In October 2021, NASA launched its ambitious Lucy mission. Its targets are asteroids, two in the main belt and eight Jupiter trojans, which orbit the Sun in the same path as Jupiter. The mission is named after early hominin fossils (Australopithecus afarensis,) and the name pays homage to the idea that asteroids are fossils from the Solar System’s early days of planet formation.
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NASA's Lucy asteroid mission adds 10th space rock target
NASA's Jupiter Trojan asteroid-scouting mission has been given an additional space rock to visit, bringing the journey's total to 10 asteroids.
Blue Origin plans to fly all-female crew to suborbital space: report
Blue Origin plans to fly an all-female crew — led by Lauren Sanchez, the girlfriend of company founder Jeff Bezos — to suborbital space in the next year or so.
China working on new moon rover for 2026 mission to lunar south pole
China is working on a new lunar rover that will begin to explore the south pole of the moon around 2026.
Dark matter particle that may finally shed light on cosmic mystery the 'best of both worlds,' scientists say
A new model for dark matter suggests an early universe phase transition and candidate particles known as HYPERs could finally shed light on this mysterious matter.
NASA 'Day of Remembrance' marks 20 years since space shuttle Columbia tragedy
Twenty years ago, seven astronauts were returning home when they were lost on space shuttle Columbia. Like 19 others, the STS-107 crew made the ultimate sacrifice in the pursuit of space exploration.
Astronomers Pin Down the Age of the Most Distant Galaxy: Seen 367 Million Years After the Big Bang
Staring off into the ancient past with a $10 billion space telescope, hoping to find extraordinarily faint signals from the earliest galaxies, might seem like a forlorn task. But it’s only forlorn if we don’t find any. Now that the James Webb Space Telescope has found those signals, the exercise has moved from forlorn to hopeful.
SpaceX destacks Starship to prep for epic 33-engine test fire (photos)
SpaceX destacked its Starship Mars rocket on Wednesday (Jan. 25) to continue gearing up for the giant vehicle's first-ever orbital test flight.
SpaceX Starlink launch spawns gorgeous dawn clouds in Florida sky
Noctilucent clouds hovered over parts of Florida's Space Coast after SpaceX rocketed 56 Starlink satellites to orbit early Thursday morning (Jan. 26).
Perseverance Takes a Selfie to Show off Some of its Samples
One of the main jobs for the Perseverance Mars rover past few weeks has been collecting carefully selected samples of Mars rock and soil. These samples have been placed and sealed in special sample tubes and left in well-identified places so that a future sample return mission can collect them and bring the Martian samples back to Earth.
Car-sized asteroid will pass extremely close to Earth tonight
The space rock, called 2023 BU, was discovered less than a week ago.
SpaceX and astronomers come to agreement on reducing Starlink astronomy impact
The National Science Foundation and SpaceX have come to an agreement on how to mitigate the damage to ground-based astronomy that Starlink satellites present.
There's a Crater on Mars That Looks Like a Bear
Facial pareidolia is the human tendency or illusion of seeing facial structures in an everyday objects – such as seeing the “man in the Moon,” or the face of Jesus on a piece of toast. But here’s a newly found crater on Mars that might be a case of ‘bear-adoilia.’
Expansion of ESA’s 5G/6G Hub moves ahead
An ambitious new development phase of ESA’s 5G/6G Hub has begun.
Tiny Asteroid 2023 BU to Miss Earth
A recently discovered asteroid will pass exceptionally close to Earth on January 26th. Here's how to see it.
Radar images capture new Antarctic mega-iceberg
Video: 00:00:23
Using radar images from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission, the animation shows the A81 iceberg breaking away from the Brunt Ice Shelf on 25 January 2023. The new berg is estimated to be around 1550 sq km, which is around the size of Greater London, and is approximately 150 m thick. It calved when the crack known as Chasm-1 split northwards severing the west part of the ice shelf.
Save over $200 on the Panasonic Lumix G100 mirrorless camera
That's a 27% saving on a 4K mirrorless camera that we rate as one of the very best for beginners on the market, it won't last long though as they're currently low in stock.
Japanese rocket launches radar spy satellite
An H-IIA rocket launched a radar reconnaissance satellite to orbit for the Japanese government on Wednesday evening (Jan. 25).
Grounded spacecraft look for new space rocks to visit, including notorious asteroid Apophis
Scientists are working hard to try to salvage a pair of spacecraft that lost their launch — and the solution might include the most notorious asteroid out there, Apophis.
New Observations Reveal Galaxies Near and Far
Astronomers at this month's big winter conference explored intriguing small galaxies at various points in cosmic history.
Boeing's Starliner crew capsule channels R2-D2 ahead of astronaut test flight
NASA released images of the Boeing Starliner crew capsule resembling R2-D2 while being mated to a new service module ahead of a crewed flight test to the International Space Station.
