welcome to lab360 for all the news and videos from the world of astronomy
over the years advances in scientific research have revolutionized the space industry
from the first mission that launched humans into space more than five decades ago technology has
grown in leaps and bounds today with research and innovative development in spacecraft and rockets
we are ready to go far beyond outer space and unlock the mysteries of the solar system
all this is being made possible by the visionary Elon Musk and his spacex initiative if all goes
according to plan spacex's huge starship rocket will commence with its first orbital test launch
very soon the project which is not only ambitious but also filled with limitless possibilities
could be key to providing us a completely new dimension to understanding the universe and
different aspects of space exploration spacex has already undergone several starship test launches
however these have involved prototype upper stage vehicles with a maximum of three raptor engines
that flew just 6.2 miles or 10 kilometers high as the first orbital test launch of the
starship draws closer scientists have already started dreaming of using the spacecraft to
travel to neptune as well as developing planetary defense the starship rocket is rather special as
it towers nearly 400 feet in height and is the largest rocket to be ever launched in history
it is designed with the aim of transporting nasa astronauts to the moon but it doesn't stop there
because elon musk has bigger better and more ambitious plans in his quest for a multi-planet
civilization and making humanity a space-faring species he wants to use starship to colonize mars
he believes that by allowing human settlement on the red planet and other habitable worlds it would
help to preserve civilization in the event that something catastrophic were to destroy our planet
like a large asteroid attack moreover it would allow for greater learning about
the nature of the universe and that is exactly what elon musk is aiming for
but the rocket could also revolutionize what we know about our neighboring planets and moons
giving a huge impetus to understanding the solar system if all goes well the aspiration is to send
missions to neptune for exploration as well as bring back large quantities of space rock from
earth's moon and mars and even develop innovative ways to protect earth from incoming asteroids
starship is being built at a texas site called starbase it consists of a giant spaceship on
top of a large booster known as super heavy the world's most powerful launch vehicle ever
to be developed it has a fully reusable transportation system and the capability
of carrying more than 100 metric tons 220 000 pounds of cargo and people into space the moon
mars and beyond on regular low-cost missions usable space within the starship is an amazing
1000 cubic meters it can return to earth to be reused thereby reducing cost of travel
the crux of this spacecraft is that the starship despite its size is inexpensive to launch
while agencies like nasa and esa are struggling to fund their projects simply because launch
costs in itself are as high as tens or hundreds of millions of dollars starships affordability
may prove to be a boon for future explorations hurry book the next flight on starship now
and while we are talking about settling on other planets did you know that there are planets that
do not revolve around any sun we would all love to find proof of extraterrestrial life on mars
tentacle monsters foreign aliens multi-lim martians anything works what we want even more
is an extraterrestrial society with underground bunkers we're hoping for nasa to make our science
fiction dreams come true so have they delivered a recent image from nasa's curiosity rover
of an unusual rock structure on mars has sparked some conjecture about alien passageways on mars
the rocks on mars are known for their unusual appearances
ever since this image was released to the general public there's been a lot of speculation
asking what might have caused a doorway like passage to appear on the side of a mars hill
curiosity's mast mounted camera took the picture in a series of raw photographs
on may 7th a ufo fanatic deciphered the image which looks like an entrance to a
secret underground tunnel by providing a broader look at the surrounding landscape
this led the netizens to ask questions like is this the proof we've been looking for our entire
lives will we finally be able to see aliens and is this a portal to another dimension not to be
party poopers and all but the truth about these images is far from all the theories surrounding it
the doorway is not a doorway at all it's just a small crevice on a martian hill
that looks like an interdimensional passage images of mars can be very tricky a strangely
eroded rock can resemble a fish a cliff with backlighting can resemble the profile of a face
cropped images and zoomed in views can magnify small details
if the shadows were falling at a different angle it would make the doorway very uninteresting
the scientists at nasa emphasized on how small the crevice actually is
it's only about 30 by 45 centimeters wide while we can't be positive if martians use little doorways
nasa felt confident that the door in this case was simply a small rocky crevice this
isn't meant to take away from the excitement of discovering strangely shaped rocks and landscape
characteristics on mars the fact that we have a wheeled robot roaming around in the gale crater
transmitting back photographs from another planet is arguably the most magical aspect don't you guys
agree let's move on from the gale crater to the elysium planeta where the insight rover is located
nasa scientists are ecstatic after the insight lander detected a big marsquake on the 4th of may
the tremor was judged to be magnitude 5 making it the strongest of more than 1
300 quakes recorded by the lander since its arrival on mars in 2018
researchers have used data from insight seismometer to image the planet's innards
in order to better understand how rocky planets like mars and earth develop the analysis has
already begun nasa has been waiting for the big one ever since inside seismometer was set down
this quake will undoubtedly provide a unique perspective about mars for years to come
scientists will be examining this data to learn new things about the planet on earth a magnitude
5 earthquake isn't a big deal but it's testing the boundaries of what scientists expected from mars
the tremor was described by nasa as the largest yet detected on another planet
though nasa's apollo mission discovered evidence of quakes on the moon
we still have a lot to learn about quakes on other worlds the magnificent marsquake
occurs at a time when inside is experiencing power outages caused by dust cake solar panels
the lander's mission has been extended until the end of the year by nasa but its future remains
uncertain as dust concerns persist whatever happens to in sight it will have substantially
increased our understanding of mars and how it rattles its tail feathers what do you guys think