May 11, 2025

Kennedy Space Center Readies for New Visitor Complex Attraction (Source: Fort Myers Neighbor)
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is home to numerous attractions, experiences, educational opportunities and even launches. Its newest attraction, “The Gantry at LC-39,” is slated to open soon,  bringing an innovative, interactive experience that reimagines the historic Launch Complex 39 gantry, located amidst the most iconic launch pads in space exploration.

Veteran astronaut Winston Scott paid a visit to Southwest Florida this past week and spoke about all of the happenings at the complex. The Gantry at LC-39 offers an “unprecedented” 360-degree view of Kennedy Space Center and active launch pads, as well as a range of immersive exhibits and experiences. The four-story gantry houses a full-scale model of a rocket engine that comes to life during a simulated static test fire. (5/9)

A Chorus of Gravitational Waves Emerging from the Milky Way Core (Source: Daily Galaxy)
A recent study published on arXiv sheds light on an astonishing discovery at the core of the Milky Way Galaxy. There, a complex symphony of gravitational waves is being generated by a multitude of cosmic sources, including a supermassive black hole, binary black holes, neutron stars, and white dwarfs.

While these gravitational waves are currently too faint for us to detect with existing technologies, future observatories like the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) are poised to offer new insights into these cosmic phenomena. This creates a new challenge for astronomers as they prepare to sort through this rich “forest” of signals in the hopes of uncovering more definitive patterns. Could we truly hear these waves in the future, and what might this mean for our understanding of the universe? (5/10)

Lessons Learned From Massive Solar Storm? (Source: Space.com)
The May 2024 solar storm, also known as the Gannon storm or Mother's Day solar storm, is now ranked by NOAA as one of the most memorable solar events in history, and potentially the most powerful documented this century. It included a parade of powerful solar flares between May 8-11, 2024. According to NOAA, during this time frame, there were at least eight coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are giant blasts made up of magnetic field and plasma, that targeted Earth.

"At [NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC)], we continue to work to help operators protect our critical infrastructure from such storms," Clinton Wallace said. "More than ten years of planning and preparation paid off. Thanks to early warnings and strong teamwork, the people who run critical systems like power, farming, and satellites were able to prevent most of the damage from the May 2024 storm. This proves that being ready isn't just helpful, it's essential."

While there was a win in terms of how resilient the North American power grid was in the face of the storm, the agriculture industry took a hit as vulnerabilities with GPS systems that help guide tractors were exposed when the solar storm reached Earth. "A few days outage might not seem to be a big deal, but when the storm hits during planting or harvest season, as big storms typically do (storm effects are enhanced at the equinoxes), then the impact to the crop yield can be extremely significant."