15 spacecraft both those on heliocentric orbits and also the spacecraft grouping at the planet Mars will have chances to look at interstellar 3I/Atlas over the next few months. Today Psyche spacecraft on 2025 September 4 has a chance to look at 0.302 AU distance as 3I/Atlas passes by Mars. October, the martian spacecraft array …
3I/ATLAS is just the third-ever interstellar object confirmed to be from outside the solar system and which we have telescopes to observe in detail 3I/Atlas is by far the largest and it if known to come from the core of Milky Way so it is the oldest comet ever found. The other two interstellar intruders …
Starshade-based methods, both for in-space observatories like the Habitable Worlds Observer or ground-based observatories, have the potential to increase our observational capability without launching ever increasing telescope apertures. Construction of these starshades with the necessary low mass, stability, precision, launch volume, and size (>100m for some missions) remains a challenge, since loading can be significant …
Larger telescopes are better because we can see better and capture more light, so NASA is developing liquid based space telescopes that would let us build 50 meter telescopes for the cost of 10 meter telescopes. The future of space-based UV/optical/IR astronomy requires ever larger telescopes. The highest priority astrophysics targets, including Earth-like exoplanets, first …
Felix Schlang at What About It?, ercxspace on twitter and adonaisf have rendered a space telescope built inside the structure of a SpaceX Starship. Elon Musk has said SpaceX is working on designing a Space Telescope built into a Starship. The Hubble space telescope mirror is 2.4 meters across. The James Webb Space Telescope’s primary …
Dark Energy is inferred based upon distance and other measurements which could have 10% errors. Measurements of the distance to extragalactic sources allow us to infer the major energy constituents of our Universe. Two decades ago such measurements revealed that most of the energy in the Universe is in `dark energy’ — a discovery that …
NASA NIAC willl investigate the details of building a high-resolution, long-baseline, optical imaging interferometer on the lunar surface in conjunction with the Artemis Program. A lunar infrastructure can happen over the next few years through the NASAArtemis Program and the SpaceX Lunar Starsihp. The study of a lunar surface-based interferometer will be a huge step …
A 2024 phase 1 NASA Advanced Innovations concept study will look at thin film isoptope nuclear rockets. This will enable faster probes with years of thrust capability. The years of thrust using nuclear isotopes will provide energy for course changes beyond Saturn and even in interstellar space far from the solar energy of the sun. …
Our current space telescopes have found thousands of exoplanets based upon the slight variation in movement that they cause to the stars they are orbiting, but we have not seen the reflected light from those exoplanets. NASA has a count of exoplanets and candidate exoplanets. We need better and larger space telescopes so that we …
Researchers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to calculate the amount of heat energy coming from the rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 c. The result suggests that the planet’s atmosphere – if it exists at all – is extremely thin. The result marks another step in determining whether planets orbiting small red dwarfs like TRAPPIST-1 – the …
Astroscale and Momentus are bidding to extend the life of the NASA Hubble Space Telescope. The two companies recently responded to NASA’s Hubble Reboost RFI in a joint proposal. The mission’s objectives include safe relocation of Hubble and removal of nearby threatening debris from the celebrated space telescope’s new orbit. Astroscale U.S. is headquartered in …