Mercury Passing The Sun May 9th 2016

The Art Of Deep Space

Jupiter Ascending

We want you to guard the exosphere.

A Mechanical Harmony to NASA’s Webb Telescope Sunshield

NASA’s Webb telescope sunshield, opened for inspection. In this photo, engineers and scientists examine the sunshield layers on this full-sized test unit.    Image courtesy Northrop Grumman and Alex Evers. For a larger version of this image please go here. Watch a video on the research here and here.

Read more ~ SpaceDaily

Stars and Dust Pillars in NGC 7822 from WISE.

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The Human Body Isn’t Ready For Mars

We’re very close to having the technology to send astronauts to the red planet, but that doesn’t mean the human body is physically ready for such an endeavor. Right now, it would take between 6 and 8 months to get to Mars and during the trip astronauts would be at risk for vision impairment, bone density loss, and even muscle atrophy.

So, what would it take? Find out here

NASA’s laser propulsion system could send ships to Mars in just days

It might sound like science fiction, but we already know how to make objects move at near light speed. Physicists do it all the time inside particle accelerators, where they accelerate particles to relativistic speeds just a small fraction below the speed of light (about 186,000 miles per second).

But when we try to reach these speeds on a macro scale, we run into all kinds of problems. Now researchers are saying a new kind of laser-based propulsion would eliminate the need for fuel and could accelerate spacecraft up to 26% of the speed of light. At that blistering pace, a tiny space probe could get to Mars in just 30 minutes. The technology to make it happen already exists.

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