What kind of ambassador, you ask? Well, NASA is looking for what are called “Partner Eclipse Ambassadors.” Volunteers for this position will assist NASA as it prepares communities for the April 2024 solar eclipse.
NASA promises the following to support volunteer ambassadors:
A supportive network of enthusiasts who regularly share eclipse support;
A partner in your community (each partnership consists of an undergraduate and an eclipse enthusiast);
Materials including solar viewing glasses, activities, handouts, and more;
Connections to local community centers reaching underserved audiences;
Regular social hours and presentations from experts in eclipses and communication; and
Opportunities to continue your journey with NASA through collaborations with partners in heliophysics, education, and communication.
You have plenty of time to prepare for this event, so check it out. You can get all of the details at this link.
Four thousand Martian days after setting its wheels in Gale Crater on Aug. 5, 2012, NASA’s Curiosity rover remains busy conducting exciting science. The rover recently drilled its 39th sample then dropped the pulverized rock into its belly for detailed analysis. To study whether ancient Mars had the conditions to support microbial life, the rover has been gradually ascending the base of 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) Mount Sharp, whose layers formed in different periods of Martian history and offer a record of how the planet’s climate changed over time.
Things may not have ended well for dinosaurs on Earth, but Cornell University astronomers say the “light fingerprint” of the conditions that enabled them to emerge here provide a crucial missing piece in our search for signs of life on planets orbiting alien stars.Their analysis of the most recent 540 million years of Earth’s evolution, known as the Phanerozoic Eon, finds that telescopes could better detect potential chemical signatures of life in the atmosphere of an Earth-like exoplanet more closely resembling the age the dinosaurs inhabited than the one we know today.
Jupiter, by far the biggest planet in our solar system, plays an important protective role. Its enormous gravitational field deflects comets and asteroids that might otherwise hit Earth, helping create a stable environment for life. However, giant planets elsewhere in the universe do not necessarily protect life on their smaller, rocky planet neighbors. A new Astronomical Journal paper details how the pull of massive planets in a nearby star system are likely to toss their Earth-like neighbors out of the “habitable zone.” This zone is defined as the range of distances from a star that are warm enough for liquid water to exist on a planet’s surface, making life possible.
You may know Bill Maher from his TV show Real Time, but he really lets loose on his podcast Club Random, which can be found in the form of a podcast or Youtube video. If you are interested, then there is not better place to start than with his recent sit down with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.
The two friends discuss just about everything, with Bill sometimes barking at Neil, but it is all in good fun (and the drinks probably helped). You can hear about politics, a little bit of science, the state of the world today, and more.
Neil deGrasse Tyson also brought his latest book to the program, To Infinity and Beyond: A Journey of Cosmic Discovery, but the two spend very little time covering the book and its contents. This was a podcast without a clear agenda, which is common for Bill Maher in these settings.
So if you just want to see Neil deGrasse Tyson relaxing with a friend, it is a great show.
Image (Credit): Sierra Space employees in front of the new Dream Chaser. (Sierra Nevada)
“I am reminded of a comment made by Steve Jobs that every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. I think Dream Chaser is that product. This breakthrough shifts paradigms and redefines space travel. The Dream Chaser is not just a product; it’s a testament to human spirit, determination and the relentless pursuit of what lies beyond.”
-Statement by Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice in a company press release announcing the completion of the first Dream Chaser, said to be the “world’s sole commercial runway-capable spaceplane.” Its next stop is NASA’s Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio for environmental testing. It is basically an advanced version of the earlier space shuttles that will be launched on a rocket and return by landing on a runway. NASA plans to use the spaceplane to bring cargo to the ISS. As with the initial space shuttle, the reusable craft makes a lot of sense and should help with overall costs. Of course, it is not clear why we had to go without a shuttle for 12 years.
Image (Credit): A view of the newly discovered second asteroid behind asteroid Dinkinesh. (NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL/NOIRLab)
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft encountered a surprise last Wednesday as it approached the target asteroid Dinkinesh, located in the asteroid belt. Instead of finding a single asteroid, it found a binary pair. Early data indicated that asteroid Dinkinesh is about 0.5 miles wide and its orbiting partner is only 0.15 miles wide.
Lucy did not have time to stick around, but it captured enough images during its fly by to keep astronomers busy for some time. The spacecraft was flying about 10,000 mph as it passed the pair.
Lucy’s primary mission is the Trojan asteroids (that is, asteroids that share Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun). And why are they of interest? NASA mission page tells us:
Planet formation and evolution models suggest that the Trojan asteroids are likely to be remnants of the same primordial material that formed the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune), and thus serve as time capsules from the birth of our solar system over four billion years ago.
We may have many more surprises before Lucy finishes her 12-year mission.
Our Awesome Universe 