This week on the Space.com forums: Questioning dark matter, exploring space and a last chance to win!

A visualization of the dark matter filaments in the cosmic web. Simulation produced by the EAGLE project.
A visualization of the dark matter filaments in the cosmic web. Simulation produced by the EAGLE project. (Image credit: EAGLE Project)

Welcome back to your weekly look into what's trending on the Space.com forums. This week, the community gets inquisitive about the feasibility of dark matter and addresses some concerns about space exploration. But, first, you’re running out of time to enter our latest giveaway!

 Enter before Sunday to win! 

Own a piece of Mars with this Martian meteorite granule pendant from the Space Store! Enter our giveaway for details.

Own a piece of Mars with this Martian meteorite granule  pendant from the Space Store! Enter our giveaway for details. (Image credit: Space Store)
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Welcome back to your weekly look into what's trending on the Space.com forums. This week, the community gets inquisitive about the feasibility of dark matter and addresses some concerns about space exploration. But, first, you’re running out of time to enter our latest giveaway!

Enter before Sunday to win!

Our latest community giveaway is a doozy. One lucky winner will be walking away with a pendant containing granules from Mars as well as a JPL mission patch! All you have to do is follow the instructions over at this thread to enter for your chance to win. Remember, you have to follow every step in order for your entry to be valid.

Hurry up and enter before 11:59 PM ET on June 20th, 2021

 Is dark matter even real? 

It's one of the most fascinating topics of conversation among space enthusiasts: dark matter. This comes as little surprise considering its theoretical nature. And yet, it may not matter how interesting dark matter is if it isn’t real to begin with. Randy sole takes such a stance in this intriguing post, encouraging some insightful responses:

N A S A has stated that the Dark Matter is in patches, how did they make that statement if did not have proof. As far as rotation of galaxies, the planet, and each solar system is it torque and that only happens when there is resistance of something that has rotation, the electron in the valance of each atom. - Cat-Ret-Jet

IMO dark matter/energy is a byproduct of fluctuations creation of temp particles.

Fluctuation is at an energy balance so no new particle stays. Conservation of energy. Temp particle though have temp energy and matter and over the size of our BB universe that could easily be dark matter and dark energy as temp products that have a net result. - voidpotentialenergy

Join the conversation here.

What are the most important questions about space exploration? 

Living in space for astronauts includes birthday parties and jam sessions. (Image credit: ESA/NASA/Thomas Pesquet)

This was on serhiy1635's mind this week as they pondered the future of human space exploration. Considering all of the variables involved, it’s a worthy inquiry. Here's a selection of responses from the community: 

In my opinion, I think the biggest issue that needs to be resolved is long-term survival in space. That means testing of artificial gravity and radiation protection. - Woldshadw

IMO the thing that is now needed is the development of a fully reusable spacecraft to greatly reduce the cost of getting into orbit. If we continue throwing tens of millions of dollars of precision engineering hardware into the Atlantic ocean at every launch its going to act as a serious obstacle to further development. - Slarty1080

Check out the rest of the conversation here.

What’s the furthest an animal has traveled in space?

Will there be deep space travel in the next 50 years?

Moment of inertia.

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