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Life on Mars - Cosmic Comms - Featured Image

Cosmic comms: How the first humans on Mars will communicate with Earth

In order to establish a human colony on Mars, we'll first need to get a reliable communications network built. Here's how scientists are making that happen
Web Features
Cosmic comms: How the first humans on Mars will communicate with Earth

Cosmic comms: How the first humans on Mars will communicate with Earth

Features
A four-stage Black Brant XII sounding rocket.

You might be able to see a NASA research rocket launch tonight

Tonight, NASA will be launching a research rocket which people in parts of the U.S. and Bermuda may be able to see if they look to the skies at the right time.
Space News
When flying past Venus in July 2020, Parker Solar Probe’s WISPR instrument, short for Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe, detected a bright rim around the edge of the planet that may be nightglow — light emitted by oxygen atoms high in the atmosphere that recombine into molecules in the nightside. The prominent dark feature in the center of the image is Aphrodite Terra, the largest highland region on the Venusian surface. Bright streaks in WISPR, such as the ones seen here, are typically caused by a combination of charged particles — called cosmic rays — sunlight reflected by grains of space dust, and particles of material expelled from the spacecraft’s structures after impact with those dust grains. The number of streaks varies along the orbit or when the spacecraft is traveling at different speeds, and scientists are still in discussion about the specific origins of the streaks here. The dark spot appearing on the lower portion of Venus is an artifact from the WISPR instrument.

Parker Solar Probe detects a natural radio signal coming from Venus

A NASA spacecraft intended to study the sun has been doing some bonus science, revealing new information about Venus as it passes by the planet.
Space News
Recent explosive volcanic deposit around a fissure of the Cerberus Fossae system.

‘Mars isn’t dead.’ There could be active volcanoes on the red planet

New research shows Mars may be more active than previously thought, giving evidence that there could have been volcanoes erupting within the last 50,000 years.
Space News
A Long March-5 rocket, carrying an orbiter, lander and rover as part of the Tianwen-1 mission to Mars, lifts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre in southern China's Hainan Province on July 23, 2020.

Debris from Chinese Long March rocket falls into the Indian Ocean

The world has been watching the skies as a Chinese rocket came tumbling back to Earth in an uncontrolled reentry. The debris landed in the Indian Ocean.
Space News
Starlink Mission

SpaceX sets record with the 10th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket

For the first time, SpaceX has sent a Falcon 9 rocket booster on its 10th flight, marking an important milestone in rocket reusability.
Space News
UBCO’s Brendan Dyck is using his geology expertise about planet formation to help identify other planets that might support life.

How to spot a habitable exoplanet by investigating its core

New research aims to go beyond the concept of a habitable zone, and to understand the habitability of exoplanets based on the geology of how planets are formed.
Space News
This detailed image features Abell 3827, a galaxy cluster that offers a wealth of exciting possibilities for study. Hubble observed it in order to study dark matter, which is one of the greatest puzzles cosmologists face today.

Hubble captures giant galaxy cluster that could help us understand dark matter

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured an image of the enormous galaxy cluster Abell 3827, site of a famous debate over the nature of dark matter.
Space News
In this illustration, NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter stands on the Red Planet's surface as NASA's Perseverance rover (partially visible on the left) rolls away. Ingenuity arrived at Mars on Feb. 18, 2021, attached to the belly of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover.

Hear the sounds of Mars in first-ever audio recording of Ingenuity in flight

The Perseverance rover recorded audio of the Ingenuity helicopter in action on Mars, making it the first spacecraft to record the sounds of another spacecraft.
News
This illustration shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft departing asteroid Bennu to begin its two-year journey back to Earth.

How to watch NASA bring home a piece of asteroid on Monday

OSIRIS-REx is the first NASA craft to visit an asteroid and collected a sample. This week, it will begin its journey home to Earth, and you can watch it live.
News
NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's fifth flight was captured on May 7, 2021, by one of the navigation cameras aboard the agency's Perseverance rover. This was the first time it flew to a new landing site. NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's fifth flight was captured on May 7, 2021, by one of the navigation cameras aboard the agency's Perseverance rover. This was the first time it flew to a new landing site.

