Science

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins has cast her ballot from space

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, the only American not on the planet, has cast her vote from space.

Rubins voted from the International Space Station.

“I voted today,” tweeted Rubins from the NASA Astronauts Twitter account on Oct. 22. The astronaut was pictured in front of an enclosed area on the orbiting space lab marked “ISS voting booth.”

HOW DO NASA ASTRONAUTS VOTE IN SPACE?

The space agency has a motto of “vote while you float” for astronauts.

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins outside the voting booth on the International Space Station. (NASA)

“Like other forms of absentee voting, voting from space starts with a Federal Postcard Application, or FPCA,” NASA says on its website. “It’s the same form military members and their families fill out while serving outside of the U.S. By completing it ahead of their launch, space station crew members signal their intent to participate in an election from space.”

Once the FCPA is approved, the county clerk who manages elections in the astronaut’s home county sends a test ballot to a team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, according to NASA. A space station test computer is then used to test whether it can be filled out and sent back to the county clerk.

NASA IS GOING TO UNVEIL AN ‘EXCITING NEW DISCOVERY’ ABOUT THE MOON

“After a successful test, a secure electronic ballot generated by the clerk’s office of Harris County and surrounding counties in Texas, is uplinked by Johnson’s Mission Control Center to the voting crew member,” NASA says. “An email with crew member-specific credentials is sent from the county clerk to the astronaut. These credentials allow the crew member to access the secure ballot.”

“The astronaut will then cast their vote, and the secure, completed ballot is downlinked and delivered back to the County Clerk’s Office by email to be officially recorded,” NASA adds. “The clerk has their own password to ensure they are the only one who can open the ballot. It’s a quick process, and the astronaut must be sure to submit it by 7 p.m. local time on Election Day if voting as a Texas resident.”

In 2016, NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, who at the time was the only American off the planet, voted in the presidential election from the International Space Station.

NASA explained that the system was first employed in 1997 for former astronaut David Wolf when he was flying a long-duration mission on the old Russian space station Mir. Because Wolf’s mission spanned Election Day, the process was set up to enable him to vote in space.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Rubins also voted in space four years ago during a 115-day stint on the International Space Station. She voted prior to her return to Earth on Oct. 30, 2016.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

Washington state bug hunters find first ever Asian giant ‘murder hornets’ nest in US

Washington state bug hunters have located the first-ever Asian giant hornet nest in the U.S., it was announced Friday.

The announcement came from the Washington State Department of Agriculture which said that initial plans to eliminate the nest have been put off until Saturday due to inclement weather in Blaine where the nest was found in a tree cavity.

The successful detection of a nest came after a WSDA trapper collected two live Asian giant hornets — known as murder hornets — on Wednesday and two more live hornets were found in another trap on Thursday.

MORE ASIAN GIANT ‘MURDER HORNETS’ FOUND IN WASHINGTON STATE, OFFICIALS SAY

Three of the trapped hornets were tagged with radio trackers and one of those led entomologists back to its nest Thursday morning, officials said.

“The nest is inside the cavity of a tree located on private property near an area cleared for a residential home, WSDA said. “While Asian giant hornets normally nest in the ground, they are occasionally found nesting in dead trees.”

.The nest is inside the cavity of a tree located on private property near an area cleared for a residential home, according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture
(WSDA)

Dozens of the hornets were seen entering and exiting the tree while the WSDA team was present.

ASIA’S ‘MURDER HORNET’ LANDS IN US FOR FIRST TIME

The agency obtained permission from the property owner to eradicate the nest and remove the tree, if necessary.

The first confirmed detection of an Asian giant hornet in Washington state was made in December 2019 and the first hornet was caught in July.

It takes only a small number of the aggressive hornets to wipe out an entire honey bee hive in a matter of hours.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Their sting can be extremely painful to humans.

NASA is going to unveil an ‘exciting new discovery’ about the moon

Ahead of NASA’s return to the moon in 2024, the space agency is teasing an “exciting new discovery” about the celestial satellite.

According to a source familiar with the situation, the discovery, to be announced Monday at noon EST, is expected to “inform” the agency’s Artemis program work.

