Elon Musk reportedly involved in the production, which if confirmed would be first feature film ever made in space
Tom Cruise is in talks with Nasa about working on a movie shot in outer space, according to the head of the space agency.
“Nasa is excited to work with Tom Cruise on a film aboard the Space Station!,” Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine wrote on Twitter.
Continue reading...Alabama company Dynetics also chosen for moon landing project, as three firms prepare to compete
Nasa has selected three private space companies to lead the development of lunar landers for its forthcoming moon landings.
The three companies are Blue Origin, owned by Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos; Elon Musk’s SpaceX; and Dynetics, based in Huntsville, Alabama, Nasa announced on Thursday.
Continue reading...The rock known as (52768) 1998 OR2 was first spotted in 1998 and will pass by the planet on Wednesday
An asteroid more than a mile wide is set to make a pass by Earth, although scientists insist it poses no danger.
Known as (52768) 1998 OR2, the asteroid will come to about 3.9 million miles away on Wednesday – 16 times further than the distance to the Moon – when it makes its closest approach.
Continue reading...The Noor was launched by a three-stage rocket and, according to Iran officials, had reached a 425 km high orbit
Iran has claimed it has put its first military satellite into orbit, further raising tensions with the US at a time the two countries are already facing off in the Persian Gulf.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said the satellite “Noor” (Light) was in a 425km (264 miles) high orbit, after a successful launch. Iran launched its first civilian satellite in 2009.
Continue reading...American and Russian crew touch down in Kazakhstan after months on International Space Station
The three-person crew of the International Space Station returned to Earth on Friday morning, arriving back to a world that has been radically transformed by coronavirus in the time they were away.
Space travel is often a journey into the unknown, but for Americans Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan, and Russian Oleg Skripochka, their return to Earth may bring more surprises than the time they spent in orbit. The trio’s landing capsule touched down on the Kazakh steppe in the early hours of the morning.
Continue reading...Scientists believe cigar-shaped visitor to our solar system is fragment of a larger body
The cigar-shaped interstellar visitor to our solar system known as ‘Oumuamua could be the remnants of a larger body that was torn apart by its host star, according to researchers.
The dark, reddish object that hurtled into our solar system in 2017 and was named after the Hawaiian word for messenger or scout has long puzzled scientists.
Continue reading...Executive order says US will oppose any international effort to bar it from removing chunks of moon, Mars or elsewhere in space
The world may be racked by the coronavirus, but Donald Trump has less earthly concerns on his mind, too, after signing an executive order encouraging the US to mine the moon for minerals.
The executive order makes clear that the US doesn’t view space as a “global commons”, opening the way for the mining of the moon without any sort of international treaty.
Continue reading...Detailed image taken by Event Horizon Telescope of black hole 5bn light years away
An image of a huge, powerful jet of plasma powered by a supermassive black hole has been captured by researchers in unprecedented detail.
The team say the bright blob on the left of the image is thought to be the disc of gas and dust swirling around the black hole, with the jet of plasma depicted by a stream of less intense red features apparently emanating from it.
Continue reading...Conditions on Wasp-76b in Pisces include temperatures of 2,400C and 10,000mph winds
Wasp-76b is what astronomers call an exoplanet, one that orbits a star outside our solar system. Scientists have discovered that the local weather conditions include 2,400C temperatures, winds in excess of 10,000mph and a steady pelting of iron rain.
The observations of the distant planet’s unusually hostile climate are the first results from a new instrument on the Very Large Telescope in Chile, which astronomers say will transform our view of worlds far from beyond our own solar system.
Continue reading...Johnson overcame racial and gender-based discrimination to become an integral part of Nasa’s work in space exploration
Katherine Johnson, one of the trailblazing African American mathematicians whose story was told in the hit film Hidden Figures, has died, Nasa announced on Monday. She was 101.
