‘Hidden Figures’ no longer as film shines light on black women who sent NASA to space
Hollywood has made a lot of movies about space and NASA, but none quite like this. The new film Hidden Figures, to be released December 25, reveals the work of three African-American women who were the brains behind NASA’s most critical missions. Taraji Henson stars as Katherine Johnson, a math genius from rural West Virginia who calculated trajectories …
Glittering prizes within Pluto data
It is exactly one year since New Horizons hurtled through the Pluto system at 49,600 km/h, after a journey of nearly nine and a half years, its array of scientific instruments gathering precious data on this hitherto mysterious world and its family of moons. We shared in the thrill of the flyby and then watched in …
Mining the sky
Prospecting for treasure within the solar system The current cost of space travel, on a price per mass basis, is astronomically high. All puns aside, this is a major economic barrier that must be overcome. If we are to send humans to Mars, or anyplace really, we’re going to have to lower the cost of space travel. Companies …
Nearest star has planet in habitable zone
Earth-mass world spotted in orbit around Proxima Centauri Astronomers using ESO telescopes and other facilities have found clear evidence of a planet orbiting the closest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri. The long-sought world, designated Proxima b, orbits its cool red parent star every 11 days and has a temperature suitable for liquid water to exist …
OSIRIS-REx is bringing home a piece of an asteroid
Upon first hearing the name OSIRIS-REx, a picture of an unknown carnivorous dinosaur may come to mind. But OSIRIS-REx (Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer) is actually an acronym that names an upcoming asteroid exploration mission. The spacecraft will travel to an asteroid target in a near-Earth orbit, perform scientific experiments, and become the first U.S. mission that …
Word Find • September 2016
Do your best to find these words scattered throughout the 13th issue of RocketSTEM magazine. This article appeared in the 13th issue of RocketSTEM.