“This new discovery contributes to NASA’s efforts to learn about the Moon in support of deep space exploration,” NASA said in a statement.

NASA HAS A PLAN FOR YEARLY ARTEMIS MOON FLIGHTS THROUGH 2030. THE FIRST ONE COULD FLY IN 2021.

The announcement will be made from NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), described as “the world’s largest airborne observatory.”

SOFIA is a modified Boeing 747 airplane capable of flying high in Earth’s atmosphere, allowing for its 9-foot telescope to get a “clear view of the universe and objects in our solar system.” It is able to observe infrared wavelengths that are capable of detecting “phenomena impossible to see with visible light,” NASA added.

NASA’s Artemis program aims to land American astronauts on the moon by 2024 and establish a sustainable human presence.

In 2019, NASA revealed details of its vision for the Artemis Moon Lander that will return American astronauts to the lunar surface. Artemis will also make history by landing the first woman on the moon.

Initial mission capability for 2024 involves landing two astronauts on the moon’s South Pole. Astronauts will live and work out of the lander for six and a half days, according to NASA.

After Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, only 10 more men, all Americans, have walked on the lunar surface. The last NASA astronaut to set foot on the moon was Apollo 17 Mission Commander Gene Cernan, on Dec. 14, 1972.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News’ James Rogers contributed to this story.

USS Oklahoma sailor killed at Pearl Harbor identified, set to be buried in Kentucky

A U.S. Navy sailor killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor has been identified and is set to be buried in Kentucky.

Navy Fireman 2nd Class Martin D. Young was on the USS Oklahoma when it was attacked by Japanese aircraft on Dec. 7, 1941.

“The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize,” explained the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), in a statement. “From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries.”

REMAINS OF USS OKLAHOMA SAILOR KILLED IN PEARL HARBOR IDENTIFIED, TO BE BURIED IN TEXAS

Young, who was 21 years old when he died, was among 429 USS Oklahoma crew members killed in the attack.

Navy Fireman 2nd Class Martin D. Young, who was killed during the Pearl Harbor attack.
(Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency)

“In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks,” said the DPAA, in its statement. “The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.”

The remains that could not be identified, including Young, were classified as non-recoverable by a military board in October 1949.

INCREDIBLE IMAGES REVEAL US NAVY SEAPLANE LOST IN PEARL HARBOR ATTACK

Some 66 years later, between June and November 2015, personnel from DPAA exhumed the USS Oklahoma Unknowns from the Punchbowl. Dental and anthropological analysis was used by DPAA scientists to identify Young’s remains. Armed Forces Medical Examiner System scientists also used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis.

Young was accounted for on Aug. 19, 2019, the DPAA announced last week. The sailor will be buried on May 15, 2021, in Lewisport, Ky., according to officials.

The remains of another USS Oklahoma sailor, Coxswain Layton T. Banks, have also been identified, the DPAA announced in August. Banks, who was 20 at the time of his death, will be buried in Plano, Texas, on Oct. 24, 2020.

WRECK OF ‘ICONIC’ BATTLESHIP USS NEVADA THAT SURVIVED PEARL HARBOR AND ATOMIC BOMB TESTS DISCOVERED

In 2015 incredible images emerged of a U.S. Navy seaplane that was sunk during the opening minutes of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Earlier this year researchers discovered the wreck of storied World War II battleship USS Nevada, which survived the Pearl Harbor attack and post-war atomic bomb tests. The wreck was discovered 65 nautical miles southwest of Pearl Harbor.

Fox News’ Stephen Sorace contributed to this article.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

Big Ben-sized asteroid to fly past Earth this week

An asteroid the size of London’s famous Big Ben clock tower is set to whiz past Earth this week.

The space rock, known as 2020 TGI, will fly safely past Earth on Thursday, Oct. 22, at 10:49 p.m. EST, according to NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies.

Researchers estimate 2020 TGI is traveling at a speed of roughly 30,700 miles per hour and will fly past the planet at a distance of just over 7 million miles.

ASTEROID TO FLY PAST EARTH JUST BEFORE ELECTION DAY, NASA SAYS

Its most recent encounter with the planet was April 20, 2013, and it will not come close to Earth again until Feb. 6, 2024. Scientists estimate that 2020 TGI is between 154 and 360 feet wide.

