Will Starliner astronauts ride a SpaceX Dragon home? | Colossal solar flare erupts from 'rule-breaking' sunspot | Supermoon: what is it and when is the next one?
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Boeing's two Starliner astronauts may learn their fate in the next two weeks - but, for now, NASA still doesn't know when the duo is coming home. So, while the space agency's best and brightest works with Boeing engineers to continue assessing data from ground tests of Starliner's systems, the spacecraft's crew, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, will remain aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for now.
(NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, SDO/HMI Magnetogram)
The active sun is kicking into overdrive and we could be in for yet more dazzling auroras. In the early morning hours yesterday, the sun unleashed the most powerful class of solar flare, in a potent X-class eruption. The solar flare peaked at 2:40 a.m. EDT (0640 GMT) and caused shortwave radio blackouts over the sunlit portion of Earth at the time of the eruption, Asia and the Indian Ocean.
The next supermoon will be on Aug. 19 at 2:26 p.m. ET (1826 GMT) This will be the first of four supermoons in a row for 2024. A supermoon occurs when the full moon coincides with the moon's closest approach to Earth in its orbit. This makes the moon appear slightly brighter and closer than usual, though the difference is difficult to notice with the naked eye. According to Fred Espanak, eclipse expert and retired NASA astrophysicist, there will be four supermoons in 2024, in August, September, October and November.
Russia launched its 89th cargo craft to fly to the International Space Station on Wednesday (Aug. 14). The unplioted Progress MS-28 freighter launched atop a Soyuz rocket from the Russia-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:20 p.m. EDT (0320 GMT and 8:20 local Baikonur time on Aug. 15).
Researchers have tested a suite of anemometers -- tools that measure wind speeds -- designed to operate on the surface of Mars. These would not be the first to take the Martian wind speed, to be clear, as landers have done that for quite some time. Even Viking 1 managed to grab some Martian wind measurements nearly fifty years ago. But, according to the researchers' findings, this system could allow future landers -- or future humans -- to measure Martian winds with more sensitivity than ever before.
SpaceX has strongly refuted a media report claiming the company violated environmental regulations by releasing pollutants related to Starship launches in South Texas. CNBC reported on Aug.12 that "Elon Musk's SpaceX violated environmental regulations by repeatedly releasing pollutants into or near bodies of water," through its water deluge system at its Starbase launch facility, South Texas, citing a state agency.
Getting a live play-by-play of astronauts in space during future Artemis moon missions could eventually be possible thanks to laser technology.NASA is testing a space communication method that, instead of using radio waves to transmit data and videos, uses a laser beam to connect ground control on Earth with astronauts on the moon.
