Astronomy News, Space Travel / Exploration

Our Long range sensors detect…

Interesting news items!

  • James Webb telescope fully focused
  • If we make contact with aliens, how will religion be affected?
  • Watch NASA roll mega Artemis I moon rocket out to the launchpad

James Webb: ‘Fully focused’ telescope beats expectations

Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent
@BBCAmos

Star
Image source, NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI Image caption, The test star has the ungainly name 2MASS J17554042+6551277. A red filter optimises the visual contrast

The American space agency has achieved a major milestone in its preparation of the new James Webb Space Telescope.

Engineers say they have now managed to fully focus the $10bn observatory on a test star. The pin-sharp performance is even better than hoped, they add.

READ MORE

If we made contact with aliens, how would religions react?

The discovery of life on another planet might seem incompatible with faith in a deity. Yet many theologians are already open to the existence of extraterrestrials, argues the writer Brandon Ambrosino.

In 2014, NASA awarded $1.1M to the Center for Theological Inquiry, an ecumenical research institute in New Jersey, to study “the societal implications of astrobiology”.

Some were enraged. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which promotes the division between Church and state, asked NASA to revoke the grant, and threatened to sue if NASA didn’t comply. While the FFR stated that their concern was the commingling of government and religious organisations, they also made it clear that they thought the grant was a waste of money. “Science should not concern itself with how its progress will impact faith-based beliefs.”

The FFR’s argument might well be undermined, however, when the day comes that humanity has to respond to the discovery of aliens. Such a discovery would raise a series of questions that would exceed the bounds of science. For example, when we ask, “What is life?” are we asking a scientific question or a theological one? Questions about life’s origins and its future are complicated, and must be explored holistically, across disciplines. And that includes the way we respond to the discovery of aliens.  READ MORE

Watch NASA roll mega Artemis I moon rocket out to the launchpad

Ashley Strickland-Profile-Image

By Ashley Strickland, CNN

Updated 7:36 PM ET, Thu March 17, 2022

The NASA Artemis I stack, including the SLS rocket (right) topped with the Orion spacecraft, leaves the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 17.
The NASA Artemis I stack, including the SLS rocket (right) topped with the Orion spacecraft, leaves the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 17

(CNN)The Artemis I mission is another step closer to its lunar launch.

The massive 322-foot-tall (98 meters) stack, which includes NASA’s Space Launch System rocket topped by the Orion spacecraft, rolled out for its testing debut at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday.
The integrated stack, which sits on a mobile launcher, began its slow-moving crawl into launch position Thursday afternoon, with live coverage available on NASA’s website. The rollout officially began at 5:47 p.m. ET.
The rocket stack is seen inside the building before emerging on the crawler.
The rocket stack is seen inside the building before emerging on the crawler.
The 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) ride aboard one of the Apollo-era giant NASA crawlers from the assembly building to the launchpad could take up to 11 hours, according to NASA. The estimated arrival at the pad is around 4:30 a.m. ET on Friday.