<p>NASA has said that the International Space Station is still at risk from the debris of a weapons test by&nbsp;Russia.</p>

<p>Russia had destroyed one of its own satellites and generated a cloud of debris near the International Space Station (ISS) and its seven-strong crew.</p>

<p>They were directed to take shelter in their docked spaceship capsules for two hours after the test as a precaution to allow for a quick getaway had it been necessary.</p>

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<p>It generated more than 1,500 pieces of "trackable orbital debris" and would likely spawn hundreds of thousands of smaller fragments. They tracked by the US Space Command.</p>

<p>"NASA will continue monitoring the debris in the coming days and beyond to ensure the safety of our crew in orbit," NASA chief Bill Nelson said in the statement.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/auditors-say-nasas-artemis-programme-likely-to-be-delayed-by-several-years-430217" hreflang="en">Auditors say NASA's Artemis programme likely to be delayed by several years</a></strong></p>

<p>The incident came just four days after the latest group of four space station astronauts,&nbsp;Americans Raja Chair, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron of NASA and European Space Agency crewmate Matthias Maurer of Germany,&nbsp;arrived at the orbiting platform to begin a six-month science mission.</p>

<p>Didier Schmitt, a senior figure at the European Space Agency (ESA) said Moscow's action increased the risk of a collision in space.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasas-mars-rover-probing-undisturbed-ancient-time-capsule-on-red-planet-428788" hreflang="en">NASA's Mars rover probing undisturbed ancient time capsule on Red planet</a></strong></p>

<p>However, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the test had not posed a threat to the International Space Station.</p>

<p>The target was a non-operational spacecraft, Tselina-D, that had been in orbit since 1982.</p>

<p>The United States was the first country to conduct anti-satellite tests in space, in 1959 when satellites were rare and new.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em><br />
&nbsp;</p>


NASA has said that the International Space Station is still at risk from the debris of a weapons test by Russia. Russia had destroyed one of its own satellites and generated a cloud of debris near the International Space Station (ISS) and its seven-strong crew.

NASA has said that the International Space Station is still at risk from the debris of a weapons test by Russia. Russia had destroyed one of its own satellites and generated a cloud of debris near the International Space Station (ISS) and its seven-strong crew. They were directed to take shelter in their docked spaceship capsules for two hours after the test as a precaution to allow for a quick getaway had it been necessary. It generated more than 1,500 pieces of "trackable orbital debris" and would likely spawn hundreds of thousands of smaller fragments. They tracked by the US Space Command. "NASA will continue monitoring the debris in the coming days and beyond to ensure the safety of our crew in orbit," NASA chief Bill Nelson said in the statement. Also read | Auditors say NASA's Artemis programme likely to be delayed by several years The incident came just four days after the latest group of four space station astronauts, Americans Raja Chair, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron of NASA and European Space Agency crewmate Matthias Maurer of Germany, arrived at the orbiting platform to begin a six-month science mission. Didier Schmitt, a senior figure at the European Space Agency (ESA) said Moscow's action increased the risk of a collision in space. Also read | NASA's Mars rover probing undisturbed ancient time capsule on Red planet However, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the test had not posed a threat to the International Space Station. The target was a non-operational spacecraft, Tselina-D, that had been in orbit since 1982. The United States was the first country to conduct anti-satellite tests in space, in 1959 when satellites were rare and new. (With inputs from agencies)

NASA says International Space Station is still at risk from debris of Russian weapons test

<p>In a major setback to NASA, its plan to send humans to the moon could be delayed by several years according to a new report.</p>

<p>The prediction has been made by the auditors of the US space agency's Artemis programme.&nbsp;</p>

<p>It highlights how NASA's most ambitious and costly activity is facing hurdles such as schedule, procurement, technical, and funding risks.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasas-mars-rover-probing-undisturbed-ancient-time-capsule-on-red-planet-428788" hreflang="en">NASA's Mars rover probing undisturbed ancient time capsule on Red planet</a></strong></p>

<p>The report states ''Given the time needed to develop and fully test the HLS and new spacesuits, we project NASA will exceed its current timetable for landing humans on the Moon in late 2024 by several years.''</p>

<p>It will cost as much as $93 billion by the fiscal year 2025, according to the report's estimates, with a cost per launch of $4.1 billion for the first four missions.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/astronomers-offer-hint-on-how-suns-death-might-unfold-428057" hreflang="en">Astronomers offer hint on how Sun's death might unfold</a></strong></p>

<p>Meanwhile, SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said that the Starship developed by his company and selected by NASA for the Americans' return to the Moon would attempt its first orbital flight early next year.</p>

<p>It is significant because NASA is betting on Starship to become the lander used as part of its Artemis program to take humans back to the Moon, in 2025 at the earliest.&nbsp;</p>

<p>It comes after NASA chief Bill Nelson said ''We lost nearly seven months in litigation and that likely has pushed the first human landing likely to no earlier than 2025.''</p>

<p>NASA announced in May that it plans to land Americans back on the moon by 2024 with the Artemis initiative, named after Apollo's twin sister who was goddess of the hunt and the moon.</p>

<p><br />
<em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>


In a major setback to NASA, its plan to send humans to the moon could be delayed by several years according to a new report. The prediction has been made by the auditors of the US space agency's Artemis programme.

In a major setback to NASA, its plan to send humans to the moon could be delayed by several years according to a new report. The prediction has been made by the auditors of the US space agency's Artemis programme. It highlights how NASA's most ambitious and costly activity is facing hurdles such as schedule, procurement, technical, and funding risks. Also read | NASA's Mars rover probing undisturbed ancient time capsule on Red planet The report states ''Given the time needed to develop and fully test the HLS and new spacesuits, we project NASA will exceed its current timetable for landing humans on the Moon in late 2024 by several years.'' It will cost as much as $93 billion by the fiscal year 2025, according to the report's estimates, with a cost per launch of $4.1 billion for the first four missions. Also read | Astronomers offer hint on how Sun's death might unfold Meanwhile, SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said that the Starship developed by his company and selected by NASA for the Americans' return to the Moon would attempt its first orbital flight early next year. It is significant because NASA is betting on Starship to become the lander used as part of its Artemis program to take humans back to the Moon, in 2025 at the earliest. It comes after NASA chief Bill Nelson said ''We lost nearly seven months in litigation and that likely has pushed the first human landing likely to no earlier than 2025.'' NASA announced in May that it plans to land Americans back on the moon by 2024 with the Artemis initiative, named after Apollo's twin sister who was goddess of the hunt and the moon. (With inputs from agencies)

Auditors say NASA's Artemis programme likely to be delayed by several years

<p>Snoopy, the iconic character from creator Charles M Schulz’s comic strip 'Peanuts', seems to be flying aboard National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Artemis mission to visit moon early next year. &nbsp;</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AstronautSnoopy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AstronautSnoopy</a> is no stranger to space. The Peanuts character skimmed the lunar surface as the name of the Apollo 10 lunar module &amp; even caught a ride on the space shuttle.<br />
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Now Snoopy is going to the Moon as a zero gravity indicator aboard <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Artemis?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Artemis</a> I: <a href="https://t.co/wUHfUgYWYm">https://t.co/wUHfUgYWYm</a> <a href="https://t.co/t8DFQq6gHi">pic.twitter.com/t8DFQq6gHi</a></p>
— NASA (@NASA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1459181106016698373?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2021</a></blockquote>
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<p>In a tweet, NASA said, “AstronautSnoopy is no stranger to space. The Peanuts character skimmed the lunar surface as the name of the Apollo 10 lunar module &amp; even caught a ride on the space shuttle. Now Snoopy is going to the Moon as a zero-gravity indicator aboard Artemis.” &nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/astronomers-identify-moons-small-chunk-tracking-earths-orbit-around-sun-428748" hreflang="en">Astronomers identify moon’s small chunk tracking Earth’s orbit around Sun</a></strong></p>

<p>The Snoopy’s iconic form will be flying aboard the shuttle in NASA’s first lunar mission in several decades as a micro-gravity indicator. &nbsp;</p>

<p>When the spacecraft leaves Earth’s gravitational field and enters the microgravity of space, the Snoopy plush dressed in NASA's Orion Crew Survival System pressure suit will begin to float aboard Artemis 1 Orion. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasa-releases-breathtaking-video-of-davinci-mission-to-venus-428811" hreflang="en">NASA releases breathtaking video of DAVINCI mission to Venus</a></strong></p>

<p>For future manned missions, there will be a manikin and two "phantom" human torsos along with Snoopy, who will collect data for the flight to the moon. &nbsp;</p>

<p>“Zero gravity indicators are small items carried aboard spacecraft that provide a visual indicator when a spacecraft has reached the weightlessness of microgravity. Without astronauts aboard Orion, Snoopy will help share the journey with the world as he rides along in the cabin with a manikin and two other “passengers,” NASA added. &nbsp;</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;</em></p>


Snoopy, the iconic character from creator Charles M Schulz’s comic strip 'Peanuts', seems to be flying aboard National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Artemis mission to visit moon early next year.

Snoopy, the iconic character from creator Charles M Schulz’s comic strip 'Peanuts', seems to be flying aboard National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Artemis mission to visit moon early next year. #AstronautSnoopy is no stranger to space. The Peanuts character skimmed the lunar surface as the name of the Apollo 10 lunar module & even caught a ride on the space shuttle. Now Snoopy is going to the Moon as a zero gravity indicator aboard #Artemis I: https://t.co/wUHfUgYWYm pic.twitter.com/t8DFQq6gHi — NASA (@NASA) November 12, 2021 × In a tweet, NASA said, “AstronautSnoopy is no stranger to space. The Peanuts character skimmed the lunar surface as the name of the Apollo 10 lunar module & even caught a ride on the space shuttle. Now Snoopy is going to the Moon as a zero-gravity indicator aboard Artemis.” Also Read: Astronomers identify moon’s small chunk tracking Earth’s orbit around Sun The Snoopy’s iconic form will be flying aboard the shuttle in NASA’s first lunar mission in several decades as a micro-gravity indicator. When the spacecraft leaves Earth’s gravitational field and enters the microgravity of space, the Snoopy plush dressed in NASA's Orion Crew Survival System pressure suit will begin to float aboard Artemis 1 Orion. Also Read: NASA releases breathtaking video of DAVINCI mission to Venus For future manned missions, there will be a manikin and two "phantom" human torsos along with Snoopy, who will collect data for the flight to the moon. “Zero gravity indicators are small items carried aboard spacecraft that provide a visual indicator when a spacecraft has reached the weightlessness of microgravity. Without astronauts aboard Orion, Snoopy will help share the journey with the world as he rides along in the cabin with a manikin and two other “passengers,” NASA added. (With inputs from agencies)

‘Astronaut’ Snoopy to visit moon aboard NASA’s Artemis mission as zero-gravity indicator in 2022

<p>Earth's neighbour Venus has the most harrowing surface conditions of all planets in the solar system. It is a 'greenhouse planet' with surface temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Celsius. Scientists and researchers are always curious as to whether Venus was ever habitable. While we have a lot of information based on out research and observations over decades, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is going one step ahead and sending a mission to Venus.</p>

<p>The DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) mission to Venus will lift off towards the end of this decade. After the launch in 2029, the mission will be carried out in two segments the spacecraft will do a couple flybys of Venus. After that, probe will be dropped into the upper atmosphere of the planet. Venus' atmosphere is 90 times denser than Earth's.</p>

<p>Venus' clouds are mainly composed of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid. The probe will descend through the atmosphere and will take readings of the composition. It will also trace for signatures of Oxygen that will hint towards presence of water.</p>

<p>NASA has released a breathtaking video of the DAVINCI mission. Check it out</p>

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<p>It is also postulated by scientists that microbes able to withstand high temperatures are present in Venus' upper atmosphere. DAVINCI mission is sure to shed more light on this.</p>


Earth's neighbour Venus has the most harrowing surface conditions of all planets in the solar system. It is a 'greenhouse planet' with surface temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Celsius.

Earth's neighbour Venus has the most harrowing surface conditions of all planets in the solar system. It is a 'greenhouse planet' with surface temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Celsius. Scientists and researchers are always curious as to whether Venus was ever habitable. While we have a lot of information based on out research and observations over decades, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is going one step ahead and sending a mission to Venus. The DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) mission to Venus will lift off towards the end of this decade. After the launch in 2029, the mission will be carried out in two segments the spacecraft will do a couple flybys of Venus. After that, probe will be dropped into the upper atmosphere of the planet. Venus' atmosphere is 90 times denser than Earth's. Venus' clouds are mainly composed of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid. The probe will descend through the atmosphere and will take readings of the composition. It will also trace for signatures of Oxygen that will hint towards presence of water. NASA has released a breathtaking video of the DAVINCI mission. Check it out × It is also postulated by scientists that microbes able to withstand high temperatures are present in Venus' upper atmosphere. DAVINCI mission is sure to shed more light on this.

