A Chinese Long March 5B rocket was being fueled late Saturday for liftoff with the Wentian space station module. Credit: CASC
China’s heavy-lift Long March 5B rocket was fueled for launch early Sunday with the second major element of the Chinese Tiangong space station, adding a new working compartment for the three astronauts living on the orbiting research lab.
“We’re coming up on the plumes!” The co-pilot announced over the intercom.
NASA’s Institute for Advanced Concepts is famous for supporting outlandish ideas in the astronomy and space exploration fields. Since being re-established in 2011, the institute has supported a wide variety of projects as part of its three-phase program. However, so far, only three projects have gone on to receive Phase III funding. And one of those just released a white paper describing a mission to get a telescope that could effectively see biosignatures on nearby exoplanets by utilizing the gravitational lens of our own Sun.
Lasers are useful for a lot of things. They made CDs work (when they were still a thing). They also provide hours of entertainment for cats (and their humans). But they can also create magnetic conditions similar to the surface of the Sun in a lab, according to new research by scientists at Osaka University. And that might help a wide range of other scientific disciplines, ranging from solar astronomy to fusion.
Lunar exploration has been gaining more and more traction from various sources recently. Every step forward is another towards potentially having a permanent human presence on another solar system body. ESA took another step recently with the completion of its Analog-1 robotics test, which took place successfully on the slopes of Mt Etna earlier this month.
In 2026, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (RST) – aka. the “Mother of Hubble” – will take to space and begin addressing some of the deepest mysteries of the Universe. This will include capturing the deepest field images of the cosmos, refining measurements of the Hubble Constant (aka. Hubble’s Law), and determining the role of Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the evolution of the cosmos. Alongside its next-generation partner, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the RST will acquire infrared images with over 200 times the surveying power of its predecessor with the same rich level of detail.
Now that the James Webb Space Telescope is operational, astronomers can study some of the most faint and distant galaxies ever seen. By some accounts, we may have already captured the image of a galaxy from when the universe was just 300 million years old. But we can’t be entirely sure of its distance, and that is a big problem for astronomers.
SLS finally gets a launch date for Artemis I, JWST keeps giving the goodness, Percy finds another weird thing on Mars, astronomers find a dormant black hole and NASA will launch a flagship telescope on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took the scenic route as it lofted 46 Starlink satellites to orbit on Friday (July 22).
SpaceX is preparing for a test-firing of a Falcon 9 rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) Saturday in preparation for liftoff Sunday with the company’s next batch of Starlink internet satellites.
Scientists poring through data from the Webb telescope have discovered 42 images of 19 gravitationally lensed galaxies, which may eventually help us to see the very first galaxies.
Fifty years ago, U.S. scientists launched a satellite that dramatically changed how we see the world.
The passengers on Blue Origin's sixth crewed flight, known as NS-22, include the first Egyptian and Portuguese astronauts.
China is expected to launch the Wentian module on Sunday (July 24) from the Wenchang spaceport, to add more room to its crewed space station.
"For All Mankind" has the "go" to launch into its fourth season. The announcement was made during a panel at San Diego Comic Con. The Apple TV+ show is currently seven episodes into its third season.
A Falcon 9 rocket climbs above a marine layer over Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, heading to orbit with 46 more Starlink internet satellites. Credit: SpaceX
With 2022 barely half over, SpaceX launched its 32nd mission of the year Friday from California’s Central Coast, breaking the company’s record for most launches in a year and delivering 46 more Starlink internet satellites into polar orbit to provide global broadband service.
The field of exoplanet study has come a long way in recent decades. To date, 5,063 exoplanets have been confirmed in 3,794 systems beyond our own, with another 8,819 candidates awaiting confirmation. In the coming years, tens of thousands of more planets are expected to be found, thanks to next-generation observatories. The ultimate goal in this search is to find planets that are “Earth-like,” meaning they have a good chance of supporting life. This is no easy task, as rocky planets located within their parent star’s habitable zones (HZs) tend to orbit closely, making them harder to see.
Boba Fett rides again in a Hasbro Firespray ship much like a 1980 toy released for "The Empire Strikes Back."
A reusable variant of the megabooster could be available in 2035, five years after the series begins launches in 2030.
Have you heard of LU Camelopardalis, QZ Serpentis, V1007 Herculis and BK Lyncis? No, they’re not members of a boy band in ancient Rome. They’re Cataclysmic Variables, binary stars that are so close together one star draws material from its sibling. This causes the pair to vary wildly in brightness.
NASA is funding multiple commercial space stations, but some experts are concerned these will not be ready by the time the ISS is retired.
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