Space

Could Another (small) Satellite Orbit The International Space Station?

This is just a fun question someone asked on Quora. It leads into a few interesting topics.  First the ISS just isn't heavy enough for a satellite to enter into a true gravitational orbit around it.  But, in theory at least, you can put a satellite i ...

Article - Robert Walker - Oct 15 2015 - 12:19pm

Is The International Space Station The Most Expensive Single Item Ever Built?

Is the ISS the most expensive single human artifact ever, after adjusting for inflation? Well, to start with, it's a whole lot more expensive than a medieval cathedral anyway. First we need an estimate of the cost of the ISS, and this article in the ...

Article - Robert Walker - May 6 2017 - 4:12pm

Say, Where Can We Get A Drink In This Solar System?

Science fiction movies about aliens threatening the Earth routinely ascribe them the motive of coming here to steal our resources, most often our water. This is ill thought-out, as water is actually extremely common. Any civilization coming to our solar s ...

Article - The Conversation - Aug 25 2015 - 3:00am

Human Exceptionalism: Earth's Mineralogy Unique In The Cosmos

New research predicts that Earth has more than 1,500 undiscovered minerals and that the exact mineral diversity of our planet is unique and could not be duplicated anywhere in the cosmos. Minerals form from novel combinations of elements. These combinatio ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 31 2015 - 9:59am

The Spread Of Life Among The Stars

One day, it might be possible to detect the spread of life among the stars through panspermia--a hypothetical process of life distributed throughout the Milky Way by asteroids, comets, and even spacecraft. Henry Lin and Abraham Loeb of the Harvard-Smithson ...

Article - Steve Schuler - Aug 27 2015 - 3:30pm

Could Astronauts Get All Their Oxygen From Algae Or Plants? And Their Food Also?

Perhaps you saw the news recently about astronauts in the International Space Station eating their first home grown lettuce? It's just a beginning, but in the future, could they grow all their own food and get all their oxygen from plants? ...

Article - Robert Walker - Nov 3 2015 - 7:12am

Could A Star Orbit A Planet?- Just For Fun

This is just for fun. At first sight this seems impossible- the smallest stars are heavier than the heaviest planets, and how can something heavier orbit something that is lighter? But what if you have a very dense star and very large very low density pla ...

Article - Robert Walker - Sep 8 2015 - 11:10am

EGS8p7 Galaxy Is Almost As Old As The Universe

A team of researchers that has spent years searching for the earliest objects in the universe now reports the detection of what may be the most distant galaxy ever found. Adi Zitrin, a NASA Hubble Postdoctoral Scholar in Astronomy, and Richard Ellis, a pr ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 9 2015 - 7:00am

Why Nukes Can't Terraform Mars- Pack Less Punch Than A Comet Collision

This story has recently hit the news. I think it is reasonably clear he was not putting forward a serious worked out future plan for Mars. But is there any potential in the idea? ...

Article - Robert Walker - Aug 17 2019 - 1:44pm

Astronomers Peer Into The 'Amniotic Sac' Of A Planet-Birthing Star

Astronomers have successfully peered through the 'amniotic sac' of a star that is still forming to observe the innermost region of a burgeoning solar system for the first time. In a research paper published today in the journal Monthly Notices o ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 18 2015 - 12:12pm