Category: 7. Science

  • Mixing Regolith With Polymer Saves Mass For 3D Printing

    Mixing Regolith With Polymer Saves Mass For 3D Printing

    3D printing is going to be a critical technology in space exploration, both for its ability to create almost any object, but also because it can utilize in-situ resources, at least in part. However, the more of those space resources are used in a print, the more the mechanical properties change from that on Earth, leading to problems with tensile or compressive strength. But a new paper from researchers at Concordia University hit a new milestone of how much lunar regolith can be used in a mixed feedstock for additive manufacturing, making it possible to use even more locally sourced material, and saving more launch cost, than ever before.

    The research mixed lunar regolith simultant, which is material created to mimic how the material on the surface on the Moon works, with polyether-ether-ketone, more commonly known as PEEK. PEEK is a thermoplastic already in wide use in 3D printing, but previous efforts to combine it with lunar regolith have faltered. They suffered from extrusion challenges, as the regolith, which is made up of hard individual particles, made it difficult to extrude without simply blowing dust all over. Additional problems resulted from the porosity of the material that was printed, which led to decreased tensile strength and increased brittleness.

    Modifications to the 3D printing method seemed to be the answer to those problems. There were two main advancements in technology discussed in the paper – a screw configuration and a different type of “raft” used to bond the printed material to the print bed.

    Fraser discusses how resources on the Moon are going to be so important to our expansion of the solar system.

    Combining lunar regolith simulant (LRS) with PEEK is a tricky business, so the researchers, led by Mohammed Azami of Concordia’s electrical engineering department, decided to use a novel “twin screw” configuration. Torque was a factor in previous iterations of the mixing machine, as higher regolith content meant higher torque, eventually limiting the total percentage of regolith mixed with the PEEK to around 30%. With the new configuration, the researchers were able to get concentrations of up to 50% of the regolith when combined with the PEEK.

    However, when those parts were printed, they started to delaminate and warp. While common in prints of just PEEK itself, the addition of the regolith exacerbated the problem. To solve it, the researchers used a “raft” – a type of intermediate layer to help the print bond to the main printing plate. In their case, they used a different type of thermopolymer, known as polyether-ketone-ketone (PEKK) as the raft, and implemented a dual-nozzle system, where the PEKK was printed using one nozzle and the combination LRS/PEEK was printed using the other.

    After they got the higher concentrations of LRS and overcame the delamination/warping problem, the researchers decided to anneal their samples. The annealing process seemed to improve some of the mechanical properties of the print, but only up to a point. At higher concentrations of LRS, the benefits of annealing were not as apparent due to breaks in PEEK’s polymer chain, which benefits from annealing, because of the increased number of regolith particles.

    Fraser discusses why 3D printing is so critical to space exploration.

    As with all good papers on 3D printing new material, the authors then looked at the mechanical properties of their output. While there was a noticeable increase in stiffness, there was a steady decrease in tensile strength, which was exacerbated at higher LRS concentrations. The combined material also had decreased “elongation at break” (i.e. increased brittleness), but ultimately the researchers determined that the best trade-off for using in-situ material was around a mix of 60% PEEK and 40% regolith. This mixture doesn’t suffer from some of the more severe degradation of mechanical properties while still utilizing as much local resources as possible.

    There is undoubtedly still room for improvement here, as this is very early on in experimentation with these materials. In the future, the researchers plan to try combining the LRS with different polymers, and do more of their testing / manufacturing in simulated lunar environments, such as a vacuum and decreased gravity. It will be a while before 3D printing makes up a large percentage of the material used on the Moon, but that time is surely on its way, and these first early steps at experimentation are how we will eventually get there.

    Learn More:

    M. Azami et al – Additive Manufacturing of PEEK/Lunar Regolith Composites for Sustainable Lunar Manufacturing

    UT – Quality Of 3D Printing With Lunar Regolith Varies Based On Feedstock

    UT – 3-D Printing on the Moon. From Regolith to Paste to Useful Objects and Structures

    UT – NASA Sends a 3D Printer for Lunar Regolith and More to the ISS

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  • New adhesive surface modeled on a remora works underwater

    New adhesive surface modeled on a remora works underwater

    What impressed the scientists the most, though, was the versatility of those disks. Reef-associated species of remora like Phtheirichthys lineatus are generalists and stick to various hosts, including other fish, sharks, or turtles. Other species living in the open sea are more specialized and attach to cetaceans, swordfish, or marlins. While most remoras attach to the external tissue of their hosts, R. albescens sticks within the oral cavities and gill chamber of manta rays.

