Europa and Enceladus are the Perfect Targets for a Lightsail Mission

Saturn's moon Enceladus isn't just bright and beautiful. It has an ocean under all that ice that has chemicals necessary for life. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, JPL, SSI, Cassini Imaging Team

There’s always a need for new technologies or for novel uses of existing technologies to lower the cost of space exploration and extend our reach. Lightsails are a novel type of spacecraft that could eventually be our first visitors to nearby stars like the Alpha Centauri system. But they could be put to productive use right here in our Solar System.

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Anak Krakatau Erupted a Few Days Ago. Here’s What it Looked Like From Space

Plumes rise from Anak Krakatau on April 13th 2020 in this LandSat 8 OLI image. Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

In between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra lies the Sunda Strait. And in the Sunda Strait lies the much smaller island of Anak Krakatau, one of Earth’s active volcanoes. It’s erupted more than 50 times in the past 2,000 years, and now it’s doing it again.

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Weekly Space Hangout: January 29, 2020 – Plumes on Enceladus with Dr. Christopher Glein

Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain)

Dave Dickinson (www.astroguyz.com / @astroguyz)

Pam Hoffman (EverydaySpacer.com / @EverydaySpacer)

Veranika Klimovich ( @VeranikaSpace)

Tonight we welcome Dr. Christopher Glein, Senior Research Scientist at the Southwest Research Institute.

Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout: January 29, 2020 – Plumes on Enceladus with Dr. Christopher Glein”