Lifeboat Foundation

How they can prevent life in other planetary systems. Giant gas planets can be agents of chaos, ensuring nothing lives on their Earth-like neighbors around other stars. New studies show, in some planetary systems, the giants tend to kick smaller planets out of orbit and wreak havoc on their climates.

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.

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — First came the devastation, then people’s desperation.

Hurricane Otis blasted the Mexican tourist port of Acapulco like no other storm before in the Eastern Pacific. As a monstrous Category 5 meteor, with its 165 mph (266 kph) winds, it destroyed what it found in its path: large residential buildings, houses, hotels, roads and stores.

Fallen trees and power line poles covered practically all the streets in this city of more than 1 million people. The walls and the roofs of buildings and houses were left partially or totally ripped off, while some cars were buried under debris.

An huge volcanic comet, 12P/Pons-Brooks, has violently exploded for the second time in four months and it is heading towards the Earth. It will not hit the Earth but we could see it in the night sky around April 21, 2024.

It has a solid nucleus, with an estimated diameter of 18.6 miles (30 kilometers), and is filled with a mix of ice, dust and gas known as cryomagma. The comet is about three times bigger than Mount Everest. The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was between 10 and 15 kilometers wide.

12P is currently hurtling toward the inner solar system, where it will be slingshotted around the sun on its highly elliptical 71-year orbit around the sun.

How do spacecraft avoid asteroid collision?

In the morning hours of Sept. 24, a small capsule containing surface samples from asteroid 101,955 Bennu careened into Earth’s atmosphere after a seven-year journey through space. The landing of this sample capsule is the culmination of NASA’s historic Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) asteroid sample return mission, which is now the first American mission to return samples from an asteroid.

The sample return capsule (SRC) landed within a 14 by 58-kilometer ellipse at a Department of Defense property at the Utah Test and Training Range and Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. Touchdown of the SRC occurred at 8:52 AM MDT (14:52 UTC) — three minutes earlier than planned. Low winds and dry weather was present at Dugway during the landing — optimal conditions for the return and recovery of the SRC.

Continue reading “Historic OSIRIS-REx asteroid samples successfully return to Earth” »

Planet Earth is about to receive a special delivery—the biggest sample yet from an asteroid.

A NASA spacecraft will fly by Earth on Sunday and drop off what is expected to be at least a cupful of rubble it grabbed from the asteroid Bennu, closing out a seven-year quest.

Continue reading “NASA spacecraft delivering biggest sample yet from an asteroid” »

NASA is edging closer to the conclusion of its ambitious seven-year mission, aiming to prevent a catastrophic collision of a massive asteroid named Bennu with Earth. Recent findings have indicated that there’s a 1 in 2,700 chance of Bennu slamming into Earth on September 24, 2182.

Roughly the size of the iconic Empire State Building, Bennu spans about a third of a mile wide. The potential aftermath of its predicted collision with Earth could equate to the explosive energy of 22 atomic bombs.

The asteroid makes its presence felt by passing Earth approximately every six years. However, scientists anticipate that its most perilous close encounter could be a mere 159 years away.

The year one hundred two thousand twenty-three. A giant meteorite the size of Pluto is approaching the Solar System. It flies straight to Earth. But as the meteorite crosses Saturn’s orbit, a swarm of miner probes approaches it. The scan revealed no minerals on the object, so the searches returned with nothing.

Meanwhile, the Space Security Center in Alaska military personnel are setting up a laser. The Solar System witnesses a sudden flare and nothing remains of the dwarf-sized meteorite. Now, unless hydrogen miners on Jupiter post videos of another annihilation on social media… This is what the world will look like when humanity finally becomes a Type Two civilization on the Kardashev scale. We’ll have almost infinite energy reserves, the ability to prepare for interstellar flights, or to instantly destroy any threat. But will humanity really be safe? And what can ruin a Type Two civilization?

The mission was successful, and Dimorphos’ orbit was shortened by 33 minutes in the weeks after the impact.

However, a team of high school students led by teacher Jonathan Swift at Thacher School in California have discovered that Dimorphos’ orbit continued to shrink by another minute more than a month after the collision.

‘The number we got was slightly larger, a change of 34 minutes,’ said Mr Swift. ‘That was inconsistent at an uncomfortable level.’