Here are today’s most important updates from the realm of Science and Space.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon Resilience capsule blast off for first-ever private spacewalk adventure with billionaire Jared Isaacman, Anna Menon, Scott Poteet, and Sarah Gillis. The company confirmed that the spacecraft has already reached its peak altitude of 1,400.7 kilometers (870 miles), surpassing the record set by NASA’s 1966 Gemini 11 mission. This highest-altitude crewed flight will test body’s reaction to extremely low gravity area, a huge leap for alternate space habitation.
On September 12, two crew members, Gillis and Isaacman, will come out of the spacecraft and perform spacewalk for at least 2 hours. NASA will analyze Telemedicine facilities after gathering important health data with Polaris Dawn crew.
After Boeing Starliner’s empty return from space, stuck astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will have a live call from space with their families on Friday, September 13. During this Earth-to-space call, Williams and Wilmore are expected to share their health updates, overall experiences along with insights from prolonged stay.
The astronauts are stuck in space for the last 3 months due to engine malfunction and helium leak and they will have to stay in ISS till February 2025. During this prolonged stay, astronauts performed various experiments like hydroponics along with maintaining the orbiting laboratory.
Scientists prepared a comprehensive catalogue of clouds in the sky of Mars unveiling a diverse array of atmospheric phenomena. Although Mars’ thin atmosphere primarily comprises carbon dioxide, but it can generate astonishing cloud formations under suitable conditions. Along with some Earthly clouds, elongated dust clouds, orographic clouds, Twilight clouds are also observed.
The diversity in cloud formations highlights the complexity of the red planet's atmospheric dynamics. Researchers are hopeful to get valuable insights about Martian climate, as well as the importance of dust in shaping the planet's environment through analyzing these clouds.
According to a recently published study by Global Carbon Project, the amount of one powerful heat-trapping gas methane is rising shockingly across the globe. The report noted an addition of 670 million tons (608 million metric tons) of methane gas in the air since 2000. While the natural emission has increased by 2%, the anthropogenic contribution has increased 18% in last two decades. Since the pre-industrial era, there has been a 2.6 times increase in Methane levels in the air, the study revealed. There has been a huge jump in methane emission in Asia in last decades. This rise is thoroughly contributing to global warming and rapid climate change.
