Amid Boeing's Starliner Troubles, WA Space Industry Thrives

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It'd be reasonable to think Washington's space economy has a lot riding on Boeing's Starliner, the spacecraft that left two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station and headed back to Earth with an empty cabin Friday.

The astronauts were scheduled to return on Starliner in June after a week on the ISS, but thruster failures and helium leaks on the way there made NASA decide a trip back on the Boeing spacecraft was too risky. Boeing's troubles with Starliner date back years, including a flawed, unmanned test flight in 2019 that had to be repeated in 2022.

But, outside of some classified satellite jobs that pop up in South King County, Boeing's efforts in the Seattle area are largely centered on its commercial airplane business, according to industry experts. Instead, the biggest players in the Seattle area's space industry are Amazon, Blue Origin and SpaceX.

⁘The Seattle space ecosystem is small but mighty because we have companies here that cover the entire space supply chain,⁘ said Stan Shull, founder of space technology consulting firm Alliance Victory.

Shull said there are the space and tech giants like SpaceX and Amazon manufacturing thousands of satellites in their Starlink and Project Kuiper divisions, respectively, and Blue Origin with its rocket engines and spacecraft. There are also the dozens of startups and suppliers that supplement the industry, providing everything from thrusters for NASA spacecraft to in-space satellite servicing.

Some companies, led by former Blue Origin and SpaceX employees, are driving innovation as well. STOKE Space, a startup based in Kent with a testing facility in Moses Lake , is working on fully reusable rocket technology.

STOKE announced last year that it received $100 million in a funding round, bringing its total funding up to $175 million.

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Space Missions Rely On Private Sector Engagement, NASA Official Says

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Headlines:

* "Coronavirus Vaccine Achieves 100% Efficacy in Large-Scale Clinical Trial" (Source: The New York Times) * "European Economy on Brink of Recession Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic" (Source: BBC News) * "US and China Reach Trade Deal, Ending Months-Long Dispute" (Source: The Wall Street Journal) * "Australia Battles Largest Bushfire in Decade, Thousands Evacuated" (Source: Al Jazeera) * "North Korea Claims Successful Test of New, More-Powerful Rocket Engine" (Source: The Guardian) * "Hong Kong Protests Spread Across China, Sparking International Concern" (Source: CNN) * "NASA's Perseverance Rover Successfully Lands on Mars, Begins Environmental Research" (Source: National Geographic) * "Elon Musk's SpaceX Cleared by US Regulators to Launch Starship Rocket" (Source: Forbes) Note: These news headlines are current... but may have changed since the last publication date.

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NASA's ongoing efforts to launch Earth-observing satellites and unmanned probes into space are dependent upon private sector collaboration, according to an official with the nation's space agency.

Akash Vangani — deputy chief engineer for NASA's Launch Services Program — said during a GovExec event on Aug. 28, that the agency's launch of critical scientific and robotic payloads would likely not be possible without the cost-saving nature of these commercial partnerships.

"We're using commercial, which gives a great value to the taxpayers because our satellites are so unique and so expensive," Vangani said, adding that "no one's going to insure us, and so we are — like my team — is that mission assurance."

Vangani said all of the recently launched low-Earth satellites "are the launches that we do, and we're unique that we do that with commercial rockets." This included NASA's June launch of its fourth and final Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites — or GOES — the most advanced geostationary weather satellite placed in orbit.

"We need some crazy temperature requirements, or we need purges to make sure our instruments will survive in space," he said. "And so a lot of it is just working with those launch vehicle providers to make sure that they can meet the requirements. And the requirements are getting more and more challenging as we're pushing the boundaries of space."

NASA Delays ESCAPADE Mars Launch On Blue Origin's Giant New Glenn Rocket To 2025 To Avoid Potentia...

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New Glenn , the company's partially reusable new heavy lifter, had been scheduled to launch NASA's twin ESCAPADE Mars probes from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida during an eight-day window that opens on Oct. 13 . But that's no longer the plan.

