SpaceX performed a single-engine "static fire" trial with its newest Starship spacecraft on Thursday (July 31), to help prep the vehicle for an upcoming test flight.
A recent study looked at the feasibility of chasing down 3I/ATLAS.
Space News & Blog Articles
Tune into the SpaceZE News Network to stay updated on industry news from around the world.
The Moon Is Useless, So Let's Preserve It
I don’t think space or lunar tourism is going to be the big draw that transforms the moon into something unrecognizable. Instead, I think it’s going to more about large-scale mining and industrialization that scars the lunar surface. So when it comes to possible industrial hellscapes that the moon might turn into, think less Las Vegas and more…Gary, Indiana. No offense, Gary, but you’re kind of an industrial hellscape.
Sand Reacts Differently In Lower Gravity And Could Entrap Rovers More Easily
Simulating extraterrestrial environments on Earth has always been a challenge. Our planet has a pleasant atmosphere, reasonable temperatures, and a moderate amount of gravity, unlike the rest of the solar system. Or maybe that’s just because we think that way because we adapted to how it is here as we evolved here. In either case, the physical environment here makes it difficult for us to set up test environments that can accurately test probes going to other parts of the solar system. Many times, it involves vacuum chambers, air conditioners and heaters pumping hot and cold air into them, and soil simulant - lots and lots of soil simulant. But, according to a new paper from researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, we’ve been neglecting one important aspect of these tests, and it might be the reason Spirit eventually got permanently stuck on Mars - sand is affected by gravity too.
Did 'primordial' black holes born right after the Big Bang help our universe's 1st stars form?
New research suggests that primordial black holes could have played an important role in the formation of the universe's first stars, but did they help or hinder?
SMOS adds long-term view on carbon stored in forests
Data from ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission can be used to estimate how much carbon is stored in forests – and a study has improved our understanding of how reliable this proxy is and how long-term datasets from SMOS can help us to monitor this valuable resource.
This Week's Sky at a Glance, August 1 – 10
The waxing gibbous Moon of August haunts the low south. Venus and Jupiter draw toward a spectacular conjunction in early dawn.
Webb takes a fresh look at a classic deep field
Image: Webb takes a fresh look at a classic deep field
A supernova-rich spiral
Image: A supernova-rich spiral
SpaceX launches West Coast Falcon 9 rocket on Starlink 13-4 mission
A Falcon 9 rocket climbs away from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on the Starlink 13-4 mission. Image: SpaceX.
Some classified satellites might have hitched a ride with 19 Starlink satellites launched by SpaceX from the company’s West Coast launch site on Thursday.
Einstein was wrong (slightly) about quantum physics, new version of the famous double-slit experiment reveals
A new version of the famous double-slit experiment showed that it's impossible to measure light as both a wave and a particle at the same time, thanks to quantum physics' uncertainty principle.
Is life widespread throughout the cosmos? Complex organic molecules found in planet-birthing disk
Complex organic molecules that could be the precursors to the building blocks of life as we know it have been discovered in a disk of gas and dust swirling around an infant star.
August Podcast: Planets Dance at Dawn
Find out “what’s up” in the August sky. We’ll track down four planets before dawn; have some fun with New Moons; peek at some Perseids; and gaze at the center of our galaxy. So load up on the bug juice, and come along on this month’s Sky Tour.
Hawaiian Constellations
In traditional Hawaiian astronomy and navigation, Hawaiian constellations (or nā hōkū o ka lani) were used by Polynesian voyagers to navigate vast ocean distances. While many align with Western constellations, Hawaiians grouped and interpreted the stars differently, focusing more on star lines, rising/setting patterns, and cultural meaning rather than fixed shapes.
SpaceX launches 19 Starlink satellites from California, lands rocket on ship at sea (video)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 19 Starlink satellites from California's central coast today (July 31), then came back to Earth for a landing on a ship at sea.
Satellites reveal a hidden lake burst through Greenland Ice Sheet in 2014, causing major flooding and a deep crater
A hidden lake beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet unexpectedly drained more than a decade ago, fracturing the ice surface and forming a large crater — an event only recently uncovered by Earth-observing satellites.
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin will launch next space tourism mission on Aug. 3
Blue Origin is targeting Sunday (Aug. 3) for the launch of its next suborbital tourism mission, which will send crypto billionaire Justin Sun and five other people to the final frontier.
SpaceX, NASA scrub Crew-11 astronaut launch due to weather (video)
SpaceX scrubbed the launch of its Crew-11 astronaut mission for NASA just a minute before liftoff today (July 31) after clouds intruded.
Unlocking the Secrets of Our Galaxy's Heart Using Magnetic Fields
Deep in the heart of our Galaxy lies one of the most chaotic and mysterious regions in space. Now, scientists have created the first detailed map of magnetic fields in this turbulent zone, providing crucial insights into how stars form and evolve in extreme environments.
Venus reaches its highest point in the eastern predawn sky on Aug. 1: Here's how to see it
Venus reaches its highest altitude above the eastern horizon in 2025 on Aug. 1.
