Monday 30 July 2018

Parker Solar Probe: cool-headed science and technology


NASA have recently published an easy to understand article by Susannah Darling
(with accompanying video material)
providing a detailed explanation as to why the Parker Solar Probe
will be able to cope with heat and extreme temperatures.


Wednesday 4 July 2018

Seeds for weeds in microgravity


A promising experiment involving the humble weed "thale cress" (Arabidopsis thaliana)
is presently being conducted in NASA's advanced plant habitat
on the International Space Station.



[For background information on the scientific value of thale cress 
there is an old article from The INDEPENDENT
that remains quite topical and stimulatingly informative.


Monday 2 July 2018

Bright flash and loud sonic boom


Purdue University News Service has provided a short, useful note 
on a meteoroid that exploded 
over the city of Lipetsk in western Russia in June. 


Sunday 1 July 2018

Hayabusa2 has reached its destination


Japan’s Hayabusa2 space explorer is presently
 at about 20 kilometres from asteroid Ryugu 
(some 280 million kilometres away from Earth)
scanning the surface for suitable touchdown places.