Ingenuity helicopter explores Mars on its own for the first time

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter has made another successful flight on Mars, traveling away from the location which has been its home base and exploring a new area.
Space News
Life on mars: medicine on mars

Medicine on Mars: How we’ll keep astronauts healthy on the red planet

The first human visitors that reach Mars will face countless health risks, and when something goes wrong, there won't be doctors around to help
Health & Fitness Features
Medicine on Mars: How we’ll keep astronauts healthy on the red planet

Medicine on Mars: How we’ll keep astronauts healthy on the red planet

Features
The interaction of two doomed stars has created this spectacular ring adorned with bright clumps of gas ­– a diamond necklace of cosmic proportions. Fittingly known as the “Necklace Nebula,” this planetary nebula is located 15,000 light-years away from Earth in the small, dim constellation of Sagitta (the Arrow).

A 10,000-year-old conflict between two stars formed the Necklace Nebula

The dramatic interactions of two very close stars formed the beautiful Necklace Nebula, recently captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Space News
Artist's impression of ESA's Hera Mission, a small spacecraft which aims to investigate whether an asteroid headed for Earth could be deflected.

What space agencies learned from a simulated asteroid impact

This week, space agencies from around the world came together to figure out how to respond if a large asteroid were to strike Earth.
Space News
Sextans B is an irregular dwarf galaxy, meaning that it is irregularly shaped and smaller than our galaxy, the Milky Way. It lies around 4.5 million light-years from Earth and is located in the constellation Sextans in the southern sky. Captured with the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope, this image of Sextans B features red-colored star-forming regions near the galaxy’s center. Surrounding the galaxy are several bright stars that are located much closer to us in our galaxy, identified by the crisscross patterns created by light interacting with the structure of the telescope, as well as numerous fuzzy-looking background galaxies that appear small because they are much farther away than Sextans B.

See where stars are born and where they die in the dwarf galaxy Sextans B

Dwarf galaxy Sextans B is only a few thousand light-years in diameter. But it hosts a whole range of astronomical phenomena squeezed into its diminutive size.
Space News
NASA astronauts Shannon Walker, left, Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, right are seen inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship shortly after landing in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida, at 2:56 a.m. EDT May 2, 2021.

Crew-1 astronauts splash down safely off the Florida coast

The four astronauts of Crew-1 have made it home safely from the International Space Station, splashing down off the coast of Florida early this morning.
Space News
Clockwise from bottom right are Expedition 64 Flight Engineers and SpaceX Crew-1 members Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Soichi Noguchi.

SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts return to Earth tomorrow in rare nighttime splashdown

After several delays, the four astronauts comprising the Crew-1 mission are scheduled to return to Earth tomorrow in a rare after-dark splashdown.
Space News
An image of Venus compiled using data from the Mariner 10 spacecraft in 1974

We finally know exactly how long a day on Venus lasts

Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles finally have an answer to how long a day on Venus is, after 15 years of painstaking observations.
Space News
This illustration of the newly forming exoplanet PDS 70b shows how material may be falling onto the giant world as it builds up mass. By employing Hubble’s ultraviolet light (UV) sensitivity, researchers got a unique look at radiation from extremely hot gas falling onto the planet, allowing them to directly measure the planet’s mass growth rate for the first time.

