Lifeboat Foundation

NASA enlists some machine learning help to boost the search for other worlds.

Dec. 14 (UPI) — NASA scientists have found a planetary system with as many planets as our own.

“Scientists have found for the first time eight planets in a distant planetary system,” Paul Hertz, astrophysics division director at NASA Headquarters, said during a teleconference on Thursday that was live-streamed on NASA TV.

Continue reading “Eight planets in Kepler-90 system found using machine learning” »

Thanks to 21st century science and engineering, by the time we’re ready to visit the asteroid belt to mine minerals… we may not need to.

NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST Thursday, Dec. 14, to announce the latest discovery made by its planet-hunting Kepler space telescope. The discovery was made by researchers using machine learning from Google. Machine learning is an approach to artificial intelligence, and demonstrates new ways of analyzing Kepler data.

The briefing participants are:

This mysterious rock-comet is the parent body of this week’s Geminid meteor shower. It’ll brush closely past Earth on December 16, just a few nights after the Geminids’ peak. Will 2017 be a fantastic year for the Geminids?

For comparison the internal volume of the ISS is 916 cubic meters.

And they’re wild.

NASA has released a warning that a huge asteroid is headed towards Earth tomorrow. While it’s likely that the huge asteroid may pass us by, it’s set to be the closest encounter with an object of that size this year.

The 2017 W12, a newly discovered asteroid, is expected to pass us by at around 9:45 pm. Fortunately, it seems as if the huge asteroid will pass us by at a distance of 1.32 million kilometers. While that’s not a very big distance when you’re talking about space, it’s definitely far enough away that we shouldn’t have to worry about it. Experts predict that there’s currently no threat of 2017 W12 hitting out planet.

After discovery by the Pan-STARRS survey in Hawaii last month, the asteroid was recently listed on the “Earth lLose Approaches” page as a near-Earth object (NEOs). Scientists are expecting that within a year, we’ll see three major near-misses. The 2006 XY asteroid will soon pass Earth as well, on December 14.

Continue reading “Huge Asteroid Headed Towards Earth Tomorrow” »

3D printing has come a long way. In a new study, scientists explore the potential of using bacteria-laced ink to print living materials.

From pizza to urine-based space plastic and even blood vessels, it seems there’s no limit to what can be 3D printed. A new 3D printing platform, created by ETH researchers led by Professor André Studart, head of the Laboratory for Complex Materials, is advancing the process by working with living materials. The specially designed material is actually an ink infused with bacteria. The machine is then able to print living biochemical designs for a wide variety of purposes, which vary depending on the bacteria used. Their research has been published in Science Advances.

The first-ever graduate program for space miners-in-training is set to launch next year. And the inaugural class is already taking lessons.