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NASA’s robot prospectors blaze a trail that humans may follow
A computer-generated image of the metal-rich Psyche asteroid. Credit: NASA. The cars, cellphones, computers and televisions that people in the U.S. use every day require metals like copper, cobalt and platinum to build. Demand from the electronics industry for these metals is only rising, and companies are constantly searching for new places on Earth to…
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SwRI’s Dr. Alan Stern conducts space research during suborbital spaceflight aboard Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity
image: Southwest Research Institute’s Dr. Alan Stern, a planetary scientist and associate vice president of Southwest Research Institute’s Space Sector, flew aboard the Virgin Galactic commercial spaceship Unity on a suborbital space mission. During the flight, Stern tested equipment monitoring his vital signs in preparation for a NASA-funded experiment he will perform in space aboard…
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How long is a year on other planets?
The planets in our solar system. Credit: WikiMedia Commons. The planets within our solar system are in constant motion in their orbits and as they spin on their axis. All planets in our solar system revolve around the Sun. But the time they complete their revolution around the central star or complete one year differs.…
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Virgin Galactic launches researchers to suborbital space on 5th commercial flight
SPACEPORT AMERICA, New Mexico — Virgin Galactic’s reusable space plane VSS Unity lifted off again today (Nov. 2) , continuing the one-mission-per-month tempo the company began this spring. Today’s flight, called Galactic 05, carried two research scientists and one other private passenger, along with VSS Unity’s crew, to suborbital space. It marked the fifth commercial spaceflight…
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Nobel Prize nominee coming to Boise to discuss his work in astronomy
Boise State University is hosting Dr. Alex Filippenko for a discussion at 7:30 p.m. Friday. There is also an opportunity for stargazing, weather permitting. BOISE, Idaho — If you’ve ever looked up at the night sky and thought “there’s got to be more out there,” it turns out there’s some truth to that. Dr. Alex…
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Beyond UFOs: the Future of Unexplained Anomalous Phenomena
How would someone report a sighting? It’s a great question. The panel spent a lot of time investigating how things were reported, and the truth is, there isn’t really a functioning reporting mechanism within U.S. government agencies. One of our leading recommendations was to fix this and to have better inter-agency communication. The difficult thing…
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Filaments explaining blazar jet radio variability
High-resolution observations using a network of ground-based radio dishes and one telescope in space have revealed filamentary structures in the source 3C279. These filaments may explain the origin of radio variability in blazar jets. With the excellent resolving power and sensitivity of their observations, Fuentes et al. could resolve a complex fine structure along and…
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MU physics researchers gain new insight into universe’s ‘building blocks’
MU researchers are studying particles that are considered the building blocks of the universe, which will help scientists using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in future research. The researchers wrote about their study of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon particles — which are a class of chemicals that occur naturally in substances, such as coal and wood,…
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New Forecast Resets Solar Cycle Expectations
A loop of plasma dances up from the Sun’s visible surface, the result of magnetic field activity. The current solar cycle of magnetically driven activity is now expected to peak early next year.Gabriel Almonte / S&T Online Photo Gallery Scientists’ new forecast suggests that the current solar cycle will peak sooner and at a higher…
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A Molecule, a Telescope, and Everything: A History of ALMA and Millimeter Astronomy
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a simple molecule, just one carbon atom closely bound to one oxygen. Neither of these elements is anywhere near as abundant as those of hydrogen or helium in the Universe, but they are the next two most abundant elements, comprising a bit less than one percent of the atoms in the…
