Churchill Science

Everybody’s favorite ringed planet is in the news again!

Pretty amazing. It seems that everywhere we look in the solar system, there are things to surprise us. The speaker in this video is a little hard to understand, but he said something very interesting – that the salt in the water, plus other discoveries they made, mean that there are the right chemicals for possibly creating life. Forget life on other planets – we should be looking for life on other moons!

Happy 40th Anniversary to Apollo 11. Forty years ago today, we landed humans on the Moon for the very first time.

During yesterday’s launch, the space shuttle suffered some damage. Some foam tiles, which protect the shuttle from burning up when it enters Earth’s atmosphere, have fallen off or were scuffed. So far, as this news report says, NASA doesn’t know how much damage there is. There are also different options for fixing the damage if it turns out to be a big problem.

Try rubbing your hands together very fast – you can feel the heat building up. This is what happens when a flying object like a spaceship lands on a planet or moon with an atmosphere. The ship rubs against the air in the atmosphere and a LOT of heat is built up. This is because of a force called friction. It’s super-important to have a heat shield so that the ship won’t burn up. A few years ago, the space shuttle Columbia was destroyed because of damage to its heat shield.

After a month of delays, the space shuttle is on its way to the International Space Station. First there were technical problems, then weather delays, including lightning strikes on the launch pad. The shuttle is delivering a module for the station.

Free Spirit! Video from JPL
For the past two months, one of the Mars rovers has been stuck in some loose sand. This video shows scientists testing out different ways that they could try to get the rover out and moving again. It’s really important for them to test things out before actually trying it, or they could end up getting the rover stuck for good! It’s hard to drive, especially when you’re millions of miles away!

Ever wondered what a volcano erupting would look like if you could fly over the top of it? This short video was taken from the International Space Station as it passed over the Sarychev Volcano on an island that is part of Russia:

It’s cloudy all around the volcano, but the gas was so hot that it cleared a hole. That is how astronauts aboard the space station were able to get a clear view.

Breaking news: yet another place in the solar system that might have liquid water… Click on the picture to learn more!

Enceladus is a moon around Saturn. We thought it was so weird that it had volcanoes that spewed ice instead of lava. Now scientists think that there might be a liquid ocean underneath that ice layer, like Europa.

Yet another place to look for aliens!

Many of you (222 kids especially) had a ton of questions about sending animals into space. Now you can learn more about the history of monkeys in space. Click on the picture to see National Geographic’s 50th Anniversary photo gallery.

Space Shuttle Atlantis had to land in California, two days late, after bad weather in Florida prevented it from landing as originally planned.

The shuttle landing has been delayed again due to bad weather at the landing site. So, no video to show you of the landing yet.

In the meantime, here are some of the best images from Hubble over the years:

This latest spacewalk was very difficult – the astronauts needed to remove and install many tiny pieces that just wouldn’t seem to cooperate. At one point, a tool battery died and they had to replace it, and add more oxygen to the astronaut’s tank, before he could continue.

Click here to learn more about NASA’s mission to the Hubble Space telescope. Includes step-by-step visuals about what the astronauts will do, information about how the telescope works, and video about the mission. Also, some of the best photos that Hubble has taken of our universe!

Brief video explaining the Hubble mission and introducing the astronauts…

Launch of the space shuttle to begin this mission…

Some of Hubble’s best work!

A baby mammoth was recently discovered mummified in ice. Here’s a video clip explaining the discovery:

To explore the mammoth discovery, click on the picture:

The Cluster B classes have been studying the planets in our own solar system and finding out why Earth is so unique and special. But could there be planets somewhere else in the universe that we could live on? Recently scientists announced that they have found some…

The red glowing object is Gliese 581, a red dwarf star. There are several rocky planets orbiting it, each named for the star – Gliese 581c, Gliese 581d, and Gliese 581e. Last week, scientists announced that “d” and “e” were the planets most like Earth that have ever been found.

Here’s a video showing the whole system:

This next video shows some planets that orbit around other stars, that could be like our own planet Earth. These stars are very far away and it is currently too hard to take a picture of them, much less go there. The video also talks about why Venus and Mars didn’t end up having life, the way Earth did.