    A close-up of the adhesive pad of a remora.


    Credit:

    Stephen Frink

    To learn what makes all these different disks so good at sticking underwater, the team first examined their anatomy in detail. It turned out that the difference between the disks was mostly in the positioning of lamellae. Generalist species have a mix of parallel and angled lamellae, while remoras sticking to fast-swimming hosts have them mostly parallel. R. albescens, on the other hand, doesn’t have a dominant lamellae orientation pattern but has them positioned at a very wide variety of angles.

    The researchers wanted to make an adhesive device that would work for a wide range of applications, including maritime exploration or underwater manufacturing. Their initial goal, though, was designing a drug delivery platform that could reliably stick to the inside walls of the gastrointestinal tract. So, they chose R. albescens disks as their starting point, since that species already attaches internally to its host. They termed their device an Mechanical Underwater Soft Adhesion System (MUSAS).

    However, they didn’t just opt for a biomimetic, copy-and-paste design. “There were things we did differently,” Traverso says.

    Upgrading nature

    The first key difference was deployment. MUSAS was supposed to travel down the GI tract to reach its destination, so the first challenge was making it fit into a pill. The team chose the size 000 capsule, which at 26 millimeters in length and 9.5 millimeters in diameter, is the largest Food and Drug Administration-approved ingestible form. MUSAS had a supporting structure—just like remora disks, but made with stainless steel. The angled lamellae with spinules fashioned after those on R. albescens were made of a shape memory nickel-titanium alloy. The role of remora’s soft tissues, which provide the suction by dividing the disk into compartments, was played by an elastomer.

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  • Scientists Discover a Deep Sea “Superhighway” in Australia

    Scientists Discover a Deep Sea “Superhighway” in Australia

    A recent study discovered that the deep sea isn’t as isolated as we once thought. Researchers believe it is way more globally connected than ever imagined. They call it a global, deep-sea superhighway where species have been migrating across entire oceans for millions of years.

    The groundbreaking research, published in Nature, focused on ancient spiny animals called brittle stars. These sea creatures are found from shallow coastal waters to the deepest depths.

    A research team led by Museums Victoria Research Institute analyzed the DNA of thousands of specimens preserved in museums globally to map the distribution and evolutionary relationships of brittle stars.

    A Deep-Sea Superhighway Connecting the World’s Oceans

    deep-sea superhighway
    Researchers discovered a deep-sea highway connection by studying brittle stars; Photo: CSIRO

    “You might think of the deep sea as remote and isolated, but for many animals on the seafloor, it’s actually a connected superhighway,” said Dr. Tim O’Hara, Senior Curator of Marine Invertebrates at Museums Victoria Research Institute.

    He added that deep-sea species have expanded their ranges by thousands of miles over time, a phenomenon that has gone unnoticed until now. Research shows that deep-sea communities are more closely related across regions than shallow-water communities. For example, the researchers explain, marine animals off Australia’s southern coast share evolutionary links with species in the North Atlantic.

    Researchers analyzed DNA from 2,699 brittle star species housed in 48 natural history museums. The study shows insights into how marine life evolved and dispersed over the past 100 million years.

    Temperature restricts marine life in shallow waters, making deep-sea environments more stable. This allows species like brittle stars to spread out over vast distances. A brittle star’s yolk-rich larvae aid their mobility because they can drift on deep ocean currents for extended periods.

    “These animals don’t have fins or wings, but they’ve still managed to span entire oceans,” said Dr. O’Hara. He adds that the secret lies in their biology. A brittle star’s larvae can survive for a long time in cold water because of their ability to ride deep-sea currents. 

    Despite the deep-sea being highly connected, researchers emphasize its fragility. Understanding how life is distributed and moves through the vast depths is crucial for its protection. It’s especially important because of the increasing threats of deep-sea mining and climate change.


