By: James Felton/IFL Science Conspiracy theorist David Meade has claimed that the eclipse taking place later this month will signal the end of the world. The author of such classics as Rapture 2015 and Planet X and Hitler’s Escape to Argentina says Planet X will collide with Earth shortly after the solar eclipse, moving his previous prediction forward from October. Conspiracy theorists…
The Biggest and Brightest Meteor Shower in History is About to Take Place and You Don’t Want to Miss It
By: Educate Inspire Change The brightest meteor shower is well on its way. It is said that it will literally light up the night sky and that some of the meteors will actually be visible during the day. It will happen from August 11th, 2017 to August 13th, 2017 but will peak on the 12th and…
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…
Earth’s Last Total Solar Eclipse Is Sooner Than You Think
By: Jonathan O’Callaghan/IFL Science Most of the US right now is gearing up for a total solar eclipse on August 21, the first eclipse to cross the mainland since 1918. Our far distant descendants, however, may never experience such an event. That’s because the Moon is slowly moving away from Earth, at a rate of about 4…
Scientists May Have Found The First Moon Outside The Solar System
By: Jonathan O’Callaghan/IFL Science In what would be a pretty major discovery, astronomers say they may have found the first moon beyond the Solar System – known as an exomoon. The potential discovery is 4,000 light-years away around a star called Kepler-1625. It was made using NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope by three astronomers, Alex Teachey and David…
NASA Just Announced They Can’t Afford To Get Humans To Mars
By: Karla Lant/Futurism NASA admitted today that under the current budget they cannot afford to get humans to Mars. NASA’s next steps will depend on its funding, but now more than ever, the future of Mars colonization rests in the hands of commercial space companies. BUDGET BUMMER NASA has been talking about getting humans to…
Russian Scientists Just Launched An “Artificial Star” That Could Threaten Astronomy
By: Jonathan O’Callaghan/IFL Science A Russian Soyuz rocket has successfully launched a controversial satellite into orbit, which will become one of our brightest stars in a few days – and may hamper astronomical observations. The satellite is called Mayak, developed by Moscow State Mechanical Engineering University (MAMU) and funded with $30,000 through Russian crowd funding website Boomstarter. We first…
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…
The Surface Of Mars Is Even More Deadly Than We Thought
By: Jonathan O’Callaghan/IFL Science When we send spacecraft to Mars, we have to heavily sterilize them in order to not accidentally take Earth life with us. After all, we don’t want to contaminate the surface of the Red Planet with our own life, and possibly make a false detection in the future. However, a new study poses…