Space News & Blog Articles

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Live coverage: SpaceX to launch Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base

A stack of SpaceX Starlink satellites, which included the first six featuring Direct to Cell capabilities. The batch launched on the Starlink 7-9 mission, which lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Jan. 2, 2024. Image: SpaceX

SpaceX continues to expand its Starlink constellation that offer Direct to Cell capability through its upcoming launch. There will be 13 DTC satellites among the 20 set to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Tuesday, May 14. 

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Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser prepares for pre-launch journey to the Cape

Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane shown inside a test chamber at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio. Image: Sierra Space

Sierra Space is getting one step closer to finally seeing its Dream Chaser spaceplane reach the launch pad. The spacecraft completed its environmental testing at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio, last week.

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Perseverance Wraps Up Over 1,000 Days on Mars. Still Going Strong

I can remember when Perseverance was launched, travelled out into the Solar System and landed on Mars in February 2021.  In all the time since it arrived, having clocked up 1000 days of exploration, it has collected 23 samples from different geological areas within the Jezero Crater. The area was once home to an ancient lake and if there is anywhere on Mars to find evidence of ancient (fossilised) life, it is here. 

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Astronomers Try to Directly Observe Epsilon Eridani b. No Luck. Maybe Webb Can Find it?

Back in the year 2000, Epsilon Eridani b was discovered. It is a Jupiter-like exoplanet 10.5 light years away but it has taken decades of observations to learn more about the planet. One thing that remains a mystery is it’s orbit which, until recently has been unknown. There has never been a direct image of the planet either, so now, it’s the turn of JWST to see what it can do. 

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'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' reinvigorates an aging 'Apes' franchise (review)

"Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" is a triumph of solid storytelling, cutting-edge motion capture work by the actors and a multi-layered score.

SpaceX Starship's next launch 'probably 3 to 5 weeks' away, Elon Musk says

SpaceX's Starship megarocket will likely conduct its fourth-ever test flight in the next month or so, according to Elon Musk.

AI may be to blame for our failure to make contact with alien civilizations

The rise of AI might explain why the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has yet to detect the signatures of advanced technical civilizations elsewhere in the galaxy.

Space Force aims to launch 1st 'Foo Fighter' satellites in 2027 to track hypersonic threats

The U.S. Space Force's Space Development Agency has ordered the first eight satellites for its upcoming 'FOO Fighter' hypersonic missile-tracking constellation.

Some Clever Ways to Search for Primordial Black Holes

Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) have recently received much attention in the physics community. One of the primary reasons is the potential link to dark matter. In effect, if PBHs can be proven to exist, there’s a very good chance that they are what dark matter, the invisible thing that makes up 85% of the universe’s mass, is made of. If proven, that would surely be a Nobel-level discovery in astrophysics. 

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NASA appoints 1st AI chief to keep agency on 'the cutting edge'

NASA has appointed its first-ever chief artificial intelligence officer, a move designed to ensure that the agency keeps up with the vital and rapidly evolving tech.

See Photos of the Widespread Aurorae Last Weekend

An extreme (G5) geomagnetic storm hit Earth last weekend, delighting viewers as far south as Florida with green and red curtains of light.

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SpaceX Starlink satellites doing just fine after weekend solar storm, company says

SpaceX's Starlink fleet of nearly 6,000 satellites remains healthy after weekend solar storms sparked auroras across the world.

'A Quiet Place: Day One' trailer reveals why Earth went silent after alien invasion (video)

Watch the new trailer for Paramount Pictures' terrifying alien invasion horror film, "A Quiet Place: Day One."

Lego rolls out details about Apollo lunar rover model coming in August

Lego is gearing up to deliver a detailed model of the original "rock and rolling ride," the electric buggy driven by NASA's last three Apollo crews to explore the moon.

These Rocks Formed in an Ancient Lake on Mars

We already know that water has existed on the surface of Mars but for how long? Curiosity has been searching for evidence for the long term presence of water on Mars and now, a team of researchers think they have found it. The rover has been exploring the Gale Crater and found it contains high concentrations of Manganese. The mineral doesn’t form easily on Mars so the team think it may have formed as deposits in an ancient lake. It is interesting too that life on Earth helps the formation of Manganese so its presence on Mars is a mystery.

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What a Weekend! Spectacular Aurora Photos from Around the World

“A dream come true.”
“I never expected this!”
“The most amazing light show I’ve ever seen in my life!”
“Once in a lifetime!”
“No doubt, this weekend will be remembered as ‘that weekend.’”

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New algorithm slashes time to run most sophisticated climate models by 10-fold

Climate models can be a million lines of code long and can take months to run on supercomputers. A new algorithm has dramatically shortened that time.

The surface of this volcanic exoplanet is hotter than some stars

Described as being like "Io on steroids," a newly discovered exoplanet is the victim of a tug of war between its neighboring planets and its star.

Stunning image shows atoms transforming into quantum waves — just as Schrödinger predicted

A new imaging technique, which captured frozen lithium atoms transforming into quantum waves, could be used to probe some of the most poorly understood aspects of the quantum world.

How a giant sunspot unleashed solar storms that spawned global auroras that just dazzled us all

Intense solar activity generated the most extreme geomagnetic storm since 2003 on Friday (May 10), and the action could continue into this week. Here's how it happened.

SpaceX reaches nearly 6,000 Starlink satellites on orbit following Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral

A Falcon 9 rocket streaks across the night sky over Florida as it lifts off on the Starlink 6-58 mission on May 12, 2024. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now

SpaceX launched a batch of 23 Starlink satellites on its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission brings the total number of Starlink satellite to 5,999 satellites in orbit, according to numbers published Sunday by expert orbital tracker and astronomer Jonathan McDowell. He noted that one of the satellites, cataloged as S-2601 reentered the atmosphere earlier in the day.

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