Carnival of Space #511

The Carnival of Space #511 features some fabulous bloggers writing about new rockets, planets and moons! To learn more, visit The Carnival of Space page then read on intrepid visitor! You’ll be glad you did.

New Moon Discovered by Hubble Orbiting Third Largest Dwarf Planet in Kuiper Belt
Paul Scott Anderson | Planetaria

Moons are exceedingly common in the Solar System – Jupiter alone has 67! But smaller planets do as well of course, except for Mercury and Venus, and even some dwarf planets and asteroids have moons. This includes dwarf planets such as Pluto, which has five moons despite being so small itself. Most of the larger dwarf planets are now known to possess moons, and now another one has been discovered, by the Hubble Space Telescope and two other telescopes, orbiting the…

The Expendables
Shubber | Space Cynics

New class of rockets invented: Expendable!

Rocket Lab’s Cost-Effective Electron Rocket with 3D Printed Parts was Finally Launched into Space
Donna Mapacpac | The Evolving Planet

A Silicon Valley-subsidized space launch company named Rocket Lab, has launched the first ever flight of its battery-powered, 3D-printed rocket that originates from the remote Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand.

Rocket Lab posted on its official Twitter account, “Made it to space. Team delighted.”

It was a breakthrough for the firm to finally have their rocket launched into space because they have spent the past four years preparing for the test launch. Finally, last week, they received the go signal from…

New Zealand’s First Rocket Launch to Space!
Matt Williams | Universe Today

Earlier this week, the island nation of New Zealand accomplished a historic first. On Wednesday, May 24th at 16:20 p.m. NZST – 00:20 a.m. EDT; May 23rd, 21:20 p.m. PDT – the country joined the small club of nations that have space launch capability. Taking off from a launch pad located on the Mahia Peninsula (on the North Island), the test flight was also a first for the US/NZ-based company Rocket Lab.

With the successful launch of their test rocket, Rocket Lab has become the latest aerospace firm to…

Trump Proposes $19.1 Billion 2018 NASA Budget, Cuts Earth Science and Education
Ken Kremer | Universe Today

The Trump Administration has proposed a $19.1 Billion NASA budget request for Fiscal Year 2018, which amounts to a $0.5 Billion reduction compared to the recently enacted FY 2017 NASA Budget. Although it maintains many programs such as human spaceflight, planetary science and the Webb telescope, the budget also specifies significant cuts and terminations to NASA’s…

New Ideas for the Mysterious Tabby’s Star: a Gigantic Planet or a Planet With Rings
Matt Williams | Universe Today

KIC 8462852 (aka. Tabby’s Star) captured the world’s attention back in September of 2015 when it was found to be experiencing a mysterious drop in brightness. A week ago (on May 18th), it was announced that the star was at it again, which prompted observatories from all around the world to train their telescopes on the star so they could observe the dimming as it happened.

And just like before, this mysterious behavior has fueled speculation as to what could be causing it. Previously, ideas ranged from…

Short and sweet! Watch for Carnival of Space #512 over on The Venus Transit next Friday.