BepiColombo’s stunning close pass by Mercury on Thursday provides a prelude of what’s to come.
Space News & Blog Articles
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If Bacteria Drink Kombucha, They Stand a Better Chance of Survival on Mars
Tea is useful for all kinds of things, including caffeinating plenty of writers worldwide. There are also many varieties of it, some of which advocates claim to have superpowers regarding the health benefits they grant. Kombucha is one of those – originally thought to have originated in China, it has become adopted worldwide in no small part because of innumerable, dubious “health benefits” of the drink. But now, scientists did find one potential health benefit, at least to bacteria – eating kombucha culture would help them survive on Mars.
Mars meteorite challenges leading theory of how the Red Planet formed
A new analysis of a Martian meteorite is challenging current thinking about how terrestrial planets acquired volatile elements early in their formation.
ILA 2022 in images
Photo highlights from the ‘Space for Earth’ space pavilion at ILA, the Berlin Air and Space Show, from 22 to 26 .June 2022.
Mars stares back with eerie eyeball-like crater (photo)
This new Mars image was snapped by Europe's Mars Express orbiter, which spied an unusually creepy crater.
Venus and the crescent moon get together in dazzling dance early Sunday morning
Get up early Sunday to see a celestial rendezvous between the two brightest objects in the night sky: Venus and the moon.
Funko to can NASA astronauts as limited-edition Soda vinyl figures
NASA astronauts are finally crossing into "Pop" culture. Funko, the collectibles company best known for its line of Pop! vinyl figures, has revealed its first product depicting a NASA astronaut.
NASA halts sale of cockroach-eaten Apollo 11 moon dust
As it turns out, attempting to sell moon dust that was extracted from the stomachs of cockroaches does indeed bug NASA. So much so, that the space agency requested RR Auction halt its sale.
Jupiter scientists need your help hunting for storms in stunning photos
Humongous storms on Jupiter are the focus of a new citizen science project hosted on Zooniverse.
This Week's Sky at a Glance, June 24 – July 2
The crescent Moon returns to the evening, crossing Leo. The five-planet lineup continues at dawn; catch it while you still can. And for skywatchers at northern latitudes, we're entering noctilucent cloud season.
Second helpings of Mercury
The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission has made its second gravity assist of planet Mercury, capturing new close-up images as it steers closer towards Mercury orbit in 2025.
Earth from Space: Lake Balkhash
Lake Balkhash, the largest lake in Central Asia, is featured in this false-colour image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.
ESA – made of people
Image: ESA – made of people
This month in orbit: May’s space science
Vital research into health, climate, materials and more continues with ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and colleagues aboard the Space Station this month. Get up to date with what was on their schedule with May’s space science summary.
South Korea is now a Space-Faring Nation With the Orbital Launch of Their Homegrown Nuri Rocket
It looks like South Korea just joined the most exclusive club on the planet! With the launch of its Korea Satellite Launch Vehicle II (KSLV-II aka. the “Nuri” rocket) on June 21st, the country became the latest nation to demonstrate its ability to build and launch its own rockets to space. This was the Nuri’s second launch attempt, which took place eight months after the first attempt failed to deliver a test satellite to orbit back. This time, the rocket managed to reach space and deliver a payload of satellites, making South Korea the eleventh nation to launch from its soil and the seventh to launch commercial satellites.
NASA funds nuclear power systems for possible use on the moon
Three companies will demonstrate their potential to power lunar infrastructure using nuclear fission systems, under new joint NASA contracts announced on Tuesday (June 21).
Do Ancient Coins Record the Supernova of 1054?
SN 1054 was one of the most spectacular astronomical events of all time. The supernova explosion eventually formed what is today known as the M1 – the Crab Nebula. But in 1054 AD, the year it occurred, it was an ultrabright star in the sky and one of only eight recorded supernovae in the history of the Milky Way. However, it was only noted by half of the literate world. Primarily written about in the East, especially in China, SN 1054 was almost wholly absent from the Western record. Except, potentially, for a subtle hint at it in the most unlikely of places – some Byzantine coins.
NASA declares Artemis 1 moon mission test successful, begins prepping for launch
The most recent Artemis 1 "wet dress rehearsal" wasn't perfect, but it was good enough to keep the NASA moon mission on course for liftoff a few months from now.
64 Radio Telescopes Come Together to act as a Single Giant Observatory
Located in the Northern Cape of South Africa, the MeerKAT telescope consists of 64 powerful radio antennas dedicated to probing the mysteries of the Universe. This facility is a precursor to the future Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO), which will consist of MeerKAT and the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) in South Africa and the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) and Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in Australia. A primary aim of the SKAO is to understand the matter content of the Universe and what mechanisms are driving its evolution and expansion.
Plenty of Examples That Giant Galaxies Like the Milky Way Formed Through Mergers
The Universe’s giant galaxies pose a thorny problem for astronomers. The galaxies have grown large somehow, and the only things that can make a galaxy giant are probably other galaxies. So mergers must have played an important role.
