Category: Space

Hubble Looks at Voyager’s Future

Nothing built by humans has ever gotten as far from our planet as Voyager 1, which is now almost 21 billion kilometers from Earth. We’ve talked about the future of both Voyagers before in these pages – Voyager 1 passes within about 1.6 light years of the star Gliese 445 in some 40,000 years, its closest approach to a neighboring star.

Are you ready for January 22?

She’ll back in the Sault on July 1 to preside over our 150th anniversary of Canada celebrations. In Roberta Bondar Park, of course! January 22 will be the 25th anniversary of Dr. Roberta Bondar’s launch from Earth aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, becoming the second Canadian astronaut in space, the world’s first neurologist in space and Canada’s first women in space.

Syracuse native set to make history with future NASA mission

NASA has selected a central New York woman for a mission to space that will make her the first African-American woman to live on the International Space Station as a crew member. Syracuse native Jeanette Epps will serve as a flight engineer for a mission that’s scheduled to launch from Kazakhstan in May 2018.

Syracuse native set to make history with future NASA mission

NASA has selected a central New York woman for a mission to space that will make her the first African-American woman to work as a crew member on the International Space Station. Syracuse native Jeanette Epps will serve as a flight engineer for Expeditions 56 and 57, the first of which is scheduled to launch from Kazakhstan in May 2018.

NASA sees storms affecting the western US

VIDEO: This animation of visible and infrared imagery from NOAA’s GOES-West satellite shows a series of moisture-laden storms affecting California from Jan. 6-9, 2017. view more Extreme rain events have been affecting California and snow has blanketed the Pacific Northwest.

‘Rogue One’ wins weekend with $22M, narrowly beating ‘Hidden Figures’

Disney-Lucasfilm’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” edged “Hidden Figures” in the race for the top spot at the North American box office with an estimated $22 million at 4,175 locations, estimates showed Sunday. “Hidden Figures,” a comedy-drama about pioneering African-American women in the early days of the American space program, trailed by only $200,000 with $21.8 million at 2,471 sites.

NASA announces two new asteroid missions

Lucy, which will launch in 2021, is going to visit the mysterious Trojans – a group of asteroids in orbit around the planet Jupiter – while also paying a visit to a separate, smaller asteroid on the way. Psyche on the other hand, which launches in 2023, will be heading towards 16 Psyche – a 130-mile-wide object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Top Science Stories This Week

A mighty membrane in our digestive system had been considered a fragmented structure for hundreds of years but it turns out to be single, continuous. Named the mesentery, the structure has been upgraded to an organ.

Hubble creates interstellar road map for future galactic trek

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is creating a road map for the two Voyager spacecraft, that will travel through unexplored territories beyond our solar system, by measuring the material along the probes’ future trajectories. Even after the Voyagers run out of electrical power and are unable to send back new data, which may happen in about a decade, astronomers can use Hubble observations to characterise the environment of through which these silent ambassadors will glide.

Scotland poised to reap benefits of private space travel

IT was an arena where the great powers once fought it out without coming to blows, a hot zone in a cold war where the rockets were instruments of peace and exploration instead of violence. But this week a private company will boldly go back into space as the march to claim the skies from government agencies continues apace.

Hubble Discovers Comets Plunging onto a Young Star

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has discovered comets plunging onto the star HD 172555, which is a youthful 23 million years old and resides 95 light-years from Earth. Credits: NASA, ESA, A. Feild and G. Bacon The above illustration image shows several comets speeding across a vast protoplanetary disk of gas and dust and heading straight for the youthful, central star.

Hubble Discovers Comets Plunging onto a Young Star

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has discovered comets plunging onto the star HD 172555, which is a youthful 23 million years old and resides 95 light-years from Earth. Credits: NASA, ESA, A. Feild and G. Bacon The above illustration image shows several comets speeding across a vast protoplanetary disk of gas and dust and heading straight for the youthful, central star.

Two US astronauts complete spacewalk to upgrade ISS

By Agence France-Presse Two American astronauts ventured outside the International Space Station on Friday to upgrade the orbiting outpost’s electrical system. NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson work retrieve adapter plates outside the International Space Station during a Jan. 6, 2017 spacewalk to upgrade the orbiting laboratory’s power system.

Former MOSI employee contends for ‘Hidden Figures’ award

A 2010 Wharton High School graduate has been named as a top contender in The Search for Hidden Figures contest, a scholarship competition aimed at recognizing the nation’s most talented emerging female leaders in science, technology, engineering and math. From a field of more than 7,300 applicants Midori Maeda, 24, the daughter of Tampa residents Cesar and Zonia Maeda, is among the 50 semi-finalists selected in a competition that will honor two grand prize winners in each of two categories that include students ages 13-19, and professionals ages 20 and older.

Spacewalking astronauts upgrade station with new batteries

NASA reported that all three lithium-ion batteries were up and running, a successful start to the space agency’s long-term effort to upgrade the aging solar power system. Before venturing out, Commander Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson got a hand from a robot that took care of most of the grunt work – Dextre, a hulking machine with 11-foot arms.

