Richard M. Goldstein, a pioneer in planetary exploration who used ground-penetrating radar to map planets with techniques that scientists now use to measure geographic changes on Earth, including melting glaciers, died June 22 at his home in La Cañada Flintridge, Calif. He was 97. His daughter, Rabbi Lisa L. Goldstein, confirmed the death. In the … Read more
When we think of unexpected events, asteroid impacts are usually pretty low on the list. After all, it is highly unlikely that a large asteroid will hit Earth in the near future. Given the potential catastrophic damage such an event could cause, NASA experts have made preparing for this distant possibility a priority. Every two … Read more
TOKYO — An Astroscale spacecraft continues to inspect a Japanese upper stage in low-Earth orbit, demonstrating that it can be done safely. Astroscale announced on July 9 that its Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J) spacecraft performed a “fly around” maneuver, partially flying around the H-2A upper stage it had been inspecting for the past … Read more
Earthquakes are one of the most mysterious and terrifying natural disasters. While we have an idea of when the biggest ones might happen, others can seemingly out of nowhere, flatten cities and creating secondary disasters such as to burn, landslides And tsunamis. Climate change is causing an increase in other natural disasters, such as wildfires … Read more
3 hours ago By means of Jonathan Amos, @BBCAmos, Science Correspondent AFP Europe’s big new rocket, Ariane-6, has been successfully launched on its maiden flight. The vehicle took off from a launch pad in French Guiana at approximately 4:00 p.m. local time (7:00 p.m. GMT) for a demonstration mission to launch a number of satellites … Read more
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific developments and more. CNN — About half a billion years ago, a volcanic eruption near a shallow sea in what is now Morocco produced some of the most complete specimens ever found of trilobites, insect-like marine creatures, revealing … Read more
Scientists may have solved a long-standing mystery surrounding the ice giant Uranus and its faint radiation belts. It’s possible that the belts’ faintness is related to the planet’s oddly tilted and lopsided magnetic field, which could be causing “traffic jams” for particles racing across the world. The mystery dates back to Voyager 2’s visit to … Read more
Fuzzy new photos of a mountain-sized asteroid, a ‘planet killer’ that recently reached its closest approach to Earth in more than a century have revealed a surprising new feature of the giant space rock: it has a secret mini-moon. Asteroid 2011 UL21 is a possibly dangerousnear-Earth object previously estimated to be anywhere from 1.1 to … Read more
A series of mirrors and prisms reflect and focus lasers to perform the reaction. Credit: The University of Texas at Austin A global research team led by Texas Engineers has developed a way to irradiate the molecules in plastic and other materials with a laser, breaking them down into tiny particles for future reuse. The … Read more
An exoplanet in its star’s habitable Goldilocks zone is now suspected of having a liquid water ocean and an atmosphere. The planet, called LHS 1140 b, is about 1.7 times the size of Earth and is located about 48 light-years away. This distant world, first discovered in 2017, now turns out to be a rocky … Read more