“Potentially hazardous” NEOs are defined as space objects that come within 0.05 astronomical units and measure more than 460 feet in diameter, according to NASA. According to a 2018 report put together by Planetary.org, there are more than 18,000 NEOs.

In August, an asteroid the size of a pickup-truck flew within 2,000 miles of Earth, the closest ever recorded. It was missed by NASA until after it flew past the planet.

NASA unveiled a 20-page plan in 2018 that details the steps the U.S. should take to be better prepared for NEOs, such as asteroids and comets that come within 30 million miles of the planet.

A recent survey showed that Americans prefer a space program that focuses on potential asteroid impacts over sending humans back to the moon or to Mars.

MILE-LONG ASTEROID COULD BE DANGEROUS TO LIFE ON EARTH IN MILLIONS OF YEARS IF IT BREAKS UP: SCIENTISTS

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in April 2019 that an asteroid strike is not something to be taken lightly and is perhaps Earth’s biggest threat.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

12-year-old boy makes ‘significant’ dinosaur discovery

A 12-year-old boy in Canada has found fossils that paleontologists have hailed as a “significant” dinosaur discovery.

The discovery was made at Horseshoe Canyon in the Alberta Prairies, according to the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

“In July, 12-year-old aspiring paleontologist Nathan Hrushkin and his father, Dion, discovered the partially exposed bones while hiking on the conservation site,” said the Nature Conservancy, in a statement last week. “They sent photos of their find to the Royal Tyrrell Museum, who identified that the bones belonged to a young hadrosaur, commonly known as a duck-billed dinosaur.”

The Royal Tyrrell Museum sent a team of experts to the conservation site, who uncovered between 30 and 50 bones from the canyon’s wall.

“All of the bones collected belong to a single specimen, a juvenile hadrosaur approximately three or four years old,” the Nature Conservancy said, in the statement. “While hadrosaurs are the most common fossils found in Alberta’s Badlands, this particular specimen is noteworthy because few juvenile skeletons have been recovered and also because of its location in the strata, or the rock formation.”

INCREDIBLE DINOSAUR DISCOVERY: HERD OF OPAL-ENCRUSTED DINOS UNCOVERED

The fossils are believed to be 69 million years old.

12-year-old Nathan Hrushkin discovered the fossils.
(Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology and NatureConservancy.ca)

“My dad and I have been visiting this property for a couple of years, hoping to find a dinosaur fossil, and we’ve seen lots of little bone fragments,” said aspiring paleontologist Nathan Hrushkin, in the statement. “This year I was exploring higher up the canyon and found about four bones. We sent pictures and to the Royal Tyrrell Museum and François, the paleontologist who replied, was able to identify one of the bones as a humerus from the photos so we knew we’d found something this time.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Last year, paleontologists in Canada touted the discovery of the world’s largest Tyrannosaurus rex.

Fox News’ Christopher Carbone contributed to this article.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

These are the 10 best locations in the US for UFO enthusiasts to buy a home

Pentagon creates new task force to study UFOs

The Department of Defense announces the creation of a new UFO task force, which will analyze the nature and origin of ‘unidentified aerial phenomena’; insight from Nick Pope, UFO expert and former U.K. Ministry of Defense official.

For those hoping to see a UFO in the U.S., a research firm has compiled a list of the 10 best locations in the country for UFO enthusiasts to buy a home.

National real estate marketplace ISoldMyHouse.com has revealed that Myrtle Beach, S.C., is the No. 1 place in the country to spot an alien and with the lowest median home price, just under $168,000. Other cities in the top three are Columbus, Ohio. ($174,109) and Philadelphia, Pa., with a median home price of $187,772.

“Whether you’re scientifically minded or not, the topic of aliens is one that fascinates a lot of people all over the world,” Kris Lippi, owner of ISoldMyHouse.com, said in a statement. “It’s also a topic that excites a lot of people so I’m happy to be able to provide this sort of information for those who want to or have turned their interest in the extraterrestrial into a passion.”

