Gamma-ray bursts (GRB) are some of the most perplexing phenomena in Nature. Even though astronomers have detected about 15,000 of them, with a new one each day, they're still mysterious. They're the most luminous, energetic explosions in the Universe, and typically last only a few milliseconds, or a few minutes, with a handful of them lasting for a few hours.
Space News & Blog Articles
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Chinese astronauts inspect damaged Shenzhou 20 spacecraft during 8-hour spacewalk (video)
Two Chinese astronauts installed more debris shielding on the Tiangong space station and assessed the damage to the attached Shenzhou 20 spacecraft during a spacewalk on Tuesday (Dec. 9).
Space Startups
The space industry is undergoing a significant transformation, driven by an increasing number of innovative startups. These companies are pushing the boundaries of technology and accessibility, often focusing on areas such as lower-cost satellite deployment, advanced data processing, and space resource utilization.
January full moon 2026: When, where and how to see the Wolf Moon
Your guide to January’s full Wolf Moon, from peak times to skywatching highlights.
What Do Super Jupiters Look Like?
Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. It's also one of the largest planets in the Universe. There are planets out there with much more mass, but thanks to gravity, they are generally more dense, not "bigger." This raises an interesting question about massive exoplanets. Do they look similar to Jupiter? A new study finds they probably don't.
1st human missions to Mars should hunt for signs of life, report says
Humanity's exploration of Mars should be organized around the search for signs of past or present Red Planet life, according to a new report from the U.S. National Academies.
Galaxies Spin on Vast Filament Like a Teacup Ride
Astronomers have discovered one of the largest structures in the universe — and the galaxies within it — spinning like a fairground teacup ride.
From Bezos to beyond: Blue Origin quiz
Whether you're a casual fan or a spaceflight enthusiast, see how well you know one of the companies pushing the boundaries of commercial space travel.
SpaceX launches classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) to begin the NROL-77 mission on behalf of the National Reconnaissance Office on Dec. 9, 2025. Image: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now
Update Dec. 9, 2:44 p.m. EST (1944 UTC): SpaceX landed its booster at the landing zone.
ISS astronauts watch Earth's atmosphere glow green | Space photo of the day for Dec. 8, 2025
The image shows a good example of the phenomenon called airglow.
Soyuz safely lands in Kazakhstan
The Soyuz MS-27/73S spacecraft carrying NASA’s Jonny Kim and two Russian cosmonauts undocked from the International Space Station Monday evening as the two spacecraft were sailing 262 miles above eastern Mongolica. Image: NASA
A NASA astronaut and two cosmonaut crewmates strapped into their Soyuz ferry ship Monday evening, undocked from the International Space Station and plunged to an on-target landing on the frigid steppe of Kazakhstan early Tuesday to wrap up an eight-month mission.
This supermassive black hole flung out matter at 134 million mph: 'On a scale almost too big to imagine'
In other words, the matter traveled at 20% the speed of light.
The Primordial Black Hole Saga: Part 2 - Not Your Normal Black Holes
(This is Part 2 of a series on primordial black holes. Check out Part 1 here!)
Startup announces 'Galactic Brain' project to put AI data centers in orbit
Aetherflux has focused its efforts on space-based solar power, with the goal of "building an American power grid in space."
NASA Researchers Test Mars Tech In Deserts Throughtout the Country
Engineers can be split into two camps - those who just release whatever they’re building and try to fix whatever might be wrong with it as they get feedback on it, and those who test their product in every possible way before releasing it to the public. Luckily, NASA engineers are in the latter camp - it wouldn’t look great if all of the probes we send throughout the solar system failed because of something we could have easily tested for here at home. However, finding analogues for the places we want to send those probes remains a challenge for some NASA projects, so they make due with the best Earth has to offer. For Mars, that means testing technology in the desert’s rolling sand dune and rocky outcrops, and this year several different NASA technologies were tested in deserts throughout the country, as reported in a press release from the agency.
Galileo pre-launch media briefing
Video: 00:42:04
Watch the replay of the media briefing held ahead of the 14th operational launch of the Galileo programme. The briefing covers the mission details for the launch of two Galileo satellites, which are set to lift off on 17 December aboard Ariane 6 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
Watch SpaceX launch mystery mission for the US military today
SpaceX will launch a secret payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office today (Dec. 9), and you can watch the action live.
Flaring black hole whips up ultra-fast winds
Leading X-ray space telescopes XMM-Newton and XRISM have spotted an extraordinary blast from a supermassive black hole. In a matter of hours, the gravitational monster whipped up powerful winds, flinging material out into space at eye-watering speeds of 60 000 km per second.
NASA astronaut and 2 cosmonauts land aboard Russian Soyuz after 8 months on International Space Station
NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky landed on Russia's Soyuz MS-27 on Dec. 9, 2025, after 245 days on the International Space Station.
Direct Images Of Nova Explosions Reveal Their Complexity
White dwarfs are called stellar remnants because they're what's left of main sequence stars after they've shed most of their mass and ceased fusion. But despite being mere remnants for whom fusion is only a distant memory, they can still be the locations of enormously powerful thermonuclear explosions called novae.
Applying the Principles of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle to Space
By its very nature, spaceflight is very challenging and very wasteful. As Tsiolkovsky's famous Rocket Equation establishes, propellant accounts for the majority of a rocket's mass, which is burned off during launch. The process also introduces large amounts of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and black carbon, as well as ozone-depleting chemicals, into the upper atmosphere. On top of that, the disposal process for satellites once they are no longer operational (deorbiting and burning up in the atmosphere) is also wasteful, with no materials retrieved or reused.
