Tuesday, March 19

NASA

NASA

IXPE Checks Out X-rays from Extreme Objects – NASA Blogs

NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission, a joint effort with the Italian Space Agency, has returned data that no other spacecraft has obtained before from a few extreme cosmic objects. NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) Launched in December 2021, IXPE has detected polarized X-rays from three of its first six targets. Polarized X-rays carry unique details about where the light comes from and what it passes through. By combining these details with measurements of X-rays’ energy and how they change over time, we get a fuller picture of an object and how it works. Prior to IXPE, the only cosmic object with polarized X-ray measurements was the Crab Nebula, the wreckage of a massive, exploded star whose light swept past Earth nearly 1,000 years ago. In these new...
NASA — 5 Myths About Becoming an Astronaut
NASA

NASA — 5 Myths About Becoming an Astronaut

Have you heard the news? Astronaut applications are opening soon (March 2), and there’s never been a better time to apply then now. Here are a few signs that might mean you’re ready to take to the stars: 1. You Don’t Mind Having RoommatesWhen you’re an astronaut, you have to work and live with your crew mates for extended periods of time. It’s important to the mission and your safety that everyone can collaborate and work together.2. You LOVE SpaceIf the Milky Way, planets and space travel doesn’t excite you then this might not be the perfect job for you. But if you love galaxies, space station research and deep space exploration, then maybe you should take a look at our application.3. Adventure Doesn’t Scare YouBeing an astronaut means that you get to take part in adventures that most peo...
Third satellite-carrying transatlantic Beluga flight lands in Florida
NASA

Third satellite-carrying transatlantic Beluga flight lands in Florida

TAMPA, Fla. — The Airbus-built Eutelsat 36D geostationary communications satellite landed in Sanford, Florida, March 11 ahead of a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch slated from the nearby Kennedy Space Center at the end of the month. Eutelsat 36D had set off Saturday on an Airbus BelugaST (Super Transporter) from France where the satellite maker is based. It is the third time the manufacturer’s alternative to Ukrainian Antonov aircraft has flown a large satellite across the Atlantic since Airbus started offering an outsized freight transportation service two years ago. The roughly 5,000-kilogram satellite is due to travel by truck to its launch site.  French fleet operator Eutelsat ordered the satellite in 2021 to replace Eutelsat 36B before it runs out of fuel in 2026 at 36 degrees ...
Houston’s Intuitive Machines Becomes the First U.S. Company to Achieve Successful Lunar Landing Since Apollo
NASA

Houston’s Intuitive Machines Becomes the First U.S. Company to Achieve Successful Lunar Landing Since Apollo

Intuitive Machines is the first U.S. commercial company to successfully achieve an uncrewed lunar landing since Apollo’s 1972 mission. On February 22 at 6:23 p.m. EST, Intuitive Machines’ first mission (IM-1) landed Odysseus “Odie” on the Moon as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative for Artemis – the return of humans to the Moon. Founded in 2013, the Houston-based company focuses on leading space exploration as an infrastructure company that creates cutting-edge solutions to solve some of humanity’s most formidable challenges. In 2019, NASA tasked Intuitive Machines with its first mission to land a suite of payloads on the Moon. Over the next four years, Intuitive Machines built a space program at its spaceport facility in Houston, TX developi...
NASA

Mars-Saturn, Jupiter-Venus Conjunctions Happening This Month! – NASA Blogs

Skywatchers, you have the opportunity to see not just one, but two planetary conjunctions during the month of April 2022! A conjunction is a celestial event in which two planets, a planet and the Moon, or a planet and a star appear close together in Earth’s night sky. Conjunctions have no profound astronomical significance, but they are nice to view. In our Solar System, conjunctions occur frequently between planets because the planets orbit around the Sun in approximately the same plane –  the ecliptic plane – and thus trace similar paths across our sky. The first planetary meet up occurs on the mornings of April 4 and 5 before sunrise and includes Mars and Saturn, with Saturn being the brightest. These two planets will come together, appearing as almost a single point of light. Howeve...