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NASA astronauts can vote from space, but why can't they endorse political candidates? As it turns out, U.S. federal law specifically prohibits them from doing so.

While you can get good discounts during both shopping events, we take a look at which is better between Black Friday and the Christmas sales.

Matthew McConaughey narrates four new cinematic teaser trailers for out-of-this-world alien creatures in upcoming sci-fi role playing game "Exodus."

What created this huge space bubble?

Several downballot races in the 2024 presidential election will carry implications for climate policy far beyond state lines

Experts predict that the number of cancer cases around the world will skyrocket, resulting in millions more fatalities by 2050

Experts predict that the number of cancer cases around the world will skyrocket, resulting in millions more fatalities by 2050

Our ancestors probably used a wide range of plant-based tools that have since been lost to history. Now we're finally getting a glimpse of this Botanic Age

Our ancestors probably used a wide range of plant-based tools that have since been lost to history. Now we're finally getting a glimpse of this Botanic Age

"This is incredibly exciting, as up to now we have not had a tool for detecting plastics in coastal environments from space."

Torrential rainfall causing deadly flash floods has hit southern and eastern Spain in regions including the Costa del Sol, where the city of Malaga is located, and Valencia in the east. As these areas struggle to cope with the aftermath, satellite technology has played a crucial role in assessing the damages of the affected areas.

The article is being updated as new satellite images become available.

One thing we’ve learned in recent decades is that exoplanets are surprisingly common. So far, we’ve confirmed nearly 6,000 planets, and we have evidence for thousands more. Most of these planets were discovered using the transit method. though we there are other methods as well. Many stars are known to have multiple planets, such as the TRAPPIST-1 system with seven Earth-sized worlds. But even within known planetary systems there could be planets we’ve overlooked. Perhaps their orbit doesn’t pass in front of the star from our vantage point, or the evidence of their presence is buried in data noise. How might we find them? A recent paper on the arXiv has an interesting approach.

Rather than combing through the observational data trying to extract more planets from the noise, the authors suggest that we look at the orbital dynamics of known systems to see if planets might be possible between the planets we know. Established systems are millions or billions of years old, so their planetary orbits must be stable on those timescales. If the planets of a system are “closely packed,” then adding new planets to the mix would cause the system to go all akilter. If the system is “loosely packed,” then we could add hypothetical planets between the others, and the system would still be dynamically stable.

The seven planetary systems considered. Credit: Horner, et al

To show how this would work, the authors consider seven planetary systems discovered by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) known to have two planets. Since it isn’t likely that a system has only two planets, there is a good chance they have others. The team then ran thousands of simulations of these systems with hypothetical planets, calculating if they could remain stable over millions of years. They found that for two of the systems, extra planets (other than planets much more distant than the known ones) could be ruled out on dynamical grounds. Extra planets would almost certainly destabilize the systems. But five of the systems could remain stable with more planets. That doesn’t mean those systems have more planets, only that they could.

One of the things this work shows is that most of the currently known exoplanetary systems likely have yet-undiscovered worlds. This approach could also help us sort systems to determine which ones might deserve a further look. We are still in the early stages of discovery, and we are gathering data with incredible speed. We need tools like this so we aren’t overwhelmed by piles of new data.

Reference: Horner, Jonathan, et al. “The Search for the Inbetweeners: How packed are TESS planetary systems?” arXiv preprint arXiv:2411.00245 (2024).

The post How Many Additional Exoplanets are in Known Systems? appeared first on Universe Today.

The neutron star 4U 1820-30 is one of the fastest spinning bodies in the universe, spinning at 716 times a second and erupting like an atomic bomb, NASA's NICER telescope has found.

The British Heart Foundation’s Reflections of Research competition showcases beautiful images captured by researchers studying heart and circulatory disease

The British Heart Foundation’s Reflections of Research competition showcases beautiful images captured by researchers studying heart and circulatory disease

One day, doctors might be able to 3D print copies of your organs in order to test a variety of drugs, thanks to a new technique that uses light and sound for rapid printing

One day, doctors might be able to 3D print copies of your organs in order to test a variety of drugs, thanks to a new technique that uses light and sound for rapid printing

A joint Hubble and James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) project to learn more about the dusty disk around the bright star Vega has found a surprising lack of planets.

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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Nicholas Bitner from Candeska Cikana Community College, left, and Jesse Rhoades from the University of North Dakota (UND), right, are pictured in UND’s BiPed lab, where their students test and capture motion data for the Mapi Hapa. Walter Criswell, UND Today

Human exploration on the lunar surface is no small feat. It requires technologists and innovators from all walks of life to tackle many challenges, including feet. 