NASA releases breathtaking video of DAVINCI mission to Venus

<p>Elon Musk's SpaceX has sent four astronauts to the International Space Station in its fifth crewed mission.</p>

<p>The company's Dragon capsule roared into outer space atop a Falcon 9 rocket, including the 600th person to reach space in 60 years, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Crew3?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Crew3</a>... 2... 1... and liftoff!<br />
<br />
Three <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA_Astronauts?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASA_Astronauts</a> and one <a href="https://twitter.com/esa?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESA</a> astronaut are on their way to the <a href="https://twitter.com/Space_Station?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Space_Station</a> aboard the <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpaceX</a> Crew Dragon Endurance: <a href="https://t.co/dxobsFb4Pa">pic.twitter.com/dxobsFb4Pa</a></p>
— NASA (@NASA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1458616859385868290?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 11, 2021</a></blockquote>
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<p>According to mission commander Raja Chari, ''It was a great ride, better than we imagined.''</p>

<p>The crew launch marked SpaceX’s fourth for NASA and the company’s fifth passenger flight overall, including a September charter flight for four that skipped the space station.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/astronomers-offer-hint-on-how-suns-death-might-unfold-428057" hreflang="en">Astronomers offer hint on how Sun's death might unfold</a></strong></p>

<p>The Dragon capsule’s toilet leaked during their three days in orbit, necessitating a quick redesign of the flushing system in the newest capsule, named Endurance by its crew.</p>

<p>SpaceX launch director Mark Soltys told the crew, ''Enjoy your holidays among the stars. We’ll be waving as you fly by.''</p>

<p>"Crew-3" includes two members of NASA's latest graduating class of astronauts, Indian-origin Raja Chari, 44, a US Air Force combat jet and test pilot serving as mission commander, and mission specialist Kayla Barron, 34, a US Navy submarine officer and nuclear engineer.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/no-plumber-in-space-toilet-leak-pushes-astronauts-to-use-diapers-on-way-back-to-earth-427309" hreflang="en">No plumber in space? Toilet leak pushes astronauts to use diapers on way back to Earth</a></strong></p>

<p>Chari's father, Sreenivas is from Telangana in India, while his mother, Peggy Egbert is from Iowa in the United States.</p>

<p>The list of 600 travelers ranges from those who have barely scratched space, like actor William Shatner last month, to US and Russian astronauts who have spent a year or more in orbit.&nbsp;</p>

<p>This year’s surge in space tourists helped push the tally over the 600 mark. That averages out to 10 people per year since Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering flight in 1961.</p>

<p>NASA has extolled space station missions in low-Earth orbit as critical training grounds and incubators for technologies that will help achieve the goals of a sustainable lunar presence and eventual human flights to Mars.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>


Elon Musk's SpaceX has sent four astronauts to the International Space Station in its fifth crewed mission. The company's Dragon capsule roared into outer space atop a Falcon 9 rocket, including the 600th person to reach space in 60 years, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Elon Musk's SpaceX has sent four astronauts to the International Space Station in its fifth crewed mission. The company's Dragon capsule roared into outer space atop a Falcon 9 rocket, including the 600th person to reach space in 60 years, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. #Crew3... 2... 1... and liftoff! Three @NASA_Astronauts and one @ESA astronaut are on their way to the @Space_Station aboard the @SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance: pic.twitter.com/dxobsFb4Pa — NASA (@NASA) November 11, 2021 × According to mission commander Raja Chari, ''It was a great ride, better than we imagined.'' The crew launch marked SpaceX’s fourth for NASA and the company’s fifth passenger flight overall, including a September charter flight for four that skipped the space station. Also read | Astronomers offer hint on how Sun's death might unfold The Dragon capsule’s toilet leaked during their three days in orbit, necessitating a quick redesign of the flushing system in the newest capsule, named Endurance by its crew. SpaceX launch director Mark Soltys told the crew, ''Enjoy your holidays among the stars. We’ll be waving as you fly by.'' "Crew-3" includes two members of NASA's latest graduating class of astronauts, Indian-origin Raja Chari, 44, a US Air Force combat jet and test pilot serving as mission commander, and mission specialist Kayla Barron, 34, a US Navy submarine officer and nuclear engineer. Also read | No plumber in space? Toilet leak pushes astronauts to use diapers on way back to Earth Chari's father, Sreenivas is from Telangana in India, while his mother, Peggy Egbert is from Iowa in the United States. The list of 600 travelers ranges from those who have barely scratched space, like actor William Shatner last month, to US and Russian astronauts who have spent a year or more in orbit. This year’s surge in space tourists helped push the tally over the 600 mark. That averages out to 10 people per year since Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering flight in 1961. NASA has extolled space station missions in low-Earth orbit as critical training grounds and incubators for technologies that will help achieve the goals of a sustainable lunar presence and eventual human flights to Mars. (With inputs from agencies)

Watch | Indian-origin astronaut leads SpaceX's mission to International Space Station

NASA to monitor space station operation, SpaceX launch 4 more astronauts into orbit on flight to space station

Four more astronauts rocketed into space

<p>NASA's Hubble Telescope has unveiled new images that could offer a sneak preview of the demise of the Sun.</p>

<p>The sun,&nbsp;essentially a hot ball of hydrogen and helium,&nbsp;is an average-sized star that formed more than 4.5 billion years ago and is roughly halfway through its lifespan.</p>

<p>Its diameter is about 864,000 miles (1.4 million km). Its surface temperature is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,500 degrees Celsius).</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/this-element-is-found-in-both-our-teeth-and-in-a-galaxy-which-is-12-billion-light-years-away-426901" hreflang="en">This element is found in both our teeth and in a galaxy which is 12 billion light years away</a></strong></p>

<p>Known as NGC 2438, the planetary nebula is the Sun-like stars. It is located roughly 1,370 light-years away from the Earth.</p>

<p>Planetary nebulae are massive gas clouds ejected from dying stars like that resemble the Sun.</p>

<p>During the end of its lifespan, the sun will run out of hydrogen to fuse in the core. This will make the Sun unstable and it will collapse into a white dwarf.</p>

<p>The sun appears to be far less active than similar stars in terms of brightness variations caused by sunspots and other phenomena.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/earths-planetary-defence-nasa-unveils-spacecraft-that-targets-asteroids-426828" hreflang="en">Earth's 'planetary defence': NASA unveils spacecraft that targets asteroids</a></strong></p>

<p>“Temperature and rotation period are thought to be the major ingredients for the dynamo inside the star, which generates its magnetic field, and eventually the number and size of the spots causing the brightness to vary. Finding such stars with very similar parameters as our sun but being five times more variable was surprising,” Reinhold said.</p>

<p>Elevated magnetic activity associated with sunspots can lead to solar flares, coronal mass ejections - large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the outermost part of the sun’s atmosphere - and other electromagnetic phenomena that can affect Earth, for example disrupting satellites and communications and endangering astronauts.</p>

<p>Solar monotony may be good news.</p>

<p>“A much more active sun might have also affected Earth on geological time scales - paleoclimatology. A ‘too active’ star would definitively change the conditions for life on the planet, so living with a quite boring star is not the worst option,” Reinhold said.</p>

<p>The researchers compared data on similar stars to historical records of the sun’s activity. These records included about 400 years of observational data on sunspots and about 9,000 years of data based on chemical element variants in tree rings and ice cores caused by solar activity. These records indicated the sun has not been much more active than it is now.</p>

<p>The findings, Reinhold said, do not rule out that the sun may be in a quiet phase and may become more variable in the future.</p>


NASA's Hubble Telescope has unveiled new images that could offer a sneak preview of the demise of the Sun. The sun, essentially a hot ball of hydrogen and helium, is an average-sized star that formed more than 4.

NASA's Hubble Telescope has unveiled new images that could offer a sneak preview of the demise of the Sun. The sun, essentially a hot ball of hydrogen and helium, is an average-sized star that formed more than 4.5 billion years ago and is roughly halfway through its lifespan. Its diameter is about 864,000 miles (1.4 million km). Its surface temperature is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,500 degrees Celsius). Also read | This element is found in both our teeth and in a galaxy which is 12 billion light years away Known as NGC 2438, the planetary nebula is the Sun-like stars. It is located roughly 1,370 light-years away from the Earth. Planetary nebulae are massive gas clouds ejected from dying stars like that resemble the Sun. During the end of its lifespan, the sun will run out of hydrogen to fuse in the core. This will make the Sun unstable and it will collapse into a white dwarf. The sun appears to be far less active than similar stars in terms of brightness variations caused by sunspots and other phenomena. Also read | Earth's 'planetary defence': NASA unveils spacecraft that targets asteroids “Temperature and rotation period are thought to be the major ingredients for the dynamo inside the star, which generates its magnetic field, and eventually the number and size of the spots causing the brightness to vary. Finding such stars with very similar parameters as our sun but being five times more variable was surprising,” Reinhold said. Elevated magnetic activity associated with sunspots can lead to solar flares, coronal mass ejections - large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the outermost part of the sun’s atmosphere - and other electromagnetic phenomena that can affect Earth, for example disrupting satellites and communications and endangering astronauts. Solar monotony may be good news. “A much more active sun might have also affected Earth on geological time scales - paleoclimatology. A ‘too active’ star would definitively change the conditions for life on the planet, so living with a quite boring star is not the worst option,” Reinhold said. The researchers compared data on similar stars to historical records of the sun’s activity. These records included about 400 years of observational data on sunspots and about 9,000 years of data based on chemical element variants in tree rings and ice cores caused by solar activity. These records indicated the sun has not been much more active than it is now. The findings, Reinhold said, do not rule out that the sun may be in a quiet phase and may become more variable in the future.

Astronomers offer hint on how Sun's death might unfold

<p>NASA on Sunday posted images captured by its Landsat 9 satellite. The satellite has taken its first light images of Earth. Landsat 9 is a joint mission between NASA and US Geological Survey (USGS). The mission was launched on September 27 this year.</p>

<p>The images that have been released have been captured on October 31. The images are likely to tell people how to better manage resources and make them realise effect climate change is having on Earth.&nbsp;</p>

<p>NASA administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement that Landsat programme “has the proven power to not only improve lives but also save lives"</p>

<p>"What a sight! #Landsat 9 captured its first images Oct. 31, and they’re striking! These data-rich images show us glaciers, actively burning fires and more, continuing a 50-year partnership between @NASA and @USGS. This image of the remote coastal islands and inlets of the Kimberley region of Western Australia was Landsat 9’s very first," says NASA in its Instagram post that depicts one of the photos taken by Landsat 9.</p>

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<p>Landsat 9 has several improvements and has an edge over its predecessors Landsat 8 and Landsat 9</p>

<p>Landsat 9 has the capability to differentiate more than 16000 shades of given wavelength colour as opposed to Landsat 7 which can differentiate only 256 colours.</p>


NASA on Sunday posted images captured by its Landsat 9 satellite. The satellite has taken its first light images of Earth. Landsat 9 is a joint mission between NASA and US Geological Survey (USGS).

NASA on Sunday posted images captured by its Landsat 9 satellite. The satellite has taken its first light images of Earth. Landsat 9 is a joint mission between NASA and US Geological Survey (USGS). The mission was launched on September 27 this year. The images that have been released have been captured on October 31. The images are likely to tell people how to better manage resources and make them realise effect climate change is having on Earth. NASA administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement that Landsat programme “has the proven power to not only improve lives but also save lives" "What a sight! #Landsat 9 captured its first images Oct. 31, and they’re striking! These data-rich images show us glaciers, actively burning fires and more, continuing a 50-year partnership between @NASA and @USGS. This image of the remote coastal islands and inlets of the Kimberley region of Western Australia was Landsat 9’s very first," says NASA in its Instagram post that depicts one of the photos taken by Landsat 9. View this post on Instagram A post shared by NASA Earth Observatory (@nasaearth) × Landsat 9 has several improvements and has an edge over its predecessors Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 Landsat 9 has the capability to differentiate more than 16000 shades of given wavelength colour as opposed to Landsat 7 which can differentiate only 256 colours.

NASA posts first images taken by Earth-observing spacecraft Landsat 9

<p>Four astronauts are scheduled to return to Earth from the International Space Station early Monday after spending more than six months in space, NASA announced.</p>

<p>The four members of the Crew-2 mission, including a French and a Japanese astronaut, will therefore return to Earth before the arrival of a replacement crew, whose take-off was delayed several times due to unfavourable weather conditions.</p>

<p>NASA said in a statement late Friday that Crew-2 members are due to return to Earth "no earlier than 7:14 am EST Monday, November&nbsp;8, with a splashdown off the coast of Florida."</p>

<p>"As we're preparing to leave, it's kind of a bittersweet feeling, we might never come back to see the ISS, and it's really a magical place," French astronaut Thomas Pesquet said earlier Friday during a press conference from the space station.</p>

<p>"I'm very thankful that people dreamt the ISS some time ago and then went ahead and worked hard to make it happen and to build it for the benefit of everyone," Pesquet added.&nbsp;</p>

<p><a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/how-chinas-greyzone-warfare-is-designed-to-subdue-the-enemy-427343"><strong>Also read |&nbsp;How China's 'greyzone warfare' is designed to subdue the enemy</strong></a></p>

<p>Endeavour, the Crew Dragon spacecraft, is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station at 1805 GMT Sunday to begin the journey home.</p>

<p>Once detached from the ISS, the capsule will begin a journey of several hours, the duration of which can vary greatly depending on the trajectory, and will then land off the coast of Florida.</p>

<p>A backup undocking and splashdown opportunity is available Monday, if weather conditions are not favourable, NASA said.</p>

<p>The two missions are being carried out by NASA in collaboration with SpaceX, which now provides regular launches to the ISS from the United States.</p>

<p>Crew-3 is scheduled to take off for the ISS aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where astronauts have been in quarantine for days.</p>

<p>US astronaut Megan McArthur was confident that not getting the replacement crew to ISS before the current crew departs was just a temporary setback.</p>

<p>"Of course that's not optimal," McArthur told reporters during the Friday press conference. "But we are prepared to manage that. Spaceflight is full of lots of little challenges."</p>


Four astronauts are scheduled to return to Earth from the International Space Station early Monday after spending more than six months in space, NASA announced. The four members of the Crew-2 mission, including a French and a Japanese astronaut, will therefore return to Earth before the arrival of a replacement crew, whose take-off was delayed several times due to unfavourable weather conditions.

