27 April 2020
SpaceX's first full-scale Starship passes key test
.... The cryogenic proof involves filling some or all of the Starship SN4 prototype with ultra-cold liquid nitrogen (LN2) to verify that its tanks can withstand flight pressures therefore proving the vehicle is flight-worthy...
17 June 2020
NASA wants to visit Neptune’s weird moon Triton
... as it illuminates Neptune to capture this mysterious region. Trident's third major goal is to understand how Triton’s crust of frozen nitrogen over an icy mantle with a stack of unusual landforms keeps renewing itself; a feat that means the moon...
21 August 2020
A small air leak has been found on the International Space Station, says NASA
... NASA, over time, a tiny bit of air leaks out requiring the station to undergo routine repressurisation from nitrogen tanks delivered on cargo resupply missions. However, nearly a year ago, a slight increase above the normal air...
31 August 2020
"Dry" meteorites unlock the origin of Earth's water
..., CNRS/Universite de Lorraine) in Nancy, France, measured the hydrogen content, deuterium/hydrogen (D/H) ratio and nitrogen isotope compositions in thirteen enstatite chondrite meteorites. "Only a few pristine enstatite chondrites exist: ones that...
21 October 2020
OSIRIS-REx successfully touches asteroid Bennu
..., TAGSAM, the only portion of OSIRIS-REx that actually made contact with Bennu’s surface, fired a burst of nitrogen gas to dislodge fine material on the surface, trapping that material inside the device. “It’s hard to put into...
28 October 2020
Unexpected molecule found in Titan's atmosphere
...,” Lopes added. Aside from being incredibly thick and dotted with hydrocarbons, Titan’s atmosphere is made mostly of nitrogen, like Earth’s, with a hint of methane (CH4). 3.8 to 2.5 billion years ago, methane filled Earth’s air instead of oxygen...
