ScienceDaily: Space & Time News


Engineers test an idea for a new hovering rover

Posted: 21 Dec 2021 07:28 AM PST

MIT aerospace engineers are testing a concept for a hovering rover that levitates by harnessing the moon's natural charge. The design uses tiny ion beams to charge up the vehicle and the surface underneath, with little power needed. Such an ion boost could be strong enough to levitate a 2-pound vehicle on the moon and large asteroids.

Comets’ heads can be green, but never their tails. After 90 years, we finally know why

Posted: 20 Dec 2021 04:06 PM PST

A study has solved a 90-year-old mystery by proving the mechanism by which dicarbon -- the chemical that makes some comets' heads green -- is broken up by sunlight. This explains why the vibrant green color never reaches the comet's tail.

Could acid-neutralizing life-forms make habitable pockets in Venus' clouds?

Posted: 20 Dec 2021 04:06 PM PST

A new study supports the longstanding idea that if life exists, it might make a home in Venus' clouds. The study's authors identified a chemical pathway by which life could neutralize Venus' acidic environment, creating a self-sustaining, habitable pocket in the clouds.

Are black holes and dark matter the same?

Posted: 20 Dec 2021 09:08 AM PST

Astrophysicists suggest that primordial black holes account for all dark matter in the universe.