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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Powering the Future with Lunar Soil

    July 21, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Moon base. Credit: European Space Agency

    Building a lunar base would be one of the next logical steps in our exploration of the solar system, but the survival of a future crew depends on access to a reliable source of energy. An ESA Discovery & Preparation study explored how lunar regolith—the dust, soil and rock on the moon’s surface—could be used to store heat and provide electricity for future astronauts, rovers and landers.

    Humans would have little difficulty reaching the moon’s surface with today’s technology, but it is expensive—sometimes even impossible—to take all the materials we would need with us, especially if we want to stay for more than a couple of days...

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    Red Wine’s Resveratrol could help Mars Explorers stay strong

    July 20, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space, Biology/Biotechnology

    Terminal assessment of the muscles of the triceps surae, including soleus (A)and gastrocnemius wet mass (D), soleus (B) and gastrocnemius (E) average cross sectional area (CSA), and representative images of the soleus (C) and gastrocnemius (F) muscles stained with anti-collagen VI (red), anti-slow-skeletal myosin heavy chain (green), and DAPI (blue). N = 6 per group. The results are presented as mean ± SEM; the results of the post hoc tests following the ANOVA are indicated. *p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01, and ∗∗∗p < 0.001 vs. PWB100, respectively. #p < 0.05, ###p < 0.001, and #⁢#⁢#⁢#p < 0.0001 vs. PWB100 + RSV, respectively. $p < 0.05, $$p < 0.01, and $$$p < 0.001 vs. PWB40, respectively.

    Nutraceuticals that preserve muscle in reduced gravity will support long-term space mis...

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    Gaia starts Mapping the Galactic Bar in the Milky Way

    July 18, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This colour chart, superimposed on an artistic representation of the galaxy, shows the distribution of 150 million stars in the Milky Way probed using data from the second release of ESA’s Gaia mission in combination with infrared and optical surveys, with orange/yellow hues indicating greater density of stars. Most of these stars are red giants. While the majority of charted stars are located closer to the Sun (the larger orange/yellow blob in the lower part of the image), a large and elongated feature populated by many stars is also visible in the central region of the galaxy: this is the first geometric indication of the galactic bar. Credit: ESA/Gaia/DPAC, A. Khalatyan (AIP) & StarHorse Team; mapa artístic de la Galaxia: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC/Caltech)

    The first direct ...

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    Supernova observation first of its kind using NASA Satellite

    July 17, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Supernova Explosion, ASASSN-18tb

    Data offer new clues about why stars explode. A team of astronomers at The Ohio State University showed that the satellite survey TESS, could be used to monitor a particular type of supernova, giving scientists more clues about what causes white dwarf stars to explode – and about the elements those explosions leave behind.

    “We have known for years that these stars explode, but we have terrible ideas of why they explode,” said Patrick Vallely, lead author of the study and an Ohio State astronomy graduate student...

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