Help NASA predict the future of the Solar System. Anyone with a laptop or cell phone can join the agency’s new Exoasteroids project and search white dwarf stars for signs that they are swallowing up asteroids. Since the Sun will eventually become a white dwarf, these systems act like windows into the future of our own Solar System, its planets, and its asteroids. Image credit: NASA, ESA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)
India is going to the Moon. And Venus. And LEO. The Indian government approved several major space projects, including a Venus orbiter slated for 2028 and the Chandrayaan-4 mission to bring back a sample from the Moon. India also gave the go-ahead for the first module of its planned space station, Bharatiya Antariksh Station, which also aims to launch in 2028.
X-rays from nuclear explosions could help deflect asteroids. In lab experiments on Earth, scientists simulated the X-ray burst produced by a nuclear explosion and found that it might successfully deflect asteroids up to a few kilometers wide. The demonstration could influence how we defend our planet from catastrophic impacts in the future.
NASA’s “Hidden Figures” aren’t so hidden anymore. U.S. officials honored the women of color who made key contributions to NASA during the space race — but whose impact remained out of sight for years — with Congressional Gold Medals. Katherine Johnson, Dr. Christine Darden, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary W. Jackson were awarded in recognition for their service as mathematicians, engineers, and computers.