Tag Archives: space

Science/Nature

About comets

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By: Hannan Mohammed

Image by Philipp Salzberger via Wikimedia Commons

What are comets?

Comets are bodies made of ice covered in dark organic material, including dust. These comets are leftover from the dawn of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago, and it’s speculated that comets may have brought water and organic compounds to Earth and other planets.

There’s a belt of icy bodies beyond Neptune where dark comets orbit the Sun around Pluto. Some of these comets are pushed closer to the Sun from gravity in other orbits, and they take around 200 years to orbit the Sun. These are called short-period comets, and their appearances are easier to predict. However, there are also long-period comets; these comets come from a region called the Oort Cloud about 100,000 AU (astronomical units) away from the Sun. Long-period comets can take about 30 million years to complete just one orbit around the Sun.

But how are comets structured? Each comet has a nucleus that’s a few miles wide; this part contains ice, frozen gases, and some embedded dust. As a comet orbits around the Sun and gets closer to it, the comet heats up and develops its own atmosphere, which is called a coma. As the comet heats up, the ice in the nucleus becomes a gas and makes the coma grow in size, and the coma can extend to thousands of kilometers. Pressure from sunlight and solar winds can also blow gas from the coma and dust away, creating a trail or a ‘tail’ on the comet.

Notable Comets

Image by NASA/Kuiper Airborne Observatory via Wikimedia Commons

A particularly famous comet is known as Halley’s Comet, which has been observed for around 2,000 years. It’s named after English astronomer Edmond Halley, who accurately predicted that the comet would return in 1758, thus proving that comets orbit around the Sun and don’t pass through the solar system once, which was a popular belief beforehand. Halley’s Comet takes 76 years on average to orbit the Sun, which makes it a short-period comet. It was last seen from Earth in 1986, and it will likely be next seen in 2061.

Image by International Gemini Observatory via Wikimedia Commons

One notable comet right now is the 3I/ATLAS comet, which NASA first made observations on in July 2025. It is named after the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) telescope that first recorded the sight of the comet. It doesn’t follow a closed orbit around the Sun, and its origins are outside the solar system, making the comet interstellar. The 3I/ATLAS comet reached its closest point to the Sun on October 30, 2025, at which point it became too close to the Sun to observe. However, it’s expected to reappear on the other side of the Sun in early December 2025, and it will be able to be observed again.

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Science/Nature

Space shuttle equipment

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By: Yohan Lee

What is the space shuttle? The space shuttle was the first reusable spacecraft and since it could be flown again it helped reduce the cost of each launch. It could take off in a vertical take off and could land like a plane.

The space shuttle was built by NASA and during earlier space missions such as the Apollo program, NASA had to build 15 different Saturn V rockets. But for the space shuttle, NASA only had to build 5.

The first space shuttle launch was on April 12, 1981 and the final landing was on July 21, 2011. The space shuttle fleet flew over 135 missions. Some of the space shuttles are in museums in California, New York, Florida, and Washington D.C.

In early 2011 you could see the space shuttle on top of a 747 before it was retired.

Here are some of the technical specifics of the space shuttle.

COMPONENTS

Orbiter:

In the cabin it contained living quarters, workstations, and controls for up to seven astronauts. The space shuttle had a payload bay for carrying satellites, scientific equipment, and components for the International Space Station. The payload could be found on top of the space shuttle. There were three powerful engines used during liftoff, fueled by the external tank.

Thermal Protection System:

The Thermal Protection System was made of heat resistant tiles and blankets that protected the orbiter from the heat during reentry.

Canadarm:

A Canadarm is a long robot arm and it was used for manipulating payloads, assembling structures in orbit, and capturing satellites.

External Tank:

The External Tank was the huge orange fuel tank located at the bottom of the space shuttle. It was made out of an aluminum-lithium alloy to minimize weight. It was used to fuel the space shuttle during its launch into space, then it would detach from the space shuttle and burn up in the atmosphere.

Solid Rocket Boosters:

The Solid Rocket Boosters are the long white rockets that were attached to the fuel tanks. They were used for an additional set of thrust for takeoff before they detached. They were made out of aluminum and ammonium perchlorate. They were also fitted with a parachute for an ocean landing so NASA could reuse that rocket.

Orbital Maneuvering Systems:

The Orbital Maneuvering Systems was a small engine that allowed the space shuttle to make small adjustments in space. 2 of them could be found at the back of the space shuttle.

Image created with Blender
Science/Nature

NASA’s Artemis program

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By: Karl Salkowski

(Image credit: freerangestock)

NASA is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA was created on October 1st, 1958 after president Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act. NASA is a government agency of the United States, and it is responsible for U.S. space exploration, space technology, Earth and space science, and aeronautics research.

In total, 24 astronauts have made the journey from earth to the moon. Half of those astronauts only orbited the moon while the other half landed on it. Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin were the first two people to walk on the moon. It’s been over 50 years since anyone has walked on the moon, but why is that?

The main reason is money. Building these rockets was incredibly expensive and NASA relied heavily on funding from the government. Once the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 was a success and the U.S. had won the space race, NASA faced major funding cuts. Originally, there were 20 Apollo missions, but due to a lack of funds the last 3 were canceled.

Since then NASA has focused on other projects. One notable example being the International Space Station. However, one of NASA’s new projects aims to land humans back on the moon.

NASA’s Artemis program consists of 4 main parts: an uncrewed flight test around the moon, a crewed flight test around the moon, sending humans to explore the region near the lunar south pole, and finally establishing a scientific base on the moon. These missions will aptly be named Artemis I, II, III, and IV respectively. With these missions, NASA’s goal is both to “explore the moon for scientific discovery and to inspire a new generation of explorers” according to Nasa.gov.

Artemis I launched 2 years ago and was a huge success for NASA and its partners. However, the crewed mission (Artemis II) which was slated to launch in late 2025 has now been delayed to April 2026. Artemis III also suffered delays and is currently being projected to launch no-earlier than mid 2027.

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