Tag Archives: Space & Astronomy

NASA’s initial takeaways from the Artemis II mission, and more science stories

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Now that Artemis II is all wrapped up, NASA has begun its post-game performance analyses of all the systems that worked together to get four astronauts safely to the moon and back earlier this month. In addition to taking humans farther than ever before, Artemis II served as a crucial test flight for upcoming crewed missions that are planned for as soon as 2027 and 2028, the latter being NASA's ambitious target for landing astronauts on the lunar surface. So far, the Orion spacecraft and the SLS rocket seem to have fared pretty well. 

NASA says its initial assessments of the crew capsule show its heat shield "performed as expected, with no unusual conditions identified," and it didn't exhibit as much char loss as seen in the uncrewed Artemis I test. (Navy divers snapped some really cool pictures of the heat shield underwater after splashdown, as seen below). Splashdown went according to plan, with Orion landing 2.9 miles from its targeted landing site, according to NASA, and its entry interface velocity "was within one mile-per-hour of predictions."

The heat shield from the Orion spacecraft as photographed underwater by divers after its splashdown
US Navy

NASA says the SLS rocket performed well, too. It still has tests to run, but, "At main engine cutoff, when the core stage’s RS-25 liquid engines shutdown, the spacecraft was traveling at over 18,000 miles per hour, achieving its insertion velocity for orbit, and executing a precise bullseye for its intended location," the space agency noted in a blog post.

One thing that we know did cause some issues, though, was the toilet system. Shortly after launch, the astronauts reported problems with the urine vent line, which mission specialist Christina Koch was able to troubleshoot with help from the ground crew. But, everyone would like to avoid that on the next mission, so NASA now has teams checking out the hardware and data to identify what went wrong and how to prevent it. 

The Artemis II astronauts have continued to share glimpses into their journey around the moon, and this week, the mission's commander, Reid Wiseman posted an incredible video of the Earth setting behind the moon, as seen from the Orion spacecraft. Humans haven't seen that phenomenon firsthand in over 50 years, since the last Apollo mission. Read more about that here. 

While ten days might not seem like that long of a time to be in space, it still does things to the body, and returning to Earth has been a bit of an adjustment for the crew. Astronaut Koch last week posted a video of herself struggling through a tandem walk exercise with her eyes closed, taken after her return to Earth. "When people live in microgravity, the systems in our body that have evolved to tell our brains how we’re moving, the vestibular organs, don’t work correctly," she explained in the caption. "Our brains learn to ignore those signals and so when we first get back to gravity, we are heavily reliant on our eyes to orient ourselves visually."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/nasas-initial-takeaways-from-the-artemis-ii-mission-and-more-science-stories-160000808.html?src=rss

NASA targets a September launch for its next big space telescope

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NASA's next eye into the cosmos is due to leave our planet later this year. The agency says it's targeting an early September launch for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Roman (for short) has a field of view 100 times larger than Hubble's.

The September date is the earliest possible launch for Roman. NASA says it will go up (aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket) no later than May 2027.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, named after NASA's first chief astronomer and "mother" of Hubble, was introduced in 2016. (Back then, it was known as the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, or WFIRST.) The telescope's mirror is roughly the same size as Hubble's, but it can capture sections of the sky at least 100 times larger than its predecessor.

The Roman telescope, sitting inside a white NASA hangar
NASA

"Roman will work in tandem with NASA observatories such as the James Webb Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory, which are designed to zoom in on rare transient objects once they've been identified, but seldom if ever discover them," Julie McEnery, Roman's senior project scientist, said in 2023. "Roman's much larger field of view will reveal many such objects that were previously unknown. And since we've never had an observatory like this scanning the cosmos before, we could even find entirely new classes of objects and events."

After leaving our atmosphere, Roman will set course for a vantage point nearly 1 million miles from Earth. There, it will rely on a pair of instruments to study space. The first is a 300.8-megapixel camera that captures light from visible to near-infrared. There's also a high-contrast coronagraph that will allow it to capture exoplanets that would otherwise be blocked by starlight.

