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One of NASA’s Mars robots is in safe mode to save power while a dust storm blocks its solar panels from charging. The InSight lander, which is designed to study the interior of Mars, is stable in its safe mode, which the spacecraft initiated on Jan. 7, the agency said in a mission status update … Read more
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has some rocks stuck in its throat. Perseverance drilled and collected its sixth Red Planet rock sample late last month, but the car-sized rover hasn’t been able to seal up the titanium tube containing the material yet. “I recently captured my sixth rock core and have encountered a new challenge. Seems … Read more
Earth and Jupiter don’t have a lot in common. One is relatively small, rocky, and habitable. The other is absolutely enormous, completely lacking in solidity, and raging with colossal storms. Yet, if you look at some satellite pictures of marine phytoplankton blooms here on Earth next to pictures of atmospheric turbulence at Jupiter’s poles, it … Read more
This sky map shows the view from New York City just after sunset on Jan. 7, 2022. (Image credit: SkySafari app) The flighty planet Mercury, typically a tricky observing challenge from planet Earth, will be at its greatest distance from the sun in our sky Friday (Jan. 7). While Mercury will be shining quite brightly … Read more
By Elle Hunt BBC Studios/Paul Williams TV The Green Planet BBC One January HOUSEPLANTS are the new pets. According to the US National Gardening Association, sales rose by nearly 50 per cent in the three years up to 2019. Then, through the pandemic, they rose even further as we sought to bring nature indoors. Yet … Read more
From heat pumps to electric cars, satellite launches to floating wind turbines, we focus our attention on 11 climate solutions to watch in 2022 Environment 7 January 2022 By Adam Vaughan Tugboats pull a gigantic floating wind turbine in Sumoto, Hyogo, Japan The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images Happy new year, and welcome to this … Read more
NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity is poised to make its first flight of 2022. The 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) Ingenuity’s next Red Planet sortie — its 19th overall — will take place as early as Friday (Jan. 7), mission team members said in a blog post on Tuesday (Jan. 4). Ingenuity will cover 207 feet (63 meters) … Read more
Chemical leftovers from the very earliest days of our planet could still be present near Earth’s core, according to new research, and the discovery could improve our understanding of plate tectonics phenomena happening today. The team behind the study compares these leftovers to clumps of flour at the bottom of a bowl of batter … Read more
High above the red planet, China’s Mars orbiter Tianwen 1 has captured a series of incredible, alien images of our neighboring planet. The shots were captured by a small camera that was deployed by Tianwen 1. Released on New Year’s Day, they show Tianwen 1, looking lonely above the red planet, as well as Mars’ … Read more
China’s Tianwen 1 spacecraft at Mars pulled a big New Year’s surprise with stunning new images captured by a small camera that flew free of the orbiter to snap epic selfies above the Red Planet. The new images published by the China National Space Administration show Tianwen 1 above Mars’ north pole, with its solar … Read more