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  • Venus and Jupiter conjunction: How to watch the 2 brightest planets ‘kiss’ on Aug. 12

    Venus and Jupiter conjunction: How to watch the 2 brightest planets ‘kiss’ on Aug. 12

    Just as the Perseid meteor shower approaches its peak, two luminous planets are getting in on the night-sky action.

    Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets in the sky, will meet in a conjunction very early on Tuesday morning (Aug. 12). On this morning, the two planets will be less than a degree apart — approximately the length of your pinkie when held up to the sky at arm’s length. Because they’ll appear close together, you’ll be able to view both simultaneously through skywatching binoculars or a backyard telescope.

    But if you want to see the conjunction, you’ll have to either stay out late or get up early: Venus and Jupiter rise together around 3 a.m. local time and set together around 6 a.m. local time. However, these times vary slightly depending on your exact location. You can use Time and Date to check the precise rise and set times for your area.

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  • Blame it on the moon. This year’s Perseids meteors won’t be as visible at their peak

    Blame it on the moon. This year’s Perseids meteors won’t be as visible at their peak

    The annual Perseids meteor shower will reach its peak next week. But astronomers say it won’t be as visible as it has been in recent years.

    A full moon is also expected during the peak — Aug. 12 into the 13th — and will likely wash out the view.

    “A few bright meteors may still be seen in the predawn hours, but viewing conditions are not ideal,” NASA said.

    If you still want to try to catch a glimpse, here’s what to know.

    Best viewing conditions

    This year, the Perseids began on July 17, and it will be visible until Aug. 23, NASA says. In an hour, one could see about 25 meteors. Characteristics of the Perseids include bright fireballs and long “wakes,” the streak of light and color that follow meteors.

    While NASA recommends trying to catch a glimpse of the Perseids before dawn, you may be able to see some meteors as early as 10 p.m. They are most visible in the Northern Hemisphere.

    Robert Lunsford, an observer with the American Meteor Society, recommends facing north and settling in.

    “Don’t go outside and stand,” he said. “You’ll get really tired and bored quick. Get a nice lounge chair where you’re comfortable.”

    And be patient.

    “Sometimes you go 10, 15 minutes without seeing anything, and all of a sudden, four or five will show up in the same minute. So they’re notorious for appearing in bunches like that,” he said.

    Where do they come from?

    As comets orbit the sun, they leave a trail of dust and particles, including meteors, behind them. The Perseids meteors originate from the Swift-Tuttle comet, which has a nucleus of about 16 miles wide, and takes more than 130 years to circle the Sun.

    The Swift-Tuttle comet last entered the solar system in 1992, during which observers could see about 200 meteors per hour. The comet leaves such a mess of debris when it comes, we’re able to catch the Perseids every year, Lunsford said.

    The Perseids is the most popular of the meteor showers, according to NASA. And while it’s not the strongest, people gravitate to it because it happens in the summer, Lunsford said.

    “Most of the other strong meteors occur in the late autumn or early winter, and it is really frigid outside. So that’s the bigger reason,” he said.

    Copyright 2025 NPR


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  • “That Planet’s Fluffier Than Cotton Candy”: Astronomers Stunned By WASP-107b’s Terrifyingly Low Density And Strange Migration Across Deep Space

    “That Planet’s Fluffier Than Cotton Candy”: Astronomers Stunned By WASP-107b’s Terrifyingly Low Density And Strange Migration Across Deep Space

    IN A NUTSHELL
    • 🪐 Scientists discovered WASP-107b, a “cotton candy planet” with an exceptionally low density.
    • 🔍 The planet is slightly smaller than Jupiter but has only 10% of its mass, leading to unique characteristics.
    • 🌌 New research suggests WASP-107b formed far from its star and migrated to its current position.
    • 🔭 Future studies with advanced telescopes aim to deepen our understanding of planetary formation.

    In the vast expanse of the universe, the discovery of a unique class of exoplanets known as “Super-Puffs” has intrigued astronomers and challenged existing theories about planetary formation. One such planet, WASP-107b, located approximately 211 light-years away in the Virgo constellation, has garnered significant attention due to its extraordinarily low density. This “cotton candy planet,” as it is colloquially known, offers new insights into the complexities of planetary formation and evolution.

