The growing demand for space exploration is increasing the chances of alien organisms invading Earth and of Earth-based organisms invading other planets, scientists have argued in a new paper.
The researchers point to humanity's record of moving species to new environments on Earth, where those organisms can become invasive and harm the native species; they say such behavior suggests the same could happen with alien life from another planet contaminating Earth and vice versa, according to the paper, published Nov. 17 in the journal BioScience.
"The search of life beyond our world is an exciting endeavour that could yield an enormous discovery in the not-too-distant future," lead author Anthony Ricciardi, a professor of invasion biology at McGill University in Montreal, told Live Science in an email. "However, in the face of increasing space missions (including those intended to return samples to Earth), it is crucial to reduce the risks of biological contamination in both directions."
Read more at:
Alien organisms could hitch a ride on our spacecraft and contaminate Earth, scientists warn | Live Science
Showing posts with label Outer Space. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Outer Space. Show all posts
12/16/21
7/25/21
China Outer Space Reaearch: : On its first try, China’s Zhurong rover hit a Mars milestone that took NASA decades
China's Zhurong rover landed safely on Mars on May 15, making China only the third country to successfully land a rover on the red planet.
More impressively still, China is the first Mars-going nation to carry out an orbiting, landing and rovering operation as its first mission.
Planetary scientist Roberto Orosei told Nature China is "doing in a single go what NASA took decades to do," while astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell described China's decision to include a rover in its maiden Mars outing as a "very gutsy move."
Read more at: On its first try, China’s Zhurong rover hit a Mars milestone that took NASA decades | Space
More impressively still, China is the first Mars-going nation to carry out an orbiting, landing and rovering operation as its first mission.
Planetary scientist Roberto Orosei told Nature China is "doing in a single go what NASA took decades to do," while astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell described China's decision to include a rover in its maiden Mars outing as a "very gutsy move."
Read more at: On its first try, China’s Zhurong rover hit a Mars milestone that took NASA decades | Space
6/30/21
Outer space: Black hole swallows neutron star before astronomers' eyes
Astronomers witnessed the last 500 orbits before the neutron stars were swallowed, a process that took far less than a minute and briefly generated as much energy as all the visible light in the observable universe.
"It was just a big quick [gulp], gone," said study co-author Patrick Brady, an astrophysicist at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. The black hole "gets a nice dinner of a neutron star and makes itself just a little bit more massive."
Read more at: Black hole swallows neutron star before astronomers' eyes | CBC News
"It was just a big quick [gulp], gone," said study co-author Patrick Brady, an astrophysicist at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. The black hole "gets a nice dinner of a neutron star and makes itself just a little bit more massive."
Read more at: Black hole swallows neutron star before astronomers' eyes | CBC News
5/30/21
Outer Space: Chinese robotic spacecraft docks with the country's new space station
A robotic spacecraft docked with China's new space station on Sunday carrying fuel and supplies for its future crew.
China's space agency said the Tianzhou-2 spacecraft reached the Tianhe station eight hours after blasting off from Hainan, an island in the South China Sea.
It carried space suits, living supplies, equipment and fuel for the station.
Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, is the third and largest orbital station launched by China's increasingly ambitious space programme.
Read more at: Chinese robotic spacecraft docks with the country's new space station | Euronews
China's space agency said the Tianzhou-2 spacecraft reached the Tianhe station eight hours after blasting off from Hainan, an island in the South China Sea.
It carried space suits, living supplies, equipment and fuel for the station.
Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, is the third and largest orbital station launched by China's increasingly ambitious space programme.
Read more at: Chinese robotic spacecraft docks with the country's new space station | Euronews
5/5/21
USA: SpaceX finally nails the landing of the rocket that will take humans to the moon | CBC News
SpaceX's Starship, the rocket that CEO Elon Musk hopes will take people to the moon and eventually Mars, completed a test on Wednesday that marked the first time it successfully launched and landed.
The rocket, designated SN15, lifted off from Boca Chica, Texas, at 5:27 p.m. local time. It reached an altitude of 10 kilometres before beginning its descent in the "belly flop" configuration. Then it fired its thrusters, flipped itself in the upright position, extended its landing legs and touched down softly.
Read more at: SpaceX finally nails the landing of the rocket that will take humans to the moon | CBC News
The rocket, designated SN15, lifted off from Boca Chica, Texas, at 5:27 p.m. local time. It reached an altitude of 10 kilometres before beginning its descent in the "belly flop" configuration. Then it fired its thrusters, flipped itself in the upright position, extended its landing legs and touched down softly.