Photograph courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution

Sharing memories that seemed as fresh today as the events that happened nearly 30 years ago,friends and fans gathered in the Voyager Restaurant at the Mojave Air and Space Port Dec. 17 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the unrefueled and non-stop, around-the-world, record setting flight of the Voyager experimental airplane. Gathered around packed tables, there was barely standing room as they listened to Voyager pilot Dick Rutan, his brother Burt, designer of Voyager, and the world’s first civilian astronaut Mike Melvill and his wife Sally Melvill, as they shared their memories of the historic flight.

Photograph courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution

Sharing memories that seemed as fresh today as the events that happened nearly 30 years ago,friends and fans gathered in the Voyager Restaurant at the Mojave Air and Space Port Dec. 17 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the unrefueled and non-stop, around-the-world, record setting flight of the Voyager experimental airplane. Gathered around packed tables, there was barely standing room as they listened to Voyager pilot Dick Rutan, his brother Burt, designer of Voyager, and the world’s first civilian astronaut Mike Melvill and his wife Sally Melvill, as they shared their memories of the historic flight.

Spacewalking astronauts tackle battery work outside station

Before venturing out, Commander Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson got a hand from a robot that took care of most of the grunt work. Remotely using robotics aboard the 250-mile-high lab, flight controllers in Houston spent the past week replacing decade-old, nickel-hydrogen batteries with better charging lithium-ion ones.

Trump Voter, You Aren’t Racist? Prove ItBy Keli Goff

Trump voters who say ‘Not me!’ when racism charges fly should see the new film about the three black women at NASA-and how John Glenn treats them-and contemplate its lessons. Since the election a seemingly never-ending debate has raged between those who voted for Donald Trump and those who did not.

Movie review: ‘Hidden Figures’ tells inspiring story of empowerment in the 1960s

“Hidden Figures” is the incredible untold story of brilliant African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation’s confidence, turned around the Space Race, and galvanized the world. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big.

TV Log

Arrow Despite his reservations, Oliver’s new team is ready to begin defending Star City; Wild Dog goes against the Green Arrow’s instructions. Aryan Brotherhood In the 1960s California inmates formed a movement of white supremacists that has shifted its focus to controlling drug and extortion rings.

Obama has some big holes in his legacy

President Barack Obama’s legacy is particularly troubling in two aspects that will affect our youth for some time, in my opinion. I think he was a president that hid behind the race card whenever his decisions were questioned, he’s handing off a country with much more racial tension than the one he received.

NASA detects TWO space rocks heading towards Earth

Nasa detects TWO space rocks heading towards Earth – but it still can’t work out whether one is an asteroid or a comet This week a comet that started life in the outer reaches of our solar system will be visible from Earth for the first time, as it approaches our planet’s orbit. Another recently-discovered object, called 2016 WF9, has also been taking a scenic tour of our solar system, approaching Jupiter’s orbit at its greatest distance from the sun.

SpaceX ready to launch again

Elon Musk’s SpaceX says it has determined the cause of a launch pad explosion that destroyed a satellite in September and is ready to start launches again as early as Sunday . An unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded on September 1 in Cape Canaveral, destroying a satellite that Facebook planned to use to beam high-speed internet to Africa.

NASA’s new mission to study black holes set for 2020 launch

NASA said it plans to launch in 2020 a $188 million mission that will allow astronomers to explore, for the first time, the hidden details of some of the most extreme and exotic astronomical objects, such as stellar and supermassive black holes, neutron stars and pulsars. Objects such as black holes can heat surrounding gases to more than a million degrees.

NASA’s new mission to study black holes set for 2020 launch

NASA said it plans to launch in 2020 a $188 million mission that will allow astronomers to explore, for the first time, the hidden details of some of the most extreme and exotic astronomical objects, such as stellar and supermassive black holes, neutron stars and pulsars. Objects such as black holes can heat surrounding gases to more than a million degrees.

January at the Columbia Memorial Space Center

Saturday, Jan. 7, 11 a.m., Young Explorers Program – Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids: Have you ever wondered what physically separates the terrestrial planets and the gas giants? Where do comets come from? The space center has all the answers. Join them to learn the difference between comets and their cousins, meteors and asteroids.

Akufo-Addo’s Government: NASA’s Joe Anokye for Communications Minister?

Information reaching abusuafmonline.com indicates President-elect, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo has penciled a Telecommunications Service Manager with National Aeronautics and Space Administration as his Communications Minister. According to insider information, necessary consultations have been concluded for the appointment of Joe Anokye as Minister for Communications.

SpaceX aims for January 8 return to flight with Falcon rocket

Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to resume flying rockets next week following an investigation into why one of them burst into flames on a launch pad four months ago, the company said on Monday. In a statement, SpaceX said it expected to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base on Jan. 8 to put 10 satellites into orbit for Iridium Communications Inc. SpaceX had suspended flights after the same model rocket went up in a blaze on Sept.