Roman’s mission: "to settle essential questions in the areas of dark energy, exoplanets and astrophysics." Despite decades of study, astronomers know surprisingly little about dark energy, which makes up about 68 percent of the universe’s contents. And while scientific discoveries are cool and all, you’ll be pleased to know that Roman is also sure to beam back more dazzling pictures of our cosmos.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-targets-a-september-launch-for-its-next-big-space-telescope-204140176.html?src=rss

NASA’s Curiosity Rover found promising organic chemicals on Mars

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The search for signs of life on Mars continues to yield promising data. A first-of-its-kind wet chemistry experiment, published Tuesday in Nature, confirmed the presence of essential ingredients of life preserved in ancient Martian sandstones.

The molecules were found inside 3.5-billion-year-old sandstone. NASA's Curiosity rover collected the clay-filled rocks from an area called Glen Torridon, inside Mars' enormous Gale Crater. The rover's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) mobile instrument suite analyzed the data.

The experiment was unique as the first off-Earth study to use the chemical tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH). The reagent allows Curiosity to break down larger organic molecules on the Martian surface, reducing them to something the rover's instruments can read.

It revealed the presence of over 20 different organic molecules. Among the data was confirmation of naphthalene and benzothiophene, some of the largest and most complex organic compounds discovered on the Red Planet. The experiment also yielded the first detection of a possible N-heterocycles, which DNA and RNA are built upon.

A "selfie" taken by the Curiosity rover on Mars. The rover sits on the reddish-brown, rocky surface.
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NASA

“That detection is pretty profound because these structures can be chemical precursors to more complex nitrogen-bearing molecules,” the paper’s lead author, Amy Williams, wrote in NASA’s announcement. “Nitrogen heterocycles have never been found before on the Martian surface or confirmed in Martian meteorites.”

As with previous discoveries of organic material on Mars, this one is not yet the smoking gun we've been waiting for. But it adds to a growing body of evidence that, at a minimum, the foundations of life as we know it were present on an ancient version of the planet. The study also confirms that organic material can survive on Mars for billions of years, which will encourage future experiments.

The paper's authors say the data will help NASA to optimize its second (and final) TMAH experiment on Curiosity. It also opens the door to future TMAH tests on the Rosalind Franklin Mars rover and the Dragonfly mission to Saturn's moon, Titan. Both missions are scheduled for 2028 at the earliest.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-curiosity-rover-found-promising-organic-chemicals-on-mars-174514375.html?src=rss

Artemis II commander shares a remarkable video of Earth vanishing behind the Moon

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We’ve seen some astonishing photos of an Earthset — the Earth setting behind the Moon — from the Artemis II crew’s history-making trip around our planet’s closest neighbor. Now, Reid Wiseman, the mission’s commander, has shared a remarkable video of that same phenomenon.

While mission specialist Christina Koch was using a Nikon camera to snap stunning still images of the Earthset, Wiseman used an iPhone 17 Pro Max to film the moment. “I could barely see the Moon through the docking hatch window but the iPhone was the perfect size to catch the view… This is uncropped, uncut with 8x zoom which is quite comparable to the view of the human eye,” he wrote on X.

This was the first time that human eyes had witnessed an Earthset in 54 years since the Apollo 17 mission. The Artemis II crew flew more than 5,000 miles beyond the Moon as they travelled more than a quarter of a million miles away from Earth — the furthest any humans have ever been from terra firma.

I, like many people, overuse the word “awesome.” It should only really be used when something actually inspires awe. This video absolutely meets that mark. It’s genuinely awesome.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/artemis-ii-commander-shares-a-remarkable-video-of-earth-vanishing-behind-the-moon-152036403.html?src=rss

Blue Origin landed its recycled New Glenn booster but failed to put payload in orbit

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Blue Origin has successfully reused its first-stage New Glenn booster for the first time after it landed in a cloud of smoke and fire on a recovery ship. It marks the second flight and reuse of Never Tell me the Odds, after the booster was recovered from New Glenn's previous launch in November last year. However, the rocket company's first commercial mission was marred by a failure to place the communications satellite payload into orbit. 

