technical updates

On Oct. 20, 1970, the Soviet Union launched the Zond 8 spacecraft on a mission to the moon. This was the last mission in the Zond program. After the first three Zond missions explored Venus and Mars , the next ones were circumlunar missions that flew around the moon before returning to Earth. Although there was no crew on board, the Zond spacecraft was designed with cosmonauts in mind. The Zond missions served as test flights for the Soviet Union's plans to send cosmonauts to the moon. But those plans for crewed flights never came to fruition. This was partly because the U.S. had already put astronauts on the moon , but also because the Zond missions had a lot of technical problems. Zond 8 was considered a success — even though its guidance system malfunctioned on the way back to Earth. The spacecraft still returned to Earth safely and splashed down in the Indian Ocean one week after it lau...

Taschen, purveyors of fine art and design special-edition books, have teamed up with George Lucas and his newly opened Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles to present a masterful two-volume catalog of the museum’s illuminating offerings. Housed in a sturdy slipcase, readers will discover a pair of lavishly illustrated volumes spanning 832 pages and tipping the scales at nearly 14 pounds. At $200 for the pair, it's not cheap, but look on the bright side; hoisting these illustrated tomes will save you a subscription to your local gym! This immersive collection documents in great detail the astounding scope of rare items on display in Lucas’s treasury of paintings, murals, photographs, sculptures, posters, comic strips, illustrations, costumes, and magazine covers that have spurred humankind’s imagination. Developed in collaboration with George Lucas and the Lucas Museum of Narrative ...

HAWTHORNE, Calif. — A moon buggy carrying a history-making supercomputer is ready to launch to the lunar surface. And it's taking some inspiration from Mars. Later this year, Astrolab will launch its uncrewed moon rover FLIP to the lunar south pole as part of the Griffin Mission 1, or Griffin-1. The California company is one of two that NASA has selected to develop a drivable rover for the agency's Artemis program. On board FLIP will be Hewlett Packard Enterprise's (HPE) Spaceborne Computer-4, an advanced computer module built to be used in space. This will be the first time that high-performance computing and artificial intelligence will be tested on the lunar surface. As NASA gets closer to landing humans back on the moon with Artemis, advancements like this aim to support future human habitation as well as economic activity on and around the moon. "We're sending the first ...

On Oct. 19, 2016, the European Space Agency's ExoMars mission arrived at Mars ! ExoMars 2016 consists of the Trace Gas Orbiter and the Schiaparelli lander. The orbiter and lander traveled there together and separated on Oct. 16, three days before the orbiter entered orbit around Mars , and the lander touched down on the planet's surface. But something went wrong during the lander's descent, and it crashed into the ground. Schiaparelli did not survive the accident , but the Trace Gas Orbiter is still functional. It is currently circling the planet, looking for methane and other gases in the Martian atmosphere that could be evidence for possible biological activity. Artist’s illustration showing the separation of the ExoMars 2016 entry, descent and landing demonstrator module, named Schiaparelli, from the Trace Gas Orbiter, and heading for Mars. (Image credit: ESA) Why it mattered Exo...

The moon is shrinking, and scientists are narrowing in on exactly how much our natural satellite has dwindled over the years. The moon is thought to have formed from a violent collision between a massive object and our young Earth roughly 4.5 billion years ago, and its interior is still gradually cooling off from this ancient collision. As it cools, the moon contracts, leading to a long, slow shrinking process . Now, in a new study, scientists think that they have figured out how much smaller the moon is actually getting. In this new study, scientists analyzing images snapped by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) have spotted over 10,000 young faults, or cracks across the moon's surface. This helped them to figure out how much the moon has contracted over time, and they now estimate that the moon's radius has decreased by about 148 feet (45 meters) over the past 400 to 800 mi...

A common liver disease affecting nearly 30% of adults worldwide may be far more complicated than scientists previously realized. Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered that fatty liver disease actually consists of five distinct biological subtypes, each carrying different risks for liver failure, cancer, heart disease, and other serious complications. from Latest Science News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/BicnEw8