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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Do stars fall quietly into black holes, or crash into something utterly unknown?

    May 31, 2017, Categories  Physics, Astronomy/Space

    This artist's impression shows a star crossing the event horizon of a supermassive black hole located in the center of a galaxy. The black hole is so large and massive that tidal effects on the star are negligible, and the star is swallowed whole. Mark A. Garlick/CfA

    This artist’s impression shows a star crossing the event horizon of a supermassive black hole located in the center of a galaxy. The black hole is so large and massive that tidal effects on the star are negligible, and the star is swallowed whole. Mark A. Garlick/CfA 

    Astronomers at The University of Texas at Austin and Harvard University have put a basic principle of black holes to the test, showing that matter completely vanishes when pulled in. Their results constitute another successful test for Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. Most scientists agree that black holes, cosmic entities of such great gravity that nothing can escape their grip, are surrounded by a so-called event horizon...
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    ‘Halos’ discovered on Mars Widen Time Frame for Potential Life

    May 30, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A mosaic of images from the navigation cameras on the NASA Curiosity rover shows “halos” of lighter-toned bedrock around fractures. These halos comprise high concentrations of silica and indicate that liquid groundwater flowed through the rocks in Gale crater longer than previously believed. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    A mosaic of images from the navigation cameras on the NASA Curiosity rover shows “halos” of lighter-toned bedrock around fractures. These halos comprise high concentrations of silica and indicate that liquid groundwater flowed through the rocks in Gale crater longer than previously believed. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    Lighter-toned bedrock that surrounds fractures and comprises high concentrations of silica – called “halos” – has been found in Gale crater on Mars, indicating that the planet had liquid water much longer than previously believed. “The concentration of silica is very high at the centerlines of these halos,” said Jens Frydenvang, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Copenhagen...

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    Camera on NASA’s Lunar Orbiter survived 2014 Meteoroid hit

    May 30, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    1.The first wild back-and-forth line records the moment on October 13, 2014 when the left Narrow Angle Camera's radiator was struck by a meteoroid. Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University 2. The Narrow Angle Camera sits on a bench in the clean room at Malin Space Science Systems. The radiator (right) extends off the electronics end and keeps the sensor cool while imaging the moon. Computer modeling shows the meteoroid impacted somewhere on the radiator. Credits: Malin Space Science Systems/Arizona State University

    1.The first wild back-and-forth line records the moment on October 13, 2014 when the left Narrow Angle Camera’s radiator was struck by a meteoroid.
    Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University
    2. The Narrow Angle Camera sits on a bench in the clean room at Malin Space Science Systems. The radiator (right) extends off the electronics end and keeps the sensor cool while imaging the moon. Computer modeling shows the meteoroid impacted somewhere on the radiator.
    Credits: Malin Space Science Systems/Arizona State University

    On Oct.13, 2014 something very strange happened to the camera aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)...

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    Neptune: Neutralizer-Free Plasma Propulsion

    May 29, 2017, Categories  Physics, Astronomy/Space

    This is an image of the Neptune thruster (right) with plasma expanding into a space simulation chamber. Credit: Dmytro Rafalskyi

    This is an image of the Neptune thruster (right) with plasma expanding into a space simulation chamber. Credit: Dmytro Rafalskyi

    Scientists study neutralizer-free plasma propulsion for spacecraft. Plasma propulsion is an important and efficient technology used to control spacecraft for Earth observation, communications and fundamental exploration of outer space. Plasma propulsion systems use electric power to ionize propellant gas and transform it into the 4th of matter, ie plasma. Electrically charged ions and electrons are accelerated in an exhaust beam to generate thrust and propel the spacecraft.

    The most established electric propulsion concepts, for example gridded-ion thrusters, accelerate and emit a larger number of positively charged particles than those with negative charge...

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