Cutting-Edge News Online

A Spacecraft Could Get to Titan in Only 2 Years Using a Direct Fusion Drive
by Andy Tomaswick | Universe Today

Fusion power is the technology that is thirty years away, and always will be – according to skeptics at least. Despite its difficult transition into a reliable power source, the nuclear reactions that power the sun have a wide variety of uses in other fields. The most obvious is in weapons, where hydrogen bombs are to this day the most powerful weapons we have ever produced. But there’s another use case that is much less destructive and could prove much more interesting – space drives.

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Based on Kepler Data, There’s a 95% Chance of an Earth-Like Planet Within 20 Light Years
by Matt Williams | Universe Today

In the past few decades, the study of exoplanets has grown by leaps and bounds, with 4296 confirmed discoveries in 3,188 systems and an additional 5,634 candidates awaiting confirmation. Because of this, scientists have been able to get a better idea about the number of potentially-habitable planets that could be out there. A popular target is stars like our own, which are known as G-type yellow dwarfs.

Recently, an international team of scientists (led by researchers from the NASA Ames Research Center) combined data from by the now-defunct Kepler Space Telescope and the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia Observatory. What this revealed is that half of the Sun-like stars in our Universe could have rocky, potentially-habitable planets, the closest of which could be in our cosmic backyard!

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Researchers say new information gathered on the asteroid 16 Psyche – a 140-mile-long minor planet situated within the main asteroid belt orbiting between Mars and Jupiter – will provide astronomical scientists with a clearer view of the rare metal asteroid and possibly provide insight on planetary formation. Psyche could be unique in that it might be an asteroid that is totally made of iron and nickel. Researchers have estimated that the asteroid would be worth around $10,000 quadrillion if its resources were harvested and sold.

Researchers Tap Hubble Telescope for Closer Look at Rare Asteroid Worth $10,000 Quadrillion

The Mercury program represented NASA’s first human spaceflight program, with the aim to see if humans could function effectively in space for a few minutes or hours at a time. NASA’s first seven astronauts, the Mercury 7, were chosen in 1959.

The story of America’s first astronauts is being retold in the TV series “The Right Stuff” on Disney Plus by National Geographic, which premieres Oct. 9 during World Space Week 2020.

Click Here to read more about the Mercury astronauts and their space adventures.

Some Planets May Be Better for Life than Earth
by Sara Zaske | WSU News

Earth is not necessarily the best planet in the universe. Researchers have identified two dozen planets outside our solar system that may have conditions more suitable for life than our own. Some of these orbit stars that may be better than even our sun.

A study led by Washington State University scientist Dirk Schulze-Makuch recently published in the journal Astrobiology details characteristics of potential “superhabitable” planets which include those that are older, a little larger, slightly warmer and possibly wetter than Earth. Life could also more easily thrive on planets that circle more slowly changing stars with longer lifespans than our sun.

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Detailed computer simulations have found that a cosmic contraction can generate features of the universe that we observe today.

Big Bounce Simulations Challenge the Big Bang
by Charlie Wood | Quanta Magazine

The standard story of the birth of the cosmos goes something like this: Nearly 14 billion years ago, a tremendous amount of energy materialized as if from nowhere.

In a brief moment of rapid expansion, that burst of energy inflated the cosmos like a balloon. The expansion straightened out any large-scale curvature, leading to a geometry that we now describe as flat. Matter also thoroughly mixed together, so that now the cosmos appears largely (though not perfectly) featureless. Here and there, clumps of particles have created galaxies and stars, but these are just minuscule specks on an otherwise unblemished cosmic canvas.

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Upcoming NASA mission will search for planets in the Milky Way without their own sun.

Rogue Planets That Float in Space Without Orbiting a Sun Could Outnumber the Stars
by Ohio State University | SciTechDaily

An upcoming NASA mission could find that there are more rogue planets — planets that float in space without orbiting a sun — than there are stars in the Milky Way, a new study theorizes.

“This gives us a window into these worlds that we would otherwise not have,” said Samson Johnson, an astronomy graduate student at The Ohio State University and lead author of the study. “Imagine our little rocky planet just floating freely in space — that’s what this mission will help us find.”

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