Category Archives: news-hub

Baby exoplanet spotted growing around distant star

The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile has captured an image of a planet being born around the young star AB Aurigae, which lies 520 light-years from Earth in the constellation Auriga (The Charioteer).

Like previous AB Aurigae images taken by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), this new photo shows spiral arms forming in the thick disk of dust and gas surrounding the star. These spirals are evidence of newly forming worlds, which churn up protoplanetary disks, scientists have said.

[Picture description: This image shows the disk around the young AB Aurigae star, where the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has spotted signs of planet birth. Close to the center of the image, in the inner region of the disk, we see the “twist” (in very bright yellow) that scientists believe marks the spot where a planet is forming. This twist lies at about the same distance from the AB Aurigae star as Neptune from the sun. The image was obtained with the VLT’s SPHERE instrument in polarized light.

SpaceX’s 1st Dragon capsule for astronauts arrives at launch site for historic mission

The Dragon spacecraft that will fly SpaceX’s first-ever mission with astronauts on board has reached its Florida launch site ahead of a historic lift-off next week.

The Crew Dragon capsule arrived at Launch Complex 39A of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Cape Canaveral, Florida on Friday night (May 15), making the short trek from SpaceX’s processing facility at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The arrival marked another big milestone for SpaceX in the leadup to the planned launch of the Demo-2 mission on May 27.

Demo-2 will carry NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to and from the International Space Station (ISS). The May 27 lift-off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will be the first orbital human spaceflight to launch from U.S. soil since NASA’s space shuttle fleet retired in July 2011. Since then, NASA has relied solely on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft to perform this taxi service.

Space Force launches robotic X-37B space plane on new mystery mission

The U.S. Space Force’s mysterious X-37B space plane successfully launched on its sixth mystery mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 9.14 a.m. EDT (1314 GMT) on May 17, riding atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

While the X-37B’s exact purpose is a secret, Space Force officials have revealed that the craft is packing numerous experiments on this trip to test out different systems in space. Some of those experiments include a small satellite called FalconSat-8, two NASA payloads designed to study the effects of radiation on different materials as well as seeds to grow food, and a power-beaming experiment using microwave energy.

Astronauts enter a routine quarantine for historic SpaceX Crew Dragon launch

The crew is two weeks away from a historic launch. Astronauts Robert “Bob” Behnken and Douglas “Doug” Hurley entered a pre-flight quarantine today as they get ready to launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon vehicle as part of SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission. This type of quarantine is known officially as “flight crew health stabilization,” and is used to ensure that they will be healthy and will not carry any contagious illnesses to the space station. It is standard procedure and not related to the ongoing coronavirus issues.

This mission, scheduled to launch later this month on May 27 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, will be the first crewed mission for the vehicle and will be the first crewed mission to orbit since NASA’s Space Shuttle program ended in 2011.

Test your skills as a spaceship pilot: You can dock a SpaceX Crew Dragon at the space station in this free simulator

If you have always wanted to pilot a spaceship, here’s your big chance to simulate the experience. Keep in mind it is harder than it looks.

SpaceX released an International Space Station docking simulator that is very close to the real thing that Crew Dragon astronauts may experience starting on the test flight scheduled for May 27.

SpaceX’s Starship SN4 prototype passes another, tougher pressure test: a test flight could be just around the corner

SpaceX’s latest Starship prototype keeps passing tests, edging closer and closer to a highly anticipated test flight.

The SN4 vehicle, the latest pathfinder for SpaceX’s Starship Mars-colonization spacecraft, aced a high-pressure and high-simulated-thrust trial at the company’s Boca Chica facilities in South Texas.

But the SN4 looks poised to leave terra firma for the first time soon. Musk has said he wants the vehicle to make an uncrewed test flight to an altitude of about 500 feet (150 meters), and the prototype has now checked off a lot of boxes on the road to lift-off. That’s probably as high as the SN4 will get. SpaceX is already building its successor, the three-engine SN5, which Musk has said will target a test-flight altitude of 12 miles (20 kilometers).

Four amazing astronomical discoveries from ancient Greece

This article is a fascinating look at the ancient Greeks’ understanding of Earth and the surrounding solar system, showing what they knew about the planets orbit around the sun, the size of the moon and the Earth’s circumference, as well as their design and use of the first known astronomical, mechanical calculator.

The Histories by Herodotus (484BC to 425BC) offers a remarkable window into the world as it was known to the ancient Greeks in the mid fifth century BC. Almost as interesting as what they knew, however, is what they did not know. This sets the baseline for the remarkable advances in their understanding over the next few centuries – simply relying on what they could observe with their own eyes.

Star Wars Day

Star Wars Day, May 4, celebrates George Lucas’s Star Wars media franchise.

The Kim Jackson Scholarship at ANU

The Kim Jackson Scholarship is a new scholarship at ANU.

It will support a promising female engineering student to pursue her passion for technology/engineering through an undergraduate degree at the ANU College of Engineering & Computer Science.

This exciting opportunity is valued at $20,000 per annum for each year of an ANU undergraduate engineering degree. The recipient must come from a non-metropolitan area to apply for this scholarship.

Guiana Space Center launches to resume in June

Europe’s spaceport will resume launch preparations in late May under new protective measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The French space agency CNES said April 29 that 100 people will travel from Europe to the Guiana Space Center on May 11, and will start preparations for a Vega rocket launch after a 14-day quarantine ending May 25.

Arianespace, the European company that launches from the Guiana Space Center, said April 29 that the spaceport’s first missions would be a mid-June Vega launch previously scheduled for March, followed by an Ariane 5 launch in late July.

Research on the International Space Station shows key changes in cultured heart cells

Spaceflight changes much about the human body, including how the heart functions and how cells that create heart tissue behave. Scientists studying these changes on the International Space Station continue to report important discoveries.

The investigation showed that spaceflight affects communication within and between cells, cell development and core stem cell properties.

Help NASA while safely staying home!

This is a great activity during the lockdown.

NASA JPL has created a citizen science program to assist in analysis of Mars terrain.

The labels will be used for training a classifier for MSL and M2020 Ground Ops. Perhaps for on-board algorithms in the future!

Hubble captures a ‘Cosmic Reef’ in stunning 30th anniversary image

Thirty years ago Hubble launched into space on a mission to open humanity’s eyes to the wonders of the cosmos. With a captivating new photo, the “Cosmic Reef,” NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope showcases the instruments’ incredible capabilities on its 30th anniversary.

In this new Hubble image, the telescope captured two neighbouring clouds of cosmic dust and gas: the giant red nebula NGC 2014 and a smaller blue nebula nearby called NGC 2020.

Hubble scientists named the image “Cosmic Reef,” because the sparkling, brilliant structures resemble a cosmic coral reef glistening in some secret corner of a deep ocean.

Safety panel concludes May launch of commercial crew test flight is feasible

A NASA safety panel, Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP, believes the agency’s plan to launch a SpaceX commercial crew test flight in late May is feasible, although some issues still need to be resolved before the launch.

Sanders, the panel’s chair said the panel has been kept up to date by NASA about commercial crew activities, including plans for SpaceX’s Demo-2 crewed test flight scheduled for May 27. “We are aware of a few technical items that remain to be more fully understood,” she said, “but the path forward appears feasible.”