By Mike Killian, on February 28th, 2018
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch vehicle will send the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s, or NOAA’s, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, or GOES-S, into orbit. The GOES series is designed to significantly improve the detection and observation of environmental […]
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By Paul Scott Anderson, on February 9th, 2016
The Kuiper Belt is a massive collection of dwarf planet- and asteroid-sized worlds orbiting far past Neptune. Is the hypothetical Planet 9 really a second such belt? Image Credit: T. Pyle (SSC)/JPL-Caltech/NASA
The announcement of a possible large ninth planet in our Solar System way beyond Neptune last month caused a lot of […]
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By Paul Scott Anderson, on November 3rd, 2015
False-color mosaic of Cumberland Ridge, with pie charts representing iron-bearing mineralogy. Image Credit: S. Cole, PhD thesis; background image: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Arizona State University; Moessbauer values from Morris et al. 2008 (doi: 10.1029/2008JE003201)
The various rover and lander missions on Mars have provided unprecedented glimpses into the planet’s past, including geological history and environmental conditions. […]
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By Paul Scott Anderson, on August 15th, 2015
Discovery near-infrared image of the exoplanet 51 Eridani b taken by the Gemini Planet Imager on Dec. 21, 2014. The relative size of Saturn’s orbit is also shown for comparison. Image Credit: Gemini Observatory/J. Rameau (UdeM)/C. Marois (NRC Herzberg)
The Gemini Planet Imager, a new telescopic instrument designed to find, image, and study […]
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By Paul Scott Anderson, on July 24th, 2015 Artist’s conception of Kepler-452b, the first near-Earth-sized exoplanet discovered orbiting in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. Image Credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle
One of the primary goals in the search for exoplanets is to, hopefully, find an Earth analog or “Earth twin,” an alien world similar to our own. That search is […]
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By Paul Scott Anderson, on May 7th, 2015 The water vapor jets on Enceladus are now thought to mostly be more like diffuse “curtains” rather than separate plumes. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/PSI
The water vapor geysers on Saturn’s moon Enceladus are one of the most fascinating phenomena in the Solar System; the jets spray far out into space in a dazzling display […]
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By Emily Carney, on July 1st, 2014 From NASA: “MACH 4 TO PACIFIC: Two members of the Navy’s Explosive Ordinance Disposal team perch on the test vehicle used in the first flight of NASA’s Low-density Supersonic Decelerator project. The test vehicle was fished out of the waters of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range within hours of splashdown. During the […]
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By Mike Killian, on June 24th, 2014 The saucer-shaped LDSD test vehicle is seen here in the Missile Assembly Building at the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kaua‘i, Hawaii. The vehicle, part of NASA’s Low Density Supersonic Decelerator project, will test an inflatable decelerator and a parachute at high altitudes and speeds over the Pacific Missile Range this […]
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By Mike Killian, on April 21st, 2014 The LDSD test article in the clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, preparing for shipment to Hawaii for its first test launch this summer. LDSD will help land bigger space payloads on Mars or return them back to Earth. Photo Credit: AmericaSpace / Robert Fisher
Anyone even remotely familiar with landing spacecraft […]
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By Mike Killian, on November 7th, 2013 A never-before-seen set of six comet-like tails radiating from a body in the asteroid belt, designated P/2013 P5. Photo Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (UCLA)
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) continue to discover surprises abound throughout the Solar System, some 23 years after it launched into orbit on NASA’s now […]
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