The launch went smoothly to start with, with the first-stage GS1 booster separating from New Glenn after three minutes and landing smoothly 10 minutes after launch following two braking burns, as shown in a post on X from Blue Origin's owner, Jeff Bezos. 

However, several hours later the Blue Origin team and satellite manufacturer, AST SpaceMobile, announced that the payload had failed to reach orbit. "We have confirmed payload separation," Blue Origin announced on X. "AST SpaceMobile has confirmed the satellite has powered on. The payload was placed into an off-nominal orbit. We are currently assessing and will update when we have more detailed information." 

Later on in a press release, AST SpaceMobile revealed that "the satellite separated from the launch vehicle and powered on, [but] the altitude [was] too low to sustain operations with its on-board thruster technology and will de-orbited. The cost of the satellite is expected to be recovered under the company’s insurance policy."

The upper stage was supposed to position the satellite into a 285 mile orbit after completing two burns. It would have then unfolded a 2,400 square-foot antenna and linked with six other satellites in a test for AST's high-speed direct-to-cell network. However, early telemetry data showed that the satellite only reached 95 miles, well below a sustainable orbit. It's not yet clear how the failure occurred. 

Despite that, Blue Origin can take some solace in its successful first-stage reuse, particularly since it happened on just the third New Glenn mission (NG-3). It took SpaceX, by comparison, 32 flights before its first successful reflight of a previously flown orbital-class booster. 

Blue Origin will definitely want to solve the upper stage issue soon. Its next flight is the first New Glenn launch of Amazon Leo (formerly Project Kuiper) broadband satellites. It plans to put 48 of those into orbit to significantly expand the Starlink rival's constellation, which currently sits at 241 satellites. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/blue-origin-landed-its-recycled-new-glenn-booster-but-failed-to-put-payload-in-orbit-055846419.html?src=rss

A comet gets destroyed by the sun, data centers endanger the Potomac River, and more science news

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The Artemis II astronauts are settling back into life on Earth, but we're not quite tired yet of hearing about their amazing journey. There's a new PBS documentary now streaming on YouTube that dives into the Artemis program and the latest efforts to send humans to the moon again. Also this week, NASA shared some awesome images of a comet flying into the sun, the nonprofit American Rivers released its annual report on the most endangered rivers in the US and ESA posted a throwback image of Mars to highlight some interesting changes down on the surface. Here are the science stories that caught our attention this week. 

Earlier this month, a recently discovered comet made a close approach to the sun — but it couldn't handle the heat. NASA has shared incredible images of the encounter that took place on April 4, showing the comet exploding into dust as it swings around our star. As NASA notes in a social media post, this was "its first and last observed flyby of the Sun."

The comet, C/2026 A1 (also known as MAPS) was first spotted on January 13 of this year. As it neared the sun, it was observed by a slew of instruments: NASA and ESA's SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft, NASA's STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) and NASA's PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere). This allowed for views of its passage from multiple angles. Seen in a narrow-field coronagraph view captured by SOHO, the comet appears to plunge directly into the sun. But, the wide view from NASA's STEREO shows it actually swinging closely around the sun before breaking apart. 

MAPS was one of a family of comets aptly called Kreutz sungrazing comets, and according to Karl Battams, the principal investigator for SOHO’s coronagraph, its destruction occurred likely several hours before what would have been its closest approach. 

The nonprofit conservation organization American Rivers has released its 2026 report on the most endangered rivers in the country, and data centers play a major role in the status of its top pick. According to American Rivers, the Potomac River is the most endangered in the US due both to the threat of sewage pollution from aging pipe systems and the "unprecedented surge in data center development" in its vicinity. 

