NASA's trapped astronauts return to earth after 9 months
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore have returned to Earth aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, after spending nine months stranded in space. They had planned to spend eight days on the International Space Station but the Boeing Starliner they were relying on to return them to Earth malfunctioned.
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Qatar Tribune
2 days ago
- Qatar Tribune
Trump withdraws nomination of Musk ally Isaacman as NASA head
dpa Washington US President Donald Trump has withdrawn his nomination of billionaire tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman as NASA head 'after a thorough review of prior associations.' On taking office in January, Trump proposed Isaacman, a close associate of SpaceX boss Elon Musk, to succeed Bill Nelson at the helm of the space agency, who left at the end of the presidency of Joe Biden. According to US media reports, Isaacman was to have been approved by the Senate shortly. But on Saturday evening, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that he would soon announce a new nominee 'who will be Mission aligned, and put America First in Space,' without elaborating further. In an indication of growing distance from Trump, Musk responded on his own social media platform X: 'This sucks. I can't think of a better person for the job than Jared.' Trump's decision took observers by surprise, as he had praised Isaacman highly in December before taking office, saying he would 'drive NASA's mission of discovery and inspiration.' Responding to Trump's decision, Isaacman posted on X that he was grateful for the opportunity and said he would be cheering the president and NASA on. 'I have not flown my last mission - whatever form that may ultimately take,' he said. Isaacman has participated in two private space missions. In 2021, he was one of the first non-professional crew in space, joining three others on a three-day trip around Earth. In September last year, he was part of the Polaris Dawn mission alongside three other space tourists, undertaking a space walk. In both missions he collaborated with Musk's SpaceX. Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, the New York Times reported that Trump had told associates he intended to 'yank' Isaacman's nomination after being told that Isaacman had donated to prominent Democrats. The decision was the latest example of how Trump 'uses loyalty as a key criterion for top administration roles,' the daily wrote.
Al Jazeera
7 days ago
- Al Jazeera
SpaceX's Starship test flight loses control 30 minutes after launch
Billionaire Elon Musk's commercial space flight company, SpaceX, lost control of its ninth Starship test flight 30 minutes after the uncrewed rocket vehicle was launched into space from Texas, the United States, the Reuters news agency reports. The mega-rocket then re-entered the atmosphere earlier than planned on Wednesday after an onboard fuel leak triggered uncontrollable spinning in space, according to Reuters. In a post on social media, SpaceX said the Starship experienced a 'rapid unscheduled disassembly', meaning it burst apart. 'With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today's test will help us improve Starship's reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary,' the company added. Before losing control, the 403-foot (123-metre) rocket flew beyond the point of past test-launch failures, according to reports. The latest test launch comes after a SpaceX Starship exploded shortly after takeoff on March 6. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) diverted several flights and briefly halted departures at four Florida airports, including Miami International Airport, as debris from the failed flight fell in the area. Musk has spent billions of dollars on Starship's development. The South African-born billionaire claims the initiative is part of his commercial space flight company's plan to colonise the planet Mars. SpaceX is also working with US government agency NASA to return humans to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years. Due to their large size and frequent failures, SpaceX test flights have now rained down debris across southern US states and the Caribbean on multiple occasions. As is standard for every test, the area in the Gulf containing the booster's flight path was cleared prior to launch — SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 28, 2025Before this latest launch, Starship had completed eight integrated test flights on top of its Super Heavy booster launch vehicle, with four successes and four failures ending in explosions. The company is betting that its 'fail fast, learn fast' approach will eventually pay off. Still, it acknowledged in a statement that progress 'won't always come in leaps'. In issuing approval for Tuesday's test, the FAA said it had nearly doubled the airspace closure zone to 1,600 nautical miles (2,963 km) east of the launch site. The Starship test involved coordination with authorities in the United Kingdom, the British-controlled Turks and Caicos Islands, the Bahamas, Mexico and Cuba, according to the AFP news agency. The FAA also recently approved an increase in annual launches from five to 25 – stating that the increased frequency would not adversely affect the environment, and overruling objections from conservation groups. The FAA's changes come as Musk has played a prominent role in US President Donald Trump's second administration, claiming to focus his attention on what he describes as 'billions, hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud and abuse'. However, Musk's large business portfolio's overlap with the US federal government's regulatory role has raised questions and criticism. In March, the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed an ethics complaint with the US Department of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General, requesting an investigation into whether the FAA's business transactions with Musk's Starlink satellite communications network violated conflict-of-interest laws.
Al Jazeera
05-05-2025
- Al Jazeera
Have scientists solved the mystery of gold's origin in the universe?
The origins of heavy elements such as gold have been one of the biggest mysteries of astrophysics. A study has now provided a clue about the precious metal's cosmic origins. Scientists have found that explosions in highly magnetised neutron stars, called magnetars, could have created gold in the universe. Here is more about the study: Analysis of archival data from space missions shows that a large amount of heavy metals, including gold, come from giant flares from magnetars, according to a study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on April 29. Anirudh Patel, a doctoral student at the Department of Physics at Columbia University in New York, led the study, which used 20-year-old archival telescope data from NASA and European Space Agency telescopes to investigate how heavy elements such as iron and gold were created and distributed throughout the universe. 'It's a pretty fundamental question in terms of the origin of complex matter in the universe,' Patel was quoted as saying in an article on the NASA website. 'It's a fun puzzle that hasn't actually been solved.' The authors estimated that magnetar giant flares could contribute up to 10 percent of the overall abundance of elements in the galaxy that are heavier than iron. Co-authors of the study are affiliated with Columbia University, Charles University in the Czech Republic, Louisiana State University, the Flatiron Institute in New York and Ohio State University. A magnetar is a type of neutron star that is highly magnetised, which means its magnetic field is extremely powerful. When a massive star explodes, it leaves a very dense, collapsed core behind, which is called a neutron star. Astronomers theorise that the first magnetars were formed after the first stars about 13.6 billion years ago, according to study coauthor Eric Burns, assistant professor and astrophysicist at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. The Big Bang created the universe 13.8 billion years ago. On rare occasions, magnetars can release high-energy radiation by undergoing a 'starquake'. Like an earthquake, a starquake can fracture the magnetar's crust. Sometimes, magnetar starquakes bring with them a magnetar giant flare, a rare explosive event that releases gamma rays. The researchers found that magnetars release material during giant flares. However, they do not yet have a physical explanation for this. The researchers speculated about whether magnetar giant flares formed gold through the rapid process of neutrons forging lighter atomic nuclei into heavier ones. An element's identity is defined by the number of protons it has. However, if an atom acquires an extra neutron, it can undergo nuclear decay, which can turn a neutron into a proton. A changed number of protons can change the element's identity. Neutron stars have an extremely high density of neutrons. If a neutron star is disrupted, singular atoms can quickly capture a number of neutrons and undergo multiple decays. This leads to the formation of much heavier elements like uranium. Before this study, the creation of gold was attributed only to neutron star collisions, or kilonovas. When astronomers observed a neutron star collision in 2017 through telescopes, they found the collision could create heavy elements such as gold, platinum and lead. However, these collisions are believed to have happened relatively later in the history of the universe, in the past several billion years. However, the archival telescopic data, which was previously indecipherable, showed that magnetar giant flares formed much earlier. Hence, the study indicates that the first gold could have been made from magnetar giant flares. NASA has an upcoming mission that can follow up on these results. The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) is a gamma-ray telescope that is expected to launch in 2027. COSI will study energetic phenomena in the Milky Way and beyond, such as magnetar giant flares. According to the NASA website, COSI could identify individual elements created in the giant flares, helping to form a better understanding of the origin of the elements.
