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Firefly Aerospace’s first launch ended in a Fireball

lead image: Firefly Aerospace’s first Alpha rocket ended in failure shortly after liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Thursday evening. Firefly Aerospace suffered a failure during the first orbital flight of their small satellite launch vehicle, Alpha. The launch, designated as FLTA001, launched from Space Launch Complex 2 West at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California before blowing up during first stage flight. Firefly was aiming to become the fifth company to develop and fly a privately-funded rocket to orbit, following Orbital ATK’s Pegasus (since acquired by Northrop Grumman), SpaceX’s Falcon 1, Rocket Lab’s Electron, and Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne.…

A Key Challenge to Harvesting Fusion Energy on Earth

A key challenge for scientists striving to produce on Earth the fusion energy that powers the sun and stars is preventing what are called runaway electrons, particles unleashed in disrupted fusion experiments that can bore holes in tokamaks, the doughnut-shaped machines that house the experiments. Scientists led by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have used a novel diagnostic with wide-ranging capabilities to detect the birth, and the linear and exponential growth phases of high-energy runaway electrons, which may allow researchers to determine how to prevent the electrons’ damage. Initial energy “We need…

SETI: The Future of Extraterrestrial Intelligence

How would you feel if, after many decades of searching, we finally found signs of extraterrestrial intelligence? Would you be consumed by wonder and excitement, or does the thought of making contact with an unknown life force somewhere out there in the universe fill you with fear and trepidation? And what impact would this discovery have on us collectively – would it unite us or divide us here on Earth? “Maybe the search for extraterrestrials actually tells us more about ourselves than anything else,” says world-renowned astronomer and deputy executive director of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Professor…

Scientists are using new satellite tech to find glow-in-the-dark milky seas of maritime lore

Lead image: For centuries, sailors have told tales of huge swaths of ocean glowing on dark nights. (Image credit: Steven D. Miller/NOAA) For centuries, sailors have been reporting strange encounters like the one above. These events are called milky seas. They are a rare nocturnal phenomenon in which the ocean’s surface emits a steady bright glow. They can cover thousands of square miles and, thanks to the colorful accounts of 19th-century mariners like Capt. Kingman, milky seas are a well-known part of maritime folklore. But because of their remote and elusive nature, they are extremely difficult to study and so…

1,000th Near-Earth Asteroid Observed by Planetary Radar Since 1968

Lead image: This animation shows asteroid 2016 AJ193 rotate as it was observed by Goldstone’s 70-meter (230 foot) antenna on Aug. 22, 2021. Three-quarters of a mile (1.3-kilometers) wide, the object was the 1,001st near-Earth asteroid to be measured by planetary radar since 1968. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Seven days after this historic milestone, a massive antenna at NASA’s Deep Space Network Goldstone complex imaged another, far larger object. On August 14, 2021, a small near-Earth asteroid (NEA) designated 2021 PJ1 passed our planet at a distance of over 1 million miles (about 1.7 million kilometers). Between 65 and 100 feet (20…