15 Mind-Blowing Photos of the Largest Planet to Be Found In Our Solar System, Taken By NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Of Jupiter
The Hole In The Ozone Layer Is The Smallest It’s Been In Almost 30 Years
By: Tom Hale/IFLScience The hole in the ozone layer – once a powerful symbol of humans’ meddling with the environment – is the smallest it’s been in almost 30 years. Is this good news about the environment for once!? Well, you’re not exactly wrong, but it’s also not quite as simple as it seems. NASA and NOAA announced…
NASA’s Twin Study Reveals Something Very, Very Strange Happens To Your Genes In Space
By: Alfredo Carpineti/IFLScience New preliminary results from NASA’s Twin Study suggest that going to space increases DNA methylation, a process responsible for turning on and off genes. These findings not only provide a glimpse into this cellular process but also tells scientists how the human body might change once it gets into space. “Some of the most…
NASA Breaks Record With Ion Thruster That Could Take Humans To Mars
By: Jonathan O’Callaghan/IFLScience Scientists have announced a breakthrough with an ion thruster that could one day take humans to Mars. It’s called the X3 thruster, a type of ion propulsion known as a Hall thruster. This technology is alluring because it can theoretically achieve higher speeds than conventional chemical propulsion. In a series of tests at NASA’s Glenn…
Enormous Meteor With Energy Equal To 540 Tonnes Of TNT Spotted Over China
By: Chris Jones/IFLScience The sky was lit up on the night of 4th October 2017 a meteor tore through the atmosphere over the Shangri-La County in Yunnan Province of China. The meteor was spotted at around 8 pm local time, and luckily, many locals captured the spectacular event on camera. According to NASA’s Center For Near-Earth Object Studies,…
NASA Responds To Claims That The World Is Going To End Tomorrow
By: Jonathan O’Callaghan/IFL Science Sadly, tomorrow is the end of the world. I know, I know, you’ve still got stuff you want to do. But an expert has made the claim and, well, there’s no going back now. The mysterious planet Nibiru is going to slam into our planet, killing us all. NASA, however, is having none…
Do You Have What It Takes To Be NASA’s New Planetary Protection Officer?
By: Katy Evans/IFL Science It sounds like a pretty cool job right? Sort of superhero-y, protecting the planet from alien invasion, possibly an awesome outfit, probably a supergalactic weapon of some kind? Not quite, but NASA really is looking to fill the position of “Planetary Protection Officer” (PPO), and you can apply here. The position is actually…
NASA Is Going To Test A Mini Fission Reactor That Might One Day Be Used On Mars
By: Jonathan Callaghan/IFL Science NASA is investigating an intriguing new method to power future space missions, which may help humans live on the surface of Mars. As reported by Irene Klotz over at Space.com, the $15 million project is known as Kilopower. From September of this year until January 2018, they’re going to start testing the system. Nuclear…