Universe Today
First Direct Measurement of Cosmic Hydrogen Could Change How We Map the Universe
The MeerKLASS international collaboration achieves the first direct measurement of the large-scale clustering of cosmic hydrogen in the Universe.
Space Exploration
Human and robotic exploration of space
Recent Articles
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A Perseverance Experiment Could Help Astronauts Prepare for Dust Storms on Mars
Researchers at Washington University examined how dust interacts with the spacesuit swatches on the Perseverance Rover. Future missions to Mars require that planners account for the effects of dust exposure on humans and materials.
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A Common Food Emulsifier Could Solve One of Rocketry’s Oldest Fuel Problems
In propulsion system design, engineers have long faced a trade-off between solid and liquid rocket fuels. Each has advantages and disadvantages, and in an effort to try to min/max the efficacy of different types of fuel, researchers have long placed an emphasis on a hybrid between solids and liquids - in other words they’ve been working with gels. Unfortunately, gels have their own sets of problems to deal with. But a new paper published by Pranay Mudaliar and Jerin John of Concordia in the journal Langmuir uses an uncommon ingredient to elegantly solve some of those problems, but which is typically used in a completely different area of human activity - lecithin.
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'Big Bang' Fix Puts Voyager Across the 'One Light-Day' Mark
Flashback to 1977. Jimmy Carter was U.S. president, Star Wars was a box office hit, and the two Voyager spacecraft departed on an historic Grand Tour of the solar system. Now, teams at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory are working to keep the missions active, as they push the boundaries of interstellar space beyond the solar system.
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China Unveils Their Plan for a Crewed Moon Landing
Yesterday, on November 3rd, the deputy chief designer of China's crewed space program and chief designer of the lunar exploration program (Wang Xiang) unveiled an official statement detailing its [plans for a crewed mission to the Moon](https://english.spacechina.com/n17212/c4744561/content.html).
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Students Test Prototype Landing Pad to Make Lunar Operations Safe
This summer, a team of students and researchers at the University of Alabama in Huntsville successfully conducted three rocket-motor firing tests on a prototype lunar landing pad. The tests showed the prototype’s ability to capture and redirect rocket exhaust through an integrated vent system, marking an important milestone in developing landing infrastructure for future Moon base operations.
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Space Outposts Beyond the Moon May Rely on Planetary AI
NASA plans to return astronauts to the lunar surface in 2028 for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. But the famed agency has no intention of stopping there, as they plan to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon through a slow and meticulous process involving power, resource extraction, and habitat technologies. However, with the soaring use of artificial intelligence (AI) in our everyday lives, how could this emerging technology be used to identify new landing sites for future outposts on the Moon and possibly Mars?
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Queen's University Belfast Students Find Neptune's Elusive Trojan Asteroids
Astronomers at Queen’s University Belfast have led an international team studying new solar system bodies near Neptune, helping to unravel the mysteries of our solar system’s evolution.
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A Brief-ish History of METI. Part II: From Interplanetary to Interstellar
The latter half of the 20th century saw a major expansion of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), accompanied by corresponding advances in Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI). A key development was the first interstellar SETI and METI experiments: Project Ozma and the Arecibo Message.
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Moon Habitats May Use Layered Mylar to Block Extreme Heat
Living on the Moon, with either trained astronauts or regular civilians, could become a regular occurrence in the near future. However, it’s easier said than done, as scientists and engineers continue developing new and advanced ways for protecting humans in the harsh lunar environment, which contrasts the mild and habitable temperatures of the Earth. The most important aspect is focusing on keeping humans alive, and this includes temperature regulation within the habitats. However, how can you maintain temperature regulation while being flexible enough to withstand physical changes like moving, handling, and compression and expansion?
