ScientistPankaj: NASA, SpaceX ready to launch 30th cargo mission to ISS on March 21

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

NASA, SpaceX ready to launch 30th cargo mission to ISS on March 21

NASA, SpaceX ready to launch 30th cargo mission to ISS | Space Quiz! How accurately are astronomers able to calculate the moment of vernal equinox? | Vernal equinox 2024 brings spring to Northern Hemisphere

Created for ceo.studentlike.spuniv@blogger.com | Web Version

March 20, 2024

CONNECT WITH SPACE.COM

Something amazing every day.

The Launchpad

NASA, SpaceX ready to launch 30th cargo mission to ISS

(Josh Dinner)

This will be the first cargo launch from SLC-40 in four years, following the completion of the facility's new launch tower, which includes a crew access arm. The upgrades allow crewed launches from SLC-40, and increases SpaceX's flexibility when scheduling astronaut launches.

Full Story: Space (3/20)

Space Quiz! How accurately are astronomers able to calculate the moment of vernal equinox?

Learn the answer here!

Vernal equinox 2024 brings spring to Northern Hemisphere

(James Osmond/Getty Images)

At the equinox, the Earth will have reached the point in its orbit where its axis is at right angles to a line from the sun. Thus, the sun will then be directly over a specific point on the Earth's equator moving northward. In the sky, it's where the ecliptic and celestial equator cross each other.

Full Story: Space (3/19)

Total Solar Eclipse 2024

Save 10% off Unistellar products ahead of the solar eclipse

(Jason Parnell-Brookes)

You can get 10% off all products on the Unistellar website until March 31. So, if you're looking to invest in a smart telescope or a solar filter ahead of the April 8 total solar eclipse, this is a great opportunity to save money.

Full Story: Space (3/19)

Skywatching

New ultrablack coating for telescopes

(Northrop Grumman)

The images we get these days from advanced telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, undoubtedly leave us in awe and wonder of galaxies that exist light-years away from Earth. But what if these pictures could be improved even more? Researchers from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences hope they're able to help with just that through their development of a thin, ultrablack film coating for aerospace-grade magnesium alloys.

Full Story: Space (3/19)

Spaceflight

Astrobotic readies next lunar lander

(Astrobotic)

Despite the failure of the first U.S. commercial lunar lander to ever operate in space, Astrobotic Technology is pressing forward on its next moon mission, still on the calendar for launch before year's end.

Full Story: Space (3/19)

Science & Astronomy

Condor Array confirms Chinese records from 77 BCE

(Condor Team)

The Condor Array has revealed a stunning look at a distant dwarf nova - a scene that offers astronomers a new, very-low-brightness view of the universe to marvel over.

Full Story: Space (3/19)

SpaceX

SpaceX's Starlink launch wows West Coast skywatchers

(Mario Tama/Getty Images)

In what's come to be known as the "jellyfish" effect, the dusk launch provided ideal conditions for the setting sun to light up the rocket's expanding engine plume against the darkening sky, as the vehicle climbed high into Earth's atmosphere.

Full Story: Space (3/19)

Technology

DARPA picks Northrop Grumman to develop 'lunar raiload'

(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)

Railroads could open the moon to serious and sustained economic development, as they did in the American West in the late 19th century. That's apparently the hope of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is supporting the development of a "lunar railroad" concept proposed by aerospace giant Northrop Grumman.

Full Story: Space (3/19)

Search for Life

Arrokoth 'space snowman' may be packed with ancient ice

(NASA, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and Southwest Research Institute)

The Kuiper Belt object named "486958 Arrokoth," or simply "Arrokoth," may have more in common with a snowman than just its shape. New research suggests there's ancient ice locked within its frosty heart.

Full Story: Space (3/20)

Entertainment

New trailer for Zack Snyder's 'Rebel Moon Part Two'

(Netflix)

Zack Snyder's "Rebel Moon," that castoff "Star Wars" pitch from years earlier which was reworked into a space opera project, had an ignominious start when the first half debuted on Netflix on Dec. 22, 2023 as "Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire." To put it mildly, fans and critics were harshly divided when it dropped, some praising its energetic attempt to create a new sci-fi universe, others believing it was a derivative, violent, and dispiriting affair cloned from the DNA of more familiar fare.

Full Story: Space (3/19)