[ad_1] enlarge / The Rocket Report is published weekly. Welcome to Edition 2.16 of the Rocket Report! It has been a busy week in space, with the launch of the first person from the United Arab Emirates as well as the final launch of a venerable Russian rocket. By my favorite story this week is … Read more
[ad_1] This is the breathtaking picture that NASA astronaut Christina Koch took Wednesday from her privileged position at the International Space Station (ISS). On board the Soyuz MS-15 (Expedition 61) spacecraft bound for the ISS, which had taken off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, was her best friend, NASA flight engineer Jessica Meir. Oleg … Read more
[ad_1] Spatial distribution of the Lae 3 stellar population in the field of view. Credit: Longeard et al., 2019. Using the Canada – France – Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) and the Keck Observatory, an international group of astronomers conducted a photometric and spectroscopic study of Laevens 3, a satellite globular cluster located in the galaxy of … Read more
[ad_1] A recently discovered wasp can apparently control the minds of its victims. Euderus set, also known as the Crypt Guard Wasp, has the incredible ability to control the actions of multiple species of bile wasps, allowing them to be parasitized and dying horribly. Galls are abnormal tumors resembling tumors on oaks created by bile … Read more
[ad_1] Credit: CC0 Public Domain A team of anthropologists from the University of Colorado at Boulder aims to change the way scientists study old bones without damage. If this sounds like a macabre goal, consider this: Well-preserved pieces of bone are valuable to researchers who are studying humans who have lived thousands, even hundreds of … Read more
[ad_1] Photomicrograph of pyrite stromatolites from the 3.5 – year – old Dresser Formation. The stromatolites are delimited by pyrite, also called mad gold. Credit: UNSW Sydney UNSW scientists have discovered that Western Australia's famous stromatolites dating back more than 3.5 billion years contain some of the remotest microbial remains of life on Earth. Scientists … Read more
[ad_1] According to a new study, humans have never lived in the highly charged atmospheric CO2 conditions of the last 60 years. As Yige Zhang, a professor at Texas A & M University's College of Geosciences, explains, carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that contributes to warming the earth's atmosphere. Since the warming of the … Read more
[ad_1] In space exploration, robots do most of the work. This trend will continue as we send more and more missions to the surfaces of the worlds in the solar system. But for robots to be effective in the harsh environments we need to explore – like Titan, Saturn's moon – we need better robots. … Read more
[ad_1] The telescope was unveiled after an asteroid able to destroy a city almost colliding with the Earth two months ago. Considered an astronomical "near-accident", the asteroid was only detected the day before its entry into the vicinity of the Earth. Speaking on the asteroid, NASA's planetary defense officer, Lindley Johnson admitted, "This one has … Read more
[ad_1] Image: NASA A research team proposes a major philosophical shift in our thinking about the spread of terrestrial microbes in space and on Mars in particular. Believing that interplanetary contamination is "inevitable," the team argues that future Martian settlers should use microorganisms to reshape the red planet – a proposal that all experts find … Read more