    The Mystery of Cotton Candy Planets

    The solar system we inhabit is a mosaic of diverse planetary bodies, ranging from rocky worlds like Venus, Mercury, Mars, and Earth to the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, and the ice giants Neptune and Uranus. Despite this diversity, a particular type of planet is conspicuously absent—those known as “Super-Puffs” or “cotton candy planets.” These worlds are characterized by their extremely low density and are relatively rare in the universe.

    WASP-107b, orbiting an orange dwarf star, is a prime example of a Super-Puff. Since its discovery in 2017, this planet has been the subject of extensive study. Recent analyses, published in The Astronomical Journal, have provided deeper insights into its unusual characteristics. The planet’s low density suggests a unique composition and formation history, sparking curiosity and debate among astronomers.

    Astrophysicist Says “We’re Trapped in a Black Hole” as James Webb Unleashes Panic Over Mind-Bending Discovery That Shakes All Known Physics

    Understanding WASP-107b’s Unusual Density

    A team led by astrophysicist Caroline Piaulet at the University of Montreal conducted a four-year study using observations from the Keck Observatory in Hawaii. Their findings revealed that WASP-107b, while slightly smaller than Jupiter, possesses only about 10% of Jupiter’s mass. This results in an incredibly low density of just 0.13 grams per cubic centimeter.

    The study further uncovered that WASP-107b’s solid core cannot exceed 4.6 times the mass of Earth, indicating that more than 85% of its mass resides in its expansive atmosphere. This poses intriguing questions about how such a planet could form and maintain its gaseous envelope, especially given its close proximity to its star. WASP-107b completes an orbit in just 5.7 days, experiencing temperatures around 864 degrees Fahrenheit, which causes its atmosphere to begin evaporating.

    “We’re Trapped in a Black Hole” Warns Scientist as James Webb’s Shocking Discovery Sends Global Experts Into Chaos

    A Migrant of the Cosmos

    The traditional understanding of gas giant formation is primarily based on the models of Jupiter and Saturn, both of which have dense cores at least ten times the mass of Earth. This led astronomers to believe that a substantial core was essential for the accretion of a thick gaseous envelope before a young star’s protoplanetary disk dissipated. However, WASP-107b suggests an alternative pathway.

    According to Eve Lee, co-author of the study, “For WASP-107b, the most plausible scenario is that the planet formed far from the star, where the gas in the disk was cool enough for rapid gas accretion.” This formation model implies that the planet later migrated to its current position, potentially due to interactions with the disk or other planets in the system. Supporting this theory, researchers identified another exoplanet, WASP-107c, with a highly eccentric orbit that hints at gravitational interactions with WASP-107b.

    “A Planet Close To Earth” Discovered By Astronomers Could Be The Breakthrough That Finally Proves Alien Life Exists Nearby

    Future Exploration and Implications

    The discovery of WASP-107b and its peculiar characteristics offers a fresh perspective on planetary formation and migration. Researchers are eager to continue their investigations using more advanced tools, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, which promises to enhance our understanding of planetary systems.

    The implications of these findings extend beyond WASP-107b, prompting a reevaluation of how we categorize and comprehend exoplanets. As scientists delve deeper into the mysteries of the cosmos, each discovery reshapes our understanding of the universe and our place within it. The study of Super-Puffs like WASP-107b not only challenges existing paradigms but also opens new avenues for exploration and inquiry.

    As astronomers continue to uncover the secrets of WASP-107b, the question remains: what other cosmic wonders await discovery, and how will they redefine our understanding of the universe?

    This article is based on verified sources and supported by editorial technologies.

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  • Paperclip probe could journey to nearby black hole within a century

    Paperclip probe could journey to nearby black hole within a century

    Paperclip probe could journey to nearby black hole within a century

    by Riko Seibo

    Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Aug 08, 2025






    It may sound like pure science fiction – a spacecraft no heavier than a paperclip racing toward a black hole at near-light speed – but astrophysicist Cosimo Bambi of Fudan University believes it could be achievable within decades.



