πŸŒŸπŸš€βœ¨ Space Exploration 🌍⭐🌜

I hope they have lots of duct tape in case something goes wrong!

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The article says

The Space Center Houston website actually says β€œthe plane is now a building” with ADA compliant walkways, air conditioning, etc. It really would be easier to turn a whole different 747 into a carrier than it would be to get that thing flying again.

The one at Edwards Air Force Base has been stripped of parts in order to keep a different research plane flying:

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Looks like they’ve used up all the parts, SOFIA’s last flight was almost three years ago.

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^video^

That small dot moving left to right is 3I/ATLAS.

It’s a comet that was discovered on 1 July 2025.

It’s travelling at 58 km PER SECOND and isn’t gravitationally bound to the Sun.

Which means you’re looking at a comet that formed around another star, passing through the Solar System.

3I/ATLAS was discovered with the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey telescope in Chile. Its nucleus size is uncertain because of the comet’s coma, but is likely substantially smaller than 24 km in diameter.

This video sequence was posted on 2 July 2025 by astrafoxen
β€ͺ(astrafoxen.bsky.social‬), and spans 41 minutes. The comet itself is point-like since the telescope tracked its movement; the smears are background stars, and the tiny images are hot pixels.

3I/ATLAS is the third confirmed extrasolar object in the Solar System, after 1I/Κ»Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov.

There are likely very, very many more, but they’re exceptionally tricky to detect.

Similarly, we can expect comets born around the Sun to be passing through other planetary systems.

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Follow up:

Logistics! Infrastructure!

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Has anyone reported this to ICE?

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[…]

The Register was tempted to ask if the tender is likely to be awarded to Wallace & Gromit Enterprises, based in the North of England, which is understood to have some previous experience with space launches.

However, what we actually asked was whether this will be a one-off mission or a pilot to kick-start UK expertise in space debris removal. We also asked how the spacecraft will capture the satellites, and how it is to be launched into space. We’ll let you know the answers when the UK Space Agency press office emerges from hyperspace.

[…]

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Double-detonation supernova could explain why the universe is full of candles

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One Big Brutal Bill: Ex-NASA brass decry Trump’s proposed budget cuts

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That video (auf Englisch, at least) & this one both appeared within a few months of each other.

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