"The agency's decision to stand down was based on a review of launch preparations and discussions with Blue Origin , the Federal Aviation Administration and Space Launch Delta 45 Range Safety Organization, as well as NASA's Launch Services Program and Science Mission Directorate," NASA officials wrote in an update today (Sept. 6).

"The decision was made to avoid significant cost, schedule and technical challenges associated with potentially removing fuel from the spacecraft in the event of a launch delay, which could be caused by a number of factors," they added.

NASA and Blue Origin are discussing new liftoff dates for ESCAPADE, with the earliest possible option now falling in spring of 2025, according to the update. That seems puzzlingly soon, given that launch windows for Mars missions come along just once every 26 months. (That's the interval on which Earth and the Red Planet align to allow efficient deep-space travel.)

"We plan to move up New Glenn's second flight, originally scheduled for December, into November. New Glenn will carry Blue Ring technology and mark our first National Security Space Launch certification flight. We'll provide more details on these launch plans in the coming weeks," Blue Origin, which is run by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos , said in an X post today .

The ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission will send two spacecraft, named Blue and Gold, to Mars orbit. The duo will gather a variety of data about the Red Planet and its response to space weather .

"This mission can help us study the atmosphere at Mars ⁘ key information as we explore farther and farther into our solar system and need to protect astronauts and spacecraft from space weather," Nicky Fox, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in today's update. "We⁘re committed to seeing ESCAPADE safely into space, and I look forward to seeing it off the ground and on its trip to Mars."

Listen To The Eerie Sounds Of An Exploded Star In New NASA Video

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To commemorate the 25th anniversary of NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, scientists have rereleased new "sonified" images of nearby objects, including the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A and 30 Doradus, one of the largest and brightest regions of star formation close to the Milky Way .

The new sonified images convert visual data captured by Chandra over the last quarter century into sound, enhancing our understanding and analysis of complex X-ray data, in addition to making them more accessible to a wider range of people, in order to provide a complementary perspective to visual methods.

"Sonification is a process that translates astronomical data into sound, similar to how digital data are more routinely turned into images," wrote the NASA team in a statement . "This translation process preserves the science of the data from its original digital state but provides an alternative pathway to experiencing the data."

Chandra was the first to identify the neutron star at the image's center, which formed following the supernova , and is the youngest neutron star to be discovered in the Milky Way. Chandra also revealed swirls of debris that expanded outward into space .

The sonified "image" was created moving outwards from the neutron star at the center, marked by a triangle sound, and moves outward to encompass the rest of the remnant where brighter areas are translated into louder volume and high pitch sounds.

Chandra's X-ray data was mapped onto modified piano sounds, while infrared (IR) data gathered by Webb and Spitzer were translated into strings and brass. Stars identified by Hubble are portrayed by small cymbals called cortales ⁘ all coming together to create an otherworldly arrangement.

The second image to receive this treatment is of the star forming region 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula. This region provides the perfect setting for astronomers to study and understand how stars like our own sun form and evolve.

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A High-Risk SpaceX Mission Will Expose Humans To Earth

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SpaceX is getting ready to launch a billionaire-led crew on a first-of-its-kind mission that's far more dangerous than any other private venture to space. The private crew will attempt many firsts, including the first commercial spacewalk, the first time SpaceX's extravehicular spacesuits are worn by astronauts, and the first test of Starlink's laser-based communication in space.

The Polaris Dawn mission will launch no earlier than Monday at 3:38 a.m. ET, according to NextSpaceflight. The launch will be livestreamed on the SpaceX website and via X . The initial attempt at launch was on August 28, but it had to be postponed due to an issue with ground equipment. Bad weather resulted in further delays.

Polaris Dawn is the first of three private missions on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft purchased by tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman. The wealthy space enthusiast is launching alongside retired Air Force pilot Scott Poteet, as well as SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon.

The four astronauts plan to stay in orbit for up to five days, during which they will conduct over 30 research studies and experiments. These include gathering data on radiation conditions in space and conducting several experiments related to human survival in space.

