What is Japan's Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM)?
DW News on Youtube has the story about JAXA and Moon.
There's been a fresh burst of interest in the moon, with three lunar missions launched in the summer of 2023 alone. Though the Russian Luna 25 mission failed, India's Chandrayaan-3 lander succeeded. Japan hopes its SLIM lander will join it on the moon in the months to come.
'INTERSTELLAR': Does this Harvard scientist have proof of alien life?
Fox News on Youtube has the story.
Harvard's Dr. Avi Loeb joins 'Fox News Saturday Night' to discuss finding hundreds of tiny metal fragments apparently not from our solar system.
An interstellar object is an astronomical object (such as an asteroid, a comet, or a rogue planet, but not a star) in interstellar space that is not gravitationally bound to a star. This term can also be applied to an object that is on an interstellar trajectory but is temporarily passing close to a star, such as certain asteroids and comets (including exocomets). In the latter case, the object may be called an interstellar interloper.
The first interstellar objects discovered were rogue planets, planets ejected from their original stellar system (e.g., OTS 44 or Cha 110913−773444), though they are difficult to distinguish from sub-brown dwarfs, planet-mass objects that formed in interstellar space as stars do.
The first interstellar object which was discovered traveling through the Solar System was 1I/ʻOumuamua in 2017. The second was 2I/Borisov in 2019. They both possess significant hyperbolic excess velocity, indicating they did not originate in the Solar System. The discovery of ʻOumuamua inspired the identification of CNEOS 2014-01-08, also known as the Manus Island fireball, as an interstellar object that impacted the Earth. This was confirmed by the USA Space Command in 2022 based on the object's velocity relative to the so-called Sun. In May 2023, astronomers reported the possible capture of other interstellar objects in Near Earth Orbit (NEO) over the years.
SpinLaunch: New technology aims to put a whole new spin on space travel
CBS News on Youtube has the story.
A new form of technology is trying to send items into space with an innovative new method. The SpinLaunch aims to reduce the carbon footprint of space travel by using a vacuum chamber to launch objects. Jeff Glor has more.
In the vast expanse of space, a mysterious visitor captured our imaginations and baffled scientists around the world. But while scientists and astronomers struggled to comprehend what this strange interstellar object was upon its first appearance, NASA’s James Webb Telescope has since changed this narrative. The JWST has broadened our window into the cosmos and has now unveiled the first-ever real image of Oumuamua—the enigmatic interstellar object that sparked controversy and speculation.
ʻOumuamua is indeed the first interstellar object detected passing through the Solar System. Formally designated 1I/2017 U1, it was discovered by Robert Weryk using the Pan-STARRS telescope at Haleakalā Observatory, Hawaii, on 19 October 2017, approximately 40 days after it passed its closest point to the Sun on 9 September. When it was first observed, it was about 33 million km (21 million mi; 0.22 AU) from Earth (about 85 times as far away as the Moon) and already heading away from the Sun.
ʻOumuamua is a small object estimated to be between 100 and 1,000 metres (300 and 3,000 ft) long, with its width and thickness both estimated between 35 and 167 metres (115 and 548 ft). It has a red color, like objects in the outer Solar System. Despite its close approach to the Sun, it showed no signs of having a coma. It exhibited non‑gravitational acceleration, potentially due to outgassing or a push from solar radiation pressure. It has a rotation rate similar to that of Solar System asteroids, but many valid models permit it to be more elongated than all but a few other natural bodies. Its light curve, assuming little systematic error, presents its motion as "tumbling" rather than "spinning", and moving sufficiently fast relative to the Sun that it is likely of an extrasolar origin. Extrapolated and without further deceleration, its path cannot be captured into a solar orbit, so it will eventually leave the Solar System and continue into interstellar space. Its planetary system of origin and age are unknown.
Read more here: https://www.science.org/content/article/mystery-our-first-interstellar-visitor-may-be-solved
Oumuamua: is it asteroid, comet, or alien spaceship?
"Oumuamua", as scientists christened it, was also odd in that it looked like an asteroid but behaved like a comet. Now, a team of researchers says "Oumuamua" was definitely a comet, albeit one with an unusual makeup.
India has launched its first space mission to study the sun. The Aditya L1 spacecraft will travel to the outermost part of the sun's orbit. Its aim is to record data that will help scientists to understand how massive explosions of solar gases happen, and and how they impact the Earth. The mission is due to take around 5 years.
That means India's last two space missions have been successful. Both missions are different, technically difficult missions. Do they proove that India is now among the leaders in space exploration?
Both China and India are rising military and economic powers. They regularly clash on their shared border, and both countries have very ambitious space programs. Will this rivalry in space change their relationship on the ground?
Some discoveries in space affect the way we live on earth, but how much of space exploration is really about politics, bravado and flexing on the world stage?
India has become the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon, but is the first to touch down on the relatively unexplored lunar south pole.
The country's space agency has successfully tested a lander hop experiment. It means the lander made the soft-landing again on the lunar surface.