Read more at: SpaceX finally nails the landing of the rocket that will take humans to the moon | CBC News
2/11/21
Outer space: Have We Already Been Visited by Aliens? - by Elizabeth Kolber
In “Extraterrestrial,” Loeb lays out his reasoning as follows. The only way to make sense of ‘Oumuamua’s strange acceleration, without resorting to some sort of undetectable outgassing, is to assume that the object was propelled by solar radiation—essentially, photons bouncing off its surface. And the only way the object could be propelled by solar radiation is if it were extremely thin—no thicker than a millimetre—with a very low density and a comparatively large surface area. Such an object would function as a sail—one powered by light, rather than by wind. The natural world doesn’t produce sails; people do. Thus, Loeb writes, “ ‘Oumuamua must have been designed, built, and launched by an extraterrestrial intelligence.”
Kepler, researchers recently concluded that η⊕ has a value somewhere between .37 and .6. Since there are at least four billion sunlike stars in the Milky Way, this means that somewhere between 1.5 billion and 2.4 billion planets in our galaxy could, in theory, harbor life. No one knows what fraction of potentially habitable planets are, in fact, inhabited, but, even if the proportion is trivial, we’re still talking about millions—perhaps tens of millions—of planets in the galaxy that might be teeming with living things.
At a public event a few years ago, Ellen Stofan, who at the time was NASA’s chief scientist and is now the director of the National Air and Space Museum, said that she believed “definitive evidence” of “life beyond earth” would be found sometime in the next two decades.
Read complete report at: Have We Already Been Visited by Aliens? | The New Yorker
Kepler, researchers recently concluded that η⊕ has a value somewhere between .37 and .6. Since there are at least four billion sunlike stars in the Milky Way, this means that somewhere between 1.5 billion and 2.4 billion planets in our galaxy could, in theory, harbor life. No one knows what fraction of potentially habitable planets are, in fact, inhabited, but, even if the proportion is trivial, we’re still talking about millions—perhaps tens of millions—of planets in the galaxy that might be teeming with living things.
At a public event a few years ago, Ellen Stofan, who at the time was NASA’s chief scientist and is now the director of the National Air and Space Museum, said that she believed “definitive evidence” of “life beyond earth” would be found sometime in the next two decades.
Read complete report at: Have We Already Been Visited by Aliens? | The New Yorker
12/9/20
The Netherlands: Another one: Hiker finds a new metal monolith in the Netherlands: "a message from aliens from outerspace, or just a hoax?"
Strange metal monoliths are materialising everywhere, in California, Romania, the Isle of Wight and, according to the latest reports, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain. Their rate of appearance is quickening: barely 24 hours separate photos of the lone sentinel on the Isle of Wight’s Compton Beach and the new European manifestations. As these silent messengers follow those seen at wider intervals in Utah, California and Romania it seems that their message is becoming more urgent, the time of their revelation imminent.
One thing is clear to people all around the world, the metal monolith saga will not be ending any time soon as another one has been spotted in the Netherlands.
Similar to the ones in Utah, Romania, California and Britain, the Netherlands, too, has added its name to the list of places where the monolith mystery has itched its place.
"I walked up to it, but there was nothing to be seen around the monolith. Just as if it was placed from above," hiker Thijs de Jong told media — who was the first one to spot the monolith.
Read more at: Another one: Hiker finds a new metal monolith in the Netherlands, World News | wionews.com
One thing is clear to people all around the world, the metal monolith saga will not be ending any time soon as another one has been spotted in the Netherlands.
Similar to the ones in Utah, Romania, California and Britain, the Netherlands, too, has added its name to the list of places where the monolith mystery has itched its place.
"I walked up to it, but there was nothing to be seen around the monolith. Just as if it was placed from above," hiker Thijs de Jong told media — who was the first one to spot the monolith.
Read more at: Another one: Hiker finds a new metal monolith in the Netherlands, World News | wionews.com
9/14/20
News from outer space: Astronomers may have found hints of life in clouds of Venus - by Nicole Mortillaro
Astronomers have detected a chemical signature in the atmosphere of Venus that may be associated with life.
While the signature isn't robust enough to definitively declare that there's life on our nearest planetary neighbour, in a new paper published today in the journal Nature Astronomy, the international team says they have ruled out any other known sources that could have produced the chemical compound, phosphine.
"The reason we're so excited about this finding in this paper is that we found phosphine gas, which doesn't belong in the Venus atmosphere," said Canadian co-author Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
"We can say that it might be associated with life."
Phosphine, chemically known as PH3, is produced on Earth by organisms that don't require oxygen to survive, or can be created in laboratories. Over recent years, astronomers have proposed that it could be used as a chemical signature that might be associated with biological processes on exoplanets, planets orbiting distant stars.
