Space News & Blog Articles

Matthew Anderson gives remarks to introduce Jared Isaacman during the 2024 Space Force Association’s Spacepower Conference in Orlando, Florida. Image: Will Robinson-Smith/Spaceflight Now

Matthew Anderson, the chief growth officer for the Space Force Association (SFA), an independent nonprofit with the mission of “advocating for and supporting the U.S. Space Force,” was nominated on Tuesday by President Donald Trump for the NASA Deputy Administrator position.

The Fermi Paradox presents us with a striking contradiction: despite the high probability of numerous civilizations existing throughout the Universe, we've encountered no evidence or communication from any alien intelligence. A new paper just published calculates that we should have a 99% chance of detecting at least one signal from another civilisation—assuming they survive for several hundred years and could be distributed anywhere across the Milky Way galaxy. This calculation further deepens the mystery of our apparent cosmic solitude.

On May 7th, the Japanese space exploration company ispace announced that its HAKUTO-R RESILIENCE lander entered lunar orbit after completing a 9-minute thruster burn. It's now in a stable lunar orbit, and operators will spend the next month testing and preparing for its landing attempt on June 5. This is the company's second attempt at landing on the Moon, after the first attempt crashed in 2023. It's carrying a micro-rover and several science experiments.

NASA’s Psyche mission is on its way to explore a metal-rich asteroid in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. All was going well since its launch in October 2023 until nasa announced a decrease in fuel pressure for the propulsion system. It uses a solar electric propulsion system, generating thrust with four electric ion engines that expel xenon ions, giving the spacecraft a gentle nudge in the opposite direction. It has been firing its thrusters continuously since May 2024, but in April 2025, engineers detected the pressure drop. Thankfully they have redundancy built in but are still troubleshooting the issue.

Elon Musk explained the rather depressing fate of life on Earth to Fox News host Jesse Waters, who had asked him why humanity should go to Mars.

The most massive stars in the Milky Way contain one hundred times more mass than the Sun, even more in some cases. These O-type stars are extremely hot, luminous, and blue, and often die in supernova explosions. Astrophysicists want to know how they get so big, and a simple household chemical might hold the answer.

A new study suggests trees in the forest can access ancient memories and "talk" to each other hours before a solar eclipse.

When ISS astronauts return home, they have a hot ride back to Earth's surface. It's been that way since the beginning of human spaceflight to orbital space and beyond. The incoming vehicle uses friction with Earth's atmosphere to slow down to a safe landing speed. The "hot ride" part comes because that friction builds up high temperatures on the spacecraft's "skin". Without protection, the searing heat of atmospheric re-entry could destroy it. This same heating happens to incoming meteoroids as they whip through Earth's atmosphere.

A combination of X-ray from NASA's Chandra observatory and radio data indicates that a galactic "fracture" was likely caused by a special neutron star called a pulsar.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will prepare for new leadership, as current director Laurie Leshin has announced that she's stepping down from the role next month.

Bungie might be dropping a Marathon reboot on us this year, but Destiny 2 ain't going anywhere, and its content plans for 2025 and 2026 are enticing to say the least.

If astronomy has a Holy Grail, it's another habitable world. To find one, NASA is working with partners to develop the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). The HWO would be the first telescope built to detect Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars. China is building the Closeby Habitable Exoplanet Survey (CHES), and new research shows that by working together, HWO and CHES would amplify their results.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has found water vapor swirling in the air of a distant, boiling-hot alien planet, a new study reports.

Lockheed Martin officials handed over the "keys" to the Artemis 2 Orion spacecraft to NASA, marking the start of its processing for launch.

There is a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, and it's not alone. There is also likely a forest of binary black holes, neutron stars, and white dwarfs. All of these emit gravitational waves as they gradually spiral ever closer together. These gravitational waves are too faint for us to detect at the moment, but future observatories will be able to observe them. This poses an interesting astronomical challenge.

The Soviet Union's failed Kosmos 482 Venus probe will fall back to Earth from orbit soon, and it may well make it to the ground in one piece.

A model of the final version of Vast’s Haven-1 space station is shown with a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked. The model was on display at the 40th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado in April 2025. Image: Will Robinson-Smith/Spaceflight Now

Space habitation company, Vast, is now one year away from being able to stake its claim as the first commercial space station in history.

Researchers have identified several features on Mars that look surprisingly similar to conditions on Earth. One notable feature is giant wave-like landforms called solifluction lobes, which are in cold, mountainous regions of Earth, like the Arctic or Rocky Mountains. These are slow-moving patterns similar to fluids running downhill, but on Mars, they're 2.6 times larger because of its lower gravity. They can grow much taller before collapsing on Mars.

GOES-19 satellite captures breathtaking footage as a towering solar filament erupts over the sun's eastern limb.

New 3D-printable models of Chandra X-ray Observatory images will allow you to hold a star in your hands and touch a supernova remnant.

For high-contrast views of the Flower Moon, this May 12, we recommend these Celestron SkyMaster 12x60 binoculars, now almost 30% cheaper on Amazon.