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The Apollo 11 Quarantine
When Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins returned from space after the Apollo 11 moon landing, they were immediately placed into a quarantine. This was the first manned mission to the moon, and the scientists weren’t sure if there would be any dangerous particles on the moon that the astronauts might bring back to…
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Launching Spacecraft with Nuclear Bombs
You might be familiar with the Orion Spacecraft, which is the vehicle being used in NASA’s Artemis series of lunar missions. However, have you ever heard of Project Orion? Most conventional spacecraft are propelled using chemical reactions which create high velocity exhaust that is focused through a rocket nozzle. Newton’s Third Law dictates that the…
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Terraforming Venus
Last time we had a free blog opportunity, I summarized a Kurzgesagt video on the logistics of terraforming Mars. This time, I figured I’d continue the theme and share this Kurzgesagt video on terraforming Venus. Venus might not be an obvious choice for terraforming in our solar system. It is incredibly hot and its atmosphere…
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Comets and Their Periods
Comets are characterized by their highly eccentric orbits and incredibly long periods. Comet Swift-Tuttle, for example, has an orbital period of 133 years. This is comparable to the orbital period of the furthest planet from the Sun, Neptune, which has a period of 165 years. From our perspective on Earth, 150 years is a long…
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Where Did We Get Our Water?
We know that Earth is the only planet in the solar system currently capable of housing liquid water. The other planets are too low pressure or too hot for water to exist as it does on Earth. However, other bodies in the solar system do have solid water, also known as ice! The moon and…
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Could We Give Mars a Better Atmosphere?
Is it possible to give Mars a livable atmosphere? In theory, yes! However, it would be infeasible to do it in our lifetimes. Or within the next couple hundred years. This video from Kurzgesagt (fantastic channel, by the way) details how we might be able to give Mars an atmosphere and biosphere using our current…
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Powered and Unpowered Gravity Assists
The farthest planets in the solar system are so distant, it is infeasible to reach them using only rockets. The delta-v, or change in velocity, required to propel a spacecraft to a gas giant like Saturn is far too impractical for today’s rockets to achieve. The main problem is that a spacecraft needs tons of…
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Historical Astronomers in Context
Kepler, Galileo, and Brahe all lived at the same time during the late 1500’s for 30 years. Galileo and Kepler were then alive for another 29 years.. Isaac Newton is undoubtedly the most impactful of these astronomers. Newton invented calculus, pioneered classical physics, and derived the theory of gravitation. Calculus and physics are essential tools…
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Happy New Year!
Today marks the start of a new lunar year! There are several key differences between a solar new year and a lunar new year. The most common calendar system in the West, the Gregorian calendar, is based on the Earth’s orbit around the sun. Every New Year, the Earth is more or less in the…
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Intro Post – Look at this comet!
This is a photo that the Rosetta probe took on the surface of a comet. It’s pretty neat that we are able to land machines on such small targets that are millions of miles away. Click here to read more about the probe.