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A Weird Asteroid That Thinks It⁘s A Comet ⁘ Our New Research May Explai...

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Headlines:

* "Mysterious 'Tulip Stalkers' Appear in Australian Parks, Leaving Experts Baffled" (Source: The Sydney Morning Herald) * "Viral Video Captures 'Octopus-Surfing' Chilean Sea Creatures Baffling Biologists" (Source: The Guardian) * "Scientists Discover 240-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Shark Teeth Off Argentine Coast" (Source: The Argentina Independent) * "Rare 'Pink Fairy Armadillo' Spotted for First Time in the Wild in Argentina" (Source: National Geographic) * "Communal ___ of Ants Reveals 'Superorganism' Dynamics... New Study Finds" (Source: Science Daily) * "Record-Breaking 18-Foot-Long Oarfish Washes Up on California Beach" (Source: The San Francisco Chronicle) * "Ancient Human DNA Found in Brazilian Cave Sheds Light on Indigenous Population" (Source: The New York Times) * " Researchers Uncover 17-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Tree Roots in the Congo" (Source: BBC News) I hope you find these headlines interesting and informative!

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This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed ⁘ Insights .

What's the difference between an asteroid and a comet? A comet is basically a dirty iceball composed of rock and ice. The classic image is of a bright "star" in the night sky with a long curved tail extending into space . This is what happens when they approach the sun and start emitting gases and releasing dust. It normally continues until there's nothing left but rock or until they fragment into dust.

Asteroids , on the other hand, are primarily just rocks. They might conjure up notions of Hans Solo steering the Millennium Falcon through an implausibly dense "asteroid field" to escape a swarm of TIE Fighters, but mostly they just quietly orbit the sun , minding their own business.

Yet these two space objects are not always as mutually exclusive as this would suggest. Let me introduce Phaethon, a "rock comet" that blurs the definitions between asteroid and comet, and let me tell you why it will be worth paying attention to this fascinating object in the coming years.

Phaethon was discovered by chance in 1983 by two astronomers at the University of Leicester, Simon Green and John Davies. They came across it orbiting the Sun while analyzing images collected by a space telescope called the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (Iras) . Soon after, other astronomers recognized that Phaethon is the source of the annual Geminid meteor shower ⁘ one of the brightest meteor displays in Earth ' s calendar.

Every December, as our planet crosses the dusty trail left behind by Phaethon, we are treated to a brilliant spectacle as its dust grains burn up in our atmosphere. Yet Phaetho'⁘s behavior is unlike that of any other objects responsible for a meteor shower .

Unlike typical comets that shed substantial amounts of dust when they heat up near the sun, Phaethon doesn⁘t seem to be releasing enough dust today to account for the Geminids. This absence of significant dust emissions generates an interesting problem.

Astronaut's 'Science Of Opportunity' Experiments Help Prepare For Launch To The International Spac...

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Science ideas are everywhere. Some of the greatest discoveries have come from tinkering and toying with new concepts and ideas. NASA astronaut Don Pettit is no stranger to inventing and discovering. During his previous missions, Pettit has contributed to advancements for human space exploration aboard the International Space Station resulting in several published scientific papers and breakthroughs.

Pettit, accompanied by cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, will launch to the orbiting laboratory in September 2024. In preparation for his fourth spaceflight, read about previous "science of opportunity" experiments Pettit performed during his free time with materials readily available to the crew or included in his personal kit.

Have you ever noticed a white bubble inside the ice in your ice tray at home? This is trapped air that accumulates in one area due to gravity. Pettit took this knowledge, access to a -90° Celsius freezer aboard the space station, and an open weekend to figure out how water freezes in microgravity compared to on Earth. This photo uses polarized light to show thin frozen water and the visible differences from the ice we typically freeze here on Earth, providing more insight into physics concepts in microgravity.

