ScientistPankaj: Polaris Dawn mission: Meet the crew taking 1st commercial spacewalk

Thursday, August 22, 2024

Polaris Dawn mission: Meet the crew taking 1st commercial spacewalk

Polaris Dawn: Meet the crew of 1st commercial spacewalk | Jupiter's JUICE probe slingshots by Earth on way to Venus | Astrophotographer captures Saturn behind the moon

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

August 22, 2024

CONNECT WITH SPACE.COM

Something amazing every day.

The Launchpad

Polaris Dawn: Meet the crew of 1st commercial spacewalk

(Space.com / Josh Dinner)

Strapped into the same Crew Dragon that launched Inspiration4, Jared Isaacman, the mission's commander, will ride a Falcon 9 rocket to orbit alongside fellow Polaris Dawn crewmember Scott "Kidd" Poteet, a retired United States Air Force (USAF) Lieutenant Colonel serving as mission pilot, with Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both Lead Space Operations Engineers at SpaceX - and the first employees to launch to space on one of the company's rockets - serving as mission specialists.

Full Story: Space (8/21)

Jupiter's JUICE probe slingshots by Earth on way to Venus

(ESA/Juice/JMC)

The European Space Agency's JUICE spacecraft - which stands for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer - has completed a historic, first-of-its-kind flyby of Earth and the moon. The craft, which launched on April 14, 2023, is now heading toward a flyby of Venus, the second planet from the sun, which will ping it back to Earth for more gravity assists in 2026 and 2029. After those flybys, JUICE will be on to Jupiter and its moons, set to reach its ultimate target in July 2031.

Full Story: Space (8/21)

Skywatching

Astrophotographer captures Saturn behind the moon

(Josh Dury)

Photographer Josh Dury was up bright and early to capture the event from his location in Somerset, U.K. "I have waited years to see a lunar occultation of Saturn. What can be more majestic than one of the most famous planets of the solar system being obscured by the moon?" Dury told Space.com in an email.

Full Story: Space (8/21)

Spaceflight

AstroForge to launch historic asteroid-landing mission

(dottedhippo/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

"If successful, this mission will be the first private mission to land on another body outside of our Earth-moon system and will move us closer to realizing our mission of making off-world resources accessible to all humankind," AstroForge wrote in an update.

Full Story: Space (8/21)

Science & Astronomy

What happens if you throw a star at a black hole? (video)

(Daniel Price (2024))

Thankfully, actual black holes and stars can't be smashed together in the lab! However, scientists can use advanced supercomputer modeling to simulate a black hole ripping apart and devouring a star in a so-called "tidal disruption event" or "TDE." Doing just that, a team of researchers led by Danel Price from Monash University has discovered that the answer to our opening question is "things get messy."

Full Story: Space (8/21)

SpaceX

SpaceX shows off Dragons for Polaris Dawn and Crew-9

(SpaceX)

These two Dragons are getting ready to spread their wings. SpaceX just gave us a look at the Crew Dragon capsules that will fly on the Polaris Dawn and Crew-9 astronaut missions, which are set to launch on Aug. 27 and Sept. 24, respectively.

Full Story: Space (8/21)

Technology

How NASA's Curiosity rover changed Mars landings forever

(NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Imagine trying to land an SUV-sized rover on another world. That's definitely enough of a challenge on its own, but picture doing so while the rover hangs perilously beneath a hovering sky crane, connected by just a handful of clothesline-like nylon cables.

Full Story: Space (8/22)

Search for Life

Intelligent aliens may be rare, new study suggests

(Seth Shostak/SETI Institute)

The universe should either be crowded with life or harbor hardly any life at all, according to a new study that revamps the Drake equation using probabilistic logic.

Full Story: Space (8/20)