The Voyager 1 spacecraft is sending back some funky data from interstellar space that’s leaving NASA engineers scratching their heads. Readouts on the orientation of the 1970s-era space probe now appear to be randomly generated or don’t reflect any possible scenario the spacecraft could be in, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory officials said this week. The … Read more
In traditional aircraft or rockets, fuel is burned continuously in order to generate thrust. As speed increases, approaching the speed of sound, air in front of the craft compresses until it creates a shockwave which we hear on the ground as a sonic boom. More powerful jet engines are able to push through the shockwave … Read more
Artist’s impression of the Ramjet propulsion system. Credit: NASA Since the 1960s, there has been speculation about a hypothetical propulsion method for interstellar space travel. Calculations at TU Wien (Vienna) show: it will remain science fiction. In science fiction stories about contact with extraterrestrial civilizations, there is a problem: What kind of propulsion system could … Read more
No longer solely in the realm of science fiction, the possibility of interstellar travel has appeared, tantalizingly, on the horizon. Although we may not see it in our lifetimes — at least not some real version of the fictional warp-speeding, hyperdriving, space-folding sort — we are having early conversations of how life could escape the … Read more
Humanity needs to prepare to go interstellar before it’s too late, Elon Musk explained last week. On Wednesday, the SpaceX CEO explained on Twitter how the spaceflight firm’s latest launch would help humanity protect Earth against asteroids. The long-term goal, however, is to build a self-sustaining city on Mars that would ensure humanity’s survival in … Read more
SpaceX has made significant progress toward its ambitious goal of conquering Mars. This is due to the Falcon 9 rocket’s success in launching NASA’s DART, the world’s first planetary defense mission. This achievement, according to Elon Musk, will help them break past the “Great Filter.” (Photo: ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images)Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures … Read more
Earth’s first interstellar travelers may be a species that is no stranger to space exploration: the tardigrades. These creatures grow to just 0.5 millimeters in length, but they are some of the toughest animals known to science, surviving even in the vacuum of space. So far, only five ships have left our solar system and … Read more
The Voyager spacecraft have ventured far outside our solar system. Now a team of scientists are hoping to take the next interstellar mission even farther. NASA/JPL-Caltech hide caption toggle caption NASA/JPL-Caltech The Voyager spacecraft have ventured far outside our solar system. Now a team of scientists are hoping to take the next interstellar mission even … Read more
In one year (perhaps two), the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile will become operational and begin its 10-year Legacy Space and Time Survey (LSST). Using its 8.4-meter (27-foot) mirror and 3.2 gigapixel camera, this observatory must collect 500 petabytes of images and data. It will also address some of the most pressing questions about … Read more
New plans to develop a massive telescope on the moon could offer us more insight into the universe than ever before, even creating the possibility of space travel. Last year, NASA put aside $500,000 for research into the Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (LCRT), with the goal of eventually using robots to build the telescope on … Read more