NASA is deep into planning the first crewed excursion of the Artemis program as Artemis 1, which surpassed expectations, targets a splashdown and end of mission Sunday (Dec. 11).
Space News & Blog Articles
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This Hellish Planet Orbits its Star Every 18 Hours. How Did it Get There?
Astronomers discovered 55 Cancri e in 2004. That was five years before NASA’s Kepler planet-hunting spacecraft was launched, and exoplanet science has come a long way in the intervening years. Astronomers discovered the planet with the radial velocity method rather than Kepler’s transit method. 55 Cancri e was the first super-Earth found around a main-sequence star. The 55 Cancri system was also the first star discovered with four, and then five, planets.
Artemis 1 vs Apollo 17: 50 years apart, which was the greater challenge?
Is it easier to land on the moon for a sixth time, as Apollo 17 did, or to enter Earth's atmosphere with a new approach, like Artemis 1's Orion capsule will do?
A new 3D map of the Milky Way Uses close to 66,000 Stars and Reveals New Details About the Shape of our Galaxy
In the 17th century, Galileo Galilee aimed his telescope at the stars and demonstrated (for the first time) that the Milky Way was not a nebulous band but a collection of distant stars. This led to the discovery that our Sun was merely one of the countless stars in a much larger structure: the Milky Way Galaxy. By the 18th century, William Herschel became the first astronomer to create a map that attempted to capture the shape of the Milky Way. Even after all that time and discovery, astronomers are still plagued by the problem of perspective.
Repairs and upgrades await SLS mobile launcher before crewed lunar mission
NASA’s Artemis Mobile Launcher rolls into High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building on Friday, Dec. 9. Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
The mobile launch platform for NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket rolled back into the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center Friday for inspections and repairs after liftoff of the Artemis 1 moon mission last month, setting the stage for upgrades to the 380-foot-tall structure before the first crewed Artemis moon flight scheduled for 2024.
Most Exoplanets Suffer Worse Space Weather Than We Do
We have it relatively easy on the Earth. Our Sun is relatively calm. The space weather environment in the solar system is altogether placid. Things are nice. But new research has shown that we may be the exception rather than the rule, and that many exoplanets face much harsher conditions than we do.
Chinese rocket body disintegrates into big cloud of space junk
Part of a Chinese rocket that launched the Yunhai 3 satellite last month is now a debris cloud of around 350 pieces.
Don't miss the Geminid meteor shower peak next week on Dec. 14
The Geminid meteor shower is predicted to reach its peak before dawn next Wednesday morning (Dec. 14).
China launches hyperspectral Earth-imaging satellite to orbit (video)
China continued its rapid pace of space launches with a mission to add new capabilities to the country's Earth observation system.
Comets Leave Dusty Trails That Surround the Solar System
Comets are messy things. They scatter bits of dust as they travel through the solar system. If Earth happens to encounter one of those cometary dust trails, we get to see a meteor shower.
Want to Learn More About Dark Matter? Send an Atomic Clock Close to the Sun
Dark matter continues to vex astronomers around the world. We see its effects in the clustering of galaxies and the gravitational lensing of light within galaxies, and it seems to comprise about 80% of the matter in the universe, but we still haven’t detected it on Earth. So what about at least detecting it in our solar system? That might be possible according to a new study in Nature Astronomy.
Hubble Space Telescope spots haunting glow surrounding the solar system
Astronomers used 200,000 Hubble Space Telescope images to discover an eerie glow surrounding the solar system even after all other light sources have been eliminated.
Climate summit agrees to 'historic' loss-and-damage fund — but misses warming goals
New fund would aid responses to floods, fires and storms. But a failure to address warming and greenhouse gas emissions undercuts the funding success, critics say.
Launch your Lego festive fun with 25% off the Galaxy Explorer set
Walmart have knocked 25% off the popular 1254-piece Lego Icons Galaxy Explorer set this holiday season.
Build your own Lego minifigures as flown to the moon on Artemis 1
If NASA can send Lego minifigures to the moon, then you can assemble your own set at home. The agency and Lego Education launched a crew of four diminutive astronauts on its Artemis 1 mission.
Here's how the US Navy will fish NASA's Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft out of the sea after splashdown
The U.S. Navy has been training for years to recover NASA's Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft after it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday (Dec. 11).
Confirmed! James Webb Space Telescope has bagged the oldest known galaxies
Astronomers confirmed that four ancient galaxies detected by the James Webb Space Telescope in the early months of its operations are the oldest ever seen, nearly as old as the universe itself.
These Celestron beginner telescopes are over 30% off this holiday season
Amazon has festive stargazing discounts as you can save over 30% on the Celestron 70mm Travel Scope and 76mm FirstScope.
Holmdel Horn — Which Heard Evidence of the Big Bang — Is at Risk
Redevelopment plans could threaten the site that houses the Holmdel Horn, the instrument responsible for hearing the "hiss" of background radiation from the Big Bang.
China may enlarge its Tiangong space station
China may end up enlarging its Tiangong space station and perhaps use it to evaluate technologies needed for possible human exploration of the moon.