Related: How history forgot the black women behind Nasa’s space race
Continue reading...Koch lands in Kazakhstan after 328 days in space, the longest continuous spaceflight by a female astronaut
She would miss the friendship of her crewmates, she said, and of course the spectacular views.
But after 328 days on the International Space Station – the longest continuous spaceflight ever undertaken by a female astronaut – Christina Koch could not deny last week that she was looking forward to experiencing some very simple pleasures back on Earth, including “the feeling of wind on my face”.
Continue reading...First observations from Inouye telescope bring previously hazy star into sharp focus
The sun’s turbulent surface has been revealed in unprecedented detail in the first observations by the Inouye solar telescope in Hawaii.
The striking images reveal a surprising level of structure hidden within the churning plasma exterior, bringing a previously hazy impression of the sun’s patchwork surface sharply into focus for the first time.
Continue reading...In a move that would please Gene Roddenberry – or make him ask for royalties – the president showed off a familiar looking symbol
As the impeachment trial of Donald Trump continued in earnest on Friday, the president was boldly unveiling his new logo for the US Space Force.
After consultation with our Great Military Leaders, designers, and others, I am pleased to present the new logo for the United States Space Force, the Sixth Branch of our Magnificent Military! pic.twitter.com/TC8pT4yHFT
Continue reading...The once-sleepy Mahia peninsula is now the site of regular rocket launches but a plan to put US spy satellites into space is causing concern
Life on the Mahia peninsula on New Zealand’s North Island used to be quiet: surfing beaches, historical monuments, and good snapper fishing.
Then space came to town.
Continue reading...‘It’s right up in our face’ – close proximity of stellar nursery to our solar system stuns scientists
Astronomers have discovered a gigantic, undulating wave of dust and gas where newborn stars are forged over a 50 million billion mile stretch of the Milky Way.
The gaseous structure, which holds more mass than 3m suns, runs directly behind our solar system as viewed from the heart of the galaxy, but has eluded observation until now.
Continue reading...Space programme seeks to bounce back after 2019 project ended with a crash landing on the lunar surface
India plans to make a fresh attempt at an unmanned mission on the moon this year, the head of the country’s space programme has said, after a 2019 bid ended in a crash landing.
Work was going “smoothly” on the Chandrayaan-3 mission to put a rover probe on the moon’s surface, Indian Space Research Organisation chairman K Sivan said. “We are targeting the launch for this year but it may spillover to next year,” Sivan said. Indian sources said authorities had set November as a provisional target for launch.
Continue reading...Tests to study behaviour of flames in zero gravity suggest fires could be more dangerous on moon than Earth
Playing with fire can be dangerous and never more so than when confined in a space capsule floating 250 miles above the Earth. But in the past week astronauts onboard the International Space Station have intentionally lit a series of blazes in research designed to study the behaviour of flames in zero gravity.
The scientists behind the experiment, called Confined Combustion, say it will help improve fire safety on the ISS and on future lunar missions by helping predict how a blaze might progress in low gravity conditions.
Continue reading...Donald Trump launched the US space force, the first new US military service in more than 70 years. ‘Space is the world’s new war-fighting domain,’ Trump said during a signing ceremony of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that includes the force.
The move is part of a $1.4tn (£1.1tn) government spending package reversing automatic spending cuts to defence and domestic programmes
Continue reading...US president approves funding for America’s first new military service in 70 years
Donald Trump has launched space force, the first new US military service in more than 70 years.
In signing the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that includes the force, Trump claimed a victory for one of his top national security priorities two days after being impeached by the House of Representatives.
Continue reading...Officials say spacecraft is in stable orbit but problem may delay mission to carry Nasa astronauts
Boeing’s new Starliner capsule ran into trouble and went off course in orbit minutes after blasting off on Friday on its first test flight, a crucial dress rehearsal for next year’s inaugural launch with astronauts.
Initially everything went flawlessly as the Atlas V rocket launched with the Starliner shortly before sunrise. But half an hour into the flight, Boeing reported that the capsule had not got into the position needed to get to the International Space Station.
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