    Writing in the journal iScience, Bambi presents a conceptual plan for sending a gram-scale nanocraft to a nearby black hole to probe the fabric of space-time and test general relativity under extreme conditions. The proposed journey, lasting 80 to 100 years, would require breakthroughs in both detection and propulsion technology.



    The first step is identifying a target. Based on stellar evolution models, a black hole may exist just 20 to 25 light-years away, but locating it will be difficult since black holes emit no light. Instead, astronomers must search for gravitational effects on nearby stars or light distortions.



    “There have been new techniques to discover black holes,” says Bambi. “I think it’s reasonable to expect we could find a nearby one within the next decade.”



    Once a target is confirmed, Bambi proposes using gram-scale probes equipped with a microchip and a light sail. Powerful Earth-based lasers would accelerate the craft to about one-third of light speed, enabling it to reach a black hole 20 to 25 light-years away in roughly 70 years. The data would arrive another 20 years later.



    At its destination, the probe could investigate questions central to physics, such as whether black holes have event horizons, how gravity behaves in extreme regimes, and whether Einstein’s theories remain valid under the universe’s most intense forces.



    Bambi estimates that the laser array alone would cost around one trillion euros today. However, he predicts that in 20 to 30 years, costs will drop and technology will catch up. “It may sound really crazy, and in a sense closer to science fiction,” he says. “But people said we’d never detect gravitational waves… Now, 50 years later, we have images of two.”



    Research Report:An interstellar mission to test astrophysical black holes


    Related Links

    Fudan University

    Understanding Time and Space


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  • Some young suns align with their planet-forming disks, others are born tilted

    Some young suns align with their planet-forming disks, others are born tilted

    Some young suns align with their planet-forming disks, others are born tilted

    by Sonia Fernandez for UCSB News

    Santa Barbara CA (SPX) Aug 08, 2025






    Researchers at UC Santa Barbara, The University of Texas at Austin, Yale University and National Taiwan Normal University have found that a fair number of sun-like stars emerge with their rotational axis tilted with respect to their protoplanetary disks, the clouds of gas and dust from which solar systems are born.



    “All young stars have these discs, but we’ve known little about their orientations with respect to the spin axis of the host stars,” said UCSB associate physics professor Brendan Bowler, who studies how planets form and evolve through their orbits and atmospheres, and is senior author of a study in the journal Nature. Based on the general alignment of our own sun’s rotational axis with those of the planets in our solar system, the assumption was that stars and their planet-forming disks emerge and rotate in or very close to alignment, he explained.



    “This work challenges these centuries-old assumptions,” Bowler said.



    Ever since exoplanetseart planets that orbit other stars were discovered in the early 1990s, the variety of spin orientations of host stars relative to the orbits of the planets closest to them had astrophysicists scratching their heads.



    “It came as quite a surprise that some planets were on orbits that were extremely inclined relative to the spin axis of the host star,” said Lauren Biddle, a postdoctoral researcher at UT Austin, and lead author of the study. Since then, there have been efforts to explain the dynamics that could lead to this planetary system architecture.



    “One idea is that after planets form, gravitational interactions with a passing star or maybe a companion star could incline the orbit of the planet relative to the host star,” Biddle said. “Or maybe after planets form, a particularly massive one on the outer edge of the system could gravitationally interact with planets closer to the star.” The leading idea has been that planetary systems and their suns begin life aligned but through interactions over billions of years, systems can become misaligned, she said. “But there was also this question about whether these orbits were inherited from their formation process.”



    To find out, the researchers took data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the repurposed exoplanet-seeking Kepler Mission (K2) to measure stellar and disk inclinations and obtain star-disk obliquity for a sample of 49 young isolated stars and their planet-forming disks.



    The result of their survey? About two-thirds of the stars and protoplanetary disks were found to be in alignment, while a third of them were misaligned. The modest number of misaligned stellar and planet-forming disk orientations hints at a more elegant model of the origin of planetary system tilts: some are just born that way.



