Science News Roundup: Virgin Galactic finishes lengthy spacecraft upgrades, plans Q2 commercial service; SpaceX ready to retry launching NASA's next space station crew and more
Updated: 02-03-2023 10:40 IST | Created: 02-03-2023 10:40 IST
Representative Image Image Credit: ANI
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Following is a summary of current science news briefs.
Virgin Galactic finishes lengthy spacecraft upgrades, plans Q2 commercial service
Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc has completed a lengthy upgrade period for its centerpiece tourist spacecraft, with commercial service on track to begin in the second quarter of 2023, the company said on Tuesday. The company, founded by billionaire Richard Branson, had suspended flights of the spaceplane VSS Unity and its carrier plane in 2021 to make various spacecraft enhancements, delaying the company's debut customer mission to the edge of space.
SpaceX ready to retry launching NASA's next space station crew
Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX was ready to try again at sending NASA's next long-duration crew of the International Space Station to orbit on Thursday, about 72 hours after a first attempt was scrubbed due to a clogged filter in the launch system. Two NASA astronauts will be joined by a Russian cosmonaut and an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates for a six-month science mission made up of experiments ranging from human cell growth in space to controlling combustible materials in microgravity.
Genetics study lays bare Ice Age drama for humans in Europe
Europe was no balmy paradise during the Ice Age, with the vast glaciers that blanketed large parts of the continent rendering wide swathes inhospitable for humans. But our species - a new immigrant to Europe - endured, though with great hardship. Researchers on Wednesday unveiled an analysis of genome data from 356 hunter-gatherers who lived in the region between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago, a span that included the Ice Age's coldest interval between 25,000 and 19,000 years ago. This enabled them to decipher prehistoric Europe's population dynamics, including the movement of groups of people and some key physical traits.
Studies show how asteroid-bashing spacecraft was 'phenomenally successful'
NASA's DART spacecraft slammed into the asteroid Dimorphos at a spot between two boulders during last September's first test of a planetary defense system, sending debris hurtling into space and changing the rocky oblong-shaped object's path a bit more than previously calculated. Those were among the findings revealed by scientists on Wednesday in the most detailed account of the U.S. space agency's proof-of-principle mission on using a spacecraft to change a celestial object's trajectory - employing sheer kinetic force to nudge it off course just enough to keep Earth safe.
Scientists uncover new Easter Island moai statue in dry lake bed
Scientists have found a previously undiscovered moai on Easter Island, uncovering the large stone statue in a dry lake bed on the tiny, remote island in the middle of the Pacific. Geologists were studying the site after fires swept through the area last year. It could mean more figures and tools used by the ancestral Rapa Nui people are buried nearby in the once-underwater site, scientists said.
(With inputs from agencies.)
Thursday, March 2, 2023 at 5:10 am