Four astronauts are scheduled to return to Earth from the International Space Station early Monday after spending more than six months in space, NASA announced. The four members of the Crew-2 mission, including a French and a Japanese astronaut, will therefore return to Earth before the arrival of a replacement crew, whose take-off was delayed several times due to unfavourable weather conditions. NASA said in a statement late Friday that Crew-2 members are due to return to Earth "no earlier than 7:14 am EST Monday, November 8, with a splashdown off the coast of Florida." "As we're preparing to leave, it's kind of a bittersweet feeling, we might never come back to see the ISS, and it's really a magical place," French astronaut Thomas Pesquet said earlier Friday during a press conference from the space station. "I'm very thankful that people dreamt the ISS some time ago and then went ahead and worked hard to make it happen and to build it for the benefit of everyone," Pesquet added. Also read | How China's 'greyzone warfare' is designed to subdue the enemy Endeavour, the Crew Dragon spacecraft, is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station at 1805 GMT Sunday to begin the journey home. Once detached from the ISS, the capsule will begin a journey of several hours, the duration of which can vary greatly depending on the trajectory, and will then land off the coast of Florida. A backup undocking and splashdown opportunity is available Monday, if weather conditions are not favourable, NASA said. The two missions are being carried out by NASA in collaboration with SpaceX, which now provides regular launches to the ISS from the United States. Crew-3 is scheduled to take off for the ISS aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where astronauts have been in quarantine for days. US astronaut Megan McArthur was confident that not getting the replacement crew to ISS before the current crew departs was just a temporary setback. "Of course that's not optimal," McArthur told reporters during the Friday press conference. "But we are prepared to manage that. Spaceflight is full of lots of little challenges."

Astronauts to return from space station next week, says NASA

<p>NASA has unveiled a spacecraft that will act as Earth's 'planetary defence' against asteroids.</p>

<p>The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is a test mission that will be launched by the US space agency on November 24&nbsp;aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.</p>

<p>According to Lindley Johnson, NASA's Planetary Defence Officer, ''Although there isn't a currently known asteroid that's on an impact course with the Earth, we do know that there is a large population of near-Earth asteroids out there.''</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/dragon-black-holes-that-defy-norms-of-physics-can-mess-with-your-future-426577" hreflang="en">'Dragon' black holes that defy norms of physics can mess with your future</a></strong></p>

<p>"The key to planetary defence is finding them well before they are an impact threat," Johnson said.</p>

<p>"We don't want to be in a situation where an asteroid is headed towards Earth and then have to test this capability."</p>

<p>The spacecraft weighs 1,210 pounds and will change the course of asteroids at a speed of 15,000 miles per hour (24,000 kph).&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/in-a-first-nasas-mars-curiosity-rover-detects-organic-molecules-on-the-surface-of-red-planet-426481" hreflang="en">In a first, NASA's Mars Curiosity rover detects organic molecules on the surface of Red Planet</a></strong></p>

<p>DART will target a double asteroid Didymos and its moon Dimorphos that are approximately 6.8 million miles away from the Earth.</p>

<p>''We are targeting to be as nearly head-on as possible to cause the biggest deflection,'' said Nancy Chabot of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, who built the DART spacecraft.</p>

<p>The amount of deflection will depend to a certain extent on the composition of Dimorphos and scientists are not entirely certain how porous the asteroid is.</p>

<p>The mission will enhance modelling and predictive capabilities to help scientists better prepare for an actual asteroid threat should one ever be discovered.</p>

<p>More than 27,000 near-Earth asteroids have been catalogued by NASA.</p>

<p>An asteroid discovered in 1999 known as Bennu that is 1,650 feet wide will pass within half the distance of the Earth to the Moon in the year 2135 but the probability of an impact is considered very slight.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>


NASA has unveiled a spacecraft that will act as Earth's 'planetary defence' against asteroids. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is a test mission that will be launched by the US space agency on November 24 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

NASA has unveiled a spacecraft that will act as Earth's 'planetary defence' against asteroids. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is a test mission that will be launched by the US space agency on November 24 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. According to Lindley Johnson, NASA's Planetary Defence Officer, ''Although there isn't a currently known asteroid that's on an impact course with the Earth, we do know that there is a large population of near-Earth asteroids out there.'' Also read | 'Dragon' black holes that defy norms of physics can mess with your future "The key to planetary defence is finding them well before they are an impact threat," Johnson said. "We don't want to be in a situation where an asteroid is headed towards Earth and then have to test this capability." The spacecraft weighs 1,210 pounds and will change the course of asteroids at a speed of 15,000 miles per hour (24,000 kph). Also read | In a first, NASA's Mars Curiosity rover detects organic molecules on the surface of Red Planet DART will target a double asteroid Didymos and its moon Dimorphos that are approximately 6.8 million miles away from the Earth. ''We are targeting to be as nearly head-on as possible to cause the biggest deflection,'' said Nancy Chabot of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, who built the DART spacecraft. The amount of deflection will depend to a certain extent on the composition of Dimorphos and scientists are not entirely certain how porous the asteroid is. The mission will enhance modelling and predictive capabilities to help scientists better prepare for an actual asteroid threat should one ever be discovered. More than 27,000 near-Earth asteroids have been catalogued by NASA. An asteroid discovered in 1999 known as Bennu that is 1,650 feet wide will pass within half the distance of the Earth to the Moon in the year 2135 but the probability of an impact is considered very slight. (With inputs from agencies)

Earth's 'planetary defence': NASA unveils spacecraft that targets asteroids

<p>The Sun threw a spell in our way, brighter than a shimmering ghost and quicker than the flick of a black cat's tail, just in time for Halloween.&nbsp;</p>

<p>According to NASA, a large solar flare emerged from the Sun on October 28, sparking a "strong geomagnetic storm watch."</p>

<p>In a video, a flare was identified as an X-1 flare, the most powerful classification.</p>

<p>On October 28, the Sun produced a large solar flare that peaked around 11:35am EDT.</p>

<p>The incident was recorded on film by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which keeps a continual eye on the Sun.&nbsp;</p>

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<p>"This imagery captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory covers a busy few days of activity between Oct. 25-28 that ended with a significant solar flare. From late afternoon Oct. 25 through mid-morning October 26, an active region on the left limb of the Sun "flickered with a series of small flares and petal-like eruptions of solar material," wrote NASA Goddard.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/explosion-on-sun-equivalent-to-millions-of-hydrogen-bombs-causes-biggest-solar-flare-in-4-years-396003"><strong>Also read | Explosion on Sun equivalent to millions of hydrogen bombs causes biggest solar flare in 4 years</strong></a><br />
<br />
"Meanwhile, the Sun was sporting more active regions at its lower center, directly facing Earth. On Oct. 28, the biggest of these released a significant flare, which peaked at 11:35 a.m. EDT. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through the Earth’s atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however — when intense enough — they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel," the caption for the video read.</p>

<p>The storm is being compared to the 1859 Carrington Event, when a geomagnetic storm disrupted telegraph operations for many days.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>What are solar flares?</strong></p>

<p>A solar flare is a rapid and intense explosion on the Sun’s surface which happens in the aftermath of massive amounts of energy which is stored in magnetic fields being released suddenly.</p>

<p>As the explosion happens, radiation is released into the universe, directly affecting the planets in our solar system. These radiations comprise of radio waves, x-rays, and gamma rays.</p>

<p>NASA claims that the energy released by this explosion is equivalent to millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs going off at the same time. Even then, it constitutes just one-tenth of the Sun’s total energy.</p>

<p>A flare's harmful radiation cannot penetrate through Earth's atmosphere to harm humans on the ground, but they can disrupt the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals flow if they are strong enough.&nbsp;</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>


The Sun threw a spell in our way, brighter than a shimmering ghost and quicker than the flick of a black cat's tail, just in time for Halloween. According to NASA, a large solar flare emerged from the Sun on October 28, sparking a "strong geomagnetic storm watch.

The Sun threw a spell in our way, brighter than a shimmering ghost and quicker than the flick of a black cat's tail, just in time for Halloween. According to NASA, a large solar flare emerged from the Sun on October 28, sparking a "strong geomagnetic storm watch." In a video, a flare was identified as an X-1 flare, the most powerful classification. On October 28, the Sun produced a large solar flare that peaked around 11:35am EDT. The incident was recorded on film by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which keeps a continual eye on the Sun. × "This imagery captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory covers a busy few days of activity between Oct. 25-28 that ended with a significant solar flare. From late afternoon Oct. 25 through mid-morning October 26, an active region on the left limb of the Sun "flickered with a series of small flares and petal-like eruptions of solar material," wrote NASA Goddard. Also read | Explosion on Sun equivalent to millions of hydrogen bombs causes biggest solar flare in 4 years "Meanwhile, the Sun was sporting more active regions at its lower center, directly facing Earth. On Oct. 28, the biggest of these released a significant flare, which peaked at 11:35 a.m. EDT. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through the Earth’s atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however — when intense enough — they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel," the caption for the video read. The storm is being compared to the 1859 Carrington Event, when a geomagnetic storm disrupted telegraph operations for many days. What are solar flares? A solar flare is a rapid and intense explosion on the Sun’s surface which happens in the aftermath of massive amounts of energy which is stored in magnetic fields being released suddenly. As the explosion happens, radiation is released into the universe, directly affecting the planets in our solar system. These radiations comprise of radio waves, x-rays, and gamma rays. NASA claims that the energy released by this explosion is equivalent to millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs going off at the same time. Even then, it constitutes just one-tenth of the Sun’s total energy. A flare's harmful radiation cannot penetrate through Earth's atmosphere to harm humans on the ground, but they can disrupt the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals flow if they are strong enough. (With inputs from agencies)

Watch: Active October Sun emits a powerful X-class solar flare

<p>Space is full of surprises and wonders. The beauty is unparalleled and sometimes we come across such a beauty that we can't help but be mesmerised and ascribe some meaning to the resplendent celestial structure.</p>

<p>Trust NASA to send such pictures our way! The space agency regularly posts photos it clicks via its social media channels. And on of its photos has us go gaga again.</p>

<p>The image is of 'Hand of God'. The photo shows a golden structure on the background of deep black of the space that has arranged itself to resemble a hand. And it would have been surprising if this would've got called anything but 'hand of God'. The structure appears to pop out of nothingness, just like a Supreme Being wanting to convey his blessings and nothing more. Take a look at the image.</p>

<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/devils-eye-nasa-posts-eerie-image-of-helix-nebula-in-the-halloween-season-426198">Devil's eye? NASA posts eerie image of Helix Nebula this Halloween season</a></strong></p>

<p>NASA explains that the golden structure is a nebula of energy and particles blown by a pulsar. The pulsar has been left behind after explosion of a star. This pulsar is known as PSR B1509-58. It is about 19 kilometres in diamters. Mind boggling thing is that it is spinning around itself 7 times per second. It is 17,000 lightyears away from Earth.</p>

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<p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CUKsAqir5Bp/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">A post shared by NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory (@nasachandraxray)</a></p>
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<p>Netizens are obviously awestruck at the images.</p>

<p>"It should be called "hand of Midas"!" says a user referring to the fairy tale of a king whose touch turned everything to gold.</p>

<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasa-ingenuity-helicopter-latest-mars-flying-tougher-415112">NASA's Ingenuity helicopter is finding it tougher to fly on Mars</a></strong></p>

<p>"How do you measure something that is only 19 kms in diameter from 17,000 light years away? That cray cray," exclaims another user.</p>

<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasa-astronaut-iss-cracks-serious-issue-415124">Cracks on ISS a 'serious issue', says former NASA astronaut</a></strong></p>

<p>"For me it looks like fire from Lord Shiva's third eye,, and he is wearing an earring and his hairstyle holding ganga," a third user delves into Indian mythology.</p>

<p>No wonder the beautIful image has gone viral and has got about 25,000 likes already.</p>


Space is full of surprises and wonders. The beauty is unparalleled and sometimes we come across such a beauty that we can't help but be mesmerised and ascribe some meaning to the resplendent celestial structure.

Space is full of surprises and wonders. The beauty is unparalleled and sometimes we come across such a beauty that we can't help but be mesmerised and ascribe some meaning to the resplendent celestial structure. Trust NASA to send such pictures our way! The space agency regularly posts photos it clicks via its social media channels. And on of its photos has us go gaga again. The image is of 'Hand of God'. The photo shows a golden structure on the background of deep black of the space that has arranged itself to resemble a hand. And it would have been surprising if this would've got called anything but 'hand of God'. The structure appears to pop out of nothingness, just like a Supreme Being wanting to convey his blessings and nothing more. Take a look at the image. Also Read | Devil's eye? NASA posts eerie image of Helix Nebula this Halloween season NASA explains that the golden structure is a nebula of energy and particles blown by a pulsar. The pulsar has been left behind after explosion of a star. This pulsar is known as PSR B1509-58. It is about 19 kilometres in diamters. Mind boggling thing is that it is spinning around itself 7 times per second. It is 17,000 lightyears away from Earth. View this post on Instagram A post shared by NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory (@nasachandraxray) × Netizens are obviously awestruck at the images. "It should be called "hand of Midas"!" says a user referring to the fairy tale of a king whose touch turned everything to gold. Also Read | NASA's Ingenuity helicopter is finding it tougher to fly on Mars "How do you measure something that is only 19 kms in diameter from 17,000 light years away? That cray cray," exclaims another user. Also Read | Cracks on ISS a 'serious issue', says former NASA astronaut "For me it looks like fire from Lord Shiva's third eye,, and he is wearing an earring and his hairstyle holding ganga," a third user delves into Indian mythology. No wonder the beautIful image has gone viral and has got about 25,000 likes already.