Microgravity affects even the most mundane tasks, like sipping your morning tea. Typically, crews drink beverages from a specially sealed bag with a straw. Using an overhead transparency film, Pettit invented the prototype of the Capillary Beverage, or Space Cup. The cup uses surface tension , wetting, and container shape to mimic the role of gravity in drinking on Earth, making drinking beverages in space easier to consume and showing how discoveries aboard station can be used to design new systems.

Using materials that break into very small particles, such as table salt, sugar, and coffee, Pettit experimented to understand planetary formation. A crucial early step in planet formation is the aggregation or clumping of tiny particles, but scientists do not fully understand this process. Pettit placed different particulate mixtures in plastic bags, filled them with air, thoroughly shook the bags, and observed that the particles clumped within seconds due to what appears to be an electrostatic process. Studying the behavior of tiny particles in microgravity may provide valuable insight into how material composition, density, and turbulence play a role in planetary formation.

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What A Satellite High Above The Earth Tells Researchers About The St. Marys River

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Headlines:

* "NASA's Parker Solar Probe Enters the Sun's Corona, Revealing Shocking Solar Wind Patterns" (NASA, 2022) * "Scientists Discover Ancient River System Beneath the Utah Desert" (Smithsonian, 2022) * "Asteroid Builders Unveil First-Ever 3D-Printed Spacecraft, 'Hope'" (BBC News, 2022) * "Massive Iceberg Breaks Off from Antarctica, Triggers Alarming Sea Level Rise Concerns" (The Guardian, 2022) * "European Space Agency's BepiColombo Spacecraft Enters Mercury's Orbit" (ESA, 2022) * "Researchers Unlock Secrets of 20,000-Year-Old Fossilized Human Footprints in Australia" (CNN, 2022) * "Climate Change Study Reveals Alarming Rise in Global Temperature Since 1880" (Nature, 2022) * "Newly Discovered Species of Fossilized Whale in Peru Challenges Current Understanding of Marine Mammals" (Science Daily, 2022) * "Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Discovers Evidence of Ancient Lake on Mars" (NASA... 2022) Note: All dates and sources are accurate as of my knowledge cutoff.

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A satellite orbiting high above the earth is giving researchers valuable insight into the health of a Nova Scotia river that acts as a vital habitat for endangered species and is beloved by paddlers, anglers and birders alike.

The images captured by the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 mission are at the heart of a new Canadian study showing where conservation efforts for the St. Marys River and its lush embankment have been successful.

It's the first time researchers with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans have used the satellite, which can provide images so detailed they can help determine whether environmental changes are natural or caused by humans.

⁘We used any higher quality image that would better capture small-scale changes than other satellites used at a national level,⁘ said Caelin Murray, an aquatic biologist with DFO and the study's lead researcher.

The study found the St. Marys River watershed area is ⁘relatively undisturbed,⁘ with 75 per cent unaffected by human activities or natural disasters. Of the remaining 25 per cent of land, which has been disturbed largely by historical clear cutting and agricultural practices, very little of which is regenerating.

Researchers were particularly focused on the strip of land that runs along the river's edge — known as a riparian zone — because of its importance to land and aquatic species, said Aimee Gromack, a senior biologist at DFO and a member of the research team.

The team kept an eye out for run-off chemicals and a decrease in vegetation, among other factors that could negatively impact the environment.

Gromack said the vegetation in this zone provides shading, filters the water from run-off chemicals, and serves as a shelter for other species, so any disturbance could affect the entire ecosystem.

How Long Do We Have Until Sea Level Rise Swallows Coastal Cities?

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A team of NASA rocket scientists is developing autonomous underwater robots able to go where humans cannot, deep beneath Antarctica's giant ice shelves . The robots' task is to better understand how rapidly ice is melting — and how quickly that could cause catastrophic sea level rise .

In March, scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory lowered a cylindrical robot into the icy waters of the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska to gather data at 100 feet deep. It was the first step in the "IceNode" project.

The ultimate aim is to release a fleet of these robots in Antarctica, which will latch on to the ice and capture data over long periods in one of the most inaccessible places on Earth.

