Tag: nature

On October 4, 1957, the Space Age dawned with the red hue of the Communist flag when the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite. Sputnik I stunned the world and spurred a surge in science education and innovation that changed our world forever. But was Sputnik I really a shock to America’s leaders, and how close was the U.S. to getting into space first? NOVA draws on previously classified documents to tell the real story behind the opening chapter in the space race.

Earth teems with a staggering variety of animals. The source of life’s endless forms was a profound mystery until Charles Darwin’s revolutionary idea of natural selection. NOVA reveals answers to the riddles that Darwin couldn’t explain. Stunning breakthroughs in a brand new science nicknamed ‘evo devo’ are linking the enigma of origins to another of nature’s great mysteries

A provocative exploration of math’s astonishing power across the centuries. We discover math’s signature in the swirl of a nautilus shell, the whirlpool of a galaxy, and the spiral in the center of a sunflower. Math was essential to everything from the first wireless radio transmissions to the prediction and discovery of the Higgs boson and the successful landing of rovers on Mars. Astrophysicist and writer Mario Livio, along with a colorful cast of mathematicians, physicists, and engineers, follow math from Pythagoras to Einstein and beyond. It all leads to the ultimate riddle: Is math a human invention or the discovery of the language of the universe?

Take a spectacular trip to distant realms of our solar system to discover where secret forms of life may lie hidden. Combining the latest telescope images with dazzling animation, this program immerses audiences in the sights and sounds of alien worlds, while top astrobiologists explain how these places are changing how we think about the potential for life in our solar system. We used to think our neighboring planets and moons were fairly boring—mostly cold, dead rocks where life could never take hold. Today, however, the solar system looks wilder than we ever imagined.

Powerful telescopes and unmanned space missions have revealed a wide range of dynamic environments—atmospheres thick with organic molecules, active volcanoes, and vast saltwater oceans. This ongoing revolution is forcing scientists to expand their ideas about what kinds of worlds could support life. If we do find primitive life-forms elsewhere in the solar system, it may well be that life is common in the universe—the rule, and not the exception.

Blue Origin is working towards the first launch of its super-heavy-lift rocket, the New Glenn. Bezos’s rocket company just released a video showing how the rocket will launch and land. Spoiler: It’s a lot like SpaceX’s Falcon 9.

In the video embedded below, the rocket takes off from a pad close to a company facility and lands vertically on a large barge in a similar fashion to that used by SpaceX. Though in this animated video, the landing barge appears to be built on a ship that can house a crew. SpaceX’s barge is unmanned and autonomous.

This video is part of a media tour for the rocket. Just yesterday Bezos revealed the BE-4 engine that will provide the lift for the large rocket. Today CEO Jeff Bezos revealed the company signed a contract with France-based TV provider Eutelsat to put a satellite in geostationary orbit sometime between 2021-2022.

SpaceX and Blue Origin are nearly engaged in a new space race albeit one without dire consequences. The two American companies are racing towards similar goals of sustainable space flight through the reuse of rockets that can be landed. Blue Origin beat SpaceX with the launch and landing of the New Shepard rocket in 2015 though SpaceX managed the same with a much-larger Falcon 9 in late 2015 and several times since including a few landings on a barge ship. Now both companies are reportedly aiming for the moon. This isn’t a zero-sum game; humanity wins if both companies win.