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Earth’s “Magnetosphere” COLLAPSED in space TODAY for two+ hours! Trouble ahead for all of us A stunning and terrifying event has taken place in space surrounding our planet; for two hours today, earth’s “Magnetosphere” COLLAPSED around the entire planet! The magnetosphere is what protects earth from solar winds and some radiation. EARTH’S MAGNETOSPHERE Deep within the Earth, a fierce molten core is generating a magnetic field capable of defending our planet against devastating solar winds. The protective field, called the “magnetosphere” extends thousands of miles into space and its magnetism affects everything from global communication to animal migration and weather...

The Bubble Nebula, also known as NGC 7653, is an emission nebula located 11,000 light-years away. This stunning new image was observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to celebrate its 26th year in space. Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team =============================================================================================================== This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, released to celebrate Hubble's 26th year in orbit, captures in stunning clarity what looks like a gigantic cosmic soap bubble. The object, known as the Bubble Nebula, is in fact a cloud of gas and dust illuminated by the brilliant star within it. The vivid new portrait of this dramatic scene...

Colorado Springs, Colo.—The Federal Aviation Authority (sic) would like to develop an implementation plan "as soon as possible" to begin transitioning responsibility for collecting and disseminating safety-related space situational awareness data from the Air Force to the FAA, the associate administrator for commercial space transportation at the FAA said Wednesday. "We would want to accomplish that transition in a crawl, walk, run manner, so that all of the key stakeholders were comfortable with the approach that was being used, and with the resulting products and services," George Nield said at the 32nd Space Symposium, adding that the transition could be...

National Space Society members have voted the 2016 Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Award to Dr. Jerry Pournelle... (This award is distinguished from the Heinlein Award given by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society and co-funded by The Heinlein Society, and the Heinlein Prize for Accomplishments in Commercial Space Activities administered by The Heinlein Trust.)

Nasa engineers have begun testing the concept for a new propulsion system that could slash the time it takes for spacecraft to reach interstellar space. The system would interact with particles released by the sun, repelling protons to create thrust and achieve unprecedented speeds. Researchers say this could bring spacecraft to the heliopause in just 10 years – a feat that took the Voyager craft 35 years.

Please click the link to view the slideshow. There are 40 images, minus a few ads.

In an attempt to leapfrog the planets and vault into the interstellar age, a bevy of scientists and other luminaries from Silicon Valley and beyond, led by Yuri Milner, the Russian philanthropist and Internet entrepreneur, announced a plan on Tuesday to send a fleet of robots no bigger than iPhones to Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system, 4.37 light-years away. If it all worked out — a cosmically big “if” that would occur decades and perhaps $10 billion from now — a rocket would deliver a “mother ship” carrying a thousand or so small probes to space. Once in orbit,...

Japan's space agency says communication has failed with a newly launched, innovative satellite with X-ray telescopes meant to study black holes and other space mysteries. The Japan Times newspaper says a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency official, Saku Tsuneta, said that he didn't know yet if communications could be re-established.

"An embodiment of the present application relates to a method of prospecting asteroids for mining, comprising: (a) launching at least one spacecraft, the spacecraft including a space telescope; (b) examining a plurality of asteroids using the space telescope to gather scientific data for asteroid characterization and cataloguing; and (c) selecting one or more asteroids to mine from the plurality of asteroids examined by the space telescope and stored within the catalogue. Another embodiment of the present application relates to a system for prospecting asteroids for mining, comprising: (a) at least one spacecraft; and (b) a space telescope mounted on the...

Last week, their national nuclear corporation Rosatom announced it isbuilding a nuclear engine that will reach Mars in a month and a half—with fuel to burn for the trip home. Russia might not achieve its goal of launching a prototype by 2025. But that has more to do with the country’s financial situation...than the technical challenges of a nuclear engine. ... “A nuclear contraption should not be too far off, not too complicated,” says Nikolai Sokov, senior fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, CA. “The really expensive thing will be designing a ship around these...

