Fading Females

GoPro Hero 5

Saturn’s moon, Daphnis, and Saturn’s rings.

Ham radio operators for Vogue

(Nina Leen. 1941?)

ｐｌａｎｅｔｓ

Imagine a messy clump not unlike the hair clogging your sink, only on a celestial scale. This wad of soggy detritus sits way out in the Kuiper belt, where Pluto and other small, icy bodies hang out. Also, the mysterious clump in question consists of said icy objects and not actual hair. This would be a very different entry otherwise.

Scientists weren’t quite sure what caused this, so they started running computer simulations of different things that might make them clump in the observed way. In January 2016, they published a paper presenting a potential cause for the phenomenon: a hitherto undiscovered giant of a planet, 10 times the size of Earth, skulking all but silently about the edges of our solar system like a cosmic Hodor.

Arguments for and against the theory are ongoing and just so, so dorky – but computer simulations certainly do support the idea that a large planet could be causing these groupings to occur. So we might have a whole new planet! Your outdated knee-jerk answer of “nine” when somebody asks how many planets are in our solar system may once again be correct!

5 Mysteries About Space That Might Have Horrifying Answers

The Usborne Book of the Future

The NASA Village

Today in the NASA Village… Environmental Monitoring: How Clean is it?

So, the International Space Station has been operating for 16 years now. Do you wonder how clean is the air astronauts breathe or the surfaces that the astronauts touch each day? Are there hazardous levels of bacteria or other toxic components in the drinking water supply? Obviously on this (18+ year) long duration endeavor, we have to monitor the air quality, the microbial content of the air, surfaces, and water, the sound levels we are experiencing, and the radiation doses that we are being exposed to. These data are not only critical for safety of the astronauts while on board, but for long term occupational health monitoring. Future deep space explorers will benefit from lessons we are learning now. 

Needless to say, there are some specialized pieces of hardware that we have to know how to operate in order to perform this environmental monitoring. Elisca Hicks first joined NASA by working in the Education and Outreach Program. She later transitioned to the Space Medicine Training team in 2005. Elisca currently has a dual role in the Space Medicine Training Team. She is an instructor, she teaches the environmental monitoring hardware to Space Station crew members, but she also coordinates multiple medical student and doctor programs at Johnson Space Center. 

This media slide containing mold is what Elisca teaches us to use. This helps us identify if there are issues or areas that need our additional attention.

This picture shows mold found growing on a kit that was being used in an experiment. Inside the kit were tubes that contained a swab and liquid in them. The tubes were damaged (cracked lids) and they leaked, causing the mold to grow on the kit.

Here Elisca is showing me how to place the media tray in the microbial air sampler.

Consider that the lack of gravity means that dust does not collect just on the upper surfaces, but on all the surfaces. The ventilation system moves a lot of the debris to the filters, but electrostatic forces result in the potential for debris to collect pretty much anywhere. The worst air quality can be seen when the callouses of the crew members feet begin to come off about month 2. Remember, we are not using the bottoms of our feet for walking, so we actually get callouses on the tops of our toes from sliding them under handrails!

Next time on the NASA Village… You Need to Experience It.

Do you want more stories? Find our NASA Villagers here!

Comet Lovejoy

by Abhinav Singhai

Comet lander Philae wakes up: How it happened and what’s next

By Lauren Raab

Philae, the first spacecraft to land on a comet, surprised and delighted scientists this weekend by waking up and reestablishing contact with Earth, seven months after running out of power. It “spoke” for more than a minute, according to the European Space Agency, and it’s expected to be able to continue gathering information and sending it home.

Here’s a look at what the lander has done so far and what will happen next.

Continue Reading.