A NASA mission to Mars will be listening for the latest Red Planet Rover landing, the CIA releases thousands of DFLF-related UFO-related documents and embarks on a new multi-year voyage into the solar system, a Japanese asteroid-study spacecraft. These are some of the top stories from Space.com this week.
Blue Origin successfully launched and landed its advanced spacecraft.
On Thursday (January 14), Blue Origin successfully launched the reusable RSS First Step spacecraft from West Texas in an unbreakable suborbital test flight. It is the first advanced New Shepard spacecraft for astronauts, and both its rocket and capsule were successfully touched upon launch. Blue Origin is developing New Shepard to take people and payloads into sub-space and back.
Full Story: Blue Origin’s first upgraded new Shepard spacecraft for astronaut Aces launch (and landing)
Dangerous benchmark for CO2 in 2021.
The National Meteorological Service for the UK, called the Met Office, recently made a forecast that suggests that carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere will exceed a major threshold this year. According to the lead researcher of the forecast, CO2 stays in the atmosphere for a long time, and the levels continue to increase due to emissions from previous years. In 2021, they expect a 50% increase in atmospheric CO2 since the beginning of widespread industrial activity in the 18th century.
Full Story: Atmospheric CO2 will pass a dangerous milestone in 2021
The SpaceX cargo dragon falls down into the Atlantic Ocean.
SpaceX’s 21st space station cargo delivery mission to NASA wrapped up on Wednesday (January 13), when a cargo dragon spacecraft returned to Earth off the coast of Florida. The Dragon CRS-21 mission was launched on December 6, 2020 and delivered 6,40 lbs. (2,903 kg) supplies and science equipment crew aboard the International Space Station. It was the first Atlantic splashdown of a cargo dragon.
Full Story: SpaceX’s Advanced Cargo Dragon Supply Ship Makes 1 Atlantic Splashdown
See it all: SpaceX cargo dragon supply ship makes 1 autonomous undocking from space station
The CIA released more than 2,700 pages of undisclosed documents related to the “unknown aerial incident”. According to the operator of The Black Vault, an online repository of UFO-related documents, the documents were released following several requests for the Right to Information Act (FOIA) in the last 25 years.
Full Story: CIA released full collection of documents related to UFOs to the truth-searching website
The oldest and farthest to be traced is the quasar.
Astronomers found quasars farthest away for science. It is so far away that light from this quasar reaches the earth when the universe was only 5% of its present age. This quasar also calculates a supermassive black hole with a mass equal to about 1.6 billion suns.
Full Story: The farthest quasar ever found is hiding a serious supermassive black hole
The Japanese probe traveled to the targets of the new asteroid.
Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft is heading to a new asteroid in early December 2020 after dropping samples from its previous target on Earth. On January 5, the mission team began navigation back into the solar system to reach 2,300 feet. -Seed (700 m) asteroid (98943) 2001 CC21 for a flyby in 2026. Another space reef will travel more deeply in 2031, when it studies the 100 feet (30 m) wide asteroid of the 1998 KY26.
Full Story: Japanese asteroid-sampling probe begins long for next space rock
Scientists find an old and hot ‘super-earth’ in the Milky Way.
Scientists found data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and WM Keck Observatory to find an exoplanet about 50% larger than Earth, orbiting one of the oldest stars in the Milan Way galaxy. The system is located nearby, about 280 light years from Earth. The exoplanet is about the size and density of our planet, but its average surface temperature of 3,140 ° F (1,726 ° C) means that it is too hot to host any form of life as we know it.
Full Story: Rocky ‘Super-Earth’ planet orbiting one of the oldest stars in the Milky Way
See it all: It’s really there! Kepler Space Telescope’s 2-time exoplanet candidate confirmed.
NASA is ready to test the mega-track engines.
NASA plans to test four main engines of its next-generation heavy booster, the Space Launch System (SLS) track. This will be the final test in NASA’s “Green Run” test series to test whether the rocket is ready for its first launch, without leaving Artemis 1 mission around the moon. Upcoming hot-fire engine tests NASA’s Stannis Will be in space. Center in Mississippi.
Full Story: NASA is finally ready to test the engines of its SLS Megakat
Scientists study sunlight and look for their origins.
The Sun releases acoustic energy in the form of waves that wave along the surface of the Sun. According to data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, this solar seismic activity extends deep below the star’s surface. Scientists plan to study more sunsets to identify a source arising from deep within the star.
Full Story: The possibility of sunlight is deep under the solar surface
A mission from NASA can listen to the Martian landing of another mission.
NASA’s Insight Mars Lander is designed to listen for marscakes, but its sensitivity means it can also pick up waves created by NASA’s Persistence Mars rover when it hits the red planet’s surface in February 2021 Land The Insight Mission will attempt to take seismic activity of the rover’s landing from more than 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away.
Full Story: NASA’s Insight Mars lander could ‘hear’ the rover’s landing firmly next month
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