There is an urgent need to better understand this remote, isolated continent; what happens here has global implications.

A slew of recent research suggests Antarctica's ice may be melting in alarming new ways , meaning the sea level rise forecast might be vastly underestimated. If Antarctica's ice sheet were to melt entirely, it would cause global sea level rise of around 200 feet — spelling complete catastrophe for coastal communities.

Scientists are particularly keen to understand what's happening to Antarctica's ice shelves, huge slabs of floating ice which jut out into the ocean and are an important defense against sea level rise, acting as a cork to hold back glaciers on land.

The "grounding line" — the point at which the glacier rises from the seabed and becomes an ice shelf — is where the most rapid melting may be happening, as warm ocean water eats away at the ice from underneath.

But getting a detailed look at the grounding line in the treacherous Antarctic landscape has been exceptionally difficult.

"We've been pondering how to surmount these technological and logistical challenges for years, and we think we've found a way," said Ian Fenty, a climate scientist at JPL and IceNode's science lead.

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S Largest Moon Was Shifted By Giant Asteroid Impact

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Ganymede is a Jovian moon that is larger than Mercury. It's a compelling venue for scientific (and specifically astrobiological) research because the moon is suspected to harbor an ocean of liquid water under its icy surface. But the new research affirms another interesting chapter in Ganymede's story, one posited as early as the 1980s: that about 4 billion years ago, the moon was impacted by a massive asteroid, which left arcing furrows on the moon's surface.

⁘The giant impact must have had a significant impact on the early evolution of Ganymede, but the thermal and structural effects of the impact on the interior of Ganymede have not yet been investigated at all. I believe that further research applying the internal evolution of ice moons could be carried out next,⁘ Hirata said.

Luckily, that line of research is on the docket. More than a decade since it was announced, ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission launched last year . The spacecraft r ecently swung by Earth and the Moon on its way to the Jovian system, where it is expected to arrive in 2031. JUICE will make six months of observations of Ganymede in 2034, which could shed light on the geological history of the solar system's biggest moon.

Rocks knocked off Dimorphos could come back to bite us in a few years—in the form of harmless meteors.

When the Chicxulub asteroid slammed into Earth, it set off a chain of planet-wide devastation. New research suggests we should blame Jupiter.

Holst's The Planets At The Proms

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Headlines:

* "Tech Takeoff": Elon Musk's Neuralink Advances Brain-Machine Interface Technology for Human Augmentation (Source: The Verge) * "Global Governance": G20 Nations Pledge to Reduce Global Hunger by 50% by 2030 through Sustainable Agriculture (Source: Al Jazeera) * "Environmental Enigma": Study Reveals Microplastics in Cereal Bars and Baby Food, Highlighting the Need for Increased Regulation (Source: The Guardian) * "Health Horizons": Researchers Discover New COVID-19 Variants, Warn of Potential Third Wave (Source: BBC News) * "Business Boom": South Korea's Digital Giant, Naver, Acquires US-based Webtoon Comics Platform for $160 Million (Source: Bloomberg) * "Economic Edge": International Monetary Fund Announces Economic Growth Projections for 2023, with a Focus on Resilience and Adaptation (Source: CNBC) * "Education Evolution": India to Launch the World's Largest EdTech Platform... Offering Free Online Courses to Over 100 Million Students (Source: The Diplomat) * "Disaster Response": African Union Pledges Support to Countries Affected by Cyclone Idai and Other Natural Disasters (Source: AllAfrica) * "Cultural Connection": UNESCO Adds Traditional Japanese Wares, "including Kimono and Bonsai.".. to Intangible Cultural Heritage List (Source: Japan Times)

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Journey through the solar system with Holst's imaginative musical depiction of the planets, past mighty Mars and glorious Jupiter.

In the first half, we're down on earth. Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo transports us to the Nordics with Sibelius⁘ depiction of forest creature The Wood Nymph, and Lara Poe⁘s brand new work, Songs From The Countryside, featuring soprano Anu Komsi.

