Earth’s closest twins have been found. The two most Earth-like planets – Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b have been found orbiting red dwarf stars that are smaller and cooler than our Sun. Kepler-438b circles its star every 35 days, while Kepler-442b completes one orbit every 112 days. With a diameter just 12% bigger than Earth, Kepler-438b has a 70% chance of being ... Read More »
Always wondered about alien lives and their origins… well here is an interesting hypothesis! Could extraterrestrial life be made of corkscrew-shaped particles of interstellar dust? Intriguing new evidence of life-like structures that form from inorganic substances in space are revealed today in the New Journal of Physics. The findings hint at the possibility that life beyond earth may not necessarily ... Read More »
In a bid to monitor Earth better, Nasa has successfully installed and activated its first Earth-observing instrument — the ISS-RapidScat — on the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS-RapidScat will monitor ocean winds for climate research as well as weather predictions and hurricane monitoring. The instrument has already begun collecting data. “Its antenna began spinning and it started transmitting and ... Read More »
So what are Exoplanets? Well, Exoplanets are planets outside of the solar system. They are also referred to as extrasolar planets. Starting in 1992 with the first discovery, astronomers have located about 837 such planets in 660 planetary systems around the Milky Way galaxy. Researchers believe they will find many more planets — a 2012 study estimated that each star of ... Read More »
A star-explosion mystery that puzzled astronomers for more than two decades has finally been solved. Researchers using data gathered by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have determined that the supernova SN 1993J — which was first observed in 1993, as its name suggests — occurred because one star nabbed hydrogen from another. “This is like a crime scene, and we finally identified the robber,” ... Read More »
Black holes – the most dense objects in the universe that do not even let light escape- do not exist, a physics professor in the US has claimed. Laura Mersini-Houghton at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the College of Arts and Sciences, has proven, mathematically, that black holes can never come into being in the first place. ... Read More »
Indeed this is very interesting to know the internals of a spacecraft! Here we go: The spacecraft configuration is a balanced mix of design from flight proven IRS/INSAT/Chandrayaan-1 bus. Modifications required for Mars mission are in the areas of Communication, Power, Propulsion systems (mainly related to Liquid Engine restart after nearly 10 months) and on-board autonomy. 390 litres capacity propellant ... Read More »
Following the successful re-firing of the main liquid engine of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft for a minor trajectory change on Monday, Isro is planning to activate the colour camera payload and get the first images of the red planet by Wednesday afternoon. With Monday’s success, the possibility of MOM acquiring the desired orbit around Mars on Wednesday has ... Read More »
WASHINGTON: Massive galaxies in the universe have stopped making new stars and are instead gulping down nearby galaxies, according to new research. According to Australian researchers, our own Milky Way is at a tipping point and expected to now grow mainly by eating smaller galaxies, rather than by collecting gas. “The Milky Way has not merged with another large galaxy ... Read More »
Boeing and the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation are the winners in the competition to carry American astronauts to the International Space Station, NASA announced on Tuesday. The awards reflect a fundamental shift in NASA’s human spaceflight program, relying on private companies rather than the traditional hands-on approach, in which the space agency designed and operated the spacecraft. The first flights ... Read More »
