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Trapped in the rigid structure of diamonds formed deep in the Earth’s crust, scientists have discovered a form of water ice that was not previously known to occur naturally on our planet. The finding, published Thursday in Science, represents the first detection of naturally occurring ice-VII ever found on Earth. And as sometimes happens in the scientific process, it was discovered entirely by accident. Ice-VII is about one and a half times as dense as the regular ice we put in our drinks and skate on in winter, and the crystalline structure of its atoms is different as well. In...

At the beginning of a cabinet meeting yesterday Trump spent some time talking about the recent successes in commercial space. Not unusually, Trump gets some details wrong but understands the essentials, much to the terror of the big space contractors of SLS (Boeing) and Orion (Lockheed Martin). SpaceX will charge $90 million for the launch of a reused Falcon Heavy (using three reused first stages). Estimates for the cost of a single SLS launch are difficult to estimate.

China’s Tiangong-1 is expected to re-enter the atmosphere and crash into Earth in just a few weeks, scientists have warned. The Aerospace Corporation, a California-based non-profit research and development organization, predicted the 8.5-ton space station will collide into the earth's atmosphere in the first week of April, with error of margin at a week on either side. The European Space Agency estimates the module will crash sometime between March 24 and April 19. Although experts have not yet determined exactly where the out-of-control module will land, an Aerospace report detailed that it will likely re-enter somewhere in the northern U.S....

The concept of what would become the Hubble Space Telescope was first envisioned after World War II, when astronomer Lyman Spitzer and a handful of scientists began a fifty year struggle to build the first space telescope capable of seeing beyond Earth's atmospheric veil. Robert Zimmerman, author of "The Universe in a Mirror: The Saga of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Visionaries Who Built It," takes us behind the scenes, explaining how some of Hubble's advocates sacrificed careers and family, and how others devoted their lives to the telescope only to have their hopes and reputations shattered when its...

The European Space Agency (ESA) has issued a new re-entry forecast for China's Tiangong-1 space lab. The 8.5-ton spacecraft is now expected to fall into Earth's atmosphere between March 24 and April 19, though ESA officials stressed that this is a rough estimate. "Re-entry will take place anywhere between 43 degrees north and 43 degrees south (e.g. Spain, France, Portugal, Greece, etc.)" latitude, officials with the Space Debris Office at ESA’s European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany, wrote in an update last week. "Areas outside of these latitudes can be excluded. At no time will a precise time/location prediction...

Astronomers have detected a massive stellar flare -- an energetic explosion of radiation -- from the closest star to our own Sun, Proxima Centauri, which occurred last March. This finding raises questions about the habitability of our Solar System's nearest exoplanetary neighbor, Proxima b [an Earth-like planet], which orbits Proxima Centauri.

How can a rocket engine achieve more than a 100-percent thrust? Well, RS-25 engines were first designed more than 40 years ago, for use with NASA's space shuttle, and the power level they were capable of achieving at the time is the margin known as 100-percent thrust, according to NASA. RS-25 engines are former space shuttle engines that have been modified to perform more powerfully than ever before. "Increased engine performance is crucial for enabling SLS missions to deep space as the rocket evolves to be larger and carry astronauts and heavy cargo on a single flight," NASA officials said...

« Pocahontas speaks with a forked tongue | Jewish minority white-skinned privileged male named Harvard's president; racist diversifiers object » Share Share | Twitter | Facebook | 188 Comments | Print | Email February 23, 2018 New Lost in Space has a black Judy Robinson, a Hispanic Major West, and a female Dr. Smith By Ed Straker Netflix is remaking the campy 1960s series Lost in Space. As might be expected, the network is doing everything it can to ethnically cleanse white people and men from the cast, but it's a hard proposition, given that in the original series, the...

A group of five U.S. private rocket companies met with Brazilian officials in December. Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Vector are interested in launching from the equatorial Alcantara launch complex. The coastal launch site would offer cost savings by its ability to reach orbits often preferred for satellites. A group representing five U.S. private rocket companies visited Brazil in December to meet with the nation's space agency and analyze the possibility of launching from the equatorial Alcantara launch complex. The U.S. Department of Commerce was informed about the trip, which was organized by members of the private space industry. The group...

