Monthly Archives: April 2021

Asteroid Mining

Posted on April 11, 2021 by gracelearnsspace

Asteroids are failed planetesimals made up of rock and metals, some of which may be valuable such as platinum, silver, and gold. Around 8% of the asteroids in the asteroid belt are ones full of precious metals. Some platinum heavy asteroids may contain 175 times the amount of platinum mined yearly on Earth. For this […] Continue reading →

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Europa

Posted on April 10, 2021 by gracelearnsspace

Europa is one of Jupiter’s Galilean moons, however, it is much more than that. Scientists believe that out of everywhere in our solar system, Europa is the most likely place to have life besides on Earth! Scientists are pretty confident that under Europa’s ice water surface is an ocean that may have twice as much […] Continue reading →

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The Death Star

Posted on April 10, 2021 by brianknapp

Saturn is the mooniest planet in our Solar System, with us having discovered over 80 of them. While many moons have interesting features, only one of them look like they could destroy Alderaan. Say hello to the moon Mimas, which as you may notice, looks a bit familiar. That’s right, Mimas look like the DeathContinue reading “The Death Star” Continue reading →

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Caroline Herschel

Posted on April 10, 2021 by wendyyb

Many are familiar with William Herschel, the man accredited with discovering Uranus, but lesser known is his sister: Caroline Herschel. Born March 16, 1750, Caroline Herschel was the first female professional astronomer. Growing up, Caroline’s mother did not support Caroline’s pursuit of an education. As a result, Caroline largely relied on her brother to learnContinue reading “Caroline Herschel” Continue reading →

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The Death of Cassini

Posted on April 9, 2021 by brianknapp

The Cassini Spacecraft was designed to explore Saturn and its many rings and moons. It launched from Earth in 1997, beginning its 7-year journey to the outer solar system. Upon arrival, it released the Huygens Probe – the first object of our own creation to land in the outer solar system. This probe landed onContinue reading “The Death of Cassini” Continue reading →

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Meteorites

Posted on April 8, 2021 by ben141414

Meteorites are fascinating. As we learned in class, a meteor is a flash of light caused by a particle of dust or rock entering Earth’s atmosphere at a high speed. But, a meteorite is a meteor that survives its drop through the atmosphere and reaches Earth’s surface. In terms of discovering meteorites, there is aContinue reading “Meteorites” Continue reading →

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Enceladus got life?

Posted on April 5, 2021 by yvan247

Thanks NASA’s Cassini mission, scientists have been able to confirm that underneath the icy crust of one of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus, lies a global ocean. Naturally, that begs the question could there possibly be something living in that ocean. When looking for life in our solar system, the first thing we look for is water […] Continue reading →

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Becoming One with Saturn

Posted on April 5, 2021 by yvan247

On September 17, 2017, NASA’s Cassini’s spacecraft exhausted its fuel supply. This marked the end of a 20 yearlong space exploration and 13 yearlong orbit around The planet Saturn. The Cassini Mission was monumental in more ways than one. It was the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn, first to land in the outer solar system, […] Continue reading →

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The Cleanest Place on Earth

Posted on April 5, 2021 by yvan247

While working with or assembling new instruments or components used for space travel , NASA engineers and scientists must make their way to the clean room where they will give satellites and spacecrafts a final inspection before they can be launched into space. As the name suggests this room has to be free of any […] Continue reading →

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The Iron Catastrophe

Posted on April 5, 2021 by yvan247

Many believe that under the Earth’s crust, deep within the center of our planet, lies a molten core of iron and nickel responsible for heating up the earth’s and being the source for the lava that flows form our volcanoes. This is an understandable misconception as the temperature of the core of the earth rivals […] Continue reading →

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