We’re getting close to launch day for Dragonfly! Engineers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, have officially kicked off the integration and testing stage for the car-sized, nuclear-powered helicopter bound for Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. According to a press release for APL, after years of designing, tweaking, and testing individual components in laboratories and on computer simulations, various organizations have started testing actual hardware ahead of the mission’s planned 2028 launch.
Space News & Blog Articles
1 week away! NASA gearing up to launch Artemis 2 astronauts around the moon on April 1
The launch of the first crewed moon mission since the Apollo era is just a week away! NASA is preparing to launch its Artemis 2 flight on April 1.
Amazon wildfire emissions up to three times higher than estimated
Wildfires that swept across the Amazon in 2024 were the most devastating in more than two decades. New research funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) suggests emissions may have been up to three times higher than earlier estimates.
NASA outlines ambitious $20 billion plan for moon base
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman speaks during an event where NASA is outlining how the agency is executing President Donald J. Trump’s National Space Policy and accelerating preparations for America’s return to the surface of the Moon by 2028, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. During the event NASA leadership provided updates on mission priorities, including sending the first astronauts to the lunar surface in more than 50 years, establishing the initial elements of a permanent lunar base, getting America underway in space on nuclear propulsion, and other objectives. Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls
With the Artemis 2 around-the-moon launch just eight days away, NASA announced ambitious long-range plans Tuesday to spend $20 billion over the next seven years to build a moon base near the lunar south pole featuring habitats, pressurized rovers and nuclear power systems.
Finished Starfleet Academy? Boldly binge-watch the superb Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, just $2.99 a month thanks to this Paramount+ deal
With Season 4 on the way, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is your next Trek fix, especially if you love TOS. Now, you can explore the galaxy for less with this Paramount Plus streaming deal, up to 79% off for two months.
Scientists discover mirror of our solar system in 2 exoplanets forming around a star
Astronomers have spotted two planets forming around a distant infant star, offering a time capsule into see what the solar system looked like billions of years ago.
Amazon Spring Sale deals for stargazing 2026: Huge savings on telescopes, binoculars and cameras
Don't miss out on hundreds of dollars off the best skywatching optics and cameras in this week's Amazon Spring Sale.
Watch Rocket Lab launch Europe's 1st 2 'Celeste' navigation satellites early March 25
Rocket Lab will launch the first two satellites for Europe's Celeste navigation constellation early Wednesday morning (March 25), and you can watch the action live.
NASA's lunar Gateway space station is out. Moon bases are in
NASA is honing its focus on future Artemis missions to land astronauts on the moon, removing the Gateway space station from its plans and prioritizing bases on the lunar surface.
A car-sized asteroid is heading toward Earth for a flyby later tonight: Here's what you need to know
The asteroid will make a close approach to Earth just three days following its discovery.
Brown Dwarfs Dance Unexpected Tango
Two brown dwarfs are whipping around each other in a tight tango — an unexpected dance for objects that are not-quite-stars and not-quite-planets.
NASA's '1st nuclear powered interplanetary spacecraft' will send Skyfall helicopters to Mars in 2028
NASA plans to launch its first nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft in 2028, a probe called Space Reactor-1 Freedom that will carry a fleet of tiny helicopters to Mars.
We Are Slowing Down the Planet
This is a cool fact to impress your friends. The length of a day on Earth changes constantly, nudged by the Moon's gravitational pull, shifting winds in the atmosphere, and slow churning movements deep within the planet. It always has. Day length is, in a sense, a living measurement and one that ebbs and flows with the rhythms of a restless, dynamic world. But something new is happening.
Future Artemis missions could use fiber-optic cables to monitor moonquakes
Fiber-optic cables on the moon could detect moonquakes, offering a simpler way to study lunar activity and support future Artemis missions.
Watch all your favorite sci-fi content like 'For All Mankind' and 'Star City' anywhere with this exclusive deal and get a free $50 Amazon Gift Card and 77% off NordVPN
With up to $513 off, a $50 Amazon voucher and four months free, you can watch sci-fi streaming shows and movies like 'Monarch: Legacy of monsters' securely while traveling.
Hubble revisits the Crab Nebula after 25 years | Space photo of the day for March 24, 2026
NASA has released new Hubble telescope images of the Crab Nebula taken 25 years after the iconic observatory first gazed at the colorful cosmic crustacean.
Arriving safely on Venus and Titan: Different atmospheres affect heat shields differently, study shows
Heat shields keep incoming spacecraft from burning up in planetary atmospheres. Now we're learning that different atmospheres have different effects.
The best Amazon Big Spring Sale deals for 2026: Sizeable savings on drones, Lego, streaming, star projectors and much more
Amazon's Big Spring Sale is your chance to save big on space-and-sci-fi tech and entertainment from the best star projectors, drones, Lego, streaming and more.
Get one last look at the Pleiades before it disappears from the spring sky
Here's how to spot the Pleiades before they become lost in the glow of the setting sun.
Early spring deals for observing the cosmos: Our top picks for stargazers
Do you want to get a better look at the universe around you? I've spotted these early deals on our best binoculars, cameras and telescopes, so you don't have to blow your budget for mind-blowing views.
Smile fuelled for launch
Image: Smile fuelled for launch