Read more at:
Astronomers may have found hints of life in clouds of Venus | CBC News
4/7/20
Outer space - Russia slams US order to privatize outer space
Russian officials have accused the US of enacting "aggressive plans to actually seize territories of other planets." US President Trump said Americans have "the right to engage in commercial exploration" in outer space.
Note EU Digest: USA - Colonizers of outer space or pirates of outer space?
Read more at:
https://www.dw.com/en/russia-slams-us-order-to-privatize-outer-space/a-53051820
Note EU Digest: USA - Colonizers of outer space or pirates of outer space?
Read more at:
https://www.dw.com/en/russia-slams-us-order-to-privatize-outer-space/a-53051820
2/7/20
ALiens: Of course we are not alone’: Russian scientist says we’re using wrong tools to hunt for aliens
A Russian scientist believes that the only way we can finally
discover extraterrestrial life is for experts and researchers from
different branches to work together.
Alexander Panov, a leading researcher at Moscow State University’s Research Institute of Nuclear Physics, has spent many years working on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) at the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Radio Astronomy.
Alexander Panov, a leading researcher at Moscow State University’s Research Institute of Nuclear Physics, has spent many years working on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) at the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Radio Astronomy.
In a recent interview, he laments the lack of interaction between researchers involved in both the searches for biological and for intelligent life out in the universe, and called for greater cooperation and pooling of resources between these two distinct fields, which have essentially the same goal: find aliens.
Read more at: ‘Of course we are not alone’: Russian scientist says we’re using wrong tools to hunt for aliens — RT World News
12/26/19
Outer Space: Why alien 'megastructures' may hold key to making contact with extraterrestrials
For nearly 70 years the scheme favored by most scientists has been to look for signals — radio transmissions.
That’s the classic approach of SETI (the search for extraterrestrial
intelligence), and frankly, it makes sense. Radio can easily traverse
light-years, and the technology for detecting it is well known and
highly sensitive.
But is looking for signals really the best plan? Is it possible that we’re making the wrong bet?
There’s an attractive alternative: searching for physical artifacts — alien structures. We’re not talking about crop circles or other odd phenomena here on Earth. We’re talking about massive engineering works that an advanced society has constructed somewhere in space.
Why search for artifacts? Because it eliminates the requirement that the aliens have chosen to get in touch — to transmit radio signals our way. Sure, maybe they’d want to do that, but then again maybe they’d rather lay low. If you’re not sure you’re the Milky Way’s top-dog society, you don’t want to bet the farm by assuming that the alpha aliens, wherever they might be, have good intentions. Silence could have survival value.
Read more: Why alien 'megastructures' may hold key to making contact with extraterrestrials | SETI Institute
But is looking for signals really the best plan? Is it possible that we’re making the wrong bet?
There’s an attractive alternative: searching for physical artifacts — alien structures. We’re not talking about crop circles or other odd phenomena here on Earth. We’re talking about massive engineering works that an advanced society has constructed somewhere in space.
Why search for artifacts? Because it eliminates the requirement that the aliens have chosen to get in touch — to transmit radio signals our way. Sure, maybe they’d want to do that, but then again maybe they’d rather lay low. If you’re not sure you’re the Milky Way’s top-dog society, you don’t want to bet the farm by assuming that the alpha aliens, wherever they might be, have good intentions. Silence could have survival value.
Read more: Why alien 'megastructures' may hold key to making contact with extraterrestrials | SETI Institute
10/29/17
Outer Space: Mystery object might be first visitor from another solar system
Astronomers around the world are trying to track down a small, fast-moving object that is zipping through our solar system.
Is a comet? An asteroid? NASA’s not sure. The space agency doesn’t even know where it came from, but it’s not behaving like the local space rocks and that means it may not be from our solar system.
If that’s confirmed, NASA says “it would be the first interstellar object to be observed and confirmed by astronomers.”
“We have been waiting for this day for decades,” Paul Chodas, manager of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, said in a NASA news release.
“It’s long been theorized that such objects exist — asteroids or comets moving around between the stars and occasionally passing through our solar system — but this is the first such detection. So far, everything indicates this is likely an interstellar object, but more data would help to confirm it.”
NASA says astronomers are pointing telescopes on the ground and in space at the object to get that data.
For now, the object is being called A/2017 U1. Experts think it’s less than a quarter-mile (400 meters) in diameter and it’s racing through space at 15.8 miles (25.5 kilometers) per second.
Rob Weryk, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, was the first to identify the object and immediately realized there was something different about it.
“Its motion could not be explained using either a normal solar system asteroid or comet orbit,” he said.
