ScientistPankaj: China aims to breed zebrafish aboard Tiangong space station (video)

ULA's new Vulcan Centaur rocket launches on 2nd test flight | China aims to breed zebrafish aboard Tiangong space station | Aurora alert! Possible geomagnetic storm coming

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October 4, 2024

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The Launchpad

ULA's new Vulcan Centaur rocket launches on 2nd test flight

(United Launch Alliance)

United Launch Alliance's (ULA) powerful new Vulcan Centaur rocket is two for two. Vulcan Centaur, the successor to ULA's workhorse Atlas V, launched today (Oct. 4) at 7:25 a.m. EDT (1125 GMT) after a series of holds from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, kicking off a key test flight called Cert-2. ULA declared the flight a success, apparently keeping the new rocket on track to be certified for use on national security missions -- a box that could be checked in the coming weeks, after ULA and the U.S. Space Force have had a chance to review data from the flight.

Full Story: Space (10/4)

China aims to breed zebrafish aboard Tiangong space station

(CCTV)

Scientists designed the experiment to study how the space environment affects their growth and the overall system balance. Earlier, the fish had been observed doing strange things due to microgravity, such as unusual directional behavior and inverted swimming.

Full Story: Space (10/4)

Put Interest On Ice Until Nearly 2026

Did you know some credit cards can actually help you get out of debt faster? Yes, it sounds crazy. But it's true. The secret: Find a card with a "0% intro APR" period for balance transfers. Then, transfer your debt balance and pay it down as much as possible during the intro period. No interest means you could pay off the debt faster. Find out more

Skywatching

Aurora alert! Possible geomagnetic storm coming

(NurPhoto/Getty Images)

Aurora chasers get those cameras on charge! Due to heightened solar activity, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a geomagnetic storm warning for Oct. 3 through to Oct.5. This is great news for those wishing to see the northern lights because if the predicted G3 conditions are reached we could witness auroras deep into mid-latitudes (around 50°) and as far south as Illinois and Oregon.

Full Story: Space (10/3)

Spaceflight

BepiColombo unraveling the Mercury's magnetic mystery

(Robert Lea (created with Canva)/NASA)

The BepiColombo spacecraft may have only made rapid flybys of Mercury, but it is already helping to unravel mysteries surrounding the closest planet to the sun. In 2026, a European Space Agency (ESA)/Japan Aerospace Agency (JAXA) joint mission will fall into orbit around Mercury, the solar system's smallest planet. However, to do that, the spacecraft first needs to make several flybys of Mercury, Venus and Earth. Fortunately, these flybys are proving invaluable to science.

Full Story: Space (10/3)

Science & Astronomy

JWST finds supernova that could resolve astronomy debate

(NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, B. Frye (University of Arizona), R. Windhorst (Arizona State University), S. Cohen (Arizona State University), J. D'Silva (University of Western Australia, Perth), A. Koekemoer (Space Telescope Science Institute), J. Summers (Arizona State University))

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have captured a stunning image of a distant supernova in a galaxy that looks like it's being stretched like warm taffy. However, the golden smear hiding this gravitationally lensed supernova, which has been nicknamed "supernova Hope," isn't just remarkable for its aesthetic value. The supernova, which exploded when the 13.8-billion-year-old universe was just around 3.5 billion years old, tells us something about a huge problem in cosmology called the "Hubble tension."

Full Story: Space (10/3)

SpaceX

Watch SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launch Europa Clipper Oct. 10

(Space.com / Josh Dinner)

SpaceX will launch NASA's highly anticipated Europa Clipper mission on Thursday (Oct. 10), and you can watch the action live. A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket is scheduled to lift off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on Thursday at 12:31 p.m. EDT (1631 GMT), kicking off the $5 billion Europa Clipper mission, which will assess the habitability of Jupiter's ocean moon Europa.

Full Story: Space (10/4)

Technology

Dangerous satellite air pollution exists in a legal loophole

(SpaceX)

Air pollution from satellites burning up in Earth's atmosphere could become the world's next big environmental problem - but the tricky form of contamination seems to evade the reach of both international space treaties and Earth-focused environmental laws. So, some researchers are suggesting a solution: Maybe chemicals produced during satellite reentries should be incorporated in the 1987 Montreal Protocol which bans certain substances that can harm our planet's protective ozone layer.

Full Story: Space (10/4)

Search for Life

Curiosity Mars rover's wheels are more battered than ever

(NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

As fun as it would be to visit Mars, we wouldn't necessarily want to walk a mile in the Curiosity rover's shoes - or rather, its wheels. After landing in Mars' Gale Crater in 2012 and traveling some 20 miles (32 kilometers) over the rocky Martian landscape, the robotic explorer's six wheels are looking a little worse for wear.

Full Story: Space (10/3)