Astrophysical Journal. This time around, researchers built a new simulation with the newest and best available data of the planet’s composition. This allowed them to model how a giant impactor, perhaps one to three times the mass of Earth, would have deposited “material and energy inside Uranus” and how much debris would be left over, from which moons could form.
“This study provides some great new insights into what might have happened all those billions of years ago, with material left over from the impact possibly even serving to trap some of that heat inside,” Leigh Fletcher, Royal Society Research Fellow at the University of Leicester, told Gizmodo.
Continue reading “Did Something Massive Smash Into Uranus?” »
Jul 3, 2018
First confirmed image of a newborn planet revealed
Posted by Michael Lance in category: space
Nascent planet seen carving a path through the disc of gas and dust surrounding the very young star PDS70.
Jul 2, 2018
Birth of a planet captured for first time as gas giant bigger than Jupiter swirls into existence
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: space
E ven by astronomical standards it is a discovery that is out of this world.
Scientists have for the first time witnessed the birth of a planet, a huge gas giant many times the size of Jupiter, swirling into existence 370 light years from Earth.
The theory of how gas planets form from a vortex of hydrogen and helium molecules captivated by their own gravity, is now widely accepted by scientists. But it has never been seen before, until now.
Jul 2, 2018
Why Space Warfare is Inevitable
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: biological, cybercrime/malcode, geopolitics, military, space, treaties
There is increasing chatter among the world’s major military powers about how space is fast becoming the next battleground. China, Russia, and the United States are all taking steps that will ultimately result in the weaponisation of space. Any satellite that can change orbit can be considered a space weapon, but since many of the possible space-based scenarios have yet to occur, cybersecurity experts, military commanders, and policymakers do not fully understand the range of potential consequences that could result.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was interested in paralysing America’s strategic forces, strategic command, and control and communications, so that its military command could not communicate with its forces. They would do so by first causing electromagnetic pulse (EMP) to sever communication and operational capabilities, and then launch a mass attack across the North Pole to blow up US Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs).
In 1967, the US, UK and Soviet Union signed the Outer Space Treaty, which was either ratified by or acceded to 105 countries (including China). It set in place laws regarding the use of outer space and banned any nation from stationing nuclear warheads, chemical or biological weapons in space. However, the Treaty does not prohibit the placement of conventional weapons in orbit, so such weapons as kinetic bombardment (i.e. attacking Earth with a projectile) are not strictly prohibited.
Click on photo to start video.
🔴 👋 🌎 Mars will put on a show for us in July!
Here’s how to observe the Red Planet during its closest approach to Earth since 2003.
Jul 2, 2018
Mysterious ‘Oumuamua’ space object has finally been identified
Posted by Dan Kummer in category: space
Astronomers now know exactly what to call the “Oumuamua” object — which is hurtling through space at 70,000 miles per hour and was originally thought to be a UFO.
Jul 1, 2018
The Philippines is proud to announce the rocket launch of its first cube satellite, MAYA-1, to the International Space Station (ISS) on June 29, 2018
Posted by Michael Lance in category: space
Watch out for its broadcast on Friday at 5:41 PM (PHT), live from Canaveral, Florida, at the DOST-ASTI FB page!
#sciencejourney60