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🚀 Crew Dragon had an "Anomaly", Interstellar Meteor?, Another Neutron Star Collision, And More...

Top space stories this week from Fraser Cain, the publisher of Universe Today and host of the Guide to Space

SpaceX Crew Dragon Exploded Last Weekend. We Don't Know Much Else On Saturday, April 20th, people watching the SpaceX facility with the Crew Dragon test vehicle reported an explosion. So far, SpaceX has only reported that there was "an anomaly", but they haven't released any more details about the accident. Orange plumes from nitrogen tetroxide - the oxidizer used by Dragon - were seen burning, so clearly something went wrong. This was the same vehicle that flew to the Space Station in March, and was being prepared for an abort test. Before SpaceX can use its Crew Dragon vehicles to carry humans to the ISS, it needs to test its abort system, to ensure that the astronauts can be carried clear of the launch rocket in the event of a disaster. Right now, we don't know what they'll need to do to get their platform ready to do a test, or what kind of delays this might put on their plans to carry humans to the space station. I'll keep you updated. Fraser Cain Publisher Universe Today As always, if you have comments or questions, or suggestions on how I can improve this newsletter, please don't hesitate to reply this email or email me at info@universetoday.com. Patrons, don't forget to login to Universe Today. That'll remove all the ads for you. Join the 805 Patrons who get our videos early, see behind the scenes, and get no ads on Universe Today.     Where Will the Voyagers Go Next? NASA's Voyager spacecraft are traveling on an escape trajectory from the Sun, and are now on a journey that will take them through the outer reaches of the Solar System and out into the Milky Way Galaxy.  They carry on board the Golden Records, a message from all humankind out into the cosmos. In the thousands, millions and even billions of years of travel, where will they go? What will they see? Who might find them, and learn about us, long after we're gone? Subscribe to our podcasts: Universe Today Guide to Space Audio: iTunes - RSS Astronomy Cast: iTunes - RSS Weekly Space Hangout: iTunes - RSS     The First Molecule that was Possible in the Universe has been Seen in Space Back at the beginning of the Universe, the cosmos didn't have much in the way of raw materials to work with, just hydrogen and helium. And now astronomers have found an example of the earliest possible molecule out there in space: helium hydride. Astronomers think this molecule was created about 100,000 years after the Big Bang, before the Universe had cooled down to the point that light could escape.     What Will the James Webb Space Telescope See? A Whole Bunch of Dust, That's What When NASA's James Webb Space Telescope finally launches in 2021 (or maybe the Year 3000?), what will it see? Dust, and lots of it. But more importantly, it'll help astronomers peer through the dust that surrounds galaxy clusters to help figure out the underlying physics of dark matter and galaxy formation. Paul Sutter explains in this article.     Astronomers Think a Meteor Came from Outside the Solar System In 2017, we were stunned by the first interstellar object, Oumuamua, found moving through the Solar System. Now astronomers think they've found another object, this time a meteor that struck the atmosphere in January, 2014. The object turned up as part of a survey of three decades of meteors that struck the atmosphere. The 1-meter spacerock was moving at 60 km/s relative to the Earth's motion on a trajectory that came from outside the Solar System.      Astronomers Catch a Superflare From a Puny Star Red dwarf stars can live for trillions of years, so they seem like good places to live for the long term. But you've got to survive those turbulent early days. As proof of this, astronomers watched a star about the size of Jupiter with a fraction of the mass of the Sun unleash a flare 10x more powerful than anything the Sun has ever thrown out into space. Life on a planet huddled close would be scoured clean away.     As Expected, the Newly Upgraded LIGO is Finding a Black Hole Merger Every Week The gravitational wave-hunting instrument LIGO has been newly upgraded and it's back in business. With its new sensitivity, it should be able to detect a black hole merger every week or so. And so far, it's been living up to those expectations. Researchers announced that it's already found two mergers in its first two weeks of operations, with many more to come.     