China lands spacecraft on far side of the Moon
China has successfully landed a spacecraft on the far side of the moon. The spacecraft is called Chang’e-6 and its mission is to collect lunar soil samples from the South Pole-Aitken basin on the far side of the moon. Chang’e-6 is designed to drill up to 7 feet below the lunar surface and collect around […]
How NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX asteroid probe survived its 1st close encounter with the sun
– NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX asteroid probe recently had its first close encounter with the Sun during its extended mission to asteroid Apophis. – During a close approach on January 2nd, OSIRIS-APEX passed about 46.5 million miles from the Sun’s surface, closer than it was designed for. – To prepare, the mission team tucked in one solar […]
Engineering cells to broadcast their behavior can help scientists study their inner workings
– Researchers led by Scott Coyle developed a new technology that uses waves of engineered proteins to study cell behavior and activities in real-time. – Some bacteria naturally generate waves of two proteins called MinD and MinE. The researchers discovered that introducing these MinDE proteins into human cells causes them to organize into distinctive wave […]
Could photos of a platypus on the surface of Jupiter’s moon ‘Europa’ be the key to discovering life beyond planet Earth?
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has been exploring Jupiter’s moon Europa and recently captured high-resolution photos of its surface. The photos reveal that Europa’s icy crusts at the north and south poles are free-floating on top of the surface, a previously unknown fact. One area on Europa nicknamed “the Platypus” contains geological features like hummocks and ridges […]