Tag Archives: technology

The Europa Clipper Mission

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Ian Vasquez

Artist’s concept of Europa Clipper orbiting Europa. On October 14th, 2024 the Europa Clipper Mission was launched into space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy Rocket. It is now on a 6 year journey of 1.8 billion miles to circle the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. The Europa Clipper blasts into space on a […] Continue reading →

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Starship: The Future of Space Travel?

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Ian Vasquez

Starship. There is a good chance you may have heard of Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX and the immense progress they have made in the rocket industry, completely obliterating the competition when it comes to number of launches per year. But have you heard of SpaceX’s newest triumph with their rocket, Starship? Starship is the […] Continue reading →

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All About Telescopes

Posted on September 23, 2024 by Ian Vasquez

Hubble Space Telescope In the world of telescopes, there are two main types: refracting and reflecting. The first telescopes created by astronomers in the 1600s were refracting telescopes. These work much like eye glasses. A curved lens bends the light into the observer’s eye. The bigger the lens the further into space a person could […] Continue reading →

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We are Lucky

Posted on April 29, 2024 by John Newell

We should be grateful for our place in exploration. Sometimes I get sad, and mope around upset that I was born at the wrong time. The phrase goes something like “born too late to explore the Earth, too early to explore the stars.” And it is so easy to get caught up in it. But […] Continue reading →

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Light Has Momentum?

Posted on April 29, 2024 by John Newell

How is that possible – And how can we take advantage? We know that light has no mass. And, according to classical mechanics, momentum is given by 1/2mv^2; in other words, according to classical mechanics, light cannot have momentum. But, as we know, light is different — and oh so interesting! By virtue of energy […] Continue reading →

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Blog 7: Space Propulsion

Posted on April 29, 2024 by Jonas Kobza

Though designing and building a rocket is a very complex endeavor, most people have a pretty good idea of what makes them fly: Burn a whole lot of fuel to produce thrust. This method does a great job of getting a rocket up to a high speed, relative to our planet and the solar system. […] Continue reading →

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Blog 8: Culmination of the Course

Posted on April 29, 2024 by Seth Creech

Picture: Potentially viable planets visualization ASTRO 2110 was my fourth astronomy class that I have taken here at Vanderbilt, and it was also one of my favorites. Astronomy is seen by many as interesting but irrelevant, so it was nice getting a deeper understanding of the most relevant parts of the universe to us by […] Continue reading →

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The Drake Equation

Posted on April 29, 2024 by sabrinaalperin

Have you ever wondered if aliens exist or how many there are? I sure have and so have many scientists. In 1961, Frank Drake created an equation to estimate the number of intelligent alien civilizations that may exist in our galaxy. This equation is called the Drake Equation. The Drake Equation Formula The terms of […] Continue reading →

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Blog 8 – ASTRONOMY!!!

Posted on April 25, 2024 by James Bamshad

My favorite astronomy image! In this blog post, I will give an overview of my experience in astronomy so far, and what I am excited about in the future. I have found ways to integrate astronomy in many conversations. My favorite example is when I related the world of astronomy to a concept that came […] Continue reading →

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Messages to Space

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Adriana Santos

Ever since humans realized there are worlds beyond our own, we have been curious if there is life outside of planet Earth. The universe is huge, so we can likely assume that somewhere out in the vastness of space there is life. But is it intelligent? Could we communicate with them? Would we even want […] Continue reading →

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