Space News & Blog Articles

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CAPSTONE: A pathfinding moon cubesat for the Artemis program

The CAPSTONE mission will test the feasibility of an energy-efficient orbit and navigation around the moon in preparation for the Artemis mission.

Betelgeuse's 'Great Dimming' had an unlikely observer: a Japanese weather satellite

Japan's Himawari-8 weather satellite serendipitously captured the dramatic changes in brightness of Orion's red supergiant star in 2019-2020.

Shades of Uranus: Scientists know why the planet and Neptune are different hues of blue

The way each planet's atmosphere responds to methane might be responsible for the different hues of Uranus and Neptune.

A 'doorway' on Mars? How we see things in space that aren't there.

A geologist explains what the "doorway" on Mars really is and why it's so tempting to see recognizable shapes on other worlds.

'Obi-Wan Kenobi' episodes one and two reunite Star Wars fans with a beloved character they’ll no longer recognize

One day you’re a Jedi Knight, the next you’re harvesting meat in the middle of the desert and living in a cave with your hairless camel…

'Obi-Wan Kenobi' episode one & two Easter eggs: Callbacks to a more civilized age

You don’t have to be an inquisitor to hunt down all of ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’s’ Easter eggs and Star Wars references, but it helps…

Media invitation: new details about our Milky Way in the third Gaia data release

Media representatives are invited to join a virtual press event at 13 June 2022 from 10:00 to 11:00 CEST, to learn more about the new data set to be released by ESA’s Gaia mission.

Meet Denebola, and Catch a Lion by the Tail

Meet Denebola, the tail of Leo, the Lion. This young star is a fast rotater but otherwise not that different from our Sun.

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4 big Milky Way mysteries the next Gaia mission data dump may solve

Here are four big scientific questions about the Milky Way that astronomers hope to solve with the upcoming data dump from the European Gaia galaxy-charting mission.

Hubble telescope snaps trippy new view of two swirling galaxies

A peculiar pair of galaxies swirls together in a mesmerizing new photo from the Hubble Space Telescope.

A new Kind of Solar Sail Could let us Explore Difficult Places to Reach in the Solar System

Solar sailing technology has been a dream of many for decades. The simple elegance of sailing on the light waves of the sun does have a dreamy aspect to it that has captured the imagination of engineers as well as writers. However, the practicalities of the amount of energy received compared to that needed to move useful payloads have brought those dreams back to reality. Now, a team led by Amber Dubill of John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and supported by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program is developing new solar sail architecture that might have already found its killer app – heliophysics.

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ESA is Developing Microbe-Killing Coatings to Make Spaceflight Healthier

Humans aren’t the only living things in place onboard the ISS. Bacteria, which has found a way to integrate itself into every biome on Earth, has also found a home in the aseptic microgravity of the space station high above it. Unfortunately, this poses a hazard to both the astronauts that live on the ISS and the station itself. But now, a team of researchers funded by ESA and the Instituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) think they have a solution – make the surfaces on the ISS antimicrobial.

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Spectacular Hubble image captures 'grand spiral' galaxy

The spiral arms of NGC 3631 are bursting with star-forming regions captured in a stunning Hubble Space Telescope image.

Stratolaunch reveals its first hypersonic design for high-altitude flights

Stratolaunch's Talon-A test vehicle will eventually drop from the biggest airplane ever built, known as the Roc.

Gaze Into the Heart of a Grand Spiral Galaxy

Here’s Hubble doing what Hubble does best.

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Do Trojan exoplanets exist?

Investigating these co-orbiting worlds in our own solar system may help us predict prevalence in extrasolar systems.

Low Earth orbit: Definition, theory and facts

Low Earth orbit is the lowest altitude a satellite can travel around our planet.

Possible early tau Herculid meteors caught on camera

Reports are coming in from observers who caught a few early shooting stars.

These star-forming spirals look like galactic UFOs

The Hubble Space Telescope captured the otherworldly image of IC 564 when it looked at this region to learn more about 'clumpy' star formation.

James Webb Space Telescope will study two strange 'super-Earths'

Officials promise geology 'from 50 light-years away,' as they train the James Webb Space Telescope's high-precision spectrographs on two exoplanets.

Planets in Binary Systems Could be Habitable, But They’d Form Differently

Most of the stars in the Milky Way are single stars. But between one-third and one-half of them are binary stars. Can habitable planets form in these environments?

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