From designing astronaut boots, addressing hazardous Moon dust, and researching new ways to land on Mars, NASA is funding valuable research through M-STAR (Minority University Research and Education Project’s (MUREP) Space Technology Artemis Research). The M-STAR program provides opportunities for students and faculty at Minority Serving Institutions to participate in space technology development through capacity building and research grants. With more than $11.5 million awarded since 2020, M-STAR aims to ensure NASA isn’t leaving any potential solution behind. 

Best Foot Forward  Candeska Cikana Community College uses selective laser sintering, a type of 3D-printing in which heat and pressure form specific structures using layers of powdered material. Shown here, a student works to remove excess material, in this case a powdered form of nylon with carbon fibers, to reveal a prototype of the “Mapi Hapa,” or “sky shoe.” Candeska Cikana Community College

Supportive boots are required for astronauts who will perform long duration Artemis missions on the Moon. With astronaut foot health in mind, students and faculty of North Dakota’s Candeska Cikana Community College in Fort Totten and the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks are designing a solution for extravehicular activity Moon boots. The project, called Mapi Hapa, proposes a 3D printed device that helps astronauts achieve the range of motion that takes place in the ankle when you draw your toe back towards the shin. 

Candeska Cikana Community College is a tribal college that serves the Spirit Lake Nation, including the Dakota, Lakota, Sisseton, Wahpeton, and Yanktonai peoples.  

Nicholas Bitner, an instructor at Candeska Cikana and graduate student at the University of North Dakota, notes the unique skills that tribal students possess. “Their perspective, which is unlike that of any other student body, thrives on building with their hands and taking time to make decisions.” 

Bitner also attributes many opportunities and successes of their program to M-STAR and its partnership which exemplifies the dire importance of consistent funding. 

“Given the relationships, we have been able to expand our capabilities and our lab, but it has also given us funding. We were able to hire all our students in the engineering department as lab technicians. So, they get paid to do the research that they are a part of, and not only do they have that psychological ownership, but they also have a good paying job that looks nice on their resumes.”  

In addition to addressing astronaut foot health, M-STAR funding is helping develop solutions to combat lunar regolith, or Moon dust, which can damage landers, spacesuits, and human lungs, if inhaled. 

Lunar Dust Development 

With M-STAR, New Mexico State University in Las Cruces developed affordable, reliable lunar regolith simulants to help test lunar surface technologies. The team also designed testing facilities that mimic environmental conditions on the Moon.   

New Mexico State has already started sharing their simulants, including with a fellow M-STAR awardee. An M-STAR project selected in 2023 from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne uses the simulants to help test their experience in smart agriculture to test applications for crop production on the Moon. 

University of Maryland, Eastern Shore explores the possibility of growing crops in lunar regolith by mixing varying proportions of lunar regolith simulant, horse manure, and potting soil. The lunar regolith simulant was provided by fellow M-STAR awardee at New Mexico State University in in Las Cruces.Stephanie Yeldell/NASA

Douglas Cortez, associate professor in civil engineering at New Mexico State, believes different perspectives are essential to maximizing solutions.  

“There are hundreds of people working at Minority Serving Institutions that are used to looking at the world in a completely different way,” said Cortez. “When they start looking at the same problem and parameters, they come up with very different solutions.” 

As we look to sustainable presence on the Moon, NASA also has its sights set on Mars and M-STAR is helping develop technologies to inform crewed Martian exploration.  

Stick the Landing 

San Diego State University in California was awarded funding for research on Mars entry, descent, and landing technologies. The team aims to achieve optimal trajectory by developing onboard algorithms that guide vehicles to descent autonomously. 

The M-STAR research opportunities have been invaluable to students like Chris Davami and his teammates working to develop improved methods to land on Mars.  

Christopher Davami, who supported San Diego State University’s 2021 M-STAR project, is pictured here at NASA’s Langley Research Center, where he was selected for internships supporting research in aeroelasticity, atmospheric flight, and entry systems research.NASA

“I would definitely not have been able to have these opportunities with NASA if it weren’t for M-STAR,” said Davami. “M-STAR helped pay for my education, which helped me save a lot in student loans. I probably wouldn’t be going to graduate school right now if I did not have this opportunity. This program enabled me to keep pursuing my research and continue doing what I love.” 

Following his contributions to the M-STAR-funded project, Davami was awarded a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunity in 2023 on his work in autonomous end-to-end trajectory planning and guidance constrained entry and precision power decent.  

Through efforts like M-STAR, NASA aims to seed the future workforce and prepare colleges and universities to win other NASA research opportunities. When it comes to the advancement of space technology, people of different backgrounds and skillsets are needed to achieve what was once known as impossible. Not only can the diversification of ideas spark fundamental innovations in space, but it can also help students apply these technological advancements to solving problems here on Earth. 

To learn more about M-STAR visit: 

https://go.nasa.gov/442k76s

by: Gabrielle Thaw, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate 

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China's Einstein Probe, an X-ray telescope in Earth orbit, has already made several discoveries during its initial commissioning phase.