One NASA mission to Mars will be listening for the landing of the latest Red Planet rover, the CIA will release thousands of UFO-related documents and a Japanese spacecraft exploring an asteroid embark on a new multi-year journey into the solar system. Here are some of the top stories this week from Space.com.
Blue Origin is successfully launching and deploying the updated spacecraft.
On Thursday (January 14), Blue Origin successfully reused the RSS First Step spacecraft in an unmanned suborbital test mission from West Texas. This is the first New Shepard spacecraft to be upgraded for astronauts, and both its rocket and capsule thrived after its launch. Blue Origin is developing New Shepard to transport people and payloads to and from underground.
Full story: 1st Blue Origin updates New Shepard spacecraft for astronauts launch (and land)
Warning criterion for CO2 in 2021.
The national epidemiology service for the UK, known as the Met Office, has recently made a forecast that carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere will exceed the threshold. big this year. CO2 stays in the atmosphere for a long time, according to the lead researcher in the forecast, and emissions from previous years are causing levels to continue to rise. By 2021, they expect a 50% increase in atmospheric CO2 since widespread industrial activity began in the 18th century.
Full story: Air CO2 will pass an alarming milestone in 2021
SpaceX Cargo Dragon showers down in the Atlantic Ocean.
The 21st SpaceX space station delivery mission for NASA entered Wednesday (Jan. 13) when the Cargo Dragon spacecraft returned to Earth off the coast of Florida. The Dragon CRS-21 mission was launched on December 6, 2020 and delivered 6.40 lbs. (2,903 kilograms) of science supplies and equipment to the crew aboard the International Space Station. This was the first Atlantic shower of Dragon Cargo.
Full story: SpaceX’s upgraded Cargo Dragon supply ship makes its first Atlantic shower
See also: The SpaceX Cargo Dragon supply ship makes the first independent launch from the space station
The CIA released more than 2,700 pages of authenticated documents related to “unidentified air onions.” The documents were released following several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed over the past 25 years, according to the operator of The Black Vault, an online source of UFO-related documents.
Full story: CIA releases complete collection of UFO-related documents to a fact-seeking website
The oldest and farthest quasar is found.
Astronomers have discovered the farthest quasar known to science. It is so far away that the light reaching the Earth from this quasar goes back to when the universe was only 5% of its current age. This quasar also hosts a supermassive black hole with a mass equal to 1.6 billion suns.
Full story: The farthest quasar ever hides an awful black hole
Japanese probe trips to new asteroid targets.
The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 is now on its way to a new asteroid after releasing samples from their previous target to Earth in early December 2020. On January 5, the mission team began a power launch mission. sent back out to the solar system to reach the 2,300-foot. nationwide asteroid (700 meters) (98943) 2001 CC21 for flyby in 2026. It will visit deeper on another space rock in 2031, when examining a small distance 100 feet (30 m) wide with the canar 1998 KY26.
Full story: A Japanese asteroid sampling probe embarks on a long journey to the next space rock
Scientists find an old and hot ‘super-Earth’ in the Milky Way.
Scientists used data from NASA’s Satellite Survey Transiting Exoplanet (TESS) and WM Keck Observatory in Hawaii to find an exoplanet, about 50% larger than Earth, orbiting one of its oldest stars. an galaxy Milky Way. The system is located nearby, about 280 light-years from Earth. The exoplanet is about the size and density of our planet, but its average surface temperature above 3,140 degrees Fahrenheit (1,726 degrees Celsius) means it is too hot to sustain any kind of life as we know it.
Full story: The rocky planet ‘super-Earth’ has been seen orbiting one of the oldest stars in the Milky Way
See also: It really is! The 2nd ever tested exoplanet candidate at the Kepler space telescope.
NASA is ready to test megarocket engines.
NASA plans to test the four major engines of its next-generation heavyweight lift, the megarocket Space Launch Systems (SLS). This is the final test in NASA ‘s’ Green Run’ test series that will examine whether the rocket is ready for the first launch, the missile Artemis 1 mission around the moon. The upcoming hot fire engine test will take place at NASA’s Stennis Space. Center in Mississippi.
Full story: NASA is finally ready to test the engines of its SLS megarocket
Scientists study sunflowers and look for their origins.
The sun releases sound energy in the form of waves that go down on the surface of the sun. This solar seismic activity is stimulated deep below the star’s surface, according to data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Scientists plan to study more earthquakes to find the source that comes deep inside the star.
Full story: It seems that an earthquake started deep below the surface of the sun
NASA’s mission may hear that Martian came to another mission.
NASA’s InSight Mars lander is designed to listen for marsquakes, but its sensitivity means it could also pick up the waves made by NASA’s Perseverance rover when it lands on the surface of the Red Planet in February 2021. The InSight mission will try to build seismic activity to move the rover from more than 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away.
Full story: NASA’s InSight Mars lawyer may hear ‘Perseverance rover landing next month
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