Science News Roundup: NASA's DART spacecraft hits target asteroid in first planetary defense test; Hurricane Ian prompts NASA to roll moon rocket off launchpad and more

“The decision allows time for employees to address the needs of their families and protect the integrated rocket and spacecraft system," NASA said in a statement. Chilean scientists discover 12,000-year-old elephant remains Gomphotheres, an extinct relative of the modern elephant, roamed southern Chile thousands of years ago and might have been the target of group hunts by inhabitants of the region, Chilean scientists hypothesize after a recent discovery. Scientists recently uncovered several Gomphothere remains dating back 12,000 years near Lake Tagua Tagua, a glacial finger lake, in southern Chile.


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 28-09-2022 02:34 IST | Created: 28-09-2022 02:27 IST
Science News Roundup: NASA's DART spacecraft hits target asteroid in first planetary defense test; Hurricane Ian prompts NASA to roll moon rocket off launchpad and more
Representative Image Image Credit: ANI

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

NASA's DART spacecraft hits target asteroid in first planetary defense test

NASA's DART spacecraft successfully slammed into a distant asteroid at hypersonic speed on Monday in the world's first test of a planetary defense system, designed to prevent a potential doomsday meteorite collision with Earth. Humanity's first attempt to alter the motion of an asteroid or any celestial body played out in a NASA webcast from the mission operations center outside Washington, D.C., 10 months after DART was launched.

Hurricane Ian prompts NASA to roll moon rocket off launchpad

NASA on Monday said it will roll its giant moon rocket off its launchpad in Florida and back to the assembly building to protect the vehicle from an advancing Hurricane Ian, whose strengthening winds are forecast to lash the Kennedy Space Center later this week. “The decision allows time for employees to address the needs of their families and protect the integrated rocket and spacecraft system," NASA said in a statement.

Chilean scientists discover 12,000-year-old elephant remains

Gomphotheres, an extinct relative of the modern elephant, roamed southern Chile thousands of years ago and might have been the target of group hunts by inhabitants of the region, Chilean scientists hypothesize after a recent discovery.

Scientists recently uncovered several Gomphothere remains dating back 12,000 years near Lake Tagua Tagua, a glacial finger lake, in southern Chile.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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