InSight just detect its first "Marsquake" NASA's Mars InSight lander has been quietly listening to the surface of the Red Planet with its seismometer. It can hear the wind blowing. It can hear its own robotic arm moving around, and now, scientists think it's heard its first "marsquake". A faint seismic signal was detected on April 6th on its 128th Martian day. Whether it's an actual trembler coming from inside the planet, or the result of a meteor striking the surface is still up for debate.     Astronomers find the missing stars that were torn off from the globular cluster Omega Centauri One of the most dramatic objects in a small telescope is the Omega Cluster, visible only in the southern hemisphere and lower latitudes. This immense cluster contains several million stars and it's almost as old as the Universe itself. And now astronomers have identified a stream of stars which are being torn away from this ancient cluster, evidence that the Milky Way is continuing to digest it.     Barfing Neutron Stars Reveal Their Inner Guts Neutron stars are the mysterious remnants of supernova explosions, containing matter compressed down to unimaginable densities. They sound pretty hard to study. But every now and then, these extreme objects crash into each other, spilling their quantum guts all over space, giving astronomers a rare opportunity to see what kind of weirdness goes on inside.     Here's the Video of Hayabusa2 Bombing Asteroid Ryugu I'll warn you, this is an incredibly unsatisfying little movie. Several weeks ago, Hayabusa2 bombed asteroid Ryugu with an antitank weapon to see under its surface. This week they released this amazing animation that shows the impactor floating down towards the surface of the asteroid, but that's all we get. Hopefully they'll release another version that actually shows the impact.     LIGO Detects More Colliding Neutron Stars This newsletter clearly has a theme today. We talked about LIGO returning to operations. And we talked about the science you can do when neutron stars collide. And this just in... LIGO has detected the second neutron star collision. The detection was made on April 25 by LIGO and VIRGO, and researchers are certain the gravitational waves generated match what you'd see from a collision between neutron stars.   Don't Forget About The Dream Chaser One of the coolest vehicles designed to resupply the International Space Station hasn't gotten a lot of press recently, but here's a reminder. Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser is still in testing and is expected to start making resupply missions to ISS in 2021. The space shuttle-looking cargo craft is expected to make 6 missions to ISS in the 2020s, along with SpaceX Dragon and Orbital ATK. I think it looks awesome.     Here's the Hayabusa2 Crater on Ryugu I showed you the frustratingly short animation of Hayabusa2 bombing Ryugu. Well, here's the aftermath: a nice crater carved out of the surface of the asteroid. You're looking at a dent in the asteroid that measures about 20 meters across;  twice the size the mission controllers were expecting to create. This gives scientists a fresh piece of rock to analyze, to learn more about how the Earth and the rest of the Solar System formed.   Other Interesting Space Stuff Magma could explain that underground Martian lake Weekly Space Hangout: Apr 24, 2019 – Nathaniel Putzig and Gareth Morgan of the Shallow Radar (SHARAD) Sounder Team on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) China plans to have a base on the Moon in about 10 years Young stars can wipe away the atmospheres of Earth-like worlds A telescope fan sabotaged an astronomy forum. He ended up in prison College Students Hatch Nuclear-Powered Magnetic Plan to Protect Marsonauts from Cosmic Rays This Is How To Bring Dark Skies Back In An Increasingly Developed World HiRISE Team Overcomes Imaging Glitches as Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Eyes another Decade in Orbit Intelsat's 29e satellite is a total loss NASA just tested a cloud of 100 tiny hand-sized drones Amazing Astrophotography on @universetoday Isn't this an impressive photograph of the Moon? It was taken by @astro_ness using a technique that merges multiple images together so that you can see both the illuminated and shadowed sides of the Moon at the same time. We have featured nearly 1,000 astrophotographers on our Instagram page, which has more than 169,000 followers. Want to do a takeover? Use the hashtag #universetoday and I'll check out your photos.   Find your way across the night sky. Choose a variety of astronomy gear. Follow the Moon and the planets. Find deep sky objects across the seasons in both hemispheres. Observe comets, asteroids, satellites and space stations. Learn to do astrophotography. Get it on Amazon for only $18.89. Here are some other options.       View this email in your browser

