James Webb News – New chemical secrets of distant world revealed
James Webb space telescope uncovers chemical secrets of distant world – paving the way for studying Earth-like planets Since the first planet orbiting a star other than the Sun was discovered in 1995, we have realised that planets and planetary systems are more diverse than we ever imagined. Such...
Could Artemis be the last mission for NASAs astronauts?
Neil Armstrong took his historic “one small step” on the Moon in 1969. And just three years later, the last Apollo astronauts left our celestial neighbour. Since then, hundreds of astronauts have been launched into space but mainly to the Earth-orbiting International Space Station. None has, in fact,...
Artemis launch heralds a new age of space exploration
NASA today successfully launched its largest-ever rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 01:47 local time (06:47 GMT). Today's launch follows two previous failed launch attempts which were aborted because of technical issues. NASA’s new Artemis mission aims to take the American Space Agency back to the...
Engineering Problems – Why is it so difficult to send people to Venus?
Venus: the trouble with sending people there Venus, often called Earth’s “evil twin” planet, formed closer to the Sun and has since evolved quite differently from our own planet. It has a “runaway” greenhouse effect (meaning heat is completely trapped), a thick carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphere, no magnetic field and a...
NASA DART Hits Target
NASA, announced that it successfully concluded it's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) by flying the craft straight into into Dimorphos, the minor-planet moon of the asteroid Didymos. The mission was the first step in testing a method of planetary defense against near-Earth objects (NEOs). DART is the result...
Can we really deflect an asteroid by crashing into it? Nobody knows, but we are excited to try
Nasa’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (Dart) spacecraft is designed to be a one hit wonder. It will end its days by crashing into an asteroid at 24,000 kilometres per hour on September 26. Launched from Earth in November 2021, Dart is about the size of a bus and...