Eruptions from sun taking out SpaceX Starlink satellites, Nasa says
©UK Independent
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Eruptions from the sun are causing SpaceX's Starlink satellites to fall to Earth 'faster than expected', according to Nasa scientists.
A team from the US space agency's Goddard Space Flight Centre made the discovery after investigating the impact of solar activity on the lifespan of satellites in low-Earth orbit.
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Irish Independent
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Trump administration puts Amazon in frame for US missile defence contract in possible sign of Elon Musk's waning influence
It is courting Project Kuiper and big defence contractors as tensions with Elon Musk threaten SpaceX's dominance in the programme. The shift marks a strategic pivot away from reliance on Musk's SpaceX, whose Starlink and Starshield satellite networks have become central to US military communications. It comes amid a deteriorating relationship between US president Donald Trump and Mr Musk, which culminated in a public falling-out on June 5. Even before the spat, officials at the Pentagon and White House had begun exploring alternatives to SpaceX, wary of over-reliance on a single partner for huge portions of the ambitious, $175bn (€149bn) space-based defence shield, two of the sources said. SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment. Responding to a post about the Reuters story on X, Mr Musk wrote: 'Federal acquisition regulations require using the best provider at the best price. Anything else would be breaking the law.' Due to its size, track record and experience in government procurement, SpaceX still has the inside track to assist with major portions of the Golden Dome. Project Kuiper, which has launched just 78 of a planned constellation of 3,000 low-earth orbit satellites, has been approached by the Pentagon to join the effort, signalling the administration's openness to integrating commercial tech firms into national defence infrastructure and going beyond traditional defence players. Jeff Bezos, Amazon's executive chairman, told Reuters in January that Kuiper would be 'primarily commercial', but acknowledged 'there will be defence uses for these [low-earth orbit] constellations, no doubt'. A spokesperson for Project Kuiper declined to comment. The Pentagon declined to comment. The White House did not respond to requests for comment. Golden Dome's ambitions mirror those of Israel's Iron Dome – a homeland missile defence shield – but a larger, more complex layered defence system requires a vast network of orbiting satellites covering more territory.
The Irish Sun
2 days ago
- The Irish Sun
Three-year trips to Mars in 2030s, spaceship holidays & budget rocket trips to race around Earth, UK space hero predicts
SPACE isn't just for scientists and celebs – it'll be a hot holiday destination and will offer a shortcut to slash flight times too. They're just some of the predictions from British space hero Tim Peake, who sat down with The Sun for a chat about our off-Earth future . 9 Space hero Tim Peake was Britain's first European Space Agency astronaut Credit: Getty 9 Peake, who hails from Sussex, spent half a year on board the ISS Credit: Publicity - Getty Tim, 53, spent about 186 days in space, returning from the ISS on June 18, 2016. But when humans start making the first trips to Mars in the next decade or so, they'll be in space for a lot longer – potentially for three years. It sounds nightmarish, but Tim says we've done it all before, hundreds of years ago. 'A lot of people today forget about what we used to do in terms of exploration, the hardships, the torture, the kind of risk that was taken,' Tim told The Sun at Goodwood Festival of Speed's Future Lab earlier this month. Read more on space 'And in the early 1800s, nothing was thought about disappearing off on a three year expedition. 'That was pretty standard if you were in the Royal Navy. You say goodbye to your family and your mum. 'You say goodbye. You don't really know where you're going or what you're going to be doing, but you're just going to be away for a long time. 'So when I talk to people about in the mid 2030s, we're going to be on a three year mission to Mars and they kind of have this shock and horror that, well, that's so long, you'll never get people to go away for that long. Most read in Science 'Well, you will. We've done this before. 'It's only in the last 150 years that it hasn't been normal to have a three year expedition away, finding new lands and discovering new things. Nasa reveals mesmerising footage of Northern Lights from ISS 'And we're going to kind of go back into that kind of mindset. It's just that it won't be on Earth. It will be out into space.' Nasa hopes to make manned trips to Mars as soon as the 2030s, although no firm date has been set. But whenever those first visits happen, the astronauts will likely be a lot more comfortable than explorers of the past. 'The levels of resilience and self-sufficiency they needed was unbelievable. I mean, again, when we do Mars, the crew will have enough food, they'll have enough water, they'll have enough life support,' Tim said. 9 Six-month trips to the ISS will be nothing compared to a three-year Mars trek Credit: Getty He continued: 'We've mapped the surface, we'll have habitation modules for them. 'So it'll probably be a lot more comfortable than it would be setting off on endurance or HMS Wager back in the day.' SPACE STAYS For now, going to space is largely the preserve of professional astronauts, celebs and the ultra-wealthy. But in the future, Tim thinks that Tim credits Musk's company SpaceX with making space travel a lot cheaper. 'They've brought the cost of getting to space down so much, which is really exciting. 'Because that opens up whole markets of things you didn't think were possible because they were cost-prohibitive five or 10 years ago, that are now economically viable. 'So that's really exciting, but SpaceX is just the Uber that gets you there and back. 9 A return trip to and from Mars will be long and arduous – but Tim says explorers will be more than capable of surviving the time away from home Credit: Getty 'What's even more exciting is: now what can you do when you're up there?' Tim tells me that space tourism has been around for a long time – but it's becoming more frequent. And that's a trend that will only grow with time. 'It's part of the democratisation of space,' Tim told The Sun. 'I think fast-forward 100 years and there'll be an awful lot of people going to space for a variety of different reasons. 