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NASA finally unfurled the James Webb Space Telescope! The JWST has been undergoing acoustic and vibration testing for months, just information technology'southward been fully opened considering at present information technology'southward fourth dimension for the next phase of testing. That will have place at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. There, mission techs and scientists volition test and calibrate the telescope's instruments. The James Webb Infinite Telescope is the scientific successor to the Hubble telescope. Behold here the completely opened telescope mirror in all its glossy, high-tech dazzler:

Bears a certain resemblance to an extremely sciencey daffodil. Image: NASA

While the JWST has yet to launch, in that location'southward no turning back for Cassini: its flyby of Titan early this week altered its orbit in a style that means it can't avoid crashing into Saturn this September. Starting April 26th, the spacecraft is scheduled to make a serial of 22 dives betwixt Saturn's rings and its surface. Then its mission volition end for good as Cassini crashes into Saturn. We're sending it to dive into Saturn considering scientists believe that surroundings would immediately kill whatever Earthly microbes that somehow managed to alive through Cassini's mission in some crack on the orbiter. It'south improve that nosotros not accidentally contaminate Enceladus with Earthly lifeforms — that could cause headaches subsequently.

"With this flyby [of Titan], we're committed to the M Finale," said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager at JPL, in a argument. "The spacecraft is now on a ballistic path, so that even if we were to forgo hereafter pocket-size form adjustments using thrusters, we would still enter Saturn's atmosphere on Sept. xv no matter what."

And then there's the bricks.

You've probably heard of rebar, those steel rods nosotros use to reinforce concrete. Yous may besides take heard of fiber-reinforced physical. It'south cool stuff; nosotros utilize it for bridges and other applications where farthermost bending forces will be applied to the concrete, because the fibers make the concrete less likely to crack under the combined tension and compression. Some scientists figured out that by taking soil samples like Martian regolith, putting them in a mold and applying an amount of strength equivalent to beating the daylights out of them with a ten-pound sledgehammer, they were able to produce rammed-globe (rammed-regolith?) bricks that held up improve than fibercrete.

How? The iron oxide in the regolith fuses under the hammering, forming a mesh-like network of iron oxide "fibers" throughout the brick. Like fibercrete and rebar all in one. So, Mars colonists could brand these bricks to construct homes and other facilities out of in situ materials — without having to send massive amounts of building materials from Earth.

Now read: The 25 All-time Hubble Infinite Telescope Images