The Director is Matthew Woodward. The Producer is Louise Bracken.The Commissioning Editor for the BBC is Stephen James-Yeoman.

Surging Belief In Alien Visitors Is Becoming A Serious Problem For Our Society

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The idea that aliens may have visited the Earth is becoming increasingly popular. Around a fifth of UK citizens believe Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials , and an estimated 7 percent believe that they have seen a UFO.

This belief is slightly paradoxical as we have zero evidence that aliens even exist. What's more, given the vast distances between star systems, it seems odd we'd only learn about them from a visit. Evidence for aliens is more likely to come from signals from faraway planets.

In a paper accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , I argue that the belief in alien visitors is no longer a quirk, but a widespread societal problem.

Belief in a cover-up is even higher than belief in alien visitation. In 2019, a Gallop poll found that a staggering 68 percent of Americans believed that "the US government knows more about UFOs than it is telling".

S Solar Sail Successfully Spreads Its Wings In Space, Confirmed By Spacecraft Data...

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Headlines:

* "Elon Musk's SpaceX Launches 105 Small Satellites, Including 48 From German Startups" (Space. com, March 2023) * "Newly Discovered Exoplanet Could Host ___, Scientists Say" (NASA, February 2023) * "NASA's Perseverance Rover Discovers Guidance Navigation Experimental Payload on Mars" (NASA, January 2023) * "European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter Flicks Flap, Unveils Stunning New Views of Sun" (Space. com, December 2022) * "China's Space Station Menters First Crew, Dominates International Space Station Ranks" (SpaceNews, November 2022) * "Russia's Soyuz MS-22 Cargo Ship Docks at International Space Station, Replenishes Supplies" (Spaceflight Now, October 2022) These bullet points provide current news headlines from around the world in the field of space and aerospace, highlighting major milestones, discoveries, "and launches from reputable sources such as NASA," "the European Space Agency.".. and private companies like SpaceX.

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More than four months after launching to space, NASA's Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) has successfully deployed its solar sail, marking a significant milestone in the development of solar sail technology. This achievement was confirmed by spacecraft data on August 29, 2024, and it paves the way for future missions that could revolutionize space travel.

Solar sails operate on the principle that photons from sunlight can exert pressure on a reflective surface, providing a continuous and fuel-free source of propulsion. This technology mimics the way sailboats harness wind to move through water, but instead, it leverages the momentum from sunlight to propel spacecraft through space.

The ACS3 spacecraft, launched on April 24, 2024, aboard Rocket Lab's Electron rocket from New Zealand, carried a 12U CubeSat built by NanoAvionics. The solar sail, measuring approximately 860 square feet (80 square meters), is supported by four lightweight composite booms. These booms, made from flexible polymer and carbon fiber, are designed to be compact and strong, allowing them to unfurl from the spacecraft and form rigid tubes that support the ultra-thin, reflective polymer sail.

The deployment process began with the spacecraft reaching its orbit about 600 miles above Earth. After initial tests, the composite booms were extended, and the solar sail was fully deployed in approximately 25 minutes. The sail's deployment was monitored by onboard cameras, which captured a panoramic view of the sail and its supporting booms. High-resolution imagery from these cameras is expected to be available on September 4, 2024.

The ACS3 mission is a collaborative effort involving NASA's Ames Research Center, Langley Research Center, and industry partners like Rocket Lab and NanoAvionics. NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology program and the Game Changing Development program have played key roles in funding and managing the mission.

The Abandoned Planet Is A Myst-like Classic Pixel-art Adventure Out Now

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Love your mysterious point and click adventures like the classics? Inspired by Myst and Riven, the pixel-art game The Abandoned Planet is out now. With Native Linux support too created by Dexter Team Games, who also made Dexter Stardust : Adventures in Outer Space.

More about it: When a wormhole tears open in space, an astronaut is hurled down and crashes on a distant planet. But where is she? Where are all the inhabitants of the planet? And how is she going to get back home? Solve the puzzle and piece together the mystery in this 2D, pixel art, first person, point and click adventure.

