ScientistPankaj: Not-so-static fire: Private Chinese rocket accidentally launches during test

Not-so-static fire: Chinese rocket launches during test | Space Quiz! What density subcategories do sub-Neptune exoplanets typically fall into? | Satellites watch 'extremely dangerous' Hurricane Beryl

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July 2, 2024

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The Launchpad

Not-so-static fire: Chinese rocket launches during test

(Space Pioneer)

The Beijing-based company Space Pioneer conducted a "static fire" test with the first stage of its new Tianlong-3 rocket on Sunday (June 30) in Gongyi, a city of about 800,000 people in the central Chinese province of Henan. Space Pioneer briefly ignited the stage's engines while the vehicle remained anchored to the launch pad. That's how it was supposed to work, anyway. But the anchoring mechanism failed on Sunday, and the rocket lifted off on a dramatic and frightening surprise mission.

Full Story: Space (7/1)

Space Quiz! What density subcategories do sub-Neptune exoplanets typically fall into?

Learn the answer here!

puffy and non-puffy

hard and soft

liquid and solid

cantaloupe and honeydew

Satellites watch 'extremely dangerous' Hurricane Beryl

(NOAA)

Satellites are monitoring Hurricane Beryl as it dumps destructive rain and winds on the Caribbean island of Carriacou in Grenada, where it made landfall on Monday (July 1) morning as "an extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm. Now, it's a Category 5.

Full Story: Space (7/1)

Skywatching

Night sky, July 2024: What you can see this month

(Chris Vaughan/Starry Night)

After 24 hours of travel, in the eastern sky on Tuesday morning, July 2, the now-thinner crescent of the waning moon will shine less than a binoculars' field of view (orange circle) to the upper right of Messier 45, the bright little Pleiades star cluster. The faint, blue-green dot of magnitude 5.8 Uranus will be positioned several finger-widths to the moon's lower right (or 3 degrees to its celestial south). Uranus is visible in binoculars.

Full Story: Space (10/1)

Spaceflight

International Space Station: Live updates

(NASA)

NASA will hold its next spacewalk no earlier than July 29 after a coolant leak halted the last excursion June 24. Agency officials announced the date on the International Space Station blog from NASA, after saying in a teleconference on Friday (June 28) that they planned an extravehicular activity (EVA) at the end of July. A time of day is not yet available for the excursion.

Full Story: Space (2/16)

Science & Astronomy

Why puffy exoplanets often dance with perfect rhythm

(NASA, ESA, CSA, and D. Player (STScI))

Though notably absent from the solar system, the most common planets in the Milky Way are known as "sub-Neptunes," or worlds with sizes between those of Earth and the ice giant Neptune. It is estimated that between 30% and 50% of sun-like stars are orbited by at least one sub-Neptune - but despite these worlds' ubiquity, scientists studying extrasolar planets, or exoplanets, have traditionally had difficulty measuring sub-Neptunes' densities.

Full Story: Space (7/1)

SpaceX

Find a piece of SpaceX space junk? Call the hotline

(Brett Tingley)

Space junk, it turns out, can be a tourist attraction. The Glamping Collective in North Carolina was recently on the receiving end of leftovers from the SpaceX Dragon Crew-7 mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Full Story: Space (7/2)

Technology

Lego 'space bricks' could help with moon habitat designs

(ESA/LEGO)

How European Space Agency scientists are using Lego-inspired "space bricks" to design lunar habitats.

Full Story: Space (7/2)

Search for Life

If terraforming emits greenhouse gases, we could detect it

(Thibaut Roger/NCCR PlanetS)

If aliens wrap their planets in potent greenhouse gases like we do, we'd be able to tell. That's according to a recent thought experiment in which scientists identified five "artificial" greenhouse gases that, if abundant enough, can be spotted in the atmospheres of certain exoplanets using existing technology, including the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Full Story: Space (7/2)