A study using data from ESA’s Swarm mission suggests that faint magnetic signatures created by Earth’s tides can help us determine magma distribution under the seabed and could even give us insights into long-term trends in global ocean temperatures and salinity.
Space News & Blog Articles
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Curiosity Finds Ancient Wave Ripples on Mars
NASA’s Curiosity Rover has been exploring Mars since 2012 and, more recently has found evidence of ice-free ancient ponds and lakes on the surface. The rover found small undulations like those seen in sandy lake-beds on Earth. They would have been created by wind-driven water moving back and forth across the surface. The inescapable conclusion is that the water would have been open to the elements instead of being covered by ice. The discovery suggests the ripples formed 3.7 billion years ago.
The Star-Forming Party Ended Early in Isolated Dwarf Galaxies
Gas is the stuff of star formation, and most galaxies have enough gas in their budget to form some stars. However, the picture is a little different for dwarf galaxies. They lack the mass required to hold onto their gas when more massive neighbouring galaxies are siphoning it off.
A Tether Covered in Solar Panels Could Boost the ISS’s Orbit
The ISS’s orbit is slowly decaying. While it might seem a permanent fixture in the sky, the orbiting space laboratory is only about 400 km above the planet. There might not be a lot of atmosphere at that altitude. However, there is still some, and interacting with that is gradually slowing the orbital speed of the station, decreasing its orbit, and, eventually, pulling it back to Earth. That is, if we didn’t do anything to stop it. Over the 25-year lifespan of the station, hundreds of tons of hydrazine rocket fuel have been carried to it to enable rocket-propelled orbital maneuvers to keep its orbit from decaying. But what if there was a better way – one that was self-powered, inexpensive, and didn’t require constant refueling?
SpaceX launches 21 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the pad at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to begin the Starlink 13-1 mission on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now
SpaceX launched its latest batch of Starlink satellites for its internet megaconstellation shortly after midnight on Tuesday. However, there may have been additional satellites onboard as well.
Habitable Worlds Could Have Formed Before the First Galaxies
What came first, galaxies or planets? The answer has always been galaxies, but new research is changing that idea.
SpaceX completes 400th Falcon booster landing on mission featuring 27 Starlink satellites
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 first stage booster, tail number B1082, touches down on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You,’ a little more than eight minutes after liftoff. This was the 400th landing of an orbital class booster. Image: SpaceX
Update 11:44 a.m. EST (1644 UTC): SpaceX landed the first stage booster on the droneship.
Planet Profile - Jupiter
Planet Profile: Jupiter
Basic Facts:
- Type: Gas Giant
- Diameter: 86,881 miles (139,822 km)
- Mass: 318 times Earth's mass
- Orbit Period: 11.86 Earth years
- Day Length: 9 hours 56 minutes (the shortest day of any planet in the Solar System)
- Distance from the Sun: Approximately 484 million miles (778 million km)
Composition:
- Atmosphere: Primarily composed of hydrogen (about 90%) and helium (about 10%), with traces of methane, ammonia, and other gases. Jupiter has a thick atmosphere and a very strong magnetic field.
- Core: Jupiter's core is thought to be rocky and made up of metals and silicates, surrounded by a deep layer of liquid hydrogen and helium.
Key Features:
Great Red Spot:
Major telescope makers hit by class action lawsuit over alleged price fixing
Amateur astronomers who have purchased telescopes from leading suppliers in the U.S. may be entitled to a payment from a class action settlement.
Review: Dwarf Lab’s New Dwarf 3 Smartscope
DwarfLab’s new Dwarf 3 smartscope packs a powerful punch in a small unit.
Malargüe: A satellite dish best served cold
A capacity increase by almost 80%! In late July 2024, the Malargüe deep-space communication station completed an important upgrade of its antenna feed that will allow missions to send much more data back to Earth.
Seed-sized space chip
Image: Seed-sized space chip
Earth from Space: Frozen borders
Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image captures the borders between North and South Dakota and Minnesota blanketed with snow and ice.
SpaceX successfully catches Super Heavy booster, loses Starship upper stage during Flight 7
A still image taken from video of what is reportedly the remnants of SpaceX’s Starship upper stage as seen from the vantage point of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Image: Alex Davenport
SpaceX’s seventh flight of its Starship rocket was a combination of great success and catastrophic loss, with a catch of its Super Heavy booster at the launch tower and the failure of the Starship upper stage as it climbed to space.