Hubble observes a giant planet growing as it gobbles up dust and gas

Hubble has made a rare direct observation of giant planet PDS 70b to learn about how such large planets grow.
Space News
watch spacex fire up starship rocket ahead of next test flight sn15 prototype static

SpaceX scrubs the high altitude test of its SN15 Starship prototype

SpaceX has scrubbed the high altitude test of its Starship prototype, which had been scheduled for Friday. The test will likely be pushed back to next week.
Space News
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter, seen here about 13 feet (3.9 meters) from the rover. This image was taken by the WASTON camera on the rover’s robotic arm on April 6, 2021, the 46th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

Mars helicopter Ingenuity passes fourth flight and has a new mission

After a small stumble, the Mars helicopter Ingenuity has completed its fourth flight. Now it has a new mission, called its operations demonstration phase.
Space News
spacexs historic crew dragon mission in pictures approach

How to watch the SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts return to Earth this weekend

On May 1, a SpaceX Crew Dragon will depart from the International Space Station carrying four astronauts on a journey home to Earth. Here's how to watch.
Space News
life on mars - perfecting propulsion feature updated

Perfecting propulsion: How we’ll get humans to Mars

Features
life on mars: perfecting propulsion feature

Perfecting propulsion: How we’ll get humans to Mars

To get the details on what a propulsion for a crewed expedition to Mars might look like, we spoke to an expert in cutting-edge rocket propulsion systems.
Web Features
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter can be seen hovering during its third flight on April 25, 2021, as seen by the left Navigation Camera aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover.

Ingenuity helicopter aces 3rd test flight over the Martian surface

Mars helicopter Ingenuity has aced its third test flight, traveling a distance of 50 meters at a top speed of 2 meters per second.
Space News
This mosaic of Mars is composed of about 100 Viking Orbiter images. The images were acquired in 1980 during mid-northern summer on Mars.

Mars subsurface holds potential for microbial life, study suggests

New research suggests that the area beneath Mars's surface, called the subsurface, might be potentially hospitable for life.
Space News
Artist's conception of the violent stellar flare from Proxima Centauri discovered by scientists in 2019 using nine telescopes across the electromagnetic spectrum, including the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Powerful flares eject from Proxima Centauri with regularity, impacting the star's planets almost daily.

Our nearest neighboring star emits record-breaking stellar flare

Our neighboring star, Proxima Centauri, has emitted a stellar flare is 100 times more powerful than any solar flare from our sun.
Space News
A Long March-5 rocket, carrying an orbiter, lander and rover as part of the Tianwen-1 mission to Mars, lifts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre in southern China's Hainan Province on July 23, 2020.

China’s first Mars rover to be named after the fire god Zhurong

NASA's Perseverance rover will soon have a new companion on the red planet, as China is set to send its first Mars rover to the surface as early as next month.
Space News
In celebration of the 31st anniversary of the launch of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers aimed the celebrated observatory at one of the brightest stars seen in our galaxy to capture its beauty. The giant star featured in this latest Hubble Space Telescope anniversary image is waging a tug-of-war between gravity and radiation to avoid self-destruction. The star, called AG Carinae, is surrounded by an expanding shell of gas and dust. The nebula is about five light-years wide, which equals the distance from here to our nearest star, Alpha Centauri.

Hubble celebrates its 31st birthday with image of a stunning but unstable star

Today is the 31st anniversary of the launch of Hubble, and to celebrate researchers have used the telescope to image one of the most famous stars in our galaxy.
Space News
An artist's impression of an asteroid approaching Earth

NASA to roleplay what would happen if an asteroid struck Earth

This week, space agencies from around the world will drop everything to figure out an emergency response to our planet being struck by an enormous asteroid.
News
The four new SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts joined the Expedition 65 crew today bringing the station population to 11.

SpaceX Crew Dragon docks with the ISS to drop off astronauts

The SpaceX Crew Dragon, launched yesterday on its second operational mission to carry four astronauts to the International Space Station, has arrived safely.
Space News
In this illustration, NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter stands on the Red Planet's surface as NASA's Perseverance rover (partially visible on the left) rolls away. Ingenuity arrived at Mars on Feb. 18, 2021, attached to the belly of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover.

Mars helicopter Ingenuity to make its third test flight tomorrow

Having made a successful second test flight, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter isn't slowing down. The team intends to perform a third, more complex flight tomorrow.
Space News
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