“This object came from outside our solar system.” Whatever “it” is, the object isn’t a threat to Earth.
NASA say that on October 14, it safely passed our home world at a distance of about 15 million miles (24 million kilometers) — that’s about 60 times the distance to the moon.
Where’s it going? Scientists think the object is heading toward the constellation Pegasus and is on its way out of our solar system.
“This is the most extreme orbit I have ever seen,” said Davide Farnocchia, a scientist at the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies. “It is going extremely fast and on such a trajectory that we can say with confidence that this object is on its way out of the solar system and not coming back.”
“It” may eventually get a better name than A/2017 U1, but since the object is the first of its kind, the International Astronomical Union will have to come up with new rules for naming the object.
Read more: Mystery object might be first visitor from another solar system | FOX2now.com
Is a comet? An asteroid? NASA’s not sure. The space agency doesn’t even know where it came from, but it’s not behaving like the local space rocks and that means it may not be from our solar system.
If that’s confirmed, NASA says “it would be the first interstellar object to be observed and confirmed by astronomers.”
“We have been waiting for this day for decades,” Paul Chodas, manager of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, said in a NASA news release.
“It’s long been theorized that such objects exist — asteroids or comets moving around between the stars and occasionally passing through our solar system — but this is the first such detection. So far, everything indicates this is likely an interstellar object, but more data would help to confirm it.”
NASA says astronomers are pointing telescopes on the ground and in space at the object to get that data.
For now, the object is being called A/2017 U1. Experts think it’s less than a quarter-mile (400 meters) in diameter and it’s racing through space at 15.8 miles (25.5 kilometers) per second.
Rob Weryk, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, was the first to identify the object and immediately realized there was something different about it.
“Its motion could not be explained using either a normal solar system asteroid or comet orbit,” he said.
“This object came from outside our solar system.” Whatever “it” is, the object isn’t a threat to Earth.
NASA say that on October 14, it safely passed our home world at a distance of about 15 million miles (24 million kilometers) — that’s about 60 times the distance to the moon.
Where’s it going? Scientists think the object is heading toward the constellation Pegasus and is on its way out of our solar system.
“This is the most extreme orbit I have ever seen,” said Davide Farnocchia, a scientist at the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies. “It is going extremely fast and on such a trajectory that we can say with confidence that this object is on its way out of the solar system and not coming back.”
“It” may eventually get a better name than A/2017 U1, but since the object is the first of its kind, the International Astronomical Union will have to come up with new rules for naming the object.
Read more: Mystery object might be first visitor from another solar system | FOX2now.com
8/19/17
Doomsday or fake ? Planet X: 'Earth-destroyer' Nibiru to appear September claims 'code hidden in pyramids' - by Jon Austin
 |
| Is Planet X, or Nibiru on the way to earth ? |
Planet X, or Nibiru, is reportedly a huge planet with a vast orbit that conspiracy theorists claim will one day pass so close to Earth that its gravitational pull could wreak havoc on our planet, triggering earthquakes and other catastrophic events.
The myth was born in 1976, when writer Zecharia Sitchin claimed that two ancient Middle Eastern cultures – the Babylonians and Sumerians – told of a giant planet – Nibiru – that orbited the Sun every 3,600 years.
Earlier this year, Mr Meade claimed to match the positions of celestial bodies with Bible verses, and worked out when Planet X would cause the end of the world - on September 23.
He claims the same timeframe for its arrival is shown by the pyramids.
The pyramids, built nearly 5,000 years ago, have long generated conspiracy theories due to mysteries over how they were built and their purpose.
The most far-fetched include that they were built with the aid of aliens who visited our ancient ancestors.
There are claims some hieroglyphics depict aliens and space craft that visited Earth who were worshipped them as gods.
However, many Egyptologists agree the Pharaohs were interested in space and the pyramids were aligned with the planets.
Mr Meade claims Nibiru will first be seen in the sky on September 23, and will not actually hit or pass us until October.
Many evangelical Christian fanatics claimed the rare total solar eclipse, due on August 21, is a sign of what is to come.
Mr Meade said: “It is very strange indeed that both the Great Sign of Revelation 12 and the Great Pyramid of Giza both point us to one precise moment in time – September 20 to 23, 2017.
“Is this the end of the Church Age and the transition to the Day of the Lord?
“There couldn’t be two greater witnesses.”
Of the pyramid, he said: “It faces true north with only 3/60th of a degree of error and is located at the center of the land mass of the Earth.