The Potomac River basin spans parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, DC. In January, the catastrophic failure of the Potomac Interceptor wastewater pipe in Montgomery County, Maryland dumped hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the Potomac River and the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal, causing bacteria levels to hit over 4,000 times the safe recreational limit at sites closest to the incident, according to the report. The Potomac Interceptor is over 60 years old, and is just one of many in the region that is at or past the 50-year service life, American Rivers notes. 

On top of that, data center development in places like Virginia and Maryland has skyrocketed, which could put a strain on local water and energy sources. Data centers also have potential to cause further pollution to the river. 

"The region currently has over 300 data centers and is on track to have a total of about 1,000 centers occupying roughly 200 million square feet of buildings — enough to cover 3,472 football fields — on an estimated 20,000 acres of land," the report explains. "These facilities pose a significant and growing threat to both water quality and water quantity, yet are being approved without meaningful transparency, regulatory review, and assessment of cumulative impacts."

The organization is calling for Congress to reauthorize infrastructure funding bills so aging systems can be upgraded, and for regulators in these states to require transparency about data centers' resource use, along with comprehensive environmental assessments before development plans are approved. 

An image of a section in Mars' Utopia Planitia showing tan sand on the left side and dark, purplish ash covering the land on the right, creating a stark contrast
ESA/DLR/FU Berlin

The European Space Agency this week shared a look at how a region on Mars has changed since it was observed by NASA’s Viking orbiters way back in 1976. New images captured by ESA's Mars Express spacecraft show how dark volcanic ash has encroached upon a swath of land in an area known as the Utopia Planitia basin. If you visit the blog post, you'll find a side by side comparison of images from the two time periods.

It's a rare example of an observable change on the surface of the red planet that's occurred over such a short period of time, ESA notes. The agency explains, "The spread of the ash over the last 50 years has two possible explanations: either it has been picked up and moved about by martian winds, or the ochre dust that previously covered the dark ash has been blown away."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/a-comet-gets-destroyed-by-the-sun-data-centers-endanger-the-potomac-river-and-more-science-news-160000714.html?src=rss

The PBS Artemis II documentary is streaming on YouTube

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The crew of NASA's Artemis II mission have safely returned to Earth, but if your Moon fever has yet to break, or you're curious to get a big picture view of how the second of a planned five Moon missions was pulled off, PBS has a new documentary you'll want to watch. The hour-long Return to the Moon was produced for PBS' NOVA and aired on TV on April 15, but you can view the episode in its entirety on YouTube right now.

Return to the Moon covers the history of NASA's Artemis program, and specifically the planning and preparation that went into Artemis II. Per the documentary's official description:

Follow the four members of the Artemis II crew as they embark on a perilous 10-day journey to orbit the Moon, venturing beyond Earth orbit for the first time since Apollo and farther into the Solar System than any humans have gone before. And get an inside look at the preparations needed to overcome the extreme engineering challenges of human-crewed spaceflight, all the way from launch to splashdown.

The last Apollo mission was in 1972, so Artemis II getting a group of four astronauts anywhere near the Moon has naturally generated a lot of excitement. The crew flew further away from Earth than anyone has gone so far, captured some stunning photos of both the Moon and our home planet and managed to make everyone feel better about their dislike of Microsoft Outlook. Few Moon missions have been as well-documented or relatable.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/the-pbs-artemis-ii-documentary-is-streaming-on-youtube-210347406.html?src=rss

NASA restarts work to support Europe’s uncrewed trip to Mars after years of setbacks

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NASA has confirmed the pending launch of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosalind Franklin rover, which is being sent to Mars. The current plan is to launch via a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center. The timing is still being worked out, but the space agency says this won't happen until at least 2028.

This is a partnership between NASA and the ESA, with the European agency providing the rover, the spacecraft and the lander. The US will provide braking engines for the lander, heater units for the rover's internal systems and, of course, assistance with the actual launch.