NASA posts image of 'Hand of God', netizens are awestruck

<p>Space is full of wonders beyond our imagination. Though we have gazed far and deep into reaches of the black expanse, a lot remains unknown and what is known continues to surprise and mesmerise us. It's a good thing NASA and other space agencies are keeping track of it all.</p>

<p>A new image posted by NASA has transfixed everyone. The image shows a celestial structure that is like an eye in the sky looking at us from above. The eye does not appear benevolently watchful but has a mesmerising glow to it. The eyelashes are blue while the iris is blazing red.</p>

<p>Who is watching? God? or the Devil himself?</p>

<p>The eerie beauty is imparted to the photo by Helix Nebula which has been captured by Spitzer telescope. Helix Nebula is 700 light-years away from Earth and located in the Aquarius constellation.</p>

<p>NASA has posted the image on its Instagram account.</p>

<p>"The two-light-year diameter shroud of dust and gas around a central white dwarf, is an example of a planetary nebula, one of the final stages in the evolution of a Sun-like star. The dust makes this cosmic eye gleam red," says NASA in its Instagram post.</p>

<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasa-posts-image-of-hand-of-god-netizens-are-awestruck-416265">NASA posts image of 'Hand of God', netizens are awestruck</a></strong></p>

<p>NASA further explains that nebular material was ejected from the star thousands of years ago.</p>

<p>"...the close-in dust could be generated by collisions in a reservoir of objects, like our own solar system’s Kuiper Belt or cometary Oort cloud. Formed in the distant planetary system, the comet-like bodies have otherwise survived the dramatic late stages of the star’s evolution...," says NASA</p>

<p>Check out the image</p>

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<p>The image has gone crazy viral on Instagram and has been liked by more than 1000000 people.</p>


Space is full of wonders beyond our imagination. Though we have gazed far and deep into reaches of the black expanse, a lot remains unknown and what is known continues to surprise and mesmerise us.

Space is full of wonders beyond our imagination. Though we have gazed far and deep into reaches of the black expanse, a lot remains unknown and what is known continues to surprise and mesmerise us. It's a good thing NASA and other space agencies are keeping track of it all. A new image posted by NASA has transfixed everyone. The image shows a celestial structure that is like an eye in the sky looking at us from above. The eye does not appear benevolently watchful but has a mesmerising glow to it. The eyelashes are blue while the iris is blazing red. Who is watching? God? or the Devil himself? The eerie beauty is imparted to the photo by Helix Nebula which has been captured by Spitzer telescope. Helix Nebula is 700 light-years away from Earth and located in the Aquarius constellation. NASA has posted the image on its Instagram account. "The two-light-year diameter shroud of dust and gas around a central white dwarf, is an example of a planetary nebula, one of the final stages in the evolution of a Sun-like star. The dust makes this cosmic eye gleam red," says NASA in its Instagram post. Also Read | NASA posts image of 'Hand of God', netizens are awestruck NASA further explains that nebular material was ejected from the star thousands of years ago. "...the close-in dust could be generated by collisions in a reservoir of objects, like our own solar system’s Kuiper Belt or cometary Oort cloud. Formed in the distant planetary system, the comet-like bodies have otherwise survived the dramatic late stages of the star’s evolution...," says NASA Check out the image View this post on Instagram A post shared by NASA (@nasa) × The image has gone crazy viral on Instagram and has been liked by more than 1000000 people.

Devil's eye? NASA posts eerie image of Helix Nebula in Halloween season

<p>In a rare health-related pause, NASA has delayed a SpaceX rocket launch of four astronauts to the international space station (ISS). &nbsp;</p>

<p>This is the second postponement of the mission in a week. The agency cited an unspecified medical issue with one of the crew member as the reason behind this decision. &nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/during-halloween-weekend-solar-flare-helps-northern-lights-become-visible-to-us-425602" hreflang="en">During Halloween weekend, solar flare helps northern lights become visible to US</a></strong></p>

<p>On Monday, the space agency described it as a “minor medical issue” that was “not a medical emergency and not related to Covid”. It declined to elaborate on the nature of the issue or say which astronaut was involved. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Originally set for Sunday, the launch has been postponed until Wednesday because of unsuitable weather conditions and then had been rescheduled for Saturday night, said NASA. &nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/opinion-would-russia-or-china-help-us-if-we-were-invaded-by-space-aliens-425862" hreflang="en">Opinion: Would Russia or China help us if we were invaded by space aliens?</a></strong></p>

<p>The SpaceX-built vehicle is set to fly this weekend. It consists of a Crew Dragon capsule and a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket. It is now set for liftoff at 11.36 pm on Saturday from NASA’s Kennedy space centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida. &nbsp;</p>

<p>If everything goes smoothly, the three US astronauts and their European Space Agency (ESA) crewmate will reach 22 hours later and dock with the space station 400km (250 miles) above the Earth to begin a six-month science mission. &nbsp;</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;</em></p>


In a rare health-related pause, NASA has delayed a SpaceX rocket launch of four astronauts to the international space station (ISS). This is the second postponement of the mission in a week.

In a rare health-related pause, NASA has delayed a SpaceX rocket launch of four astronauts to the international space station (ISS). This is the second postponement of the mission in a week. The agency cited an unspecified medical issue with one of the crew member as the reason behind this decision. Also Read: During Halloween weekend, solar flare helps northern lights become visible to US On Monday, the space agency described it as a “minor medical issue” that was “not a medical emergency and not related to Covid”. It declined to elaborate on the nature of the issue or say which astronaut was involved. Originally set for Sunday, the launch has been postponed until Wednesday because of unsuitable weather conditions and then had been rescheduled for Saturday night, said NASA. Also Read: Opinion: Would Russia or China help us if we were invaded by space aliens? The SpaceX-built vehicle is set to fly this weekend. It consists of a Crew Dragon capsule and a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket. It is now set for liftoff at 11.36 pm on Saturday from NASA’s Kennedy space centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida. If everything goes smoothly, the three US astronauts and their European Space Agency (ESA) crewmate will reach 22 hours later and dock with the space station 400km (250 miles) above the Earth to begin a six-month science mission. (With inputs from agencies)

After ‘medical issue’ with astronaut, NASA delays SpaceX rocket launch to ISS

<p>The plentiful but enigmatic material that does not emit light or energy is&nbsp;called&nbsp;dark matter.</p>

<p>Even though it is invisible, it&nbsp;is considered as a fundamental part of all galaxies including our own Milky Way.</p>

<p>It is thought to comprise about a quarter of the universe’s combined mass and energy and about 80 percent of its total mass but has not been directly observed.&nbsp;</p>

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<p>Scientists believe it exists based on the gravitational effects it seems to exert on galaxies.</p>

<p>The universe’s ordinary matter includes things like gas, stars, black holes and planets, not to mention shoes, umbrellas, platypuses and whatever else you might see on Earth.</p>

<p><strong>Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/what-a-blast-the-rush-of-amateur-astronauts-420637" hreflang="en">What a blast: The rush of amateur astronauts</a></strong></p>

<p>Dark matter may have played a key role in forming the earliest stars, according to researchers who suggest that the mysterious and invisible material may also have been responsible for creating black holes.</p>

<p>As the universe initially was only helium and hydrogen, dark matter was critical in providing the gravitational force to pull these elements together to form stars. Now that there are other objects in the galaxy, dark matter is not needed to form stars.</p>

<p><strong>Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/want-to-become-a-space-tourist-here-is-all-you-need-to-do-399437" hreflang="en">Want to become a space tourist? Here is all you need to do</a></strong></p>

<p>When the light from distant sources like faraway galaxies travels through matter such as another galaxy or a cluster of them, the light is deflected and bends - a phenomenon called ''gravitational lensing.''</p>

<p>The new observations have shown that gravitational lensing effects produced by galaxies residing inside the huge galaxy clusters were far stronger than the current dark matter theory envisioned, suggesting an unexpectedly large concentration of dark matter in these galaxies.</p>

<p>Like dark matter, cosmologists have little idea what dark energy is. They estimate that it accounts for 72 per cent of the universe.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/who-is-winning-space-tourism-race-between-bezos-branson-and-musk-396420" hreflang="en">Who is winning space tourism race between Bezos, Branson and Musk?</a></strong></p>

<p>An explanation for dark energy is that it is a property of space. Albert Einstein was the first person to realise that empty space is not nothing. Space has amazing properties, many of which are just beginning to be understood.&nbsp;</p>

<p>A property that Einstein discovered is that it is possible for more space to come into existence.</p>

<p>As per the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of a very distant supernovae showed that, a long time ago, the universe was actually expanding more slowly than it is today.&nbsp;</p>

<p>So, the expansion of the universe has not been slowing due to gravity, as everyone thought, it has been accelerating.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasas-lucy-spacecraft-facing-technical-problems-solar-panels-get-jammed-424985" hreflang="en">NASA's Lucy spacecraft facing technical problems, solar panels get jammed</a></strong></p>

<p>Most astronomers believe dark energy&nbsp;is a form of material that has an inverse gravity, repelling matter that comes close to it. This, scientists theorise, is driving the expansion of the universe, pushing stars, planets, and galaxies farther and farther apart.</p>

<p>Despite both components being visible, we know a lot more about dark matter since its existence was suggested as early as the 1920s, while dark energy wasn't discovered until 1998.</p>

<p>According to a study conducted by Cambridge University, an experiment to detect dark matter may instead have shown the presence of dark energy.</p>

<p>It conducted an underground, large-scale experiment INFN Laboritori Nazionalli del Gran Sasso in Italy and called it XENON1T.</p>

<p>The team constructed a physical model, which used a screening mechanism known as chamelon screening, to show that dark energy particles produced in the Sun's strong electromagnetic fields could explain the signal seen in the XENON1T.</p>

<p>Similarly, another project called PandaX-xT at China Jinping Underground Laboratory could help directly detect dark energy within the next decade.</p>


The plentiful but enigmatic material that does not emit light or energy is called dark matter. Even though it is invisible, it is considered as a fundamental part of all galaxies including our own Milky Way.

The plentiful but enigmatic material that does not emit light or energy is called dark matter. Even though it is invisible, it is considered as a fundamental part of all galaxies including our own Milky Way. It is thought to comprise about a quarter of the universe’s combined mass and energy and about 80 percent of its total mass but has not been directly observed. Scientists believe it exists based on the gravitational effects it seems to exert on galaxies. The universe’s ordinary matter includes things like gas, stars, black holes and planets, not to mention shoes, umbrellas, platypuses and whatever else you might see on Earth. Also see | What a blast: The rush of amateur astronauts Dark matter may have played a key role in forming the earliest stars, according to researchers who suggest that the mysterious and invisible material may also have been responsible for creating black holes. As the universe initially was only helium and hydrogen, dark matter was critical in providing the gravitational force to pull these elements together to form stars. Now that there are other objects in the galaxy, dark matter is not needed to form stars. Also see | Want to become a space tourist? Here is all you need to do When the light from distant sources like faraway galaxies travels through matter such as another galaxy or a cluster of them, the light is deflected and bends - a phenomenon called ''gravitational lensing.'' The new observations have shown that gravitational lensing effects produced by galaxies residing inside the huge galaxy clusters were far stronger than the current dark matter theory envisioned, suggesting an unexpectedly large concentration of dark matter in these galaxies. Like dark matter, cosmologists have little idea what dark energy is. They estimate that it accounts for 72 per cent of the universe. Also see | Who is winning space tourism race between Bezos, Branson and Musk? An explanation for dark energy is that it is a property of space. Albert Einstein was the first person to realise that empty space is not nothing. Space has amazing properties, many of which are just beginning to be understood. A property that Einstein discovered is that it is possible for more space to come into existence. As per the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of a very distant supernovae showed that, a long time ago, the universe was actually expanding more slowly than it is today. So, the expansion of the universe has not been slowing due to gravity, as everyone thought, it has been accelerating. Also read | NASA's Lucy spacecraft facing technical problems, solar panels get jammed Most astronomers believe dark energy is a form of material that has an inverse gravity, repelling matter that comes close to it. This, scientists theorise, is driving the expansion of the universe, pushing stars, planets, and galaxies farther and farther apart. Despite both components being visible, we know a lot more about dark matter since its existence was suggested as early as the 1920s, while dark energy wasn't discovered until 1998. According to a study conducted by Cambridge University, an experiment to detect dark matter may instead have shown the presence of dark energy. It conducted an underground, large-scale experiment INFN Laboritori Nazionalli del Gran Sasso in Italy and called it XENON1T. The team constructed a physical model, which used a screening mechanism known as chamelon screening, to show that dark energy particles produced in the Sun's strong electromagnetic fields could explain the signal seen in the XENON1T. Similarly, another project called PandaX-xT at China Jinping Underground Laboratory could help directly detect dark energy within the next decade.

Why is mysterious dark energy leading to expansion of the universe?

<p>One of the circular solar panels of NASA's&nbsp;space probe, dubbed&nbsp;Lucy&nbsp;and packed inside a special cargo capsule, has gotten jammed.</p>

<p>The US space agency has said that the panels are being held by a lanyard and are working below 5 to 25 per cent of its total capacity.</p>

<p>According to Harold Levison, the mission’s lead scientist, ''It’s too early to determine longer-range implications to the entire mission.''</p>

<p>''Our team is working this very diligently and carefully to find a workable solution.''</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/mysterious-radio-signals-from-proxima-centauri-came-due-to-interference-on-earth-424845" hreflang="en">Mysterious radio signals from Proxima Centauri came due to interference on earth</a></strong></p>

<p>The first-of-its kind mission aims to study Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, two large clusters of space rocks that scientists believe are remnants of primordial material that formed the solar system's outer planets.</p>

<p>The problem had started after the liftoff of the spacecraft which is 24 feet in diametre. It is essential for both panels to work properly to keep the spacecraft healthy and functioning.</p>

<p>Scientists hope Lucy's close-up fly-by of seven Trojans will yield new clues to how the solar system's planets came to be formed some 4.5 billion years ago and what shaped their present configuration.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/planet-outside-milky-way-galaxy-this-unique-discovery-is-baffling-scientists-424136" hreflang="en">Planet outside Milky Way galaxy: This unique discovery is baffling scientists</a></strong></p>

<p>Believed to be rich in carbon compounds, the asteroids may even provide new insights into the origin of organic materials and life on Earth, NASA said.</p>

<p>No other single science mission has been designed to visit as many different objects independently orbiting the sun in the history of space exploration, it added.</p>

<p>The probe will use rocket thrusters to maneuver in space and two rounded solar arrays, each the width of a school bus, to recharge batteries that will power the instruments contained in the much smaller central body of the spacecraft.<br />
&nbsp;</p>


One of the circular solar panels of NASA's space probe, dubbed Lucy and packed inside a special cargo capsule, has gotten jammed. The US space agency has said that the panels are being held by a lanyard and are working below 5 to 25 per cent of its total capacity.

