Is Blowing up an Asteroid With a Bomb Really a Good Idea?

Recently, in a rather shocking announcement, Russian scientists announced they plan to shoot down space rocks. Or to be more literal, they want to blow up asteroids using Cold War-era missiles.

According to Russian state-owned news agency TASS, scientists want to retrofit intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) to target asteroids ranging in size from 20 to 50 meters that are at a dangerous proximity to Earth. The goal would be to deflect the space rocks, or destroy them, so that they cannot cause damage to our planet or its cities.

With our eyes, we can see the sky above us and the grass below. If we want to explore the depths of our universe, our eyes let us see a few thousand stars, the sun, our moon, and (on a really clear night) a few planets that orbit in our solar system. That’s it. That’s our entire universe. Or at least, it was.

Technology has allowed us to go above and beyond the bounds of our senses and peer through the cosmos in a much more meaningful way. It has transformed our little universe, which seemed to house just a few thousand stars, into an unending cosmic sea that is populated by trillions upon trillions of stars.

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Why You Should Be Excited About the James Webb Space Telescope

This is one of the most exciting times in the history of space exploration. Both the public and private sectors are pushing the limits as to what we can accomplish in the world of astronomy and space exploration. In case you have missed some of the most recent news, here are four of the top stories so far this year, happening in space.

1) SpaceX Announces New Plans For Falcon 9

SpaceX is looking to make history again. They are looking to have Falcon 9 return to Earth and land upright on a ship, which happens to be moving. SpaceX has been pioneering the use of reusable rockets; last month they made history by launching Falcon 9 into space and bringing it back to solid ground at Cape Canaveral, Florida. That was the first time a rocket had ever launched into orbit and landed back to the planet safely.

2) New Method To Measure Gravitational Pull

Astronomers have discovered a new method that allows them to gather more accurate data about the pull of gravity in distance stars. “Our technique can tell you how big and bright is the star, and if a planet around it is the right size and temperature to have water oceans, and maybe life,” stated Prof Jaymie Matthews. The researchers have managed to show that variations in the brightness of even distant stars can be used for more accurate measurements of surface gravity. These findings have been published in the journal, Science Advances.

3) Scientists Discover The Longest Galaxy Tail Ever

A ribbon of hot gas trailing behind a galaxy has recently been discovered. The length of this tail is believed to be at least 250,000 light years; this would be the largest tail ever detected. For comparison, the Milky Way is only about 100,000 light-year across. The galaxy with the enormous X-ray tail is a member of a galaxy cluster known as Zwicky 8338, which is located almost 700 million light years from earth.

4) The European Space Agency Looks To Establish Lunar Colony

The European Space Agency recently hosted a two-day symposium, which included over 200 scientists and space officials from 28 different countries. They came together to discuss ways in which they can get back to the Moon. They believe that this will allow them to springboard human exploration into the solar system. “The ESA space-exploration strategy sets the moon as a priority destination for humans on the way to Mars, and the recent talk of a ‘Moon Village’ certainly has generated a lot of positive energy in Europe,” NASA’s Kathy Laurini, co-chair for the Exploration Roadmap Working Group for the Global Exploration Roadmap, said to space.com. “The timing is right,” Laurini said, “to get started on the capabilities which allow Europe to meet its exploration objectives and ensure Europe remains a strong partner as humans begin to explore the solar system.”

SpaceX’s reusable rocket, Falcon 9, successfully landed back on Earth just a few short weeks ago. Elon Musk has recently updated the world on the status of the rocket, claiming that the Falcon 9 is already ready to be launched for another mission.

Musk posted a photo to Instagram just before the New Year commenced, showing the Falcon 8 rocket at the Cape Canaveral hanger. The caption said that “no damage was found” and that it was “ready to fire again.”

SpaceX’s plan for reusable rockets is a major step towards a more cost efficient approach for space missions. There has been no date set for when the Falcon 9 will go on its next launch.

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Eleven Days After Making History, The Falcon 9 Is Ready to Fire Again – Futurism

Last year, NASA had a number of major successes, including finding liquid water on Mars and icy mountains on Pluto. These discoveries led Congress to give the organization a raise, approving a budget of $19.3 billion.

The budget for this year is actually $1.27 billion more than what the Obama administration had requested. However, it does come with some requirements. Congress is instructing NASA to use at least $55 million to construct a prototype model of a deep space habitat.

An omnibus bill passed by Congress this month directs NASA to accelerate work on a “habitation augmentation module” that could be used for future deep space missions.

The Exploration Research And Development line item in the budget received an allocation of $350 million. The funding for the habitation module will be a part of the Advanced Exploration Systems program, which is a part of the aforementioned line item.

It states that “NASA shall develop a prototype deep space habitation module within the advanced exploration systems program.” In addition, NASA will be required to provide Congress with a report within 180 days of the bill’s enactment that details how those funds are being used to create the habitation module.

Congress is looking for quick results; they want everything done by 2018. So how will NASA do this?

Well, NASA has spent much of the last year voicing a desire to get humans to Mars by the 2030s. A habitation module that sits between Earth and the moon could be used for the manned missions to Mars that NASA hopes to carry out.

Sam Scimemi, International Space Station director at NASA Headquarters, stated that he envisions testing out the habitation module and other key technologies in a year-long “shakedown cruise” in cislunar space by the late 2020s.

The agency has already funded several industry studies of habitation module concepts under its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships, or NextSTEP program.