    “It changes our interpretation,” he continued. “It means that we don’t need a ton of post-formation dynamics and interactions and planet-scattering events.” Certainly, there are suns and planetary systems that do undergo significant interactions, and can only be explained by complex dynamics, according to Bowler. And, he added, studying other stars and their solar systems gives context to our own six-degree misalignment between our own sun and solar system.



    “If we think of science as kind of an Occam’s razor where the least complex model ends up winning out, given the data, this is a nice example of the sun simply just fitting into this primordial, stellar obliquity distribution,” Bowler said.



    Future work in this realm may include further investigations into just how these sun-like stars and their protoplanetary disks create these tilted orientations during the earliest stages of solar system formation.



    “Now we know that at least a third of them are tilted,” said Bowler, but why this is the case remains unanswered.



    Research Report:One-third of Sun-like stars are born with misaligned planet-forming disks


    Related Links

    UC Santa Barbara

    Lands Beyond Beyond – extra solar planets – news and science
    Life Beyond Earth


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  • China advances crewed lunar mission with lander landing and takeoff trial

    China advances crewed lunar mission with lander landing and takeoff trial

    China advances crewed lunar mission with lander landing and takeoff trial

    by Riko Seibo

    Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Aug 08, 2025






    China has successfully carried out its first integrated landing and takeoff trial of a crewed lunar lander, marking a milestone in its manned lunar exploration program. The test took place Wednesday at a facility in Huailai county, Hebei province, the China Manned Space Agency confirmed Thursday.



    The spacecraft, called Lanyueeart – meaning embracing the mooneart – is composed of a landing module and a propulsion module. It is purpose-built for ferrying two astronauts between lunar orbit and the surface while transporting a rover and scientific instruments.



    Once on the moon, Lanyue will act as a life-support hub, power source, and communications and data center, enabling extended surface stays and operations for its crew.



    The agency emphasized the trial’s complexity, citing extended timelines and significant technical challenges. Officials described the achievement as a breakthrough in spacecraft design and technology for China’s crewed lunar initiatives.



    China plans to place astronauts on the lunar surface before 2030 to carry out scientific research and exploration.


    Related Links

    China Manned Space Agency

    Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
    Lunar Dreams and more


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  • Hera spacecraft tests asteroid tracking with distant Otero and Kellyday observations

    Hera spacecraft tests asteroid tracking with distant Otero and Kellyday observations

    Hera spacecraft tests asteroid tracking with distant Otero and Kellyday observations

    by Erica Marchand

    Paris, France (SPX) Aug 08, 2025






    Hera has captured its first asteroid images, targeting (1126) Otero and (18805) Kellyday during its cruise through the main asteroid belt. The distant, faint detections tested the spacecraft’s Asteroid Framing Camera under conditions similar to its future approach to the Didymos system.



    Launched on 7 October 2024, Hera used a Mars flyby in March 2025 to set its course for arrival at Didymos and Dimorphos in late 2026. On 11 May 2025, the spacecraft turned toward Otero from roughly three million kilometers away, tracking it for three hours to assess detection and pointing capabilities.



    ESA’s Flight Dynamics and Mission Analysis teams selected Otero for its brightness and well-known orbit. The operation required rapid planning, with the Flight Dynamics and Flight Control teams preparing slews and imaging sequences in just weeks. The resulting time-lapse images showed the asteroid’s slow drift across the star field.



    Flight Dynamics Engineer Giacomo Moresco noted that early sighting of Didymos will present similar challenges. Identifying and keeping the asteroid centered in the camera’s field of view is critical for navigation and science during approach.



    In July, Hera targeted the far fainter Kellyday, which appeared about 40 times dimmer than Otero. This pushed both the camera’s faint-object detection and ESA’s image processing limits, but the asteroid was successfully identified.



    Beyond engineering value, the operations demonstrated Hera’s ability to execute precise, rapid observations of new targets. Such responsiveness could aid planetary defence, for instance, by characterizing newly discovered near-Earth objects or even interstellar visitors if a spacecraft is suitably positioned.



    These tests bolster confidence in Hera’s readiness to investigate the aftermath of NASA’s DART impact at Dimorphos and refine asteroid deflection into a proven planetary defence technique.


    Related Links

    Hera

    Asteroid and Comet Mission News, Science and Technology


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