One of the circular solar panels of NASA's space probe, dubbed Lucy and packed inside a special cargo capsule, has gotten jammed. The US space agency has said that the panels are being held by a lanyard and are working below 5 to 25 per cent of its total capacity. According to Harold Levison, the mission’s lead scientist, ''It’s too early to determine longer-range implications to the entire mission.'' ''Our team is working this very diligently and carefully to find a workable solution.'' Also read | Mysterious radio signals from Proxima Centauri came due to interference on earth The first-of-its kind mission aims to study Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, two large clusters of space rocks that scientists believe are remnants of primordial material that formed the solar system's outer planets. The problem had started after the liftoff of the spacecraft which is 24 feet in diametre. It is essential for both panels to work properly to keep the spacecraft healthy and functioning. Scientists hope Lucy's close-up fly-by of seven Trojans will yield new clues to how the solar system's planets came to be formed some 4.5 billion years ago and what shaped their present configuration. Also read | Planet outside Milky Way galaxy: This unique discovery is baffling scientists Believed to be rich in carbon compounds, the asteroids may even provide new insights into the origin of organic materials and life on Earth, NASA said. No other single science mission has been designed to visit as many different objects independently orbiting the sun in the history of space exploration, it added. The probe will use rocket thrusters to maneuver in space and two rounded solar arrays, each the width of a school bus, to recharge batteries that will power the instruments contained in the much smaller central body of the spacecraft.

NASA's Lucy spacecraft facing technical problems, solar panels get jammed

<p>Do we search for alien life to kill the feeling of loneliness or to search for a new vista of scientific research? The question is complex. Whatever the reason may be, we are keen to see if there's is anyone out there in wide expanse of the space besides us. Till date we have had predictions but not confirmation.</p>

<p>But NASA chief is remarkably open to the possibility of life existing in some corner of space.</p>

<p>Bill Nelson, who was sworn in as administrator of NASA in May was speaking during University of Virginia's Center for Politics.</p>

<p>“My personal opinion is that the universe is so big, and now, there are even theories that there might be other universes. If that’s the case, who am I to say that planet Earth is the only location of a life form that is civilized and organized like ours?” Nelson told Larry Sabato, a professor of politics at UVA. He continued: “Are there other planet Earths out there? I certainly think so, because the universe is so big.”</p>

<p>Nelson is a Congressman and even went to space himself aboard Columbia shuttle in 1986.</p>

<p>Although he was open about possibility of life in space and even termed it as NASA's mission. He was also mindful of the fact that along with searching for intelligent life we should also be alert about damage we are causing to our own planet.</p>

<p>“I’ll tell you what that makes me think. I’d better be a better steward of what we have, because we’re messing it up, and we’re messing it up just the way we’re treating each other,” he said. “So I know what my mission is, to be a better steward of this planet and be a better citizen of planet Earth.”</p>


Do we search for alien life to kill the feeling of loneliness or to search for a new vista of scientific research? The question is complex. Whatever the reason may be, we are keen to see if there's is anyone out there in wide expanse of the space besides us.

Do we search for alien life to kill the feeling of loneliness or to search for a new vista of scientific research? The question is complex. Whatever the reason may be, we are keen to see if there's is anyone out there in wide expanse of the space besides us. Till date we have had predictions but not confirmation. But NASA chief is remarkably open to the possibility of life existing in some corner of space. Bill Nelson, who was sworn in as administrator of NASA in May was speaking during University of Virginia's Center for Politics. “My personal opinion is that the universe is so big, and now, there are even theories that there might be other universes. If that’s the case, who am I to say that planet Earth is the only location of a life form that is civilized and organized like ours?” Nelson told Larry Sabato, a professor of politics at UVA. He continued: “Are there other planet Earths out there? I certainly think so, because the universe is so big.” Nelson is a Congressman and even went to space himself aboard Columbia shuttle in 1986. Although he was open about possibility of life in space and even termed it as NASA's mission. He was also mindful of the fact that along with searching for intelligent life we should also be alert about damage we are causing to our own planet. “I’ll tell you what that makes me think. I’d better be a better steward of what we have, because we’re messing it up, and we’re messing it up just the way we’re treating each other,” he said. “So I know what my mission is, to be a better steward of this planet and be a better citizen of planet Earth.”

Life probably exists elsewhere in universe too, says NASA chief

NASA has discovered the first possible planet outside the Milky Way Galaxy. Located in the 'Whirlpool' Galaxy, the new planet is 28 million light-years away from earth. How was it discovered? Palki Sharma gets you the details.

Gravitas: NASA discovers first planet outside Milky Way Galaxy

<p>A new discovery made by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is baffling astronomers.</p>

<p>Potentially representing what would be the first planet seen to transit a star outside of the Milky Way, scientists have found evidence for a possible planet candidate in the M51 ("Whirlpool") galaxy.</p>

<p>It is located about 28 million light-years away from Earth. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).</p>

<p>The study, led by&nbsp;Rosanne Di Stefano from the&nbsp;Centre&nbsp;for Astrophysics,&nbsp;was published today in Nature Astronomy.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/blue-origin-owner-jeff-bezos-unveils-plan-to-build-commercial-space-station-424048" hreflang="en">Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos unveils plan to build commercial space station</a></strong></p>

<p>''We are trying to open up a whole new arena for finding other worlds by searching for planet candidates at X-ray wavelengths, a strategy that makes it possible to discover them in other galaxies, said&nbsp;Di Stefano.</p>

<p>Astronomers used the transit technique to detect a dimming of X-rays from an "X-ray binary" which they believe is a planet passing in front of the neutron star or black hole.</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-9">Stars burst to life within clouds of interstellar gas and dust scattered throughout galaxies.</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-9">Leftover material spinning around a new star then coalesces into planets, and circumplanetary disks surrounding some planets similarly yield moons.</p>

<p data-testid="paragraph-9"><strong>Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/want-to-become-a-space-tourist-here-is-all-you-need-to-do-399437" hreflang="en">Want to become a space tourist? Here is all you need to do</a></strong></p>

<p>More than 4,400 planets have been discovered outside our solar system, called exoplanets.</p>

<p>Scientists have discovered exoplanets using transits with optical light telescopes, which detect the range of light humans can see with their eyes and more.</p>

<p>This includes both ground-based telescopes and space-based ones like NASA's Kepler mission.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/oxygen-sucking-asteroids-could-have-permanently-altered-earths-atmosphere-422864" hreflang="en">Oxygen sucking asteroids could have permanently altered Earth's atmosphere</a></strong></p>

<p>These optical light transit detections require very high levels of sensitivity because the planet is much smaller than the star it passes in front of, and, therefore, only a tiny fraction of the light is blocked.&nbsp;</p>

<p>NASA expects to pinpoint thousands more previously unknown worlds, perhaps hundreds of them Earth-sized or ''super-Earth''&nbsp;sized which will&nbsp;not be any larger than or twice as big as our home planet.</p>

<p>Scientists are eager to learn more about how they are born as cold gas and dust consolidate in these disks surrounding new stars.</p>

<p>Those are believed the most likely to feature rocky surfaces or oceans and are thus considered the best candidates for life to evolve.<br />
&nbsp;</p>


A new discovery made by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is baffling astronomers. Potentially representing what would be the first planet seen to transit a star outside of the Milky Way, scientists have found evidence for a possible planet candidate in the M51 ("Whirlpool") galaxy.

A new discovery made by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is baffling astronomers. Potentially representing what would be the first planet seen to transit a star outside of the Milky Way, scientists have found evidence for a possible planet candidate in the M51 ("Whirlpool") galaxy. It is located about 28 million light-years away from Earth. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). The study, led by Rosanne Di Stefano from the Centre for Astrophysics, was published today in Nature Astronomy. Also read | Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos unveils plan to build commercial space station ''We are trying to open up a whole new arena for finding other worlds by searching for planet candidates at X-ray wavelengths, a strategy that makes it possible to discover them in other galaxies, said Di Stefano. Astronomers used the transit technique to detect a dimming of X-rays from an "X-ray binary" which they believe is a planet passing in front of the neutron star or black hole. Stars burst to life within clouds of interstellar gas and dust scattered throughout galaxies. Leftover material spinning around a new star then coalesces into planets, and circumplanetary disks surrounding some planets similarly yield moons. Also see | Want to become a space tourist? Here is all you need to do More than 4,400 planets have been discovered outside our solar system, called exoplanets. Scientists have discovered exoplanets using transits with optical light telescopes, which detect the range of light humans can see with their eyes and more. This includes both ground-based telescopes and space-based ones like NASA's Kepler mission. Also read | Oxygen sucking asteroids could have permanently altered Earth's atmosphere These optical light transit detections require very high levels of sensitivity because the planet is much smaller than the star it passes in front of, and, therefore, only a tiny fraction of the light is blocked. NASA expects to pinpoint thousands more previously unknown worlds, perhaps hundreds of them Earth-sized or ''super-Earth'' sized which will not be any larger than or twice as big as our home planet. Scientists are eager to learn more about how they are born as cold gas and dust consolidate in these disks surrounding new stars. Those are believed the most likely to feature rocky surfaces or oceans and are thus considered the best candidates for life to evolve.

Planet outside Milky Way galaxy: This unique discovery is baffling scientists

<p>Nasa has announced plans to launch an uncrewed flight around the Moon in February 2022 as the US space agency. It said that it is in the final phase of testing to send its Orion capsule on an orbit around the Moon on its Space Launch System rocket.</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Our <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAArtemis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASAArtemis</a> I mega-Moon rocket is targeted for liftoff in February 2022.<br />
<br />
Here are the small steps in store before the next giant leap: <a href="https://t.co/pTbcWXdFF7">https://t.co/pTbcWXdFF7</a> <a href="https://t.co/W6GLXufmY5">pic.twitter.com/W6GLXufmY5</a></p>
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<p>NASA said that the Artemis 1 mission will “pave the way for a future flight test with the crew” before “more complex missions with astronauts on and around the Moon”.</p>

<p>“Artemis 1 will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond prior to the first flight with crew on Artemis 2,” it said.</p>

<p>The space agency will be carrying out a series of tests until February. This will include the interface and the communication systems, and a dress rehearsal several weeks before the launch.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasas-lucy-spacecraft-faces-issues-with-solar-panel-422107"><strong>Also read |&nbsp;NASA's Lucy spacecraft faces issues with solar panel</strong></a></p>

<p>It also said that it will set a date for the launch if the dress rehearsal is successful.</p>

<p>This comes in after NASA launched spacecraft Lucy, which lifted off on October 16 to explore distant asteroids has faced issues with one of its solar panels.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Lucy will explore the Trojan asteroids with a suite of remote sensing instruments. Additionally, the navigation cameras will be used to determine the shapes of the Trojan asteroids.</p>

<p>Jupiter`s Trojan Asteroids are small bodies that are remnants of our early solar system, now trapped in stable orbits associated with, but not close to, the giant planet Jupiter.</p>

<p>These primitive bodies hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the solar system.</p>


Nasa has announced plans to launch an uncrewed flight around the Moon in February 2022 as the US space agency. It said that it is in the final phase of testing to send its Orion capsule on an orbit around the Moon on its Space Launch System rocket.

Nasa has announced plans to launch an uncrewed flight around the Moon in February 2022 as the US space agency. It said that it is in the final phase of testing to send its Orion capsule on an orbit around the Moon on its Space Launch System rocket. Our @NASAArtemis I mega-Moon rocket is targeted for liftoff in February 2022. Here are the small steps in store before the next giant leap: https://t.co/pTbcWXdFF7 pic.twitter.com/W6GLXufmY5 — NASA (@NASA) October 23, 2021 × NASA said that the Artemis 1 mission will “pave the way for a future flight test with the crew” before “more complex missions with astronauts on and around the Moon”. “Artemis 1 will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond prior to the first flight with crew on Artemis 2,” it said. The space agency will be carrying out a series of tests until February. This will include the interface and the communication systems, and a dress rehearsal several weeks before the launch. Also read | NASA's Lucy spacecraft faces issues with solar panel It also said that it will set a date for the launch if the dress rehearsal is successful. This comes in after NASA launched spacecraft Lucy, which lifted off on October 16 to explore distant asteroids has faced issues with one of its solar panels. Lucy will explore the Trojan asteroids with a suite of remote sensing instruments. Additionally, the navigation cameras will be used to determine the shapes of the Trojan asteroids. Jupiter`s Trojan Asteroids are small bodies that are remnants of our early solar system, now trapped in stable orbits associated with, but not close to, the giant planet Jupiter. These primitive bodies hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the solar system.

NASA announces plan to launch uncrewed flight around the Moon in February 2022

NASA released its first digital, interactive graphic novel Saturday to commemorate National Comic Book Day. "First Woman: NASA’s Promise for Humanity" envisions the story of Callie Rodriguez, the first woman to explore the Moon.

NASA wants to send a woman on Moon by 2024, Elon Musk sparks new race with his Mars mission

<p>Asteroids may be small as compared to Earth, but their destructive power is huge due to momentum imparted to them by their speed. An asteroid struck Earth millions of years ago and ended the reign of dinosaurs. Such a rogue asteroid will very much be capable of ending human civilisation as we know it. Planetary defence hence is an important aspect of our space studies.</p>

<p>Humankind is taking first steps in this direction. NASA's asteroid deflecting spacecraft has begun final preparations before its lift-off. The spacecraft will lift-off in November this year. SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will take it in space.</p>

<p>The spacecraft is now at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. It was transported there on October 2.</p>

<p>"The spacecraft will go through a series of final tests and checks, as well as fueling, in the next few weeks as the team prepares for DART’s scheduled launch," NASA said.</p>

<p>DART is an acronym for Double Asteroid Redirection Test.</p>

<p>"DART will be the world’s first mission to test planetary defense techniques, demonstrating one mitigation method of asteroid deflection, called kinetic impact. DART will impact the small asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, which orbits a larger companion, Didymos, in a binary asteroid system to change its orbital period. Although neither asteroid poses a threat to Earth, the collision with Dimorphos enables researchers to demonstrate the deflection technique along with several new technologies, and collect important data to enhance our modeling and predictive capabilities for asteroid deflection. Those enhancements will help us better prepare should an asteroid ever be discovered as a threat to Earth," NASA said on its website<br />
&nbsp;</p>


Asteroids may be small as compared to Earth, but their destructive power is huge due to momentum imparted to them by their speed. An asteroid struck Earth millions of years ago and ended the reign of dinosaurs.