'Some for science, some for exploration, some for entertainment, and some for a different holiday.' Unsurprisingly, Tim reckons that we'd all be better off if we'd taken a trip to space. He says it gives you a different view of the world – and not just literally. WHO IS TIM PEAKE? Here's what you need to know... Major Tim Peake is a British Army officer and astronaut He is the first British astronaut with the European Space Agency He's also the sixth Brit to go aboard the International Space Agency Peake was born in Chichester, West Sussex in 1972 In 1990 he attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst In 1992, he joined the Army Air Corps Then two years later Peake became a qualified helicopter pilot Peake left the army in 2009 to follow his dream of becoming an astronaut He beat more than 9,000 applicants for one of six spots on the ESA's astronaut training programme He had to endure a rigorous selection process that tested his intellect and fitness Peake was launched to the ISS on December 15, 2015 In April the next year, he ran the 2016 London Marathon from the ISS treadmill And in June 2016, he finally returned to Earth, landing in Kazakhstan on a Soyuz descent module During his time in space, Peake completed roughly 3,000 orbits of Earth Picture Credit: Getty Images 'I think it is amazing. The more people that can witness Earth from space – Earth would be a better place. Definitely,' Tim said. 'People would have perhaps have a different perspective when they're making decisions. 'Having kind of seen how we all share one planet. And it looks fairly remote and isolated from space.' So your Moon vacation in 2065 won't just be a relaxing break, but an upgrade for your mind too. 9 Space tourism could be big business – Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin has already shown off concepts for an Orbital Reef space station that could host holidaymakers Credit: Blur Origin 9 Travellers could pay large sums of money to enjoy off-Earth hols Credit: AFP EARTH, VIA SPACE Of course, space tourism isn't the only way rockets will help your holidays . Tim reckons it'll make moving around Earth easier too. Holidays to the Moon will involve blasting off from Earth and landing on the rocky satellite. But that's not the only version of going space – you can also take suborbital flights that skim space, and descend back to Earth. 9 'Some of those missions they're launching, say, from New Mexico . They're going up and landing in New Mexico ,' Tim explained. 'Having been into space, well, there's no reason why you couldn't launch in New Mexico and land in Paris on that same kind of mission. 'And that could be a new form of suborbital transportation that becomes very popular in the future.' It sounds nightmarishly expensive – and it probably would be at the start. 9 Tim Peake was the Randox Future Lab Ambassador at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed Credit: Nicole Hains / Goodwood Festival of Speed But eventually, Tim thinks, we could see the cost come down. Speaking to the astronaut, I joke that we could see Ryanair-style budget flights that only cost a tenner. 'I mean, if you if you went back to those early 1920s, 1930s transatlantic carriers, you would have found very wealthy people on board traveling in relative luxury ,' Tim told me. 'And if you'd have said, you know, in 100 years time, we're going to have the EasyJets and the Ryanairs – a mass global transportation at the same cost of a train ticket – they would never have believed it. 'So you never know what we can do with future changes in technology.' 9 The Sun's tech editor Sean Keach sat down with astronaut Tim Peake for a chat Credit: Sean Keach
The Irish Sun
2 days ago
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Terrifying new Earth-sized planet found with deadly secret that would instantly kill anyone visiting
A NEW Earth-sized planet has been discovered in a faraway constellation - and it would kill any astronaut who dare travel there. Some 117.4 light-years away from Earth, scientists have stumbled across a nightmarish alien world where the planet's surface is likely molten. 5 The surface of molten exoplanet Credit: Alamy 5 An artist's impression of a molten exoplanet Credit: Alamy The planet, dubbed TOI-2431, orbits quite close to its nearest star over a very short period, resulting in a high surface temperature. Unlike Earth, which has an orbital period of 365 days, TOI-2431 orbits its star in only 5.4 hours - making it one of the shortest period exoplanets ever discovered. The alien world, located in constellation Cetus, is thought to have a surface temperature of about 1,700C (3092F). Anything that lands there would be immediately incinerated. READ MORE ON SPACE The international team of astronomers, led by Kaya Han Taş of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, detected the new exoplanet orbiting a nearby star using Nasa's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). 5 Nasa's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Credit: Nasa "We have confirmed the ultra-short period planet TOI-2431 b using a combination of photometric transit data from TESS, precise radial velocity observations with the NEID and HPF spectrographs, and ground-based speckle imaging with the NESSI instrument," researchers wrote in the new The Nasa tool monitors about 200,000 bright stars near Earth, scanning for hidden planets that might cause any blips of light as they pass their star. Just last week, researchers revealed they used TESS to follow a Most read in Science Since its launch in April 2018, the satellite has identified more than 7,600 possible exoplanets - which are nicknamed TESS Objects of Interest, or TOI. Exactly 638 of these have been confirmed as alien worlds so far. Best-ever sign of ALIEN life found on distant planet as scientists '99.7% sure of astounding biological activity signal' The planet's host star is only about two-thirds the size and mass of our Sun, and appears to be pulling the planet towards a fiery death. Researchers estimated that the planet has a tidal decay timescale of about 31 million years - which is fairly short in the grand schemes of the universe. Tidal decay causes a planet's orbit to gradually shrink and spiral towards its host star - eventually leading to its destruction. The 2billion-year-old host star, which researchers believe is roughly double the temperature of its nearby planet, will eventually collide with the planet. Researchers hope they can secure time with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to study TOI-2431 b more closely. Doing so could shed more light on the planet's surface composition, and may answer the question of whether or not it has an atmosphere. The $10 billion telescope 5 The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Credit: Alamy 5 An artist's impression of a molten exoplanet Credit: Alamy All you need to know about planets in our solar system Our solar system is made up of nine planets with Earth the third closest to the Sun. But each planet has its own quirks, so find out more about them all... How old is How many moons does What colour is How far away is How big is How many moons does Does How many moons does How big is How hot is the
