Bennu’s Boulders Act as Body Armor
An analysis of the craters on Bennu’s surface provides evidence that the rubble pile asteroid is protected from smaller impacts by the boulders scattered on the surface. Plus, the SLS Wet Dress Rehearsal, dwarf galaxies around M81, and this week in rocket history, we look back at the X-15 hypersonic plane.
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Get your daily dose of all that’s new in space and astronomy. The sky is not the limit, as we bring you a fast-paced roundup of launches, landings, and everyday discoveries. The Daily Space is a not-for-profit show supported through the generous donations of people like you. Learn more on our credits and sponsors page.
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SOFIA Telescope Captures High-Resolution Images of Stellar Nursery
New high-resolution images captured by the SOFIA airborne telescope have given scientists the first clear view of a massive star-forming region here in the Milky Way, including an expanding bubble of gas. Plus, finding Earth-like exoplanets, detecting life on Earth, and this week’s What’s Up, featuring the Messier Catalogue.
Rocket Roundup for June 23, 2021
On this week’s Rocket Roundup, the Chinese send a crewed mission to their new space station, SpaceX launches a new GPS satellite, China adds to their Yaogan satellite constellation, and Japan yeets a CubeSat from the International Space Station on behalf of Mauritius. Plus, this week in rocket history, we look back at the Soviet Salyut 3.
Eccentric Minor Planet to Make Close Pass to Saturn’s Orbit in 2030
Minor planet 2014 UN271, discovered in data collected by the Dark Energy Survey, is set to make a close pass to Saturn’s orbit at the end of the decade, giving astronomers a chance to observe a rare trans-Neptunian object from up close…ish. Plus, Venus, Jupiter, the Milky Way, and an invisible galactic structure discovered quite by accident.
NASA Working to Restore Hubble Telescope’s Payload Computer
The payload computer aboard the Hubble Space Telescope stopped running on Sunday, June 13, 2021, and now the operations team is working to either save the module or switch to a backup. Plus, a protoplanetary disk, stellar mega-flares, missing dark matter, trans-Neptunian objects, and a review of Brandon Sanderson’s novel Skyward.
Craters in Northern Canada Offer Clues to Titan
New research presented at the Workshop on Terrestrial Analogs for Planetary Exploration used the Haughton impact crater in Arctic Canada as a potential analog for impact craters on Titan, one of the targets of the upcoming Dragonfly mission. Plus, giant spinning structures, the slowing of the Milky Way, a blinking star, and volcanoes here on Earth.
Rocket Roundup for June 16, 2021
This Rocket Roundup includes a Chinese launch and two launches from Northrop Grumman, including one for the National Reconnaissance Office. Plus, this week in rocket history, we look back at the first woman in space, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, and Vostok 6.