A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket rolls from the Government Vertical Integration Facility (VIF-G) to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Vulcan will launch the USSF-87 mission for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC). Image: United Launch Alliance
On the cusp of launching its first Vulcan rocket of the year on Thursday, United Launch Alliance leadership announced its goal for 2026 to launch between 18 and 22 times.
NASA's Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) was built for the ambitious purpose of performing an all-sky survey. The data it collects from more than 450 million galaxies and 100 million stars in the Milky Way over its two-year mission will help scientists explore the origins of the Universe and its evolution over time. But that doesn't mean scientists can't occasionally take a break from investigating the deepest cosmological mysteries to take a peek at an interstellar object (ISO), right?
Life on Earth may exist thanks to an incredible stroke of luck — a chemical sweet spot that most planets miss during their formation but ours managed to hit.
Most evidence shows that supermassive black holes (SMBH) sit in the center of massive galaxies like ours. Their masses can be extraordinary; many billions of times more massive than the Sun. All that concentrated mass has a powerful effect on their surroundings.
Could we prevent in-orbit crashes in the future by using advanced computer models?
Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun, is famous for its magnificent ring system. However, the planet also possesses a vast and diverse collection of natural satellites, or moons. As of today, Saturn has 146 confirmed moons, including 62 that have been officially named.
From dark-sky parks to remote deserts, these locations offer prime views of the March 3, 2026, blood moon.
Upgrading to the latest cameras may require changing your imaging techniques.
Relatedly, astronomers may have just pushed the upper size limit of what counts as a planet.
Thia and Dek arrive on Hulu/Disney+ just in time for a romantic Valentine's Day weekend.
The 4-billion-year-old Moon rocks brought back from the farside of the Moon challenge ideas about what it was like in the early solar system.
ESA marked the opening of the 2026 Winter Olympics by capturing the venue from low-Earth orbit.
On 10 February 2026, the European Space Agency (ESA) signed a contract with OHB Italia for the development of the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses). Launching in 2028, Ramses will rendezvous with the asteroid Apophis before its rare close encounter with Earth. The mission will provide unique insight into the physical properties and behaviour of asteroids, and strengthen international collaboration and European capabilities in planetary defence.
Image: The Egg Nebula
NASA and SpaceX are proceeding ahead of schedule with their next astronaut launch to the International Space Station, which is currently operating with a skeleton crew.
The key to solving the mystery of the Viking results is the discovery of perchlorate on the Martian surface in 2008.
Satellite data have captured the intensity of rainfall over the Iberian Peninsula during three severe winter storms, and the extent of flooding that followed around the Tejo River and basin in Portugal.
The Moon has a long history of being smacked by large rocks. Its pock-marked, cratered surface is evidence of that. Scientists expect that, as part of those impacts, some debris would be scattered into space - and that we should be able to track it down. But so far, there have been startlingly few discoveries of these Lunar-origin Asteroids (LOAs) despite their theoretical abundance. A new paper from Yixuan Wu and their colleagues at Tsinghua University explains why - and how the Vera Rubin Observatory might help with finding them.
Mars’ water disappeared somewhere, but scientists have been disagreeing for years about where exactly it went. Data from rovers like Perseverance and Curiosity, along with orbiting satellites such as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and ExoMars have shown that Mars used to be a wet world with an active hydrodynamic cycle. Obviously it isn’t anymore, but where did all the water go? A new paper that collects data from at least six different instruments on three different spacecraft provides some additional insight into that question - by showing that dust storms push water into the Red Planet’s atmosphere, where it is actively destroyed, all year round.
The moon will pass directly in front of the sun on Feb. 17, setting the stage for a dramatic annular solar eclipse.
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