Note EU-Digest: A NASA paper which was originally published in 1988 is said to reveal that there is a mysterious unnamed planet beyond the tiny ice planet of Pluto. It is believed by many that the Planet X referred to by NASA could be the fabled Planet Nibiru which many thinks could be the initiator of a major, imminent apocalyptic event for the people of Earth
Read more: Planet X: 'Earth-destroyer' Nibiru to appear NEXT MONTH claims 'code hidden in pyramids' | Weird | News | Express.co.uk
12/6/16
Outer Space: NASA's Hubble Telescope Captures Stunning Supermassive Black Hole As It Engulfs An Entire Galaxy
NASA and the European Space Agency’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured this incredible image of ill-fated galaxy NGC 4696.
Caught in stunning high-resolution, the image shows a galaxy that looks very different to the flat disc-shaped galaxies we’ve come to recognize.
Scientists from the University of Cambridge have been studying this utterly unique galaxy in the hopes of learning the origins for its rare and almost chaotic shape.
What they found was that it is essentially a swirling collection of vast curling filaments of matter, pushed out from the galactic core by something that is currently in the process of devouring it: A supermassive black hole.
Each filament is around 10 times more dense than the surrounding space, measures around 200 light years in width and contains vast quantities of dust and matter.
If you trace each one you’ll find that it leads back to the galaxy’s core where the supermassive black hole is flooding it with almost unimaginable amounts of heat and energy.
Read more: NASA's Hubble Telescope Captures Stunning Supermassive Black Hole As It Engulfs An Entire Galaxy | The Huffington Post
Caught in stunning high-resolution, the image shows a galaxy that looks very different to the flat disc-shaped galaxies we’ve come to recognize.
Scientists from the University of Cambridge have been studying this utterly unique galaxy in the hopes of learning the origins for its rare and almost chaotic shape.
What they found was that it is essentially a swirling collection of vast curling filaments of matter, pushed out from the galactic core by something that is currently in the process of devouring it: A supermassive black hole.
Each filament is around 10 times more dense than the surrounding space, measures around 200 light years in width and contains vast quantities of dust and matter.
If you trace each one you’ll find that it leads back to the galaxy’s core where the supermassive black hole is flooding it with almost unimaginable amounts of heat and energy.
Read more: NASA's Hubble Telescope Captures Stunning Supermassive Black Hole As It Engulfs An Entire Galaxy | The Huffington Post
5/12/16
Prophecy or Hoax: Mercury Transit Could Spell ‘The End Of The World’
Mercury will make a rare move across the sun on Monday – an important celestial event for stargazers and a portent of doom for some religious conspiracists.
The smallest planet in the solar system will appear as a tiny black
dot on the face of the sun during a passage that will last for about 7.5
hours.
The last time it happened was 2006 and it will happen again three years from now, but then not until 2032. According to Nasa, the event occurs only around 13 times a century.
Writing online, he opines: “These conclusions force us to hypothesise about what this could mean to the observer. Will Mercury transit the sun in the wrong position?
“Will it’s parallax be off causing it to appear too large or too small?
“If not now could we witness a massive impact that knocks it out of orbit altogether?
“If not now will this happen whenever the ‘end times’ are upon us? These hypotheses surely demand further research and development.”
Happily the claims have been put to Asteroid Watch, which works with Nasa’s official efforts to detect, track and characterize potentially hazardous asteroids and comets that could approach Earth.
And their response? The decidedly unruffled remark: “Sounds like another hoax.”
Note EU-Digest: in answering this question we prefer to hang our hat on Mark 13 verse 32 in the Bible which states: "But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father".
Mercury Transit Could Spell ‘The End Of The World’The last time it happened was 2006 and it will happen again three years from now, but then not until 2032. According to Nasa, the event occurs only around 13 times a century.
Writing online, he opines: “These conclusions force us to hypothesise about what this could mean to the observer. Will Mercury transit the sun in the wrong position?
“Will it’s parallax be off causing it to appear too large or too small?
“If not now could we witness a massive impact that knocks it out of orbit altogether?
“If not now will this happen whenever the ‘end times’ are upon us? These hypotheses surely demand further research and development.”
Happily the claims have been put to Asteroid Watch, which works with Nasa’s official efforts to detect, track and characterize potentially hazardous asteroids and comets that could approach Earth.
And their response? The decidedly unruffled remark: “Sounds like another hoax.”
Note EU-Digest: in answering this question we prefer to hang our hat on Mark 13 verse 32 in the Bible which states: "But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father".
2/9/16
European Aircraft Industry: Airbus to Send Glider to the Edge of Space - by Meredith Carey
Airbus is at it again. For a company that files patents constantly
for tech and specs that travel geeks and sci-fi fans can only dream of,
you would think it would have run out of ideas by now. But this time,
Airbus is aiming even higher (literally): The Airbus Perlan 2 glider,
set to launch in June, will be the first engineless aircraft to fly at
the edge of space.