China Spends Millions Searching for (Space) Aliens by Brian Thomas, M.S. * How much money should a nation spend on space-alien ventures? China is shelling out almost 200 million dollars on an enormous radio antenna built to listen for signs of far out intelligence.1 In the western hemisphere, the US invested millions of dollars in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI) project but turned up no evidence whatsoever.2 The ever-growing number of barren and gaseous exoplanets discovered continues to elevate Earth's uniqueness.3 Apparently, China would love to be the first nation to make "first contact." China recently made news...

Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). Acknowledgment: R. Sahai and J. Trauger (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is a final act of celestial beauty before the long fade into cosmic history. Invisibly buried in the centre of this colourful swirl of gas is a dying star, roughly the same mass as the sun. As a star ages, the nuclear reactions that keep it shining begin to falter. This uncertain energy generation causes the stars to pulsate in an irregular way, casting off its outer layers into space. As the star sheds these outer gases, the super-hot core...

Rare Jewel: Earth-like Planets May Be Very Rare Msgr. Charles Pope • February 28, 2016 • I have written a good bit over the years about what is known as the “Rare Earth” Hypothesis. A recent blog on discovermagazine.com ponders how high the odds are against the existence of another Earth-like planet. More on that in a moment. But first let’s review some of the basics of the Rare Earth Hypothesis.While most people, including most scientists, believe that there may be billions of inhabitable planets out there a capable of sustaining complex life, the Rare Earth Hypothesis suggests that...

This image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope shows the elliptical galaxy NGC 4889 (arrowed) in front of hundreds of background galaxies. Well-hidden from human eyes, there is a gigantic supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy. (Credit: NASA & ESA) ===================================================================================================================================== Astronomers have found one of the largest-ever black holes in giant galaxy NGC 4889, some 300 million light years away. The Hubble space telescope has captured an incredible image of elliptical galaxy NGC 4889, which is located in the Coma Cluster. Scientists, however, note that the giant galaxy harbors a dark secret. The European Space Agency...

Asteroid TX68 is coming! OK, it's probably gonna miss... but maybe not! Asteroid TX68, from it's name 2013 TX68 was discovered in 2013. It is supposed to approach closer than anything else recently, at .044 times the Lunar distance, or about 11,000 miles. Not sure why they use LD as a measurement because LD changes all the time, but so it goes... Comments or thoughts are always appreciated!

In one of his final interviews from the International Space Station, astronaut Scott Kelly said that the Earth's atmosphere "looks very, very fragile" and "like something that we need to take care of."

SEOUL/TOKYO, Feb 7 (Reuters) - North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Sunday carrying what it has called a satellite, but its neighbours and Washington denounced the launch as a missile test, conducted in defiance of U.N. sanctions and just weeks after a nuclear bomb test. The U.S. Strategic Command said it had detected a missile entering space, and South Korea's military said the rocket had put an object into orbit. North Korea said the launch of its satellite Kwangmyongsong-4, named after late leader Kim Jong Il, was a "complete success" and that it was making a polar orbit of...

The nitrogen ice glaciers on Pluto appear to carry an intriguing cargo: numerous, isolated hills that may be fragments of water ice from Pluto's surrounding uplands. These hills individually measure one to several miles or kilometers across, according to images and data from NASA's New Horizons mission. The hills, which are in the vast ice plain informally named Sputnik Planum within Pluto's 'heart,' are likely miniature versions of the larger, jumbled mountains on Sputnik Planum's western border. They are yet another example of Pluto's fascinating and abundant geological activity. Because water ice is less dense than nitrogen-dominated ice, scientists believe...

Testimony at a hearing before the House Science Committee’s Subcommittee on Space suggested that NASA’s Journey to Mars lacks a plan to achieve the first human landing on the Red Planet almost six years after President Obama announced the goal on April 15, 2010. Moreover, two of the three witnesses argued that a more realistic near term goal for the space agency would be a return to the moon. The moon is not only a scientifically interesting and potentially commercially profitable place to go but access to lunar water, which can be refined into rocket fuel, would make the Journey...

Full US space launch capability may be delayed beyond 2019 if it cuts its supply of Russian-made RD-180 rocket engines, US Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. "Industry tells us... [they can] make 2019 for an engine, but I must say an engine alone will not get us to space. It needs to be integrated with a rocket, it needs to be tested, it needs to be certified, and to get all of that done, to have a launch capability will be longer than 2019," James said. The United States currently relies...