Space News & Blog Articles

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Europe's 1st commercial staged rocket passes hot-fire milestone

German launch services startup Rocket Factory Augsburg has taken a new step in the development of an orbital launcher with the hot fire test of its Helix engine.

Cosmic crime scene reveals how black holes turn stars into 'spaghetti'

A cosmic crime scene has revealed the gory details of black holes' eating habits.

From Blu-Ray players to Earth orbit

Image: From Blu-Ray players to Earth orbit

Feeling the heat from space

With searing temperatures and a string of record highs being smashed across western Europe, the current heatwave is all too apparent. Extreme heat warnings have been issued in several countries including France, Spain and Portugal, and deadly wildfires have forced thousands to flee their homes. The satellite images here are an example of how the crisis is being viewed by satellites orbiting Earth.

First spacewalk for Samantha Cristoforetti

On 21 July 2022, ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will head outside the International Space Station on a spacewalk alongside cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev. It will be Samantha’s first spacewalk, and the first conducted by a European woman.

Mars Express peers into Mars' 'Grand Canyon'

The latest image release from ESA’s Mars Express takes us over two ruptures in the martian crust that form part of the mighty Valles Marineris canyon system.

We Finally Know Where the Highest Energy Cosmic Rays are Coming From: Blazars

Way out there in space is a class of objects called blazars. Think of them as extreme particle accelerators, able to marshall energies a million times stronger than the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. It turns out they’re the culprits in one of the great astrophysical mysteries: what creates and propels neutrinos across the universe at blazingly fast speeds? It turns out that the answer’s been there all along: blazars pump out neutrinos and cosmic rays. That’s the conclusion a group of astronomers led by Dr. Sara Buson of Universität Wurzburg in Germany came to as they studied data from a very unique facility here on Earth: the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica.

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The Gravitational Constant is Tricky to pin Down Accurately. Here’s a new way to Measure it

A team of physicists have used a pair of vibrating rods to measure the gravitational constant to incredibly fine precision. While the new technique has relatively high uncertainty, they hope that future improvements will provide a new pathway to nailing down this elusive constant.

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NASA selects SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to launch Roman Space Telescope

Artist’s illustration of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA announced Tuesday it awarded SpaceX a $255 million contract to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the agency’s next flagship astronomy mission, on a Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in 2026.

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Tianzhou 3 cargo ship undocks from China's Tiangong space station

A Tianzhou 3 cargo spacecraft has undocked from China’s Tiangong space station and is now ready to be deorbited in the near future.

China rolls out rocket to launch Wentian module for Tiangong space station

China is all set to launch the Wentian module for its crewed space station after rolling out a Long March 5B heavy rocket to the pad at Wenchang spaceport.

Rocket Lab delays US spy satellite launch indefinitely for software updates

Rocket Lab says its National Reconnaissance Office mission will stand down for now, with new launch date 'to come.'

We’ll be Building Self-Replicating Probes to Explore the Milky Way Sooner Than you Think. Why Haven’t ETIs?

The future can arrive in sudden bursts. What seems a long way off can suddenly jump into view, especially when technology is involved. That might be true of self-replicating machines. Will we combine 3D printing with in-situ resource utilization to build self-replicating space probes?

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The Tin Man gets his heart in 'The Orville' Season 3 episode 7 'From Unknown Graves'

We also get our first look at the "builders" who originally constructed the Kaylon artificial lifeforms

Dim Pluto reaches its brightest as the third-quarter moon meets Mars in the night sky

Here's how to observe these solar system worlds overnight Wednesday (July 20) and Thursday (July 21).

Hypersonic air-breathing weapon concept passes 2nd flight test

Two major U.S. defense contractors announced the successful test flight of the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept, or HAWC, on Monday (July 18).

Space flames and microgravity liquids: Astronauts mark 20 years with space station equipment

In space, no one wants to deal with the cleanup from liquids, flames or other messy science experiments.

James Webb Space Telescope's atmosphere studies could provide clues to land and sea on alien worlds

The James Webb Space Telescope could reveal hints about exoplanet surfaces by studying the planets' atmospheric temperatures and moisture levels.

Supply chain issues delay Northrop Grumman’s next space station cargo flight

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft in the grip of the International Space Station’s Canadian-built robotic arm June 28, just prior to the cargo freighter’ departure. Credit: NASA

Northrop Grumman’s next resupply flight to the International Space Station has been delayed from mid-August to mid-October by supply chain issues, a company spokesperson said Tuesday.

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Black holes may die differently than we thought

New research motivated by string theory suggests possible, and equally strange, fates for evaporating black holes.

These 2 private companies aim to beat SpaceX to Mars with 2024 flight

Two private companies, Relativity Space and Impulse Space, unveiled plans for the first commercial flight to Mars in 2024 using reusable rockets.


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