First in Flight: NASA Just Proved Flying on Mars Is Possible Next Up Is the Solar System
With Ingenuity’s five successful flights on the Red Planet, aviation may find unexpected footing in the future of space exploration
Print
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter captured this image of its shadow during the rotorcraft s second experimental test flight on April 22, 2021. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Advertisement
Picture the scene: A small drone the size of a suitcase descends into a dark Martian crevasse perhaps a lava tube that was formed billions of years ago by volcanic activity on the Red Planet. The drone illuminates its surroundings, recording views never seen before by human eyes as its suite of instruments seeks out signs of past or present alien biology. Finally, its reconnaissance complete, the drone flies back to a landing zone on the surface to transmit invaluable data back to Earth. After soaking up the Martian sunlight to recharge its batteries, it continues its explo
Plusieurs rendez-vous pour admirer le transit de Mercure le 9 mai - sixactualites.fr - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sixactualites.fr Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Skywatch: What’s happening in the heavens in May Blaine P. Friedlander Jr.
Venus and
sun as it sets in the west-northwest. The fleet Mercury at zero magnitude, bright enough to see in the dark heavens climbs the western sky until the middle of May, when it appears to retreat again toward the western horizon to greet Venus (-3.8 magnitude, very bright) leading to a conjunction May 29, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. The new
moon occurs May 11, but you probably won’t be able to see the skinny young moon until May 13, when it nudges Mercury low on the western horizon just after dusk.
Skywatch: What s happening in the heavens in May - The Washington Post washingtonpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtonpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
E-Mail
SAN ANTONIO April 27, 2021 The Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission has selected four early career scientists as associate investigators to pursue solar science under the mentorship of senior PUNCH science team members. Southwest Research Institute is leading PUNCH, a NASA Small Explorer (SMEX) mission that will integrate understanding of the Sun s corona, the outer atmosphere visible during total solar eclipses, with the solar wind filling the solar system.
The solar wind, a supersonic stream of charged particles emitted by the Sun, fills the heliosphere, the bubble-like region of space encompassing our solar system. Its boundary, where the interstellar medium and solar wind pressures balance, ends the sphere of the Sun s influence.