TRUMP TO TAKE ‘GOOD, STRONG LOOK’ AT WHETHER THERE ARE UFOS

The Southwest is also prominently featured on the list, with Houston, Texas; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Phoenix, Tuscon and Mesa, Ariz., also on the list.

The firm, which used data from the National UFO Reporting Center, noted that each of these cities has had “at least” 27 reported UFO sightings and some with more than 100.

The research was conducted after a separate survey revealed that more than half of the country believes in extraterrestrial beings and nearly one-third think they have visited our planet.

In February, a separate research firm revealed 61% of survey respondents want the U.S. government to declassify the country’s so-called X-files and 58% said they believe the government “actively investigates extraterrestrial life.”

In a September 2019 Gallup poll, Americans said they are becoming increasingly skeptical of UFOs but think the government knows more than it is letting on.

2020 has been a banner year for UFO discussion in the U.S., as more news comes out of Washington.

In August, the Pentagon announced the establishment of a new task force to investigate reports of “unidentified aerial phenomenon.” The task force was established after the U.S. Navy publicly released videos from the mid-2000s that reenergized the discussion.

In September, the National UFO Reporting Center said UFO spottings were up 51% year-over-year, topping 5,000 incidents.

AMERICANS OVERWHELMINGLY WANT UFO ‘X-FILES’ TO BE MADE PUBLIC

Biggest WWII bomb found in Poland explodes while divers try to defuse it

The biggest World War II bomb ever found in Poland exploded underwater Tuesday as navy divers attempted to defuse it.

The Polish navy said the bomb was found last year during preparatory work to deepen a waterway leading to the port of Szczecin in the northwestern part of the country.

The 5.4-ton Tallboy bomb was dropped back in April 1945 by Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) during an attack on the Nazi German battleship Luetzow.

AUSTRALIAN NAVY DIVERS FIND UNEXPLODED BOMB ON REEF, TOW IT TO SEA

As officials dealt with the bomb, more than 750 people were evacuated from outside the town of Świnoujście.

Polish navy demolition experts tried to neutralize it under water through remote deflagration, which means burning out its explosives, but it went off in the process.

A British World War II bomb exploded while being made safe underwater by navy demolition specialists in northwestern Poland on Tuesday.
(Poznan Technical University via AP)

“The deflagration process turned into detonation. The object can be considered as neutralized, it will not pose any more threat,” 2nd Lt. Grzegorz Lewandowski, the spokesman of the 8th Coastal Defense Flotilla, told the state-run news agency PAP. “All mine divers were outside the danger zone.”

The blast from the bomb that weighed nearly 5,400 kg, including 2,400 kg of explosives, was felt locally in Swinoujscie.

WWII GERMAN NAVY WRECK WITH NAZI SYMBOL DISCOVERED

Swinoujscie has a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal but a spokesman for the town’s mayor said no injuries were reported and no infrastructure was damaged, according to Reuters.

The navy said the operation took “safety measures” into account, including the possibility of the bomb exploding.

“The method used, first of all, did not pose any risk to soldiers and people directly involved in the operation,” the Polish navy said.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

The Tallboy bomb was designed by British aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis and was used by the Royal Air Force to destroy large Nazi-controlled assets through underground shocks.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

NASA astronaut reaches space station after ‘fast-track’ journey

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins has reached the International Space Station after the Soyuz spacecraft carrying her and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov completed a fast-track, two-orbit rendezvous path to the orbiting space lab.

Rubins and her fellow crewmembers blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1:45 a.m. EDT. Their journey to the space station took a little over three hours and was the first time that a Soyuz Crew has taken the fast-track, two-orbit rendezvous path.

The new orbit path halves the time that it typically takes Soyuz crews to reach the space station.

HOW DO NASA ASTRONAUTS VOTE IN SPACE?

Capture of the Soyuz capsule was confirmed at 4:48 a.m. EDT. When the Soyuz hatch opened at 7:07 a.m. EDT, Rubins, Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov joined NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Roscosmos cosmonauts Ivan Vagner, Anatoly Ivanishin onboard the space station.