The rover will be outfitted with scientific instruments to look for signs of ancient life on the red planet. These include a state-of-the-art mass spectrometer and an organic molecule analyzer, which will come in handy as the vehicle collects samples at the Oxia Planum landing site.

This is a mission that has suffered years of delays for all kinds of wild reasons. It was actually first conceived all the way back in 2001. The rover mission was originally scheduled for 2009, after NASA came on board. Budget constraints forced NASA to drop out in 2012, so Russia signed on as the ESA's launch partner.

During this period, the mission experienced technical malfunctions which forced additional delays. The ESA suspended its partnership with Russia in 2022 after the country invaded Ukraine. This left the mission in doubt until 2024, when NASA came back into the fold.

However, the setbacks didn't even end there. The Trump administration has repeatedly tried to end NASA's involvement with the project, and many others, via stark budget cuts. The current proposal was made while the Artemis II crew was on their mission around the Moon, according to a report by The Register. Here's hoping the launch actually happens in 2028.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-restarts-work-to-support-europes-uncrewed-trip-to-mars-after-years-of-setbacks-161524488.html?src=rss

How to watch the Artemis II landing

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After its history-making trip around the Moon, NASA's Artemis II mission is set to return to Earth later today. The Orion spacecraft carrying astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen is scheduled to splash down off the coast of San Diego at approximately 8:07PM ET. NASA will stream the landing on YouTube and its NASA+ website, as will Netflix and HBO Max. The official broadcast will begin at 6:30PM ET.  

After leaving Earth on NASA's super heavy-lift SLS rocket and spending nine days in space, the most dangerous part of the Artemis II mission still lies ahead. It will take approximately 13 minutes for the Orion spacecraft to complete re-entry. During that time, it will be subject to temperatures of up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius). 

Reentry is dangerous for any crewed spacecraft, but is of particular concern here because of a "skip reentry" during the Artemis 1 mission. At that time, the Orion crew vessel briefly used its own lift to "skip" back out of Earth's upper atmosphere before re-entering for the final descent, suffering excess charring in the process. NASA spent months investigating and determined the craft was safe to fly, but Artemis II will take a more gradual approach back to Earth in hopes of reducing its exposure to excess heat. 

Still, this is the first time in 53 years that NASA will need to guide a human crew back from the Moon. Once all is said and done, however, the Artemis II crew will have traveled 695,081 miles (1,118,624 km), captured amazing images along the way and reminded the world what’s possible when nations work together. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/how-to-watch-the-artemis-ii-landing-145344873.html?src=rss

How to watch the Artemis II landing

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After its history-making trip around the Moon, NASA's Artemis II mission is set to return to Earth later today. The Orion spacecraft carrying astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen is scheduled to splash down off the coast of San Diego at approximately 8:07PM ET. NASA will stream the landing on YouTube and its NASA+ website, as will Netflix and HBO Max. The official broadcast will begin at 6:30PM ET.  

After leaving Earth on NASA's super heavy-lift SLS rocket and spending nine days in space, the most dangerous part of the Artemis II mission still lies ahead. It will take approximately 13 minutes for the Orion spacecraft to complete re-entry. During that time, it will be subject to temperatures of up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius). 

Reentry is dangerous for any crewed spacecraft, but is of particular concern here because of a "skip reentry" during the Artemis 1 mission. At that time, the Orion crew vessel briefly used its own lift to "skip" back out of Earth's upper atmosphere before re-entering for the final descent, suffering excess charring in the process. NASA spent months investigating and determined the craft was safe to fly, but Artemis II will take a more gradual approach back to Earth in hopes of reducing its exposure to excess heat. 

Still, this is the first time in 53 years that NASA will need to guide a human crew back from the Moon. Once all is said and done, however, the Artemis II crew will have traveled 695,081 miles (1,118,624 km), captured amazing images along the way and reminded the world what’s possible when nations work together. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/how-to-watch-the-artemis-ii-landing-145344873.html?src=rss