Years after initial space-mining ventures went bust, startup AstroForge has announced two missions in 2023 to obtain rare-earth minerals from a near-Earth asteroid.
Space News & Blog Articles
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SpaceX crew launch scrubbed after concern with engine ignitor system
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on pad 39A Sunday night. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography
SpaceX scrubbed the launch from Florida of a four-man crew heading to the International Space Station early Monday with less than three minutes remaining in the countdown, delaying the start of a six-month mission to examine a problem with a ground system needed to ignite the Falcon 9 rocket’s main engines.
ESA invites space firms to create lunar services
ESA is inviting private space companies in Europe and Canada to create a shared commercial telecommunication and navigation service for lunar missions by putting a constellation of satellites around the Moon.
Watch SpaceX launch 2 rockets less than an hour apart on Monday
SpaceX plans to launch two Starlink satellite-internet missions less than an hour apart on Monday (Feb. 27), and you can watch the back-to-back action live.
See the half moon pass by Mars in the sky tonight
The moon and Mars will make a close approach high in the sky tonight (Feb. 27), making for a great skywatching spectacle.
SpaceX scrubs Crew-6 astronaut launch due to ignition-fluid issue
SpaceX scrubbed its Crew-6 astronaut launch for NASA on Monday (Feb. 27) with just over two minutes left in the countdown due to an ignition-fluid issue.
Venus’ Outer Shell is Thinner and “Squishier” Than Previously Believed
While Earth and Venus are approximately the same size and both lose heat at about the same rate, the internal mechanisms that drive Earth’s geologic processes differ from its neighbor. It is these Venusian geologic processes that a team of researchers led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the California Institute of Technology hope to learn more about as they discuss both the cooling mechanisms of Venus and the potential processes behind it.
Live coverage: SpaceX set to launch four-man crew to space station
Live coverage of the countdown and flight of SpaceX’s Crew-6 mission carrying NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen, Warren “Woody” Hoburg, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev on a flight to the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.
SFN Live
Universe-Breaking Galaxies, Source of Dark Energy, Mars Anniversary
Perseverance has been on Mars for two years. Are black holes the source of dark energy? Universe-breaking galaxies found. And an early warning system for asteroids.
SpaceX unveils first batch of larger upgraded Starlink satellites
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Feb. 27 with delay of Starlink launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
SpaceX Crew Dragon poised for overnight launch to space station
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION
Experience SpaceX's Crew-6 astronaut mission with these amazing photos
SpaceX's Crew-6 mission for NASA will launch toward the International Space Station on Feb. 27, 2023. See photos of the mission here.
A Replacement Soyuz Arrives Safely at the International Space Station
The crew of the International Space Station can now breathe a little easier. An uncrewed replacement Soyuz docked safely to the station, meaning NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin can make it back home to Earth.
DNA from 4 American presidents will launch to deep space
Celestis has added DNA samples from four former American presidents to one of its upcoming memorial spaceflights.
Asteroid Ryugu is rich in organic molecules that can be building blocks of life
A first look at samples returned by the Hayabusa2 craft from the asteroid Ryugu has revealed it is rich in organic molecules like amino acids that are the building blocks of life.
The Planet That Shouldn’t Exist
As of this writing, almost 5300 exoplanets spanning approximately 4000 planetary systems have been confirmed to exist in our universe. With each new exoplanet discovery, scientists continue to learn more about planetary formation and evolution that has already shaken our understanding of this process down to its very core. One such example is “Hot Jupiters”, which are Jupiter-sized exoplanets, or larger, that orbit closer to their parents stars than Mercury does to our own. This is in stark contrast to our own Solar System, which has rocky planets closer towards our Sun and the gas giant planets much farther out.
How deep-sea silica ends up in Saturn moon Enceladus' famous geysers
Scientists have discovered how Saturn's moon Enceladus blasts tiny silica particles into space, where they eventually help form one of Saturn's famous rings.
Unpiloted Soyuz spacecraft docks at space station to replace damaged crew capsule
The Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft closes in for docking Saturday night at the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TV / Spaceflight Now
A replacement for a damaged Russian Soyuz crew ferry spacecraft docked at the International Space Station Saturday night, two days after launching from Kazakhstan on a mission to give two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut a ride back to Earth later this year.
SpaceX on track to launch Crew-6 astronaut mission for NASA tomorrow (Feb. 27)
SpaceX's Crew-6 astronaut mission is still looking good to launch early Monday morning (Feb. 27), mission managers said during a prelaunch teleconference.
Astronomers Suspected There Should Be a Planet Here, and Then They Took a Picture of it
To date, astronomers have confirmed 5,272 exoplanets in 3,943 systems using a variety of detection methods. Of these, 1,834 are Neptune-like, 1,636 are gas giants (Jupiter-sized or larger), 1,602 are rocky planets several times the size and mass of Earth (Super-Earths), and 195 have been Earth-like. With so many exoplanets available for study (and next-generation instruments optimized for the task), the process is shifting from discovery to characterization. And discoveries, which are happening regularly, are providing teasers of what astronomers will likely see in the near future.
Boeing's Starliner on track to launch its 1st astronaut flight this spring, NASA says
Mission managers for the first crewed Starliner flight are confident the spacecraft will launch in a 60-day window that opens in April.
