Scientists analyzing Pluto data from the New Horizons spacecraft believe they have, for the first time, found dunes made of frozen methane.
On a planet with atmospheric pressure 100,000 times lower than Earth’s, the phenomenon is as remarkable as its explanation.
Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Scientists Discover Methane Dunes on Pluto
NASA has selected its 2018 crop of small businesses to receive funding supporting innovation research and technology transfer, with seven awards going to Arizona.
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contracts, which total $43.5 million nationally among 348 awardees, support projects that promise to benefit both NASA’s mission and the U.S. economy.
Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Seven Arizona Small Businesses Receive NASA Funding
When the next Mars rover launches in 2020, it will sport a sidekick: a football-sized scout helicopter.
Mars’s atmosphere is 1 percent as dense as Earth’s, so the copter will have to fly at the equivalent of 100,000 feet — 60,000 feet higher than any Earth-bound chopper has ever flown.
Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Mars 2020 Rover Mission To Include Scout Helicopter
Last month, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket made headlines as the first privately built heavy lift rocket to enter space.
Now, Orbital ATK’s Chandler-based Launch Vehicle Division plans to join them.
Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Chandler-Based Orbital ATK Division To Build New Heavy Rocket
An amateur astronomer from Rosario, Argentina, has accomplished an historic first: capturing the initial moments of a supernova explosion on film.
Although astronomers spot hundreds of supernovas each year, none had previously spied the bright, brief moment when the shock wave first bursts out from the star’s interior — until now.
Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Amateur Astronomer Accidentally Photographs Previously Unseen Supernova Event