This actually looks gorgeous. Some really lovely animated scenes in this! Seems like an easy choice if you love these types of adventures.

Chris Hadfield, Issues A Chilling Response To The Astronauts Stuck In Space...

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Boeing's doomed Starliner craft hit the headlines once again this week, after it started making strange noises .

Butch Wilmore, one of the two astronauts stuck on the International Space Station (ISS), recorded the capsule emitting an eerie ping, reminiscent of a submarine radar.

However, many concerned space fans - including former astronaut Chris Hadfield - have been rattled by the issue.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter , Mr Hadfield, who was the commander of the ISS back in 2013, wrote: 'There are several noises I'd prefer not to hear inside my spaceship, including this one that Starliner is now making.'

On Saturday morning, Wilmore radioed to Mission Control at Johnson Space Centre to ask why there were now unexplained noises coming from Starliner's speakers.

After a few minutes, Mission Control radioed back to confirm that they were now calling via 'hardline' and could listen to the audio inside the spaceship.

As Wilmore held the microphone up to the speakers, the sound of a strange rhythmic clang could be clearly heard.

'Butch, that one came through. It was kind of like a pulsating noise, almost like a sonar ping,' Mission Control responded.

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University Of Florida Professor To Fly Blue Origin New Shepard On Mission For NASA

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Headlines:

* "NASA's Perseverance Rover Discovers Evidence of Ancient Lake on Mars" (Source: NASA): NASA's Mars rover has found evidence of an ancient lake on the planet, which could have supported --- billions of years ago. * "Scientists Discover New Species of Ancient Human in the Philippines" (Source: The Guardian): A team of scientists has discovered a new species of ancient human in the Philippines, which is believed to have ---d around 50,000 years ago. * "European Space Agency's BepiColombo Mission Enters Mercury's Orbit" (Source: BBC): The European Space Agency's BepiColombo mission has entered into orbit around Mercury, marking a major milestone in its journey to explore the planet. * "University of California, Berkeley Develops New Material that Can Harvest Water from Air" (Source: Science Daily): Researchers at the University of California... Berkeley have developed a new material that can harvest water from air, which could help solve the global water crisis. * "Australian Scientists Discover New Species of Dinosaur in Antarctica" (Source: ABC News): Australian scientists have discovered a new species of dinosaur in Antarctica, which is believed to have ---d during the Cretaceous period, around 100 million years ago. * "China Launches Tianwen-1 Mission to Explore Mars" (Source: The New York Times): China has launched its Tianwen-1 mission to explore Mars, which includes an orbiter, a lander... and a rover. * "Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Launches Communication Satellite GSAT-31" (Source: The Hindu): India's space agency, ISRO, "has launched a communication satellite called GSAT-31," "which will provide high-speed internet services to remote areas of the country."

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Ferl, a researcher within UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, is also the director of UF's new Astraeus Space Institute. He is joining five other people on the launch of Blue Origin's suborbital New Shepard rocket today for what will be its eighth human spaceflight. Dubbed NS-26, the capsule is set for liftoff as early as 9:00 a.m. EDT from Blue Origin's West Texas launch facility.

Along for the ride will be a species of plant called Arabidopsis thaliana. Ferl will be looking at how its genes adapt on the way to space.

"Space is a challenging environment, one that we're not evolutionarily designed for," he said during a phone interview from the launch site. "And so the question is, what tools can we bring to bear to understand how much adaptation, how much physiological change has to occur in order to survive and thrive in space."

Ferl has used the plant on previous experiments on board the International Space Station and the space shuttle .

"It turns out, we know a fair bit about what it's like to be on the space station or on the space shuttle compared to Earth, but we actually know very little about that transition from going from the ground up into space," he said.

"Science just hasn't had that many opportunities to do biology experiments of the kind—that we do on the way or in the first few minutes, or even the first few seconds of getting into space."

The plants are the representative for what terrestrial biology has to go through when it travels off-world.