Asteroids may be small as compared to Earth, but their destructive power is huge due to momentum imparted to them by their speed. An asteroid struck Earth millions of years ago and ended the reign of dinosaurs. Such a rogue asteroid will very much be capable of ending human civilisation as we know it. Planetary defence hence is an important aspect of our space studies. Humankind is taking first steps in this direction. NASA's asteroid deflecting spacecraft has begun final preparations before its lift-off. The spacecraft will lift-off in November this year. SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will take it in space. The spacecraft is now at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. It was transported there on October 2. "The spacecraft will go through a series of final tests and checks, as well as fueling, in the next few weeks as the team prepares for DART’s scheduled launch," NASA said. DART is an acronym for Double Asteroid Redirection Test. "DART will be the world’s first mission to test planetary defense techniques, demonstrating one mitigation method of asteroid deflection, called kinetic impact. DART will impact the small asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, which orbits a larger companion, Didymos, in a binary asteroid system to change its orbital period. Although neither asteroid poses a threat to Earth, the collision with Dimorphos enables researchers to demonstrate the deflection technique along with several new technologies, and collect important data to enhance our modeling and predictive capabilities for asteroid deflection. Those enhancements will help us better prepare should an asteroid ever be discovered as a threat to Earth," NASA said on its website

Asteroid-deflecting NASA spacecraft begins final preparations

<p>NASA's newly launched spacecraft Lucy, which lifted off on October 16 to explore distant asteroids has faced issues with one of its solar panels.&nbsp;</p>

<p>On Sunday, NASA said that one of Lucy's 24-foot-wide solar panels may not be working well.&nbsp;</p>

<p>While the 12-year asteroid mission is safe and healthy, one of the two solar array is not be fully latched, NASA said in a statement.</p>

<p>"NASA`s #LucyMission is safe &amp; stable. The two solar arrays have deployed, but one may not be fully latched. The team is analysing data to determine next steps," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the agency`s Headquarters in Washington, DC, wrote on Twitter.</p>

<p>NASA said that the team was analysing the problem and will decide on next steps in coming days.</p>

<p>"Lucy spacecraft systems show the spacecraft is operating well and is stable," NASA added in a blogpost.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, it said all other system is working well and both of the solar arrays are producing power and charging the battery .</p>

<p>"All other subsystems are normal. In the current spacecraft attitude, Lucy can continue to operate with no threat to its health and safety. The team is analysing spacecraft data to understand the situation and determine next steps to achieve full deployment of the solar array," the blogpost said.</p>

<p>Lucy`s solar panels are a crucial part of the spacecraft`s ambitious mission to get scientists their first-ever up-close look at asteroids that orbit in the same path as Jupiter, called the Trojans.</p>

<p>Lucy will explore the Trojan asteroids with a suite of remote sensing instruments. Additionally, the navigation cameras will be used to determine the shapes of the Trojan asteroids.</p>

<p>Jupiter`s Trojan Asteroids are small bodies that are remnants of our early solar system, now trapped in stable orbits associated with, but not close to, the giant planet Jupiter.</p>

<p>These primitive bodies hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the solar system.</p>


NASA's newly launched spacecraft Lucy, which lifted off on October 16 to explore distant asteroids has faced issues with one of its solar panels. On Sunday, NASA said that one of Lucy's 24-foot-wide solar panels may not be working well.

NASA's newly launched spacecraft Lucy, which lifted off on October 16 to explore distant asteroids has faced issues with one of its solar panels. On Sunday, NASA said that one of Lucy's 24-foot-wide solar panels may not be working well. While the 12-year asteroid mission is safe and healthy, one of the two solar array is not be fully latched, NASA said in a statement. "NASA`s #LucyMission is safe & stable. The two solar arrays have deployed, but one may not be fully latched. The team is analysing data to determine next steps," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the agency`s Headquarters in Washington, DC, wrote on Twitter. NASA said that the team was analysing the problem and will decide on next steps in coming days. "Lucy spacecraft systems show the spacecraft is operating well and is stable," NASA added in a blogpost. Meanwhile, it said all other system is working well and both of the solar arrays are producing power and charging the battery . "All other subsystems are normal. In the current spacecraft attitude, Lucy can continue to operate with no threat to its health and safety. The team is analysing spacecraft data to understand the situation and determine next steps to achieve full deployment of the solar array," the blogpost said. Lucy`s solar panels are a crucial part of the spacecraft`s ambitious mission to get scientists their first-ever up-close look at asteroids that orbit in the same path as Jupiter, called the Trojans. Lucy will explore the Trojan asteroids with a suite of remote sensing instruments. Additionally, the navigation cameras will be used to determine the shapes of the Trojan asteroids. Jupiter`s Trojan Asteroids are small bodies that are remnants of our early solar system, now trapped in stable orbits associated with, but not close to, the giant planet Jupiter. These primitive bodies hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the solar system.

NASA's Lucy spacecraft faces issues with solar panel

<p>One day, astronomers may spot an asteroid months away from a cataclysmic rendezvous with Earth. Our only chance of survival at such a late stage would be to try to use a nuclear explosive to obliterate it.</p>

<p>But would it work?</p>

<p>Unlike some melodramatic Hollywood blockbusters of the 1990s, real-life scientists are largely unconcerned by any planet-sterilizing behemoths. The orbits of almost every asteroid two-thirds of a mile across or larger have been precisely mapped out. “We know they’re not going to be a threat anytime soon,” said Megan Bruck Syal, a planetary defence researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/eight-massive-asteroids-bigger-than-pyramids-to-approach-earth-in-october-november-420486">Eight massive asteroids, bigger than pyramids, to approach Earth in October-November</a></strong></p>

<p>Instead, their focus is on relatively small asteroids, those about the size of football stadiums, notable for their abundance as well as their ability to evade asteroid-hunting observatories. “Those are the ones that we tend to worry more about because they could come out of nowhere,” Bruck Syal said.</p>

<p>Such a diminutive asteroid may not sound like much of a danger compared to the 6.2-mile colossus that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago with apocalyptic results. But a meteor that exploded over Siberia in 1908 was only about 200 feet across — and the blast’s shock wave levelled 800 square miles of forest. “That’s the size of the whole Washington D.C. Metro area,” said Bruck Syal.</p>

<p>Using high-fidelity simulations, scientists reported in a study published this month that a stealthy asteroid as long as 330 feet could be annihilated by a 1-megaton nuclear device, with 99.9% of its mass being blasted out of Earth’s way, if the asteroid is attacked at least two months before impact.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/why-nasa-is-launching-a-robotic-archaeologist-named-lucy-421079">Why NASA is launching a robotic archaeologist named Lucy</a></strong></p>

<p>Ideally, asteroids targeting our blue marble would be identified decades ahead of time. If so, the hope is that an uncrewed spacecraft could slam into them with sufficient momentum to nudge them out of Earth’s way. This strategy, known as deflection, is getting its first test next year with NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) space mission.</p>

<p>But an asteroid even several years away from Earth may not be suitable for deflection. At that stage, it may be too late to sufficiently alter its trajectory with a nudge. And if any deflection attempt proves overzealous, the asteroid may break up into smaller but still portly pieces that could hit Earth in multiple spots.</p>

<p>Using a nuclear blast to obliterate an interplanetary interloper “will always be the last resort,” said Patrick Michel, an asteroid expert at the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur who was not involved in the study. But if we are short on time, it may be our only hope.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;​​​​​​​<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/lucy-in-the-sky-nasa-space-mission-lifts-off-will-study-jupiters-trojan-asteroids-421268">'Lucy in the sky': NASA space mission lifts off, will study Jupiter's Trojan asteroids</a></strong></p>

<p>A team led by Patrick King, a physicist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, ran 3D simulations to see whether a nuke could provide planetary salvation. Like a wannabe Marco Inaros, a villain from the science fiction series “The Expanse” who schemed to bombard Earth from space, he hurled virtual 330-foot asteroids at our planet along five different orbital paths.</p>

<p>Powerful 1-megaton nuclear devices were sent to greet them.</p>

<p>The simulations showed that when the detonation took place two months or more ahead of the projected impact date, it was sufficient to ensure that almost every asteroid fragment that survived the blast missed Earth. Any fragments that did reach Earth would probably be small enough to burn up in the atmosphere, said Bruck Syal, a study co-author.</p>

<p>This strategy isn’t foolproof. “If you miscalculate the energy you need to destroy it, you may make a lot of fragments,” Michel said — and some may be sizable enough to impact Earth with considerable violence.</p>

<p>Nobody wants to wait until the last moment to see if a nuclear Hail Mary saves the world. But one day humanity may have no choice: NASA estimates that there are 17,000 near-Earth asteroids 460 feet or larger that are yet to be found.</p>

<p>To reduce the odds of an asteroid ambush, scientists are being proactive. A future NASA space telescope aims to spot two-thirds of those miniature menaces. Its hopeful success will come as a relief to planetary defence officers who, perhaps more than anyone else, don’t wanna miss a thing.</p>


One day, astronomers may spot an asteroid months away from a cataclysmic rendezvous with Earth. Our only chance of survival at such a late stage would be to try to use a nuclear explosive to obliterate it.

One day, astronomers may spot an asteroid months away from a cataclysmic rendezvous with Earth. Our only chance of survival at such a late stage would be to try to use a nuclear explosive to obliterate it. But would it work? Unlike some melodramatic Hollywood blockbusters of the 1990s, real-life scientists are largely unconcerned by any planet-sterilizing behemoths. The orbits of almost every asteroid two-thirds of a mile across or larger have been precisely mapped out. “We know they’re not going to be a threat anytime soon,” said Megan Bruck Syal, a planetary defence researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Also read | Eight massive asteroids, bigger than pyramids, to approach Earth in October-November Instead, their focus is on relatively small asteroids, those about the size of football stadiums, notable for their abundance as well as their ability to evade asteroid-hunting observatories. “Those are the ones that we tend to worry more about because they could come out of nowhere,” Bruck Syal said. Such a diminutive asteroid may not sound like much of a danger compared to the 6.2-mile colossus that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago with apocalyptic results. But a meteor that exploded over Siberia in 1908 was only about 200 feet across — and the blast’s shock wave levelled 800 square miles of forest. “That’s the size of the whole Washington D.C. Metro area,” said Bruck Syal. Using high-fidelity simulations, scientists reported in a study published this month that a stealthy asteroid as long as 330 feet could be annihilated by a 1-megaton nuclear device, with 99.9% of its mass being blasted out of Earth’s way, if the asteroid is attacked at least two months before impact. Also read | Why NASA is launching a robotic archaeologist named Lucy Ideally, asteroids targeting our blue marble would be identified decades ahead of time. If so, the hope is that an uncrewed spacecraft could slam into them with sufficient momentum to nudge them out of Earth’s way. This strategy, known as deflection, is getting its first test next year with NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) space mission. But an asteroid even several years away from Earth may not be suitable for deflection. At that stage, it may be too late to sufficiently alter its trajectory with a nudge. And if any deflection attempt proves overzealous, the asteroid may break up into smaller but still portly pieces that could hit Earth in multiple spots. Using a nuclear blast to obliterate an interplanetary interloper “will always be the last resort,” said Patrick Michel, an asteroid expert at the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur who was not involved in the study. But if we are short on time, it may be our only hope. Also read | 'Lucy in the sky': NASA space mission lifts off, will study Jupiter's Trojan asteroids A team led by Patrick King, a physicist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, ran 3D simulations to see whether a nuke could provide planetary salvation. Like a wannabe Marco Inaros, a villain from the science fiction series “The Expanse” who schemed to bombard Earth from space, he hurled virtual 330-foot asteroids at our planet along five different orbital paths. Powerful 1-megaton nuclear devices were sent to greet them. The simulations showed that when the detonation took place two months or more ahead of the projected impact date, it was sufficient to ensure that almost every asteroid fragment that survived the blast missed Earth. Any fragments that did reach Earth would probably be small enough to burn up in the atmosphere, said Bruck Syal, a study co-author. This strategy isn’t foolproof. “If you miscalculate the energy you need to destroy it, you may make a lot of fragments,” Michel said — and some may be sizable enough to impact Earth with considerable violence. Nobody wants to wait until the last moment to see if a nuclear Hail Mary saves the world. But one day humanity may have no choice: NASA estimates that there are 17,000 near-Earth asteroids 460 feet or larger that are yet to be found. To reduce the odds of an asteroid ambush, scientists are being proactive. A future NASA space telescope aims to spot two-thirds of those miniature menaces. Its hopeful success will come as a relief to planetary defence officers who, perhaps more than anyone else, don’t wanna miss a thing.

How a nuclear bomb could save Earth from a stealthy asteroid

The first woman and the next man to walk on the moon's surface could happen in the next two years, that is if the NASA-led artemis program, a new generation of lunar exploration missions succeeds to fly its Orion spacecraft near the moon in their first un-crewed test. This next report explains.

