Rubble Pile Asteroids May Be Extinct Comets

Rubble Pile Asteroids May Be Extinct Comets

After detecting high levels of organic matter using remote sensors at the asteroid Ryugu, numerical models show that it’s possible that rubble pile asteroids are actually extinct comets. Plus, the Cosmic Optical Background, Enceladus’s tiger stripes, and this week in rocket history, we look back at STS-45.

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Long-Awaited Rollout of the First Space Launch System

Long-Awaited Rollout of the First Space Launch System

The first SLS was rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) High Bay 3 on the Crawler Transporter on March 17, 2022, and is the first lunar rocket to emerge from the VAB since Apollo 17’s Saturn V in 1972. Plus, an asteroid impact, climate change, ancient volcanoes, spring on Mars, and a new Deep Sky Network dish.

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Several Kepler Planets Turn Out to be Small Stars

Several Kepler Planets Turn Out to be Small Stars

Using updated stellar measurements based on new data from the Gaia mission, three (and possibly four) Kepler exoplanets are actually small stars, but it’s unlikely new calculations will reveal many more such issues. Plus, Ingenuity, astronauts, permafrost, and This Week in Rocket History, we look back at STS-3 and the first use of the Canadarm.

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Happy 20th Birthday to Hubble’s ACS Instrument!

Happy 20th Birthday to Hubble’s ACS Instrument!

The Advanced Camera for Surveys instrument onboard the Hubble Space Telescope is celebrating twenty years of service this week. Plus, a new look at an old lunar rock, gas rings around an aging star, all the rockets from around the world, and this week in rocket history, we look back at the 1962 Orbiting Solar Observatory, led by Nancy Grace Roman.

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