The Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx), which launched back in May, was designed to explore the cosmos in optical and near-infrared light. Over its planned two-year mission, this observatory will observe the entire sky using a triple-mirror telescope and mercury-cadmium-telluride photodetector arrays, allowing it to gather data on more than 450 million galaxies, including the 100 million stars in the Milky Way, to explore the origins of the Universe.
Space News & Blog Articles
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Lego U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D review
Boldly going where no Lego set has gone before, the first-ever Star Trek Lego set you can buy and it is awesome!
Space.com headlines crossword quiz for week of Dec. 22, 2025: Which NASA observatory just completed its first sky map?
Test your space smarts with our weekly crossword challenge, crafted from Space.com's biggest headlines.
Space debris: will it take a catastrophe for nations to take the issue seriously?
When a piece of debris hits another object in space, it can also create more space debris, adding to the problem.
Live coverage: SpaceX to launch Italian Earth observation satellite on final Falcon 9 flight of 2025
The Cosmo-SkyMed Second Generation Flight Model 3 satellite undergoes testing ahead of its launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Image: Ministry of Defense
Update Dec. 27, 2:28 p.m. EST (1928 UTC): SpaceX adjusted the T-0 liftoff time.
The best sci-fi movies of 2025. ranked
Spike your eggnog and relax with our list of the finest flicks of the year about invasive AI, soaring superheroes, and Lovecraftian horrors.
Turning Structural Failure into Propulsion
Solar sails have some major advantages over traditional propulsion methods - most notably they don’t use any propellant. But, how exactly do they turn? In traditional sailing, a ship’s captain can simply adjust the angle of the sail itself to catch the wind at a different angle. But they also have the added advantage of a rudder, which doesn’t work when sailing on light. This has been a long-standing challenge, but a new paper available in pre-print from arXiv, by Gulzhan Aldan and Igor Bargatin at the University of Pennsylvania describes a new technique to turn solar sails - kirigami.
The 12 biggest space stories of 2025 — according to you
It's the 12 days of Spacemas, fa la la la la la la la la (sorry).
Former ULA president and CEO Tory Bruno joins Blue Origin
ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno participated in a fireside chat with Michael Dickey, director of the Force Design Integration Office at the U.S. Space Force’s Space Warfighting Analysis Center. The conversation happened on the final day of the Space Force Association’s Spacepower Conference on Dec. 12, 2024. Image: Will Robinson-Smith/Spaceflight Now
Blue Origin announced on Friday that Tory Bruno, who left United Launch Alliance four days ago, would head the company’s newly formed National Security Group.
Dark matter may be made of pieces of giant, exotic objects — and astronomers think they know how to look for them
Searches for dark matter particles have come up empty so far, driving theorists to get more creative with their ideas.
Most normal matter in the universe isn't found in planets, stars or galaxies – an astronomer explains where it's distributed
While space is often referred to as a vacuum, it isn't completely empty.
The best streaming device out there: Which one comes out on top — Amazon Fire TV Stick, Roku Ultra, Apple TV and Google TV Streamer?
Which is the best streaming device out there? We've pitted four of the best models on the market against each other to determine the top option.
The best sci-fi and space games of 2025, ranked
As another year comes to an end, we sit down and collect our thoughts on the best sci-fi and space video games of 2025.
Longtime United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno resigns from space company. 'Finished the mission I came to do.'
After nearly 12 years leading the United Launch Alliance (ULA), its chief Tory Bruno is stepping down from the U.S. rocket launch provider to pursue "another opportunity," the company announced this week.
Space Force Guardians show off shiny new duds | Space photo of the day for Dec. 26, 2025
It marks the first time newly commissioned Space Force Guardians have graduated Officer Training School (OTS) wearing this uniform.
Before We Build on the Moon, We Have to Master the Commute
Even most rocket scientists would rather avoid hard math when they don’t have to do it. So when it comes to figuring out orbits in complex three-body systems, like those in Cis-lunar space, which is between the Earth and the Moon, they’d rather someone else do the work for them. Luckily, some scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory seems to have a masochistic streak - or enough of an altruistic one that it overwhelmed the unpleasantness of doing the hard math - to come up with an open-source dataset and software package that maps out 1,000,000 cis-lunar orbits.
See the moon shine with Saturn in the southern sky after sunset Dec. 26
Don't miss the moon cozy up to Saturn on Dec. 26.
Top Astronomical Events to Watch For in 2026
The coming year offers eclipses, occultations and much more.
The most exciting exoplanet discoveries of 2025
New discoveries and fresh looks at familiar worlds show how far exoplanet science has come — and how much remains unknown.
What should I look at with my new telescope?
From the moon and Jupiter to famous nebulae and galaxies, here’s your beginner-friendly guide to what to point your brand-new telescope at.
This Week's Sky at a Glance, December 26 – January 4
Jupiter nears opposition. The waxing Moon pairs with Saturn, then guides the way to the fine telescopic double star Gamma Arietis, and later passes the Pleiades.
