EverythingScience

Press Conference: SLS Update

SLS will likely rollback to the VAB. Would deconflict with Crew-5 and aim for mid-late October, pending resolutions.

NASA may attempt to fix the leaky umbilical connection at the pad before rolling back to the Vehicle Assembly Building. Doing it at the pad could allow them to test the connection with cryogenics before returning to the Vehicle Assembly Building.

However, NASA is not yet ruling out launching SLS without a rollback completely. Would require getting approval from the range to extend the certification period of the Flight Termination System. The next launch period opens Sept. 19.

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EverythingScience pinned «⁣Frank Drake, pioneer in the search for alien life, dies at 92 ⁣Drake’s contributions to science were numerous. A founder of the scientific field engaged in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), he developed the Drake Equation, a framework…»

I'm told that Space Launch System program officials will recommend a rollback to the VAB to investigate the hydrogen leak. The Artemis I mission management team will consider this recommendation at their afternoon meeting, and publicly announce a decision at 20:00 UTC.
Source: @SciGuySpace

Artemis I has scrubbed its second attempt.

The launch director waived off today’s Artemis I launch attempt. Teams encountered a liquid hydrogen leak while loading the propellant into the core stage of the Space Launch System rocket.

Multiple troubleshooting efforts to address the area of the leak by reseating a seal in the quick disconnect where liquid hydrogen is fed into the rocket did not fix the issue. Engineers are continuing to gather additional data.
Source: @NASASpaceflight

Only about 2 hours remain until the targeted launch of Artemis-1

NASA has started live coverage of the event: 🌐 NASA TV

Stay tuned for live updates of major milestones.

📸 NASA
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Fueling operations of the SLS rocket were going well this morning until a hydrogen leak was found in the engine cavity. Propellant loading of the liquid hydrogen tank has been stopped at 8 percent full while the launch team assesses.

Why does the SLS rocket use liquid hydrogen fuel if it leaks all the time? Well, it is very efficient, energy density-wise. But most importantly, it's what space shuttle designers used 50 years ago, and Congress mandated that the SLS rocket use those same engines.

Source: @SciGuySpace

🚀 NASA is targeting 18:17 UTC today, Sept. 3, for the launch of Artemis I, the first integrated test of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, Orion spacecraft, and the ground systems at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

There is a two-hour launch window for this next attempt. Predictions estimate a 60-80% chance of favorable weather, with conditions improving throughout the two-hour window.

Managers waved off the first launch attempt Aug. 29 when launch controllers were unable to chill down the four RS-25 engines, with one engine showing higher temperatures than the other engines.

Live coverage of this launch will begin at 16:15 UTC on NASA TV. We will post the links once the coverage starts.

We will also keep you covered with live updates on major milestones leading up to, and following the launch.

📸 NASA
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⁣Frank Drake, pioneer in the search for alien life, dies at 92

⁣Drake’s contributions to science were numerous. A founder of the scientific field engaged in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), he developed the Drake Equation, a framework for estimating the number of possible civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy.

He made the first observations of Jupiter’s radiation belts, and he was one of the first astronomers to measure Venus’s searing surface temperature and the greenhouse effect of its thick atmosphere.

Drake served as the director of the Arecibo radio observatory in Puerto Rico. He was a mentor and inspiration to generations of astronomers and astrophysicists.

“When the history of science is written a few hundred years from now, after we have made the detection of intelligent life beyond Earth—which I absolutely believe at some point we will—I believe Frank will take a place among the greatest scientists who ever lived,” says astrophysicist Andrew Siemion

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Stem cell biologists create new human cell type for research

Professor Vincent Pasque and his team at KU Leuven have managed to generate a new type of human cell in the lab using stem cells. The new cells closely resemble their natural counterparts in early human embryos.

As a result, researchers can now better study what happens just after an embryo implants in the womb.

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Everything We Don't Know

Even with the small steps and the giant leaps we've made as a species, there is still a lot to learn about earth, life, and the human condition. There's still everything we don't know.

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How Electricity Actually Works

Watch part 1 here. The above video is a response which corrects and expands on the previous video.

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NASA’s Webb Takes Its First-Ever Direct Image of Distant World

For the first time, astronomers have used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to take a direct image of a planet outside our solar system. The exoplanet is a gas giant, meaning it has no rocky surface and could not be habitable.

The image, as seen through four different light filters, shows how Webb’s powerful infrared gaze can easily capture worlds beyond our solar system, pointing the way to future observations that will reveal more information than ever before about exoplanets.

“This is a transformative moment, not only for Webb but also for astronomy generally,” said Sasha Hinkley, associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, who led these observations

The exoplanet in Webb’s image, called HIP 65426 b, is about six to 12 times the mass of Jupiter, and these observations could help narrow that down even further. It's 385 light years away.

Taking direct images of exoplanets is challenging because stars are so much brighter than planets. The HIP 65426 b planet is more than 10,000 times fainter than its host star in the near-infrared, and a few thousand times fainter in the mid-infrared.

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The launch of #Artemis I is no longer happening today as teams work through an issue with an engine bleed. Teams will continue to gather data, and we will keep you posted on the timing of the next launch attempt. https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/
Source: @NASA

📅 Next Attempt: September 2nd, 16:48 UTC*

*Subject to change

Prelaunch Checks

Read more about the mission here:
http://nasaspaceflight.com/news/artemis
Source: @NASA_Nerd

All systems go for Artemis 1 mission to Moon
Scheduled to launch at 12:33 UTC on the 29th of August.
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SLS sitting on Pad 39B waiting to do its job. Artemis 1 is just 4 days away.
Source: @thejackbeyer

The sounds of a black hole

The misconception that there is no sound in space originates because most space is a ~vacuum, providing no way for sound waves to travel. A galaxy cluster has so much gas that we've picked up actual sound.

Here it's amplified, and mixed with other data, to hear a black hole!
Source: @NASAExoplanets