The MIT Orbital Capacity Assessment Tool lets users model the long-term future space environment. MIT’s Astrodynamics, Space Robotics, and Controls Laboratory (ARCLab) announced the public beta release of the MIT…
Category: Space
Doomed US lunar lander’s space odyssey continues… for now
Though Astrobotic, the company that built the Peregrine robot, has said a controlled touchdown on the Moon is no longer possible — it hasn’t ruled out a so-called “hard landing”…
Dark Energy Discovery a Decade in the Making: New Supernova Insights Offer Clues to the Expansion of the Universe
Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology have contributed to a landmark study that complicates our understanding of the universe. An example of a supernova discovered by the Dark Energy Survey within the…
Planetesimals are buffeted by wind in their nebula, throwing debris into space: Study
This artist’s illustration shows planetisimals around a young star. New research shows that planetesimals are blasted by headwind, losing debris into space. Credit: NASA/JPL Before planets form around a young…
Solar electric propulsion systems could be just what we need for efficient trips to Mars
Artist’s impression of a solar electric propulsion system. Credit: NASA There are many different ways to get to Mars, but there are always tradeoffs. Chemical propulsion, proven the most popular,…
Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detects surprise gamma-ray feature beyond our galaxy
This artist’s concept shows the entire sky in gamma rays with magenta circles illustrating the uncertainty in the direction from which more high-energy gamma rays than average seem to be…
Sweating the Small Stuff: Scientists Have Begun to Study Samples from Asteroid Bennu
At the university’s Kuiper-Arizona Laboratory for Astromaterials Analysis, a suite of instruments allows researchers to study the particles collected by the OSIRIS-REx mission down to the atomic scale. This mosaic…
Dark Energy Survey Uncovers Clues to Universe’s Complexity
In 1998, astronomers discovered that the universe is accelerating, thanks to a mysterious force called dark energy that makes up about 70% of the universe. The discovery came as a surprise…
Old stars may be the best places to search for life
Composite image illustrating 51 Pegasi system and its measured magnetic field. The detected “Weak Magnetic Braking” of 51 Peg represents a relatively sudden change that makes the magnetic environment more…
