Lifeboat Foundation

Voyager 1 reconnected with Earth using a backup transmitter inactive for over 40 years.

NASA’s Voyager 1 probe, the most distant human-made object, briefly lost contact with Earth between Oct. 19 and Oct. 24 due to an unexpected shutdown of its main radio transmitter. This signal loss occurred after a command sent to power one of Voyager’s heaters unintentionally triggered the probe’s fault protection system. As a safeguard, the fault protection system automatically powers down non-essential functions when the spacecraft detects an overdraw of its power supply or other malfunctions. Engineers have since reestablished contact through Voyager 1’s backup S-band transmitter, which hadn’t been used since 1981.

While scientists know there’s water on the Moon, its exact locations and forms remain largely unknown. A trailblazing NASA mission will get some answers.

NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer mission, designed to map and study water on the Moon, will employ innovative instruments to explore surface water dynamics and support future lunar colonies by providing vital data on potential water sources that could be converted into oxygen or fuel.

Unveiling lunar mysteries: nasa’s trailblazer mission.

The long-duration photographs capture Earth in motion.

Bioengineers propose “electro-agriculture,” a method that replaces photosynthesis with a solar-powered reaction converting CO₂ into acetate, potentially reducing U.S. agricultural land needs by 94% and supporting controlled indoor farming.

Initial experiments focus on genetically modified acetate-consuming plants like tomatoes and lettuce, with potential future applications in space agriculture.

Revolutionary Electro-Agriculture

Astronomers have discovered one of the fastest-spinning neutron stars ever recorded, known as 4U 1820–30, which rotates an astonishing 716 times per second. Located 26,000 light-years away in the Sagittarius constellation, this neutron star is part of an X-ray binary system where its intense gravity pulls material from a companion white dwarf, triggering explosive thermonuclear bursts.

You may need binoculars or a telescope for this one. It includes the three furthest planets in our solar system.

Voyager 1 switched to a very old backup radio transmitter, not used since 1981, restoring NASA’s contact amid communication issues.

NASA’s Curiosity rover, currently exploring Gale crater on Mars, is providing new details about how the ancient Martian climate went from potentially suitable for life – with evidence for widespread liquid water on the surface – to a surface that is inhospitable to terrestrial life as we know it.

Although the surface of Mars is frigid and hostile to life today, NASA’s robotic explorers at Mars are searching for clues as to whether it could have supported life in the distant past. Researchers used instruments on board Curiosity to measure the isotopic composition of carbon-rich minerals (carbonates) found in Gale crater and discovered new insights into how the Red Planet’s ancient climate transformed.

“The isotope values of these carbonates point toward extreme amounts of evaporation, suggesting that these carbonates likely formed in a climate that could only support transient liquid water,” said David Burtt of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and lead author of a paper describing this research published October 7 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Our samples are not consistent with an ancient environment with life (biosphere) on the surface of Mars, although this does not rule out the possibility of an underground biosphere or a surface biosphere that began and ended before these carbonates formed.”

In space exploration, long-distance optical links can now be used to transmit images, films and data from space probes to Earth using light. But in order for the signals to reach all the way and not be disturbed along the way, hypersensitive receivers and noise-free amplifiers are required.