Aluminium oxynitride or AlON is a ceramic composed of aluminium, oxygen and nitrogen. It is marketed under the name ALON by Surmet Corporation. AlON is optically transparent (≥80%) in the near-ultraviolet, visible and midwave-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is 4 times harder than fused silica glass, 85% as hard as sapphire, and nearly 15% harder than magnesium aluminate spinel. Since it has a cubic spinel structure, it can be fabricated to transparent windows, plates, domes, rods, tubes and other forms using conventional ceramic powder processing techniques. ALON is the hardest polycrystalline transparent ceramic available commercially. Combination of optical...

What does a midlife crisis look like in the 21st century? Frittering away your life savings on a red sports car is so last century. Instead, today’s man who is grappling with the limitations of his mortality spends $90 million on a rocket to launch a $100,000 electric car, helmed by a robot by the name of “Starman,” into space. “We want a new space race,” SpaceX founder Elon Musk said in a press conference shortly after the launch of his company’s Falcon Heavy rocket — and his Tesla Roadster — into space earlier in February. Like a child, he...

NASA's latest tower for launching rockets has a little bit of a lean, which means it may be able to launch just a single rocket. The cost of this tower boondoggle? Almost $1 billion. The tower in question is the Mobile Launcher designed for NASA’s upcoming Space Launch System, which would become the world’s most powerful rocket once completed in a few years. The tower is supposed to keep the rocket stable and upright on the platform during a launch. The system was built for NASA’s now-defunct Ares I rocket and later repurposed for the SLS. The Mobile Launcher is...

Synopsis: Deep within the massive Schriever Air Force Base near Colorado Springs, CO, The National Space Defense Center is finally gone operational. Their mission? To keep American military and spy satellites safe while in orbit. Vice President Mike Pence was photographed in the ultra-secret center which surveils space around planet Earth 24 hours a day with a staff of 230. The Center's Director, Col. Todd Brost, told a Colorado Springs newspaper, The Gazette: "This is not an Air Force unit. It's not really even a Department of Defense unit." However, he did not say exactly to whom or what the...

Credit: CC0 Public Domain __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ As humans reach out technologically to see if there are other life forms in the universe, one important question needs to be answered: When we make contact, how are we going to handle it? Will we feel threatened and react in horror? Will we embrace it? Will we even understand it? Or, will we shrug it off as another thing we have to deal with in our increasingly fast-paced world? "If we came face to face with life outside of Earth, we would actually be pretty upbeat about it," said Arizona State University Assistant...

It’s what scientists have termed a ‘grand minimum’ — a particularly low point in what is otherwise a steady 11-year cycle. Over this cycle, the Sun’s tumultuous heart races and rests. At its high point, the nuclear fusion at the Sun’s core forces more magnetic loops high into its boiling atmosphere — ejecting more ultraviolet radiation and generating sunspots and flares. When it’s quiet, the Sun’s surface goes calm. It ejects less ultraviolet radiation. Now scientists have scoured the skies and history for evidence of an even greater cycle amid these cycles. It’s what scientists have termed a ‘grand minimum’...

Even Elon Musk thinks his space-cruising midnight-cherry Tesla Roadster looks weird. "It looks so ridiculous and impossible," the SpaceX CEO told reporters after the Falcon Heavy megarocket launched the car into space yesterday (Feb. 6). "You can tell it's real because it looks so fake, honestly." ... Think of it this way: Light can travel through different mediums — including air, water and the vacuum of space — each of which has a different refractive index, he said. That is, these mediums bend light differently, which explains why colored light doesn't look the same in one medium as it does...

The most powerful rocket to leave Earth since the Apollo missions launched from Florida yesterday. The Falcon Heavy jumbo rocket, developed by flamboyant SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk, had a sole 'passenger' onboard - a mannequin named 'Starman' - who rode to space inside a Tesla roadster. Incredible real-time footage has emerged from inside the car showing stunning views of our planet sailing past its windscreen, as David Bowie's Life on Mars plays in the background.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The world's most powerful rocket, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, roared into space through clear blue skies in its debut test flight on Tuesday from a Florida launch site where moon missions once began, in another milestone for billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's private rocket service. ..... Then, capitalizing on cost-cutting reusable rocket technology pioneered by SpaceX, the two boosters flew themselves back to Earth for safe simultaneous touchdowns on twin landing pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, about eight minutes after launch. Each rocket unleashed a double sonic boom as it neared the landing zone.

Roscosmos, is considering offering future space tourists the chance to do their own spacewalk for $100 million price tag.

The most powerful rocket this generation has ever seen, SpaceX’s new Falcon Heavy rocket, is now targeted to launch February 6, 2018 with the launch time of 1:30 p.m. The Falcon Heavy can lift over double the payload, or cargo, as the next closest rocket...