The glider is on its way to become the highest-flying aircraft in history, with the team hoping to reach altitudes of up to 90,000 feet using nothing but wind, which would put 98 percent of the Earth's atmosphere beneath the Perlan 2. (For reference, a commercial plane typically cruises at 35,000 feet.) To get to that altitude, the Perlan 2 will be towed to several thousand feet, then cut loose to coast on Argentinian mountain waves, or air currents above mountain ranges that can push a flight into the stratosphere. Once there, the pilot and co-pilot will have to wear an oxygen re-breather system, similar to the one used by astronauts.
With an 84-foot wingspan, the Perlan 2 will also carry scientific instruments, life support, and two safety parachutes. It has the same weight as a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle.
The Perlan 2 is just the entry point for Airbus, which has its sights set on space. The company recently filed a patent for hypersonic passenger craft that will go to space and back, according to the Daily Mail,. This puts Airbus alongside SpaceX and Virgin Galactic in the latest iteration of the space race.
In the meantime, Airbus will have plenty to keep its engineers and designers busy. It recently filed a patent for a Concorde 2.0 to get travelers from New York to London in an hour. Earlier last year, the company also released plans to stack passengers in a highly efficient, but slightly terrifying pattern. And with its newest widebody plane, the A350, making its first flight in December followed by an upcoming revival of the longest flight in the world (19 hours, nonstop, if you were curious), Airbus is in full control of some of this year’s most innovative travel. And it’s only February.
Read more: Airbus Glider to the Edge of Space - Condé Nast Traveler
The glider is on its way to become the highest-flying aircraft in history, with the team hoping to reach altitudes of up to 90,000 feet using nothing but wind, which would put 98 percent of the Earth's atmosphere beneath the Perlan 2. (For reference, a commercial plane typically cruises at 35,000 feet.) To get to that altitude, the Perlan 2 will be towed to several thousand feet, then cut loose to coast on Argentinian mountain waves, or air currents above mountain ranges that can push a flight into the stratosphere. Once there, the pilot and co-pilot will have to wear an oxygen re-breather system, similar to the one used by astronauts.
With an 84-foot wingspan, the Perlan 2 will also carry scientific instruments, life support, and two safety parachutes. It has the same weight as a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle.
The Perlan 2 is just the entry point for Airbus, which has its sights set on space. The company recently filed a patent for hypersonic passenger craft that will go to space and back, according to the Daily Mail,. This puts Airbus alongside SpaceX and Virgin Galactic in the latest iteration of the space race.
In the meantime, Airbus will have plenty to keep its engineers and designers busy. It recently filed a patent for a Concorde 2.0 to get travelers from New York to London in an hour. Earlier last year, the company also released plans to stack passengers in a highly efficient, but slightly terrifying pattern. And with its newest widebody plane, the A350, making its first flight in December followed by an upcoming revival of the longest flight in the world (19 hours, nonstop, if you were curious), Airbus is in full control of some of this year’s most innovative travel. And it’s only February.
Read more: Airbus Glider to the Edge of Space - Condé Nast Traveler
1/19/16
Outer Space: EU, Russia may nuke asteroids
The European Commission funded Russian scientists to develop plans to save the world from rogue asteroids by blowing them up with nuclear weapons.
Scientists from the Russia’s top space research institute teamed up with missile and rocket engineers to look at ways of sending a warhead into space under a European Commission funded program called NEOShield.
“Work was distributed among various participants from different countries and organisations, and work on deflecting dangerous space objects with nuclear explosions was conducted by Russia” between 2012 and 2015, the Central Scientific Research Institute of Machine Building, part of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said in a press release on Saturday.
The idea is that a nuclear explosion close to a comet or asteroid would burn up some of the object’s mass, in turn producing a jet-thrust effect which would change its orbit.
The Earth has suffered multiple large asteroid impacts in its history, including a six-mile wide object believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs when it crashed into what is now Mexico.
More recently, nearly 1,500 people were injured and 7000 buildings damaged when a 20 meter wide meteor exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in 2013.
Read more: EU, Russia may nuke asteroids - Telegraph
Scientists from the Russia’s top space research institute teamed up with missile and rocket engineers to look at ways of sending a warhead into space under a European Commission funded program called NEOShield.
“Work was distributed among various participants from different countries and organisations, and work on deflecting dangerous space objects with nuclear explosions was conducted by Russia” between 2012 and 2015, the Central Scientific Research Institute of Machine Building, part of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said in a press release on Saturday.
