Category: science
Mars’ core looks bigger than it is because it’s wrapped in radioactive magma
Data from a meteorite impact on Mars that was recorded by NASA’s InSight lander in 2021 is now helping to clear up some confusion about the red planet’s interior makeup. A pair of studies published today in the journal Nature separately determined that Mars’ iron-rich core is smaller and denser…
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NASA’s John Mather keeps redefining our understanding of the cosmos
Space isn’t hard only on account of the rocket science. The task of taking a NASA mission from development and funding through construction and launch — all before we even use the thing for science — can span decades. Entire careers have been spent putting a single satellite into space.…
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NASA’s Psyche spacecraft embarks on a six-year journey to its asteroid namesake
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft has blasted off and begun a six-year, 2.2-billion-mile journey to a peculiar asteroid. Astronomers have speculated that the space rock, also named Psyche, was once the partial core of a small planet in the early days of the Solar System. The seemingly iron- and nickel-rich asteroid may…
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There’s no easy answer to being a space janitor
Earth’s orbit is getting crowded. Last year, a record 2,409 objects were sent to orbit, the bulk of which were satellites settling into the increasingly cluttered region 1,200 miles above our planet’s surface known as low Earth orbit. Another 2,000-plus satellites have joined them so far this year, according to…
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Hitting the Books: NASA’s Kathy Sullivan and advances in orbital personal hygiene
For the first couple decades of its existence, NASA was the epitome of an Old Boys Club; its astronaut ranks pulled exclusively from the Armed Services’ test pilot programs which, at that time, were exclusively staffed by men. Glass ceilings weren’t the only things broken when Sally Ride, Judy Resnik,…
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The Morning After: The FTC is challenging Microsoft’s Activision buyout, again
Just when Microsoft’s buyout of Activision finally seemed to be near complete — and we could focus on Google’s legal tussles with the Department of Justice — the Federal Trade Commission said it will revive its attempt to block the $69 billion deal in an adjudicative process. Microsoft received EU…
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