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Glowing Salt Crystals Tracked Radiation Aboard Artemis I
There weren’t any humans strapped into the bucket seats of the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission. But there were two anthropomorphic mannequins made to mimic human bone and soft tissue, but also equipped with hundreds of radiation sensors spread throughout their body as part of the Matroshka AstroRad Radiation Experiment. A recent paper led by Paweł Bilski of the Institute for Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and published in the journal Radiation Measurements, reports on the results of that experiment, including the operation of a new type of long-term passive radiation monitor made of lithium.
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A Brief-ish History of METI. Part I: Early Ideas and Experiments
For as long as scientists have conducted SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) experiments, parallel efforts in Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI) have also been mounted. In this series, we'll take a look at the major milestones in this field of study.
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Autonomous Triangular Modules Could Build Tomorrow’s Mega-Observatories
Private companies are getting better and better at launching more and more mass into space with larger and larger rockets. But, there is still a major constraint on the size of objects we can get into orbit - fairing size. This places physical constraints on the overall shape of what we can launch, and severely limits the sizes of, say, a communications array or a power satellite. But a new paper from researchers at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Beijing Institute of Technology offers a solution - a self-shaping, deployable module that can fine-tune both its positioning and its own dimensions.
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Scientists Use Ancient Rains to Map the Possible Origin Life on Mars
Billions of years ago, rain may have helped shape where the chemistry of life could begin on Mars. A new study maps how formaldehyde, an important prebiotic molecule, may have reached the surface. This map could help guide future missions searching for signs of past life on Mars.
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New Research Reveals How Long Stays in Space Affects the Human Genome
A new study in Science Advances addresses the pressing questions about how long-duration exposure to microgravity affects the human genome.
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Curiosity Greets a Spectacular Dawn Sky on Mars
Mars is a planetary geologist’s paradise. NASA’s Curiosity rover drove that home recently, with a captivating panorama seen from the slopes of Mount Sharp. The image shows a stunning vista, and was not white-balance adjusted during processing, to show just what a viewer might really see at sunrise standing of Mars.
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A Trip to Mars Could Break Your Heart - Literally
When astronauts first travel to Mars, or anywhere else in deep space, they will have to contend with two problems that our planet itself protects us from on its surface - radiation and weightlessness. Scientists already know both can have a profound impact on the human body, but just how much of one, and how long that impact can last, remain a mystery. A new paper by researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and published in PLoS One, tackles those questions, and unfortunately comes up with some less than ideal answers in terms of the long term implications of deep space exposure.
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ESA's Hera Mission Targets Binary Asteroid Pair in November
In just one more month, the European Space Agency’s Hera mission will make history. Moving at 12 kilometers per second versus Earth, the mission is about to rendezvous with the binary Dimorphos-Didymos asteroid pair. NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission slammed into Dimorphos in 2022, and now Hera will provide a follow up view of the mission’s resulting handiwork. The European Space Agency (ESA) recently released a thought-provoking look at the perspectives of Hera, and what an astronaut might see from the surface of the asteroids as the mission speeds by.
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How Will Water Flow on the Moon?
Growing fresh food on the Moon is going to be crucial if astronauts there are ever going to eat anything other than freeze-dried rations. Since husbanding animals on the lunar surface is…difficult (to put it mildly), most mission planners believe that plants are the solution. But we still don’t entirely understand how one of the most fundamental materials to plant growth, water, operates under partial gravity. A team of researchers, led by Karl Hasenstein of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and including John Kiss of the Florida Institute of Technology, and Christopher McKay of NASA’s Ames Research Center, recently published a paper in Microgravity Science and Technology that lays out the physics for how water behaves at lunar gravity.
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Honda Wants to Put a Robotic Lab Assistant on Future Commercial Space Stations
As I’m writing this I’m able to stare out into my driveway at my trusty Honda Odyssey. Most of the public’s association with Honda is through their “mobility” products - i.e. their cars. But the company has an impressive track record of other technical achievements, not the least of which has been in robotics. Now, it’s teaming up with space infrastructure firm Redwire to develop an automated laboratory support system for use on future commercial space stations.