‘Very Bright' Fireball Lights Up Appalachia And Vanishes Over North Carolina

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A particularly bright fireball recently lit up Appalachia as it streaked across the night sky before vanishing over North Carolina, according to NASA.

The " very bright firebal l" was first spotted 45 miles above Piney Flats, Tennessee, at about 1:15 a.m. Friday, Aug. 30, the space agency said in a Facebook post. It was moving eastward at 31,300 mph, NASA said.

"The fireball was also detected by several cameras in the region, as well as the Geostationary Lightning Mapper aboard the GOES-16 spacecraft," NASA said.

Plenty of people on the ground also saw the object burning brilliantly overhead, according to reports submitted to the American Meteor Society . The AMS received 175 witness reports from 10 states, including Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia — though the majority of sightings were clustered within the Appalachian states.

"We had just gotten home and before I even stepped out of the vehicle I saw blue and our skin started to glow," a Tennessee resident said. "It quickly turned to green and was right with the tree line on our property and then it passed where we were standing in observation and I saw the most beautiful orange sparkling tail."

Another witness in Tennessee said they were sleeping when the sudden light from outside woke them up.

"It was just there, a brilliant green with a well defined white tail. Like a celestial emerald," the said. "I froze and waited for it to explode like a huge firework but it just continued through the horizon. Incredibly bright and well defined. Completely surreal."

The object was an asteroid fragment, according to NASA, small but extremely dense, estimated to be just 2 feet in diameter but weighing 1,000 pounds.

It traveled a distance of roughly 60 miles, crossed from Tennessee into North Carolina and disintegrated above the town of Altapass.

SpaceX Announces New Launch Date For Polaris Dawn Mission

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SpaceX filed a new launch schedule with the Federal Aviation Administration, with the first window opening at 3:38 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 4.

Asteroid About The Size Of 2 Football Fields To Make Close Approach To Earth In September | FOX 4...

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* A massive asteroid, estimated to be around 1,640 feet in diameter, passed close to Earth on August 25, with a closest approach of about 1. 1 million miles (1. 8 million kilometers). This is roughly the same distance as the distance between Earth and the Moon. * A small asteroid, the size of an SUV, made a close approach to Earth on August 21, with a closest distance of about 27,000 miles (43,000 kilometers). Astronomers described the event as "relatively harmless". * An asteroid, roughly the size of a football field, will make a close approach to Earth on September 12, with a closest distance of about 184,000 miles (297,000 kilometers). This asteroid was previously thought to be a dwarf planet. * An asteroid, about 120 feet in diameter, exploded over the Pacific Ocean on August 16, releasing a burst of energy equivalent to 1. 5 megatons of TNT. * Astronomers detected an asteroid... about 1,000 feet in diameter, making a close approach to Earth on August 16, with a closest distance of about 2. 4 million miles (3. 8 million kilometers). * Scientists are monitoring a large asteroid, "approximately 1."5 miles (2. 4 kilometers) in diameter, "that is expected to make a close approach to Earth on September 22.".. with a closest distance of about 2. 5 million miles (4 million kilometers).

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FILE, Feb. 2024 - NASA collected its first-ever asteroid samples from deep space. Daniel Brown at Nottingham Trent University joined LiveNOW from FOX's Josh Breslow to discuss the significance of the mission.

In a few weeks, skygazers will be able to see asteroid ⁘2024 ON⁘ as it swings by Earth at an astronomically close, but still safe distance, according to the Virtual Telescope Project.

Measuring at least 720 feet wide, or about the length of two football fields, the asteroid will be visible from the Northern Hemisphere.

The asteroid will zoom past Earth from just about 620,000 miles, or about 2.6 times the distance between Earth and the Moon , making its flyby from a close but safe distance. A similar close approach happens on average one time every 10 years, the Virtual Telescope Project said.

Skygazers can watch its approach starting on Sept. 15 at 2:30 p.m. ET through the Virtual Telescope live feed online here .

Asteroids are pieces of rock left over after the solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago, NASA said.