As more satellites, telescopes, and other spacecraft are built to be repairable, it will take reliable trajectories for service spacecraft to reach them safely. Researchers in the Department of Aerospace Engineering in The Grainger College of…
Category: 2. Space
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Fully 3D-printed electrospray engine | ScienceDaily
An electrospray engine applies an electric field to a conductive liquid, generating a high-speed jet of tiny droplets that can propel a spacecraft. These miniature engines are ideal for small satellites called CubeSats that are often used in…
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Curiosity Spots Noctilucent Clouds in Martian Atmosphere
New images, taken over 16 min on January 17, 2025 by the Mastcam instrument on NASA’s Curiosity rover, show noctilucent, or twilight clouds, in the atmosphere of Mars. Sometimes these clouds even create a rainbow of colors, producing…
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Phoenix galaxy cluster in the act of extreme cooling
The core of a massive cluster of galaxies appears to be pumping out far more stars than it should. Now researchers at MIT and elsewhere have discovered a key ingredient within the cluster that explains the core’s prolific starburst.
In a new…
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Understanding Titan’s Interior and History Through Tidal Friction
What can a moon’s tidal friction teach us about its formation and evolution? This is what a recent study published in Science Advances hopes to address as a team of researchers at the University of…
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First Ever Planet Orbiting a Hypervelocity Star Found in Our Galaxy
How fast can solar systems orbit our Milky Way Galaxy? This is what a recent study published in The Astronomical Journal hopes to address as an international team of researchers confirmed the existence of a…
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A cosmic neutrino of unknown origins smashes energy records
A neutrino from space recently plunged into the Mediterranean Sea with an energy that blows all other known neutrinos out of the water.
Packing a punch of some 220 million billion electron volts, this particle was around 20 times as…
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Hot and Cold Spots on Stars Lead to Misinterpretations of Exoplanets
How does a star’s activity influence exoplanet data obtained by scientists? This is what a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series hopes to address as a team of researchers at…
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Challenges in Searching for Life in Alien Waters: The Enceladus Problem
Could finding life in alien oceans be harder than previously thought? This is what a recent study published in Communications Earth & Environment hopes to address as a team of researchers from the United…
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Building Blocks of Earth and Mars Were Originally Rich in Moderately Volatile Elements
A new analysis of magmatic iron meteorites challenges traditional theories about why Earth and Mars are depleted in moderately volatile elements.
The Bendego meteorite. Image credit: Jorge Andrade / CC BY 2.0.
Moderately volatile elements…
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