Lifeboat Foundation

Space weather is heating up in our current solar cycle peak.

By Clara Moskowitz & Matthew Twombly

Aurora sightings may become more common, and satellite communications and power grids could be disrupted, as solar activity peaks. Our nearest star is always volatile, but its magnetic action waxes and wanes on an 11-year loop. The sun is thought to be in a peak now, although scientists will need another year or two to analyze data before they can say for sure. During this high point we should see more sunspots (dark areas where the sun’s magnetic field reaches the surface) and solar storms (ejections of energy from the sun that reach into space and can affect Earth).

New Venus research has been dividing the scientific community, but recent findings may have an answer to their questions.

The plan would be to launch Starship from a SpaceX facility in Texas, land it in the sea off Australia’s coast and recover it on Australian territory. Getting permission to do so would require loosening US export controls on sophisticated space technologies bound for Australia, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

President Joe Biden’s administration already has sought to ease similar restrictions within the AUKUS security alliance, opens new tab, a grouping of the United States, Australia and Britain aimed at countering China.

SpaceX, the US Space Force and the Australian Space Agency did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

On this day in history in 1971, Apollo 15 lunar module “Falcon” landed on the Moon. Astronauts David Scott and Jim Irwin spent 66 hours, 54 minutes, 53 seconds on the lunar surface. More on Apollo 15:

Ever wanted to drive on the Moon? Apollo 15, the fourth crewed mission to land on the Moon, was the first Apollo mission to utilize a Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV).

“These spots are a big surprise,” said Dr. David Flannery. “On Earth, these types of features in rocks are often associated with the fossilized record of microbes living in the subsurface.”

Did Mars once have life billions of years ago? This is what NASA’s Perseverance (Percy) rover hopes to figure out, and scientists might be one step closer to answering that question with a recent discovery by the car-sized robotic explorer that found a unique rock with “leopard spots” that have caused some in the scientific community to claim this indicates past life might have once existed on the now cold and dry Red Planet. However, others have just as quickly rushed to say that further evidence is required before jumping to conclusions.

Upon analyzing the rock using Percy’s intricate suite of scientific instruments, scientists determined that it contained specific chemical signatures indicative of life possibly having existed billions of years ago when liquid water flowed across the surface. However, the science team is also considering other reasons for the rock’s unique appearance, including further research to determine if the findings are consistent with potential ancient life.

Continue reading “Peculiar Rock Found by NASA’s Perseverance Rover Leaves Scientists Puzzled” »

Water worlds are exciting targets for planetary scientists.

“Kepler contributed many historical benchmarks in astronomy and physics in the 17th century, leaving his legacy even in the space age,” said Hisashi Hayakawa.

How can 400-year-old sunspot drawings help modern-day scientists with solar cycles? This is what a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters hopes to address as an international team of researchers used 400-year-old drawings of sunspots to better understand solar cycles and how we can study them in the future. This study holds the potential to help researchers use non-electronic scientific tools to gain greater insight into scientific discoveries around the world.

For the study, the researchers examined drawings of sunspots made by Johannes Kepler in 1,607 along with past notes to ascertain which solar cycle these sunspots belonged to, which could help astronomers piece together solar cycles during that time and predict them, as well.

Continue reading “17th Century Sunspot Drawings Could Help Solve 400-Year-Old Solar Cycle Mystery” »

Researchers’ detection of two gases, phosphine and ammonia, in the clouds of Venus raises speculation about possible life forms in the planet’s atmosphere.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force awarded Akima’s subsidiary Five Rivers Analytics a $480 million 10-year contract to support and modernize the Satellite Control Network — a decades-old system of 19 globally distributed parabolic antennas spread across several locations worldwide.

Akima, an Alaska Native Corporation-owned defense contractor, won the contract dubbed STORMS (Satellite Control Network Tracking Station Operations, Remote Site and Mission Partner Support).

The STORMS contract is an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) agreement. This type of contract allows the Space Force to procure services as needed over a specified period. It succeeds the previous $445 million CAMMO (Consolidated Air Force Satellite Control Network Modifications and Maintenance Operations) contract won by CACI International in 2016.