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Speaking of Science: Run, space mouse, run

Microgravity changes human behavior. Astronaut Chris Hadfield said he learned to speak differently because he became accustomed to speaking through weightless lips. Aboard the...

Talk nerdy to us

Microgravity changes human behavior. Astronaut Chris Hadfield said he learned to speak differently because he became accustomed to speaking through weightless lips. Aboard the International Space Station, people have invented games impossible to play on Earth: NASA's Scott Kelly, for instance, once played a solo round of table tennis by slapping a floating ball of water between two paddles. Humans share this trait with other space-faring mammals. Mice act differently in space, according to a report published this month in the journal Scientific Reports. Twenty female mice lived aboard the ISS, in a newly installed NASA Rodent Habitat, for up to a month. Scientists at NASA Ames Research Center and other institutions filmed the mice. Rodents have been to space before, but the video provides the "first detailed behavioral analysis" of mice in a space habitat, the study authors wrote. At first the mice groomed each other and huddled together, which wasn't out of the ordinary. They somersaulted, as mice sometimes do on Earth. They ate, like normal. But something changed. After more than a week in space, young mice began to sprint and glide, as though they were zooming inside invisible hamster wheels. The scientists called this circling behavior, which they hadn't seen before, "race-tracking." Within a few days, other mice joined the fray. As a group, they ran laps around the habitats, reaching speeds of about a mile an hour. It's strange to watch (which you can do in the video above). The scientists aren't sure why the mice did this. Perhaps the rodents were trying to balance their inner ears. It's possible they were stressed. But exercise can be rewarding, the authors pointed out. Maybe these mice had invented, like Kelly and his water-ball tennis, a new way to play. — Ben USDA orders scientists to say published research is 'preliminary' Any scientist reading the disclaimer added to USDA research "would be very confused by this statement," one journal editor said. By Ben Guarino · Read more   One of Alaska's warmest springs on record is causing a dangerous thaw "Climate change is happening faster than it's ever happened before in our record," said Bryan Thomas, station chief for the United States' northernmost climate observatory. "We're right in the middle of it." By Sarah Kaplan · Read more   A man conned his NASA-funded lab into paying for trips to see prostitutes and escorts, feds say According to the indictment, the man arranged to meet escorts and prostitutes in cities like London and New York with the help of fabricated documents, before submitting reimbursement requests for them. By Eli Rosenberg · Read more     ADVERTISEMENT   Scientists restore some brain cell functions in pigs four hours after death "Huge breakthrough" could lead to clinical treatments of brain damage but also raises ethical concerns and creepy scenarios. By Joel Achenbach · Read more   Is artificial intelligence intelligent? How machine learning has developed. Understanding the human brain may help improve AI. By Brian Monroe · Read more   Microgravity changes human behavior. Astronaut Chris Hadfield said he learned to speak differently because he became accustomed to speaking through weightless lips. Aboard the International Space Station, people have invented games impossible to play on Earth: NASA's Scott Kelly, for instance, once played a solo round of table tennis by slapping a floating ball of water between two paddles. Humans share this trait with other space-faring mammals. Mice act differently in space, according to a report published this month in the journal Scientific Reports. Twenty female mice lived aboard the ISS, in a newly installed NASA Rodent Habitat, for up to a month. Scientists at NASA Ames Research Center and other institutions filmed the mice. Rodents have been to space before, but the video provides the "first detailed behavioral analysis" of mice in a space habitat, the study authors wrote. At first the mice groomed each other and huddled together, which wasn't out of the ordinary. They somersaulted, as mice sometimes do on Earth. They ate, like normal. But something changed. After more than a week in space, young mice began to sprint and glide, as though they were zooming inside invisible hamster wheels. The scientists called this circling behavior, which they hadn't seen before, "race-tracking." Within a few days, other mice joined the fray. As a group, they ran laps around the habitats, reaching speeds of about a mile an hour. It's strange to watch (which you can do in the video above). The scientists aren't sure why the mice did this. Perhaps the rodents were trying to balance their inner ears. It's possible they were stressed. But exercise can be rewarding, the authors pointed out. Maybe these mice had invented, like Kelly and his water-ball tennis, a new way to play. — Ben USDA orders scientists to say published research is 'preliminary' Any scientist reading the disclaimer added to USDA research "would be very confused by this statement," one journal editor said. By Ben Guarino · Read more     ADVERTISEMENT   One of Alaska's warmest springs on record is causing a dangerous thaw "Climate change is happening faster than it's ever happened before in our record," said Bryan Thomas, station chief for the United States' northernmost climate observatory. "We're right in the middle of it." By Sarah Kaplan · Read more   A man conned his NASA-funded lab into paying for trips to see prostitutes and escorts, feds say According to the indictment, the man arranged to meet escorts and prostitutes in cities like London and New York with the help of fabricated documents, before submitting reimbursement requests for them. By Eli Rosenberg · Read more   Scientists restore some brain cell functions in pigs four hours after death "Huge breakthrough" could lead to clinical treatments of brain damage but also raises ethical concerns and creepy scenarios. By Joel Achenbach · Read more   Is artificial intelligence intelligent? How machine learning has developed. Understanding the human brain may help improve AI. By Brian Monroe · Read more   Recommended for you Get the Energy and Environment newsletter The latest news about climate change, energy and the environment, delivered every Thursday. Sign Up

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