(Front row from left) Expedition 64 crew members Kate Rubins, Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov join Expedition 63 crew members (back row from left) Ivan Vagner, Anatoly Ivanishin and Chris Cassidy inside the space station’s Zvezda service module. (Front row from left) Expedition 64 crew members Kate Rubins, Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov join Expedition 63 crew members (back row from left) Ivan Vagner, Anatoly Ivanishin and Chris Cassidy shortly after the Soyuz capsule’s arrival on Oct. 14, 2020.
(NASA TV)

“Welcome Home!” tweeted NASA.

The new arrivals will spend six months on the space lab. Space Station Commander Cassidy, Ivanishin and Vagner have been aboard the complex since April and are scheduled to return to Earth in a week.

VOTING IN ORBIT: NASA ASTRONAUT CASTS BALLOT FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

In November, Rubins, Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov are expected to greet NASA’s SpaceX first operational Crew Dragon mission, which is bringing NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi to the space station aboard the Crew Dragon vehicle. It follows a successful Demo-2 mission earlier this year.

Rubins will also be in orbit for the U.S. election and will vote in space for the second time. The astronaut also voted in space four years ago during a 115-day stint on the International Space Station.

She voted prior to her return to Earth on Oct. 30, 2016.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The Associated Press contributed to this article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

Spacecraft may hunt for life as it flies past Venus this week

Following the discovery of phosphine gas in the clouds of Venus last month, raising the prospects of life, a spacecraft is set to fly by the second planet in the solar system Wednesday.

The craft, known as BepiColombo, is set to fly past the planet Wednesday night, reaching its closest point at 11:58 p.m. EST, according to the European Space Agency.

BepiColombo, which has a primary mission of studying Mercury, will approach Venus from dayside and have a “minimum distance” of 10,420 miles (16,771.5 kilometers). “The flyby #1 configuration is optimal for both atmospheric and ionospheric/magnetospheric investigations of the Venus close environment,” the ESA wrote in its post.

BepiColombo Earth flyby (ESA/ATG medialab)

VENUS IS A ‘RUSSIAN PLANET,’ KREMLIN TOP SCIENTIST CLAIMS

Speaking with Business Insider, planetary researcher Jörn Helbert said the timing of BepiColombo’s passage is remarkable. “It’s [the timing] fantastic. Being able to take [this] data makes me very happy.”

Helbert is using the spacecraft, which launched in October 2018 as a joint mission between the ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, for his research.

This May 2016 photo provided by researcher Jane Greaves shows the planet Venus seen from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Akatsuki probe. A report released on Sept. 14, 2020, says astronomers have found a potential signal of life high in the atmosphere of our nearest neighboring planet. (J. Greaves/Cardiff University/JAXA via AP)

In addition to the fortuitous timing, BepiColombo has a tool on board that could potentially confirm the presence of phosphine gas in Venetian clouds, the Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer (MERTIS), Helbert added.

NASA CHIEF SAYS VENUS IS ‘ONE STOP IN OUR SEARCH FOR LIFE’

“The goal of MERTIS is to provide detailed information about the mineralogical composition of Mercury’s surface layer,” the ESA said in a separate post, noting it will study Mercury’s surface composition, identify rock-forming minerals, map its surface and study the surface temperature of the planet.

BepiColombo was named after famed Italian scientist Giuseppe “Bepi” Colombo, who studied Mercury. It has two satellites, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter and Mio (Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, MMO), that will explore the first planet in the solar system.

BepiColombo’s second flyby of Venus will occur on or about Aug. 10, 2021, at a significantly lower altitude (342 miles or 552 kilometers) in an effort to perform different investigations, the ESA added.

The craft will fly by Mercury six times before eventually entering Mercury’s orbit in December 2025.

VENUS WAS MADE OF LAVA AND WAS NOT ‘EARTH-LIKE’ AFTER ALL, STUNNING STUDY SAYS

In September, new research from an international team of astronomers revealed the discovery of phosphine in the clouds of Venus. The scientists noted that on Earth the gas is only made industrially or by microbes that thrive in oxygen-free environments.

Venus, which has been called “Earth’s evil twin,” has an extremely harsh climate, with a surface temperature of 864 degrees Fahrenheit. In July, researchers revealed that Venus has nearly 40 active volcanoes on its surface.

In late 2019, NASA said it was working on a stingray-like spacecraft to explore the planet.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Science

Footer

Public File Info