First woman and the next man to walk on the moon's surface in the next two years

<p>NASA launched a first-of-its kind mission on Saturday to study Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, two large clusters of space rocks that scientists believe are remnants of primordial material that formed the solar system's outer planets.</p>

<p>The space probe, dubbed Lucy and packed inside a special cargo capsule, lifted off on schedule from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 5:34 a.m. EDT (0934 GMT), NASA said. It was carried aloft by an Atlas V rocket from United Launch Alliance (UAL), a joint venture of Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp.</p>

<p>Lucy's mission is a 12-year expedition to study a record number of asteroids. It will be the first to explore the Trojans, thousands of rocky objects orbiting the sun in two swarms - one ahead of the path of giant gas planet Jupiter and one behind it.</p>

<p>The largest known Trojan asteroids, named for the warriors of Greek mythology, are believed to measure as much as 225 kilometers (140 miles) in diameter.</p>

<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/this-star-spins-around-itself-once-every-25-seconds-421138">This star spins around itself once every 25 seconds</a></strong></p>

<p>Scientists hope Lucy's close-up fly-by of seven Trojans will yield new clues to how the solar system's planets came to be formed some 4.5 billion years ago and what shaped their present configuration.</p>

<p>Believed to be rich in carbon compounds, the asteroids may even provide new insights into the origin of organic materials and life on Earth, NASA said.</p>

<p>"The Trojan asteroids are leftovers from the early days of our solar system, effectively the fossils of planet formation," principal mission investigator Harold Levison of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, was quoted by NASA as saying.</p>

<p>No other single science mission has been designed to visit as many different objects independently orbiting the sun in the history of space exploration, NASA said.\</p>

<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/first-exoplanet-to-survive-death-of-its-star-provides-hint-of-solar-systems-future-420589">First exoplanet to survive death of its star provides hint of solar system's future</a></strong></p>

<p>As well as the Trojans, Lucy will do a fly-by of an asteroid in the solar system's main asteroid belt, called DonaldJohanson in honor of the lead discoverer of the fossilized human ancestor known as Lucy, from which the NASA mission takes its name. The Lucy fossil, unearthed in Ethiopia in 1974, was in turn named for the Beatles hit "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."</p>

<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/astronauts-photo-from-space-reveals-a-strange-blue-glow-on-earth-420466">Astronaut's photo from space reveals a strange blue glow on Earth</a></strong></p>

<p>Lucy the asteroid probe will make spaceflight history in another way. Following a route that circles back to Earth three times for gravitational assists, it will be the first spacecraft ever to return to Earth's vicinity from the outer solar system, according to NASA.</p>

<p>The probe will use rocket thrusters to maneuver in space and two rounded solar arrays, each the width of a school bus, to recharge batteries that will power the instruments contained in the much smaller central body of the spacecraft.</p>

<p>(With inputs from agencies)</p>


NASA launched a first-of-its kind mission on Saturday to study Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, two large clusters of space rocks that scientists believe are remnants of primordial material that formed the solar system's outer planets.

NASA launched a first-of-its kind mission on Saturday to study Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, two large clusters of space rocks that scientists believe are remnants of primordial material that formed the solar system's outer planets. The space probe, dubbed Lucy and packed inside a special cargo capsule, lifted off on schedule from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 5:34 a.m. EDT (0934 GMT), NASA said. It was carried aloft by an Atlas V rocket from United Launch Alliance (UAL), a joint venture of Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp. Lucy's mission is a 12-year expedition to study a record number of asteroids. It will be the first to explore the Trojans, thousands of rocky objects orbiting the sun in two swarms - one ahead of the path of giant gas planet Jupiter and one behind it. The largest known Trojan asteroids, named for the warriors of Greek mythology, are believed to measure as much as 225 kilometers (140 miles) in diameter. Also Read | This star spins around itself once every 25 seconds Scientists hope Lucy's close-up fly-by of seven Trojans will yield new clues to how the solar system's planets came to be formed some 4.5 billion years ago and what shaped their present configuration. Believed to be rich in carbon compounds, the asteroids may even provide new insights into the origin of organic materials and life on Earth, NASA said. "The Trojan asteroids are leftovers from the early days of our solar system, effectively the fossils of planet formation," principal mission investigator Harold Levison of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, was quoted by NASA as saying. No other single science mission has been designed to visit as many different objects independently orbiting the sun in the history of space exploration, NASA said.\ Also Read | First exoplanet to survive death of its star provides hint of solar system's future As well as the Trojans, Lucy will do a fly-by of an asteroid in the solar system's main asteroid belt, called DonaldJohanson in honor of the lead discoverer of the fossilized human ancestor known as Lucy, from which the NASA mission takes its name. The Lucy fossil, unearthed in Ethiopia in 1974, was in turn named for the Beatles hit "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." Also Read | Astronaut's photo from space reveals a strange blue glow on Earth Lucy the asteroid probe will make spaceflight history in another way. Following a route that circles back to Earth three times for gravitational assists, it will be the first spacecraft ever to return to Earth's vicinity from the outer solar system, according to NASA. The probe will use rocket thrusters to maneuver in space and two rounded solar arrays, each the width of a school bus, to recharge batteries that will power the instruments contained in the much smaller central body of the spacecraft. (With inputs from agencies)

'Lucy in the sky': NASA space mission lifts off, will study Jupiter's Trojan asteroids

<p>Giving a virtual tour to its viewers, NASA shared a stunning video of the Andromeda galaxy. The Andromeda Galaxy is the largest galaxy in the “Local Group”, which happens to be a collection of galaxies that our Milky Way also belongs to.</p>

<p>This Hubble view of a portion of Andromeda reveals millions of stars. A rich mix of old red stars and young blue stars can be seen shining in the video. Since being shared, the video has garnered over 100,000 views. "Hey, neighbor!," NASA wrote in the caption.&nbsp;</p>

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<p>Back in 2020, when NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope mapped the immense envelope of gas, called a halo, surrounding the Andromeda galaxy, they were surprised to find that this nearly invisible halo of diffuse plasma extends 1.3 million light-years from the galaxy.&nbsp;</p>

<p><a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasas-lucy-mission-to-begin-voyage-to-trojan-asteroids-420877"><strong>Also read |&nbsp;NASA's Lucy mission to begin voyage to Trojan asteroids</strong></a></p>

<p>The Andromeda galaxy, also known as M31, is a majestic spiral of as many as 1 trillion stars and comparable in size to our Milky Way.&nbsp;</p>

<p>At a distance of 2.5 million light-years, it appears as a cigar-shaped smudge of light high in the autumn sky.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Scientists have studied gaseous halos of more distant galaxies, but those galaxies are much smaller in the sky. With its close proximity to Earth, the gaseous halo of Andromeda looms large in the sky. This allowed a far more extensive sampling.</p>


Giving a virtual tour to its viewers, NASA shared a stunning video of the Andromeda galaxy. The Andromeda Galaxy is the largest galaxy in the “Local Group”, which happens to be a collection of galaxies that our Milky Way also belongs to.

Giving a virtual tour to its viewers, NASA shared a stunning video of the Andromeda galaxy. The Andromeda Galaxy is the largest galaxy in the “Local Group”, which happens to be a collection of galaxies that our Milky Way also belongs to. This Hubble view of a portion of Andromeda reveals millions of stars. A rich mix of old red stars and young blue stars can be seen shining in the video. Since being shared, the video has garnered over 100,000 views. "Hey, neighbor!," NASA wrote in the caption. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hubble Space Telescope (@nasahubble) × Back in 2020, when NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope mapped the immense envelope of gas, called a halo, surrounding the Andromeda galaxy, they were surprised to find that this nearly invisible halo of diffuse plasma extends 1.3 million light-years from the galaxy. Also read | NASA's Lucy mission to begin voyage to Trojan asteroids The Andromeda galaxy, also known as M31, is a majestic spiral of as many as 1 trillion stars and comparable in size to our Milky Way. At a distance of 2.5 million light-years, it appears as a cigar-shaped smudge of light high in the autumn sky. Scientists have studied gaseous halos of more distant galaxies, but those galaxies are much smaller in the sky. With its close proximity to Earth, the gaseous halo of Andromeda looms large in the sky. This allowed a far more extensive sampling.

Tour of the neighbouring galaxy: NASA shares stunning video of the Andromeda

<p>NASA is scheduled on Saturday to launch a probe toward clusters of asteroids along Jupiter’s orbital path. They are known as the Trojan swarms, and they represent the final unexplored regions of asteroids in the solar system. The spacecraft, a deep-space robotic archaeologist named Lucy, will seek to answer pressing questions about the origins of the solar system, how the planets migrated to their current orbits and how life might have emerged on Earth.</p>

<p>“We have never gone this far to study asteroids,” said Bill Nelson, the administrator of NASA. “In so doing, we’re going to be able to better understand the formation of the solar system, and better understand ourselves and our development.”</p>

<p>After a six-year cruise, Lucy will fly close to seven Trojan asteroids through 2033, completing wild circuits of the sun that conjure the outline of a Formula 1 racetrack in some graphic renderings.</p>

<p>The spacecraft will study the geology, composition, density and structure of the Trojans, which are small bodies locked in stable points along Jupiter’s orbit of the sun, fixed in their own orbits ahead or behind the massive planet.</p>

<p>“It’s always interesting to go somewhere for the first time,” said Cathy Olkin, the deputy principal investigator of the Lucy mission. “Every time we’ve done that, we’ve learned more and more about our solar system and the area in space that we live in.”</p>

<p>Humanity has explored a variety of small rocky bodies throughout the solar system. The NEAR mission landed on Eros in the inner asteroid belt. The Dawn mission orbited Ceres and Vesta, the two largest worlds in the belt between Mars and Jupiter. Japan’s Hayabusa missions and NASA’s OSIRIS-REX completed close encounters with near earth asteroids. And the New Horizons mission visited Arrokoth, an object in the solar system’s distant Kuiper belt.</p>

<p>But the Trojans in Jupiter’s vicinity have yet to be investigated. About 10,000 such objects have been discovered. When the first was spotted more than a century ago, astronomers began naming them after heroes of Homer’s Iliad. The result was the overall descriptor of “Trojan.”</p>

<p>The mission name “Lucy” is a nod to the 3.2 million-year-old australopithecine skeleton discovered in 1974, which revealed secrets of human evolution. The NASA team hopes that the robotic Lucy does the same for the solar system’s evolution, and prehistory is a recurring theme among the mission’s scientists.</p>

<p>Tom Statler, the Lucy program scientist at NASA, describes Lucy as “planetary archaeology” and compares it to the study of the pyramids in Egypt.</p>

<p>“If you want to understand how the pyramids were built, you can go and look at the outsides of them, you can climb all over them,” Statler said. Doing that, however, will answer very little about how they were actually built.</p>

<p>“If you can find and excavate the abandoned construction site that’s next to the pyramids, however, and you find the tools used to build them, and you find the leftover blocks — the things that got broken and shaped but didn’t get used — then you start getting insight into a pyramid’s interior and how it got there,” he said.</p>

<p>“That’s what we’re doing with asteroids,” he said. “We’re excavating the leftovers from the construction site.”</p>

<p>The mission was born of necessity.</p>

<p>Thirty years ago, the concept of planetary formation was much more orderly than it is today. A star formed in the center of a rotating disc of protoplanetary material. Gradually, the material condensed and collected into eight planets in simple orbits (as well as Pluto).</p>

<p>However, when Hal Levison, a planetary scientist, and fellow theorists tried to simulate the formation of the solar system, they repeatedly ran into a problem: It was virtually impossible to build Uranus and Neptune in their present orbits. To account for those worlds, known as the ice giants, Levison, now the principal investigator of the Lucy mission, and three other researchers developed the Nice model of solar system evolution (named for the city in France).</p>

<p>The model suggests that the giant planets formed much closer to the sun than their current orbits, and that the increasingly eccentric orbits of a young Jupiter and Saturn destabilized and rearranged the solar system. In the process, as the giant planets moved, and Uranus and Neptune bounded outward, they scattered the small bodies of the solar system. Some comets and asteroids were flung to the deep outer solar system, and others were ejected entirely out into the Milky Way.</p>

<p>A small minority of scattered asteroids were ensnared in two of Jupiter’s permanent Lagrange points, which are regions of space where the gravitational and orbital influences of the planet and the sun are balanced. The regions both lead and follow Jupiter in its orbit. Those asteroids are the Trojan swarms.</p>

<p>Today, the Nice model offers the predominant understanding of how a disc of dust and gas about 4.6 billion years ago became a system of planets circling a sun. Moreover, telescope observations of exoplanets prompted a broader scientific reevaluation of how star systems, including our own, can form. Some distant stars are orbited by giant planets that are closer to them than Mercury is to our sun.</p>

<p>Levison came to believe that the planetary science community’s ideas about planetary formation outpaced the data it had available. The best way to constrain variables in the Nice model would be to account for the origins of the Trojans.</p>

<p>“One of the surprising things about the Trojan population is that they are physically very different from one another but occupy a really small region of space,” he said. “That diversity in that small region is telling us something important about the early evolution of the solar system.”</p>

<p>To understand the secrets locked in the Trojans’ orbits, Levison needed to persuade NASA to build a spacecraft to study them and determine what formed where. Lucy is the result. It was chosen for flight in 2014 through NASA’s Discovery Program, in which scientists compete over smaller mission proposals.</p>

<p>Studying camera imagery will be an important part of the Lucy team’s scientific efforts. By counting the number of craters spotted on each asteroid, an object’s surface age is revealed. (Older surfaces will have been hit by more impactors and thus show more craters.) The scientists will also analyze the returned images for the distribution of color across the asteroids’ surfaces, which can be an indicator of what the rocks are made of: Thermal measurements will help identify the compositions and structures of the asteroids. They will also use infrared spectra to measure the presence of minerals, ices and organic molecules.</p>

<p>NASA is interested in finding primordial organic material on asteroids because billions of years ago, they may have seeded Earth with the chemical ingredients necessary for life.</p>

<p>Despite the Trojans sharing an orbit with Jupiter, Lucy will not visit Jupiter. Before the spacecraft even launches from Earth, it will be closer to Jupiter than when it visits the Trojans.</p>

<p>During its 12-year mission it will be powered by two giant solar arrays that are stowed at launch and gradually expand outward like folding fans. Lucy’s roller coaster-like trajectory will carry it farther than any solar-powered spacecraft has ever flown. And it will be moving at about 6 miles per second at its fastest clip.</p>

<p>“Its speed will be like running a 10K every second,” Olkin said.</p>

<p>The spacecraft will be in a sophisticated orbit of loop-the-loops across the solar system, circling the sun, borrowing gravity from Earth for free propulsion to Jupiter’s orbital path at a point known as Lagrange 4. Gravity will take it back around the sun to the Earth, whose gravity will again hurl it outward, this time to Lagrange 5, and back, the process repeating. The trajectory is driven by the positions of planets and gravity assists, meaning the spacecraft, if nothing stops it, will continue to do this for hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of years.</p>

<p>Each encounter will be at an altitude of 600 miles or less from the Trojan’s surface. After the final flyby, depending on Lucy’s health, NASA can target future asteroids and other celestial objects for analyses.</p>

<p>“As we are flying past a Trojan asteroid, we are taking data,” Olkin said.</p>


NASA is scheduled on Saturday to launch a probe toward clusters of asteroids along Jupiter’s orbital path. They are known as the Trojan swarms, and they represent the final unexplored regions of asteroids in the solar system.

