THE GURU'S LAB

  This week, many of our NASA assets provided forecasters with information to incorporate into their analysis of Hurricane Ida. We used satellite imagery, data visualizations, and photographs from the International Space Station to analyze the storm and get vital information to disaster responders to inform recovery efforts. Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana on Aug. 29, affecting our Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. No injuries have been reported, but both locations sustained damage. Stennis was able to open for some operations while Michoud remains closed this week as teams conducted detailed damage assessments and initial cleanup work. Get the latest with our  Michoud Hurricane Ida Status Reports . A Nighttime View of Power Outages  – Days after Hurricane Ida brought fierce wind, rain, and storm surges to Louisiana, large swaths of the state are enduring electric power blackouts. A team of scientists from our Godda...

  IMAGE SOURCE REUTERS image caption The ISS pictured from a Soyuz spacecraft last year The International Space Station (ISS) could suffer "irreparable" failures due to outdated equipment and hardware, a Russian official has warned. At least 80 percent of in-flight systems on the Russian segment of the ISS had passed their expiry date, Vladimir Solovyov told state media. He also said small cracks had been discovered that could worsen over time. Russia has often raised concerns over hardware and has suggested it could leave the ISS after 2025. The station was built in 1998 as part of a joint project between Russia, America, Canada, Japan and several European countries and was originally designed for a 15-year lifespan. Mr Solovyov, the chief engineer at the space company Energia, which is the leading developer of Russia's section of the ISS, said: "Literally a day after the [in-flight] systems are fully exhausted, irreparable failures may begin." He warned last y...

  Engineers are trying to work out what went wrong when the US space agency's Perseverance rover tried to gather its first rock core on Mars. The robot's mechanisms seemed to work perfectly but when a metal tube expected to hold the sample was examined, it was found to be empty. The mission team think the particular properties of the target rock may have been to blame. More images and telemetry pulled down from Mars should solve the puzzle. "The initial thinking is that the empty tube is more likely a result of the rock target not reacting the way we expected during coring, and less likely a hardware issue with the sampling and caching system," said Jennifer Trosper, project manager for Perseverance at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. "Over the next few days, the team will be spending more time analysing the data we have, and also acquiring some additional diagnostic data to support understanding the root cause for the empty tube." IMAGE S...

 China aims to send its first crewed mission to Mars in 2033, with regular follow-up flights to follow, under a long-term plan to build a permanently inhabited base on the Red Planet and extract its resources. The ambitious plan, which will intensify a race with the United States to plant humans on Mars, was disclosed in detail for the first time after China landed a robotic rover on Mars in mid-May in its inaugural mission to the planet. Crewed launches to Mars are planned for 2033, 2035, 2037, 2041 and beyond, the head of China's main rocket maker, Wang Xiaojun, told a space exploration conference in Russia recently by video link. Before the crewed missions begin, China will send robots to Mars to study possible sites for the base and to build systems to extract resources there, the official China Space News reported on Wednesday, citing Wang, who is head of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. For human inhabitation on Mars, crews would have to be able to use the plan...

Gabriel Mhlanga, an A level student from Mkoba 1 High school in Gweru, Zimbabwe is also civilizing the minds of his fellow students and teachers on the idea of Space Exploration. His approach during Physics lessons at Mkoba 1 High school has led the entire clan to nickname him the younger Guru.  Soon he is going to release his first episode series of the Evolution of earth