About 400 “extrasolar” planets orbiting nearby stars have been detected since 1995, starting with a discovery made by the same team, led by Switzerland’s Michel Mayor, of a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting the star 51 Pegasi, 50 light-years away. (One light-year is about 5.9 trillion miles.), usatoday.com reports. “We are on the good track to detect [...]
Monthly Archives: October 2009
Nano Technology and Space
According to ScienceDaily there is a new type of rocket propellant made of a frozen mixture of water and “nanoscale aluminum” powder that is more environmentally friendly than conventional propellants and could be manufactured on the moon, Mars and other water-bearing bodies. The aluminum-ice, or ALICE, propellant might be used to launch rockets into orbit [...]