NASA is scheduled on Saturday to launch a probe toward clusters of asteroids along Jupiter’s orbital path. They are known as the Trojan swarms, and they represent the final unexplored regions of asteroids in the solar system. The spacecraft, a deep-space robotic archaeologist named Lucy, will seek to answer pressing questions about the origins of the solar system, how the planets migrated to their current orbits and how life might have emerged on Earth. “We have never gone this far to study asteroids,” said Bill Nelson, the administrator of NASA. “In so doing, we’re going to be able to better understand the formation of the solar system, and better understand ourselves and our development.” After a six-year cruise, Lucy will fly close to seven Trojan asteroids through 2033, completing wild circuits of the sun that conjure the outline of a Formula 1 racetrack in some graphic renderings. The spacecraft will study the geology, composition, density and structure of the Trojans, which are small bodies locked in stable points along Jupiter’s orbit of the sun, fixed in their own orbits ahead or behind the massive planet. “It’s always interesting to go somewhere for the first time,” said Cathy Olkin, the deputy principal investigator of the Lucy mission. “Every time we’ve done that, we’ve learned more and more about our solar system and the area in space that we live in.” Humanity has explored a variety of small rocky bodies throughout the solar system. The NEAR mission landed on Eros in the inner asteroid belt. The Dawn mission orbited Ceres and Vesta, the two largest worlds in the belt between Mars and Jupiter. Japan’s Hayabusa missions and NASA’s OSIRIS-REX completed close encounters with near earth asteroids. And the New Horizons mission visited Arrokoth, an object in the solar system’s distant Kuiper belt. But the Trojans in Jupiter’s vicinity have yet to be investigated. About 10,000 such objects have been discovered. When the first was spotted more than a century ago, astronomers began naming them after heroes of Homer’s Iliad. The result was the overall descriptor of “Trojan.” The mission name “Lucy” is a nod to the 3.2 million-year-old australopithecine skeleton discovered in 1974, which revealed secrets of human evolution. The NASA team hopes that the robotic Lucy does the same for the solar system’s evolution, and prehistory is a recurring theme among the mission’s scientists. Tom Statler, the Lucy program scientist at NASA, describes Lucy as “planetary archaeology” and compares it to the study of the pyramids in Egypt. “If you want to understand how the pyramids were built, you can go and look at the outsides of them, you can climb all over them,” Statler said. Doing that, however, will answer very little about how they were actually built. “If you can find and excavate the abandoned construction site that’s next to the pyramids, however, and you find the tools used to build them, and you find the leftover blocks — the things that got broken and shaped but didn’t get used — then you start getting insight into a pyramid’s interior and how it got there,” he said. “That’s what we’re doing with asteroids,” he said. “We’re excavating the leftovers from the construction site.” The mission was born of necessity. Thirty years ago, the concept of planetary formation was much more orderly than it is today. A star formed in the center of a rotating disc of protoplanetary material. Gradually, the material condensed and collected into eight planets in simple orbits (as well as Pluto). However, when Hal Levison, a planetary scientist, and fellow theorists tried to simulate the formation of the solar system, they repeatedly ran into a problem: It was virtually impossible to build Uranus and Neptune in their present orbits. To account for those worlds, known as the ice giants, Levison, now the principal investigator of the Lucy mission, and three other researchers developed the Nice model of solar system evolution (named for the city in France). The model suggests that the giant planets formed much closer to the sun than their current orbits, and that the increasingly eccentric orbits of a young Jupiter and Saturn destabilized and rearranged the solar system. In the process, as the giant planets moved, and Uranus and Neptune bounded outward, they scattered the small bodies of the solar system. Some comets and asteroids were flung to the deep outer solar system, and others were ejected entirely out into the Milky Way. A small minority of scattered asteroids were ensnared in two of Jupiter’s permanent Lagrange points, which are regions of space where the gravitational and orbital influences of the planet and the sun are balanced. The regions both lead and follow Jupiter in its orbit. Those asteroids are the Trojan swarms. Today, the Nice model offers the predominant understanding of how a disc of dust and gas about 4.6 billion years ago became a system of planets circling a sun. Moreover, telescope observations of exoplanets prompted a broader scientific reevaluation of how star systems, including our own, can form. Some distant stars are orbited by giant planets that are closer to them than Mercury is to our sun. Levison came to believe that the planetary science community’s ideas about planetary formation outpaced the data it had available. The best way to constrain variables in the Nice model would be to account for the origins of the Trojans. “One of the surprising things about the Trojan population is that they are physically very different from one another but occupy a really small region of space,” he said. “That diversity in that small region is telling us something important about the early evolution of the solar system.” To understand the secrets locked in the Trojans’ orbits, Levison needed to persuade NASA to build a spacecraft to study them and determine what formed where. Lucy is the result. It was chosen for flight in 2014 through NASA’s Discovery Program, in which scientists compete over smaller mission proposals. Studying camera imagery will be an important part of the Lucy team’s scientific efforts. By counting the number of craters spotted on each asteroid, an object’s surface age is revealed. (Older surfaces will have been hit by more impactors and thus show more craters.) The scientists will also analyze the returned images for the distribution of color across the asteroids’ surfaces, which can be an indicator of what the rocks are made of: Thermal measurements will help identify the compositions and structures of the asteroids. They will also use infrared spectra to measure the presence of minerals, ices and organic molecules. NASA is interested in finding primordial organic material on asteroids because billions of years ago, they may have seeded Earth with the chemical ingredients necessary for life. Despite the Trojans sharing an orbit with Jupiter, Lucy will not visit Jupiter. Before the spacecraft even launches from Earth, it will be closer to Jupiter than when it visits the Trojans. During its 12-year mission it will be powered by two giant solar arrays that are stowed at launch and gradually expand outward like folding fans. Lucy’s roller coaster-like trajectory will carry it farther than any solar-powered spacecraft has ever flown. And it will be moving at about 6 miles per second at its fastest clip. “Its speed will be like running a 10K every second,” Olkin said. The spacecraft will be in a sophisticated orbit of loop-the-loops across the solar system, circling the sun, borrowing gravity from Earth for free propulsion to Jupiter’s orbital path at a point known as Lagrange 4. Gravity will take it back around the sun to the Earth, whose gravity will again hurl it outward, this time to Lagrange 5, and back, the process repeating. The trajectory is driven by the positions of planets and gravity assists, meaning the spacecraft, if nothing stops it, will continue to do this for hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of years. Each encounter will be at an altitude of 600 miles or less from the Trojan’s surface. After the final flyby, depending on Lucy’s health, NASA can target future asteroids and other celestial objects for analyses. “As we are flying past a Trojan asteroid, we are taking data,” Olkin said.

Why NASA is launching a robotic archaeologist named Lucy

<p>Lucy, NASA's first mission to the Trojan asteroids, is all set to explore the solar system and discover its secrets.</p>

<p>Astronomers believe that these primitive bodies are remnants of the material that formed the outer planets.</p>

<p>Trojan asteroids can be divided into two groups. The first ahead of Jupiter and the other behind it.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/first-exoplanet-to-survive-death-of-its-star-provides-hint-of-solar-systems-future-420589" hreflang="en">First exoplanet to survive death of its star provides hint of solar system's future</a></strong></p>

<p>In a gravitational balance act, they get their stability from the sun and Jupiter.</p>

<p>The name of the mission was derived from a human ancestor's fossils. The skeleton provides rare insight into the evolution of human beings.</p>

<p><strong>Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/mystery-of-two-identical-galaxies-solved-420507" hreflang="en">Mystery of two 'identical galaxies' solved</a></strong></p>

<p>Lucy will cover eight asteroids in a span of 12 years. Four out of these asteroids are a part of 'two-for-the-price-of-one' binary systems.</p>

<p>NASA will launch a spacecraft impactor Dart that will visit enticing space rocks closer to home.</p>

<p>The test, that could save Earth from an incoming asteroid, will end with Dart ramming the main asteroid's moonlet to change its orbit.</p>


Lucy, NASA's first mission to the Trojan asteroids, is all set to explore the solar system and discover its secrets. Astronomers believe that these primitive bodies are remnants of the material that formed the outer planets.

Lucy, NASA's first mission to the Trojan asteroids, is all set to explore the solar system and discover its secrets. Astronomers believe that these primitive bodies are remnants of the material that formed the outer planets. Trojan asteroids can be divided into two groups. The first ahead of Jupiter and the other behind it. Also read | First exoplanet to survive death of its star provides hint of solar system's future In a gravitational balance act, they get their stability from the sun and Jupiter. The name of the mission was derived from a human ancestor's fossils. The skeleton provides rare insight into the evolution of human beings. Also read | Mystery of two 'identical galaxies' solved Lucy will cover eight asteroids in a span of 12 years. Four out of these asteroids are a part of 'two-for-the-price-of-one' binary systems. NASA will launch a spacecraft impactor Dart that will visit enticing space rocks closer to home. The test, that could save Earth from an incoming asteroid, will end with Dart ramming the main asteroid's moonlet to change its orbit.

NASA's Lucy mission to begin voyage to Trojan asteroids

<p>The first installment of US Vice President Kamala Harris’ YouTube Originals space series has gone viral. It has been widely mocked on several platforms by many netizens too.&nbsp;</p>

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<p>Five child actors have been featured in the video. These teenagers had also given audition for their roles in the project. These include Trevor Bernardino, Derrick Brooks II, Emily Kim, Zhoriel Tapo and Sydney Schmooke. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Last week, YouTube Originals had announced ‘Get Curious with Vice President Harris’ series. The project, which was produced by Sinking Ship Entertainment, aims to get more children interested in space. &nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/197-billion-years-old-moon-rocks-set-new-record-for-youngest-lunar-material-419893" hreflang="en">1.97 billion years old Moon rocks set new record for youngest lunar material</a></strong></p>

<p>Sinking Ship Entertainment is an Emmy award-winning media company based in Toronto. The series was filmed in August and released during World Space Week. &nbsp;</p>

<p>In the video, a group of children meet Harris at her residence, the Naval Observatory. The leader introduces herself as the chairwoman of the National Space Council. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/astronomers-unearth-secret-of-no-star-formation-in-some-early-galaxies-419676" hreflang="en">Astronomers unearth secret of no star formation in some early galaxies</a></strong></p>

<p>Before meeting the vice president, children are greeted by NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough from the International Space Station through virtual link. Kimbrough leads kids on a scavenger hunt to find the tools to build a telescope.</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Only actors could act like <a href="https://twitter.com/VP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VP</a> is interesting or entertaining... <a href="https://t.co/nX0LDQB3Rc">https://t.co/nX0LDQB3Rc</a></p>
— Tas Salad (@salad_tas) <a href="https://twitter.com/salad_tas/status/1447782995314679812?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 12, 2021</a></blockquote>
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<p>By Monday, the video had garnered some 114,000 views on YouTube, and 1,900 likes and 2,800 dislikes, as shared online by the vice president’s supporters. A trailer for the show also drew 48 likes and 136 dislikes. On both the videos, comments have been disabled. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;</em></p>


The first installment of US Vice President Kamala Harris’ YouTube Originals space series has gone viral. It has been widely mocked on several platforms by many netizens too.

The first installment of US Vice President Kamala Harris’ YouTube Originals space series has gone viral. It has been widely mocked on several platforms by many netizens too. × Five child actors have been featured in the video. These teenagers had also given audition for their roles in the project. These include Trevor Bernardino, Derrick Brooks II, Emily Kim, Zhoriel Tapo and Sydney Schmooke. Last week, YouTube Originals had announced ‘Get Curious with Vice President Harris’ series. The project, which was produced by Sinking Ship Entertainment, aims to get more children interested in space. Also Read: 1.97 billion years old Moon rocks set new record for youngest lunar material Sinking Ship Entertainment is an Emmy award-winning media company based in Toronto. The series was filmed in August and released during World Space Week. In the video, a group of children meet Harris at her residence, the Naval Observatory. The leader introduces herself as the chairwoman of the National Space Council. Also Read: Astronomers unearth secret of no star formation in some early galaxies Before meeting the vice president, children are greeted by NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough from the International Space Station through virtual link. Kimbrough leads kids on a scavenger hunt to find the tools to build a telescope. Only actors could act like @VP is interesting or entertaining... https://t.co/nX0LDQB3Rc — Tas Salad (@salad_tas) October 12, 2021 × By Monday, the video had garnered some 114,000 views on YouTube, and 1,900 likes and 2,800 dislikes, as shared online by the vice president’s supporters. A trailer for the show also drew 48 likes and 136 dislikes. On both the videos, comments have been disabled. (With inputs from agencies)

Watch: US Vice President Harris' NASA video with child actors gets mocked, goes viral

Images sent back by NASA's Perseverance rover have unveiled the existence of a 3.7-billion-year-old ancient river delta that will now guide scientists in their search for evidence of ancient life.

Images taken by NASA's Perseverance Rover reveal Jezero Crater's watery past

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