Launch preview: SpaceX to launch its Starship rocket on a 7th suborbital test flight from Starbase
SpaceX’s fully integrated Starship rocket stands at Launch Tower 1 at the Starbased facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, ahead of the launch of the Flight 7 mission. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now
SpaceX is preparing to kick off the new year of suborbital flights around the world with a launch of its nearly 40-story-tall Starship rocket from southern Texas Thursday afternoon.
Hubble traces hidden history of the Andromeda Galaxy
The largest photomosaic of the Andromeda galaxy, assembled from NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observations, unveils hundreds of millions of stars. It took more than 10 years to collect data for this colorful portrait of our neighbouring galaxy and was created from more than 600 snapshots. This stunning, colourful mosaic captures the glow of 200 million stars, and is spread across roughly 2.5 billion pixels.
EarthCARE goes live with data now available to all
With ESA’s EarthCARE satellite and four measuring instruments all working extremely well and fully commissioned, the mission’s ‘first level’ data stream is now freely available.
History made: Blue Origin becomes first new space company to reach orbit on its first launch
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket lifts off the pad for the first time at Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: Pete Carstens/MaxQ Productions for Spaceflight Now
Blue Origin entered into the history books in the predawn hours of Thursday. The company, founded by Jeff Bezos, became the first to successfully reach orbit on their first launch with a new orbital-class rocket in the new era of commercial spaceflight that dawned in the last two decades.
Planet Profile - Saturn
lanet Profile: Saturn
Overview
- Type: Gas giant
- Position: 6th planet from the Sun
- Distance from Sun: ~1.4 billion km (~886 million miles)
- Diameter: ~120,536 km (74,900 miles)
- Moons: 145 confirmed (as of 2025), including Titan and Enceladus
- Rings: Most extensive and visually striking ring system in the Solar System
Atmosphere and Composition
- Primary Gases: Hydrogen (~96%), Helium (~3%), with traces of methane, ammonia, and other gases.
- Cloud Layers: Ammonia crystals, ammonium hydrosulfide, and water ice/clouds at deeper levels.
- Winds: Up to 1,800 km/h (1,100 mph) near the equator, some of the fastest in the Solar System.
Rings
- Composition: Ice, rock, and dust particles, ranging in size from microscopic grains to objects several meters across.
- Structure: Divided into several rings (A, B, C, etc.) with gaps like the Cassini Division.
- Origin: Likely remnants of shattered moons, comets, or asteroids.
Magnetosphere
- Magnetic Field: Strong, but less intense than Jupiter’s.
- Auroras: Stunning displays occur near Saturn's poles due to interactions with solar wind.
Moons
- Titan: Saturn’s largest moon, with a thick atmosphere and liquid hydrocarbon lakes.
- Enceladus: Known for its icy surface, water plumes, and potential subsurface ocean, making it a prime candidate for extraterrestrial life.
- Other notable moons: Mimas, Rhea, Dione, Tethys, and Iapetus.
Orbital and Rotational Characteristics
- Orbit Period: ~29.5 Earth years
- Rotation Period: ~10 hours and 42 minutes (a day on Saturn)
- Axial Tilt: 26.7°, giving it seasons similar to Earth’s but much longer due to its long orbit.
Exploration
- Pioneer 11: First spacecraft to fly by Saturn (1979).
- Voyager 1 & 2: Provided detailed images and data in the early 1980s.
- Cassini-Huygens Mission: Orbited Saturn from 2004–2017, studying its system extensively and landing a probe on Titan.
Fun Facts
- Density: Saturn is the least dense planet, less dense than water—it would float in a large enough body of water.
- Storms: Features massive storms, including a persistent hexagonal-shaped storm at its north pole.
- Visibility: Easily visible from Earth with the naked eye, often appearing golden in color.
Saturn continues to be a source of wonder and scientific discovery, especially with its iconic rings and the potential for life on moons like Titan and Enceladus.
The First Supernovae Flooded the Early Universe With Water
Water is the essence of life. Every living thing on Earth contains water within it. The Earth is rich with life because it is rich with water. This fundamental connection between water and life is partly due to water’s extraordinary properties, but part of it is due to the fact that water is one of the most abundant molecules in the Universe. Made from one part oxygen and two parts hydrogen, its structure is simple and strong. The hydrogen comes from the primordial fire of the Big Bang and is by far the most common element. Oxygen is created in the cores of large stars, along with carbon and nitrogen, as part of the CNO fusion cycle.
