The Ariane 6 launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana now hosts for the first time a fully assembled example of ESA’s new heavy-lift rocket, following the addition of an upper composite to the core stage and four boosters already in place. The upper composite – consisting of two half-fairings and a payload mock-up with the structural adapter needed to join it to the core stage – made the 10 km trip from the encapsulation building to launch pad on 12 October.
Space News & Blog Articles
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Tentative Evidence of the First Generation of Stars
Scientists have detected something unusual around a distant quasar — perhaps the first real evidence of a first-generation star.
Dazzling Hubble Space Telescope image shows millions of stars glittering like jewels
The Hubble Space Telescope peered into a massive gathering of stars.
BlissLights Starport USB star projector review
A very basic star projector, but one that floods your space with bright, single-color laser dots to add an instant ambience.
Down to Earth
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ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is all smiles after arriving in Cologne, Germany, less than a day after leaving the International Space Station.
Best Lego advent calendars 2022: Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy and more
Build your way to Christmas Day with the best Lego advent calendars.
South Pole's never-ending night and daily auroras are a dream for astrophotographers
Astronomer Aman Chokshi talks about indulging his passion for astrophotography during a year-long expedition to the South Pole where he's been working as an astronomer maintaining a unique telescope.
NASA fires micro-bullets at Mars sample-return orbiter's meteoroid shield
NASA engineers are firing micro-bullets at squares of anti-meteoroid shield material that will protect a Mars sample return orbiter during its journey back to Earth.
See the half-lit third quarter moon shine tonight (Oct. 17)
Leading from the Hunter's Full Moon to the new moon next week, the moon will appear half illuminated during its final quarter phase on Monday, Oct 17.
Astronomers Have Found More Than 30,000 Near-Earth Asteroids… so far
Asteroid hunters have become increasingly good at their job. The discipline, which took a back seat in the early days of astronomy, has really come into its own as of late. Once the general public, probably spurred on by popular 1990s movies like Deep Impact and Armageddon, realized the potentially existential threat they posed, support for finding all asteroids that could be planet killers skyrocketed. At this point, astronomers think that most planet-killing asteroids have been found and have worked their way down to much smaller but still devastating impactors. And now they’ve reached a new milestone with over 30,000 Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) officially discovered.
TESS has Resumed Normal Operations
In April 2018, NASA launched the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), the successor to the Kepler Space Telescope that revolutionized the exoplanet studies field. Like its predecessor, TESS has been scanning almost the entire sky for five years for extrasolar planets using the Transit Method. This consists of monitoring thousands of stars for periodic dips in brightness, which may indicate a planet passing in front of the star relative to the observer. To date, TESS has made 243 confirmed discoveries, with another 4562 candidates – or TESS Objects of Interest (TOI) – awaiting confirmation.
Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 G Master lens review
We put the Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 G Master ultra-wide zoom lens to the test to see if it's worth the hefty price tag.
Elon Musk says SpaceX will keep paying for Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine
Billionaire Elon Musk said SpaceX will keep funding Starlink internet service in Ukraine, backtracking from a previous push to ask the Pentagon to foot the bill.
Astronomers discovered something strange about 'potentially hazardous' asteroid Phaethon
The asteroid Phaethon's rotational period is decreasing, which is rare for space rocks.
Shields up! Radiation coating experiment will spend six months outside space station
The International Space Station experiment is a small step towards testing this tech for lunar exploration for the Artemis program, proponents say.
Russian Angara rocket launches mysterious military satellite
Russia launched a small military satellite on Saturday (Oct. 15), pulling off its third orbital mission in less than a week.
Entire known universe recreated in Minecraft by 18-year-old
Christopher Slayton took on a challenge of galactic scale: to recreate the universe in Minecraft, a game that is usually tailored to creators building on a single world.
Watch NASA's Lucy spacecraft streak through the skies with online broadcast
NASA's spacecraft Lucy will return to Earth on Sunday (Oct. 16) as part of its 12-year-mission to visit a record number of asteroids, and the event will be available to stream live online.
NASA's asteroid scout zips past Earth today on 1st launch anniversary
A deep-space mission is celebrating the first anniversary of its launch from Earth by zipping closer to the planet than the International Space Station's orbit.
China's Shenzhou 14 astronauts snap stunning photos of Earth, the moon and more
See the spectacular photos snapped by China's Shenzhou 14 crew aboard the Tiangong space station.
SpaceX launches European TV broadcasting satellite
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket streaks into a moonlit sky over Cape Canaveral in this long exposure photo. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography
An Airbus-built communications satellite rocketed into orbit early Saturday from Cape Canaveral on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher, bound for a high-altitude perch in geostationary orbit to beam hundreds of TV and radio channels to Eutelsat customers across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