The idea is that a nuclear explosion close to a comet or asteroid would burn up some of the object’s mass, in turn producing a jet-thrust effect which would change its orbit.
The Earth has suffered multiple large asteroid impacts in its history, including a six-mile wide object believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs when it crashed into what is now Mexico.
More recently, nearly 1,500 people were injured and 7000 buildings damaged when a 20 meter wide meteor exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in 2013.
Read more: EU, Russia may nuke asteroids - Telegraph
12/23/15
Apocalypse?: Mammoth Asteroid Will Waltz Past Earth on Christmas Eve - by Paula Mejia
Astronomers recently said Earthlings should prepare for a holiday
gift in the sky—and, no, they weren’t referring to a Santa sighting.
On Christmas Eve, a gargantuan asteroid is on track to be visible from our planet via telescope.
But not to worry: There’s no danger of a Christmas Day apocalypse. The 3-kilometer-long asteroid (named 163899, or 2003 SD220) will be sailing by at a safe distance of 6.7 million miles.
The director of Northern Ireland’s Armagh Observatory, Mark Bailey, told AFP that while it’s not necessarily an “Earth-grazer,” it’s near enough that “you could expect several such encounters with objects of that sort of size every year—so maybe every couple of months you would get one coming that close, and of the same size.” He also noted that large-body collisions with Earth are rare, only occurring about once every 100,000 years.
If you miss this asteroid’s celestial dance this time around, you can catch it again in 2018, and again in December, according to a NASA report. Popular Science notes that the data researchers gather from the holiday asteroid is critical, as preliminary plans are in place to land aircraft on asteroids in the near future.
However, the next time an asteroid is expected to get somewhat uncomfortably close to Earth is 14 years from now, in April 2029, when the asteroid Aphophis is scheduled to pass about as close as the Moon and to be visible sans telescope.
Read more: Mammoth Asteroid Will Waltz Past Earth on Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve, a gargantuan asteroid is on track to be visible from our planet via telescope.
But not to worry: There’s no danger of a Christmas Day apocalypse. The 3-kilometer-long asteroid (named 163899, or 2003 SD220) will be sailing by at a safe distance of 6.7 million miles.
The director of Northern Ireland’s Armagh Observatory, Mark Bailey, told AFP that while it’s not necessarily an “Earth-grazer,” it’s near enough that “you could expect several such encounters with objects of that sort of size every year—so maybe every couple of months you would get one coming that close, and of the same size.” He also noted that large-body collisions with Earth are rare, only occurring about once every 100,000 years.
If you miss this asteroid’s celestial dance this time around, you can catch it again in 2018, and again in December, according to a NASA report. Popular Science notes that the data researchers gather from the holiday asteroid is critical, as preliminary plans are in place to land aircraft on asteroids in the near future.
However, the next time an asteroid is expected to get somewhat uncomfortably close to Earth is 14 years from now, in April 2029, when the asteroid Aphophis is scheduled to pass about as close as the Moon and to be visible sans telescope.
Read more: Mammoth Asteroid Will Waltz Past Earth on Christmas Eve
11/9/13
Europe’s global mapping satellite on crash course for Earth…but where?
A satellite which has been mapping the world’s gravitational field and ocean circulation is failing and on a crash course for Earth.
The European Space agency’s GOCE satellite has been in a low-Earth orbit Since 2009.
The ESA says it cannot predict how quickly or where exactly the one-tonne spacecraft will crash. Most of it will burn up when it hits the earth’s atmosphere, thought to be around Sunday.
“In total since Sputnik was launched about 15,000 tons have returned from space” the ESA’s Head of Space Debris, Heiner Klinkrad said, adding “typically between 10 and 40 percent of the initial mass survives such a re-entry. Velocity upon impact is between 200 and 300 hundred kilometres an hour, which is a speed that you can achieve on German motorways with a good-sized car,”
Read more: Europe’s global mapping satellite on crash course for Earth…but where? | euronews, world news
The European Space agency’s GOCE satellite has been in a low-Earth orbit Since 2009.
The ESA says it cannot predict how quickly or where exactly the one-tonne spacecraft will crash. Most of it will burn up when it hits the earth’s atmosphere, thought to be around Sunday.
“In total since Sputnik was launched about 15,000 tons have returned from space” the ESA’s Head of Space Debris, Heiner Klinkrad said, adding “typically between 10 and 40 percent of the initial mass survives such a re-entry. Velocity upon impact is between 200 and 300 hundred kilometres an hour, which is a speed that you can achieve on German motorways with a good-sized car,”
Read more: Europe’s global mapping satellite on crash course for Earth…but where? | euronews, world news
11/5/13
Internet From Outer-Space: Broadband now available for all in Europe thanks to the European Space Agency
Thirty years of continuous investment by ESA is enabling European satellite operators to deliver broadband to all EU citizens by the end of the year.
