NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have been training on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft for years. The team says they're ready for the first astronaut launch no earlier than May 1.
Space News & Blog Articles
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Search for Life on Mars Could Level-Up with MARSE Mission Concept
A recent study presented at the 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) discusses the Mars Astrobiology, Resource, and Science Explorers (MARSE) mission concept and its Simplified High Impact Energy Landing Device (SHIELD), which offers a broader and cheaper method regarding the search for—past or present—life on the Red Planet, specifically by using four rovers at four different landing sites across Mars’ surface instead of just one-for-one. This concept comes as NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers continue to tirelessly explore the surface of Mars at Gale Crater and Jezero Crater, respectively.
Powerful X-class solar flare slams Earth, triggering radio blackout over the Pacific Ocean
On March 28, Earth was hit by an X-class solar flare that was strong enough to ionize part of the planet's atmosphere.
Why low-level clouds vanish during a solar eclipse
Cumulus clouds rapidly dissipate as the land surface cools. This isn't just good news for eclipse chasers on April 8, but also has implications for sun-obscuring geoengineering efforts.
The Milky Way’s Smallest, Faintest Satellite Galaxy Found
The Milky Way has many satellite galaxies, most notably the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. They’re both visible to the naked eye from the southern hemisphere. Now astronomers have discovered another satellite that’s the smallest and dimmest one ever detected. It may also be one of the most dark matter-dominated galaxies ever found.
'Them space drugs cooked real good:' Varda Space just made an HIV medicine in Earth orbit
Varda Space has written up the results of its groundbreaking W-1 mission, which successfully crystalized the metastable Form III of the antiviral drug ritonavir in space and returned it to Earth.
Polar vortex is 'spinning backwards' above Arctic after major reversal event
Earlier this month, a sudden atmospheric warming event caused the Arctic's polar vortex to reverse its trajectory. The swirling ring of cold air is now spinning in the wrong direction, which has triggered a record-breaking "ozone spike" and could impact global weather patterns.
Thermal Modeling of a Pulsed Plasma Rocket Shows It Should Be Possible To Create One
We’ve reported on a technology called pulsed plasma rockets (PPRs) here at UT a few times. Several research groups have worked on variations of them. They are so popular partly because of their extremely high specific impulse and thrust levels, and they seemingly solve the trade-off between those two all-important variables in space exploration propulsion systems. Essentially, they are an extremely efficient propulsion methodology that, if scaled up, would allow payloads to reach other planets in weeks rather than months or years. However, some inherent dangers still need to be worked out, and overcoming some of those dangers was the purpose of a NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) project back in 2020.
Solar spacecraft 'SOHO' discovers its 5,000th comet
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory just hit a milestone with its 5,000th comet detection.
Lego Star Wars Executor Super Star Destroyer review
This impressive Lego Star Wars ship packs in plenty of detail without breaking the bank.
Civilizations Could Time Their Communications Based on the Movement of a Single Star
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence has been ongoing for decades at this point. Despite that, we have yet to find any rock-hard evidence of a signal from an alien civilization. When asked about this, experts point out just how little of the overall signal space we’ve analyzed. A signal could be coming from anywhere in the sky, at any frequency, and might not be continuous. Constraining the “search space” could help us find a signal faster, but what could we use to constrain it? It’s hard to think like an alien intelligence, let alone to mimic them.
The ESA’s Mars Rover Gets a New Map
Rosalind Franklin, the ESA’s Mars rover, is scheduled to launch no sooner than 2028. Its destination is Oxia Planum, a wide clay-bearing plain to the east of Chryse Planitia. Oxia Planum contains terrains that date back to Mars’ Noachian Period, when there may have been abundant surface water, a key factor in the rover’s mission.
Gorgeous James Webb Space Telescope image captures sparkling stars, old and new
A small galaxy is bursting with star formation in a dazzling new image from the James Webb Space Telescope.
Astronomers Catch a Supernova Explode Almost in Realtime
Catching a supernova in action is tricky business. There is no way to predict them, and they don’t occur very often. Within the Milky Way they only occur about once a century, and the last one was observed in 1604.
Most quasars are a ferocious force of nature, but not this one
A quasar over three billion light-years away was found to be rather gentle on its host galaxy, allowing its black hole to keep growing.
How to earn a 'black belt' in solar eclipse chasing
We explore how eclipses repeat and what it takes to earn a 'black belt' in eclipse chasing, according to our skywatching columnist Joe Rao.
NASA's 1st female chief engineer at Kennedy Space Center wants to put a space station around the moon (exclusive)
For Women's History Month, NASA's Teresa Kinney shared what she's learned in 40 years of working in agency circles, and how she's trying to help the next generation fly to space.
Europe's upcoming Mars rover now has a detailed map to aid its search for ancient Red Planet life (video)
The European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin Mars rover now has a detailed map with which to help find its way around the Red Planet when it lands sometime in the next decade.
NASA's Lucy asteroid-hopping spacecraft pins down ages of 1st asteroid targets
Scientists shared preliminary results from Lucy's encounter with Dinkinesh and Selam late last year.
This Week's Sky at a Glance, March 29 – April 7
What? You say you're bored? The evening sky is moonless, the two Dog Stars align vertically, the Big Dipper dumps into the Little Dipper, and the Springs of the Gazelle cross the zenith.