The acronym “NASA” stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The organization has pioneered many missions to space. They even managed to get humans on the moon with a computer as powerful as your modern toaster. To many, NASA seems to be an invincible force, and in many respects that are, but at the end of the day they are no different than any other organization. I recently came across this article, which outlines some interesting facts about NASA that you might not know. Here are some of many favorite facts about the NASA.

1) NASA has a goal to get humans on Mars at some point in the 2030s.

2) Space Shuttle electronics were so outdated that nobody made them anymore. Therefore, NASA had to resort to buying spare parts on websites like eBay.

3) According to NASA estimates, the value of minerals in the asteroid belt amounts to nearly $100 billion for every human on the planet.

4) To be officially considered an astronaut by NASA you must travel at least 50 miles above Earth’s surface.

5) Cape Canaveral, Florida was chosen as a launch site for spaceships because of its proximity to the equator. This location gives it more linear velocity than any other location in the United States.

6) According to polls, most Americans believe that NASA funding accounts for roughly 20% of the national budget. However, NASA actually receives only $0.005 cents of every dollar.

7) The area code for Kennedy Space Center, and its surrounding regions, is 321. The number imitates the countdown before liftoff.

8) The toaster in your kitchen has a more powerful computer than the one used by NASA to send astronauts to the moon. It only had 64Kbyte of memory and operated at 0.043MHz!

9) Lonnie Johnson, the man who invented the Super Soaker was a NASA scientist. Johnson also helped develop the Stealth Bomber.

10) NASA shows the movie Armageddon as part of its staff training. Trainees are then asked to identify as many scientific inaccuracies as they can.

11) NASA will send you a text message whenever the International Space Station passes over your location.

12) Feeling lazy? NASA will actually pay you to lay in bed for months at a time so they can study the effects of prolonged weightlessness.

13) Bill Nye the Science Guy originally wanted to be an astronaut, but NASA kept rejecting him.

14) In 2006, NASA admitted that they had accidentally recorded over the original tapes of the moon landing. Thankfully, NASA was not the only group recording. Copies found at CBS and Johnson Space Center are currently being restored.

15) NASA was sued by three men from Yemen for trespassing on Mars. The men claimed that they had inherited the planet from their ancestors thousands of years ago.

For more facts about NASA, feel free to check out this article or the video below.

It has been over 46 years since the crew for the United States landed on the moon. The date was July 20th, 1969, when Apollo 11 brought the first humans to the Moon. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first people to step foot onto the lunar surface. Since this historic day, we have not yet to see another human reach the Moon.

However, this may soon change, as Russia has announced plans to land its first cosmonauts on the Moon before 2030; Europe is also eager to take part in the mission as well.

On Tuesday, at a space and technology conference in Moscow, the head of Roscosmos Energia announced, “A manned flight to the moon and lunar landing is planned for 2029.”

Russia will be teaming up with the European Space Agency, which made history this past year when they landed the first spacecraft on a comet.

“We have an ambition to have European astronauts on the moon,” Bérengère Houdou, head of the lunar-exploration group at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Center, recently told BBC News. “There are currently discussion at international level going on for broad cooperation on how to go back to the moon.”

While they are several decades behind the United States in this area of space exploration, the mission is still exciting. Russian and Europe have expressed interest in establishing a permanent base on the moon; they have already begun taking steps to achieve this goal.

Roscosmos Energia previously announced last month that they will be sending a lander, Luna 25, to the moon’s south pole in 2014. Roscosmos is looking to investigate the lunar surface for future lunar bases.

The Luna 25 mission was actually initially proposed in 1997 but has suffered a number of delays. The help from Europe appears to be exactly what this mission needs to finally get off the ground. According to Tech Insider, construction on the spacecraft has already begun.

We have seen a reignited interest in deep-space travel, and a mission to the Moon will only help to fuel the interest in continued space exploration. This collaborative effort in space exploration is exciting to see as the world looks to take on even more dangerous missions, such as Mars.

 

The universe is vast as it is beautiful. Every day the human race pushes further into that black unknown, we come closer to understanding more about the universe. Each discovery is new and powerful, transcending our wildest imaginings, and reminds us just how small we are. Recently, a discovery made by the Hubble Space Telescope revealed another event that had never been witnessed before by human eyes.

Named for its unique structure, the Twin Jet Nebula expands outward in two directions. Massive waves of iridescent light reach away from the suns rotating at its center. Scientists have compared its body to a butterfly, outstretched wings resplendent with beautiful colors created by jets of gas escaping the suns gravitational pull in excesses of 620,000 mph.

Scientifically identified by its less catchy name, PN M2-9 is the first discovery of its kind. The unique array of lights bringing the nebula to life is a result of its aged and dying suns. As a star ages, it sheds outer layers while its mass decreases, exposing the radioactive core to the emptiness of space. The immense pouring of light and heat into the vacuum illuminates the gasses escaping the core, resulting in a prismatic show of primordial beauty.

More fascinating than the shape of the nebula, is its swirling heart. Two brother suns, trapped in one another’s gravitational pull, rotate at the center of this nebula. Throwing an irradiated cloud of energy for thousands of miles in either direction, the nebula has captured the attention of the scientific community.

Two suns orbiting each other once every hundred years, exerting gravitational forces that fling energy out in beautiful wing patterns. An incredible phenomenon occurring on a level above the natural, this universal event is unique and fascinating. Reminding us, yet again, that we’re lucky to be on this planet.