Anyone can now find a local distributor online to supply Internet connectivity via satellite, even in the remotest areas.
For many years, ESA has been working closely with European satellite operators and industry to promote satellite broadband as a key element in closing the digital divide in Europe. For decades, ESA has pioneered advanced technologies that have made satellite broadband possible. As far back as 1989, Olympus – the world’s largest telecom satellite at the time – demonstrated new market applications using the ‘Ka-band’ frequencies in the microwave spectrum.
Ka-band has since proved itself as well suited for satellite broadband, as demonstrated by the Hylas and Ka-Sat satellite systems in Europe.
Other innovations pioneered by ESA include powerful multibeam antennas working at Ku- and Ka-band frequencies, and designs that allow a single satellite to simultaneously serve hundreds of thousands of users throughout Europe with Internet access.
Hylas-1, launched in 2010 and operated commercially by Avanti Communications of London, is the first satellite dedicated to delivering broadband Internet services to Europe. Its unique payload can be reconfigured in orbit, thanks to a design developed by ESA in partnership with EADS Astrium in the UK.
This means that satellites can adapt to market demands, essentially future-proofing them during their typically 15-year lifetimes.
Whereas Hylas provides connectivity at mainly fixed locations, Alphasat, launched in July 2013 by UK operator Inmarsat to expand its fleet, offers a broad array of mobile broadband services.
Thanks to these ground-breaking developments, Internet connectivity via satellite is now an attractive option for homes and businesses throughout Europe.
The EU has established the goal of having 30 Mbit/s satellite coverage available to all EU citizens by 2020. ESA is supporting the development of next-generation satellites and systems to help meet that target. ESA is also encouraging market developments and applications that are paving the way for the next generation of satellite broadband.
The EU has established the goal of having 30 Mbit/s satellite coverage available to all EU citizens by 2020. ESA is supporting the development of next-generation satellites and systems to help meet that target. ESA is also encouraging market developments and applications that are paving the way for the next generation of satellite broadband.
With the support of the European Commission, an online tool from the European Satellite Operators Association is now available to help anyone find a local satellite broadband distributor and an installer – no matter where they live.
Read more: Broadband for all in Europe thanks to ESA / Telecommunications & Integrated Applications / Our Activities / ESA
Anyone can now find a local distributor online to supply Internet connectivity via satellite, even in the remotest areas.
For many years, ESA has been working closely with European satellite operators and industry to promote satellite broadband as a key element in closing the digital divide in Europe. For decades, ESA has pioneered advanced technologies that have made satellite broadband possible. As far back as 1989, Olympus – the world’s largest telecom satellite at the time – demonstrated new market applications using the ‘Ka-band’ frequencies in the microwave spectrum.
Ka-band has since proved itself as well suited for satellite broadband, as demonstrated by the Hylas and Ka-Sat satellite systems in Europe.
Other innovations pioneered by ESA include powerful multibeam antennas working at Ku- and Ka-band frequencies, and designs that allow a single satellite to simultaneously serve hundreds of thousands of users throughout Europe with Internet access.
Hylas-1, launched in 2010 and operated commercially by Avanti Communications of London, is the first satellite dedicated to delivering broadband Internet services to Europe. Its unique payload can be reconfigured in orbit, thanks to a design developed by ESA in partnership with EADS Astrium in the UK.
This means that satellites can adapt to market demands, essentially future-proofing them during their typically 15-year lifetimes.
Whereas Hylas provides connectivity at mainly fixed locations, Alphasat, launched in July 2013 by UK operator Inmarsat to expand its fleet, offers a broad array of mobile broadband services.
Thanks to these ground-breaking developments, Internet connectivity via satellite is now an attractive option for homes and businesses throughout Europe.
The EU has established the goal of having 30 Mbit/s satellite coverage available to all EU citizens by 2020. ESA is supporting the development of next-generation satellites and systems to help meet that target. ESA is also encouraging market developments and applications that are paving the way for the next generation of satellite broadband.
The EU has established the goal of having 30 Mbit/s satellite coverage available to all EU citizens by 2020. ESA is supporting the development of next-generation satellites and systems to help meet that target. ESA is also encouraging market developments and applications that are paving the way for the next generation of satellite broadband.
With the support of the European Commission, an online tool from the European Satellite Operators Association is now available to help anyone find a local satellite broadband distributor and an installer – no matter where they live.
Read more: Broadband for all in Europe thanks to ESA / Telecommunications & Integrated Applications / Our Activities / ESA
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