The Mars Express orbiter has detected enough water ice buried beneath the Red Planet's equator to cover the entire planet in a shallow ocean if melted.
Space News & Blog Articles
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Buried water ice at Mars's equator?
Windswept piles of dust, or layers of ice? ESA’s Mars Express has revisited one of Mars’s most mysterious features to clarify its composition. Its findings suggest layers of water ice stretching several kilometres below ground – the most water ever found in this part of the planet.
See a bright half moon meet up with Jupiter in the night sky tonight
A bright half moon just one day past its first-quarter phase meets up with Jupiter in the night sky on Thursday (Jan. 18) just below Aries, the Ram.
Chinese company targets 2025 for 1st launch of powerful new rocket
The Chinese launch company CAS Space has set August 2025 as the target for the first launch of its Kinetic-2 liquid propellant rocket.
Acefast Fast Charge Power Bank M1 review
A palm-sized power bank for charging your phone and other small devices on the move.
Heart of ESA vacuum testing
Image: Heart of ESA vacuum testing
Planetary Surfaces: Why study them? Can they help us find life elsewhere?
Universe Today recently explored the importance of studying impact craters and what they can teach us about finding life beyond Earth. Impact craters are considered one of the many surface processes—others include volcanism, weathering, erosion, and plate tectonics—that shape surfaces on numerous planetary bodies, with all of them simultaneously occurring on Earth. Here, we will explore how and why planetary scientists study planetary surfaces, the challenges faced when studying other planetary surfaces, what planetary surfaces can teach us about finding life, and how upcoming students can pursue studying planetary surfaces, as well. So, why is it so important to study planetary surfaces throughout the solar system?
Crippled Peregrine moon lander expected to crash to Earth today carrying human remains
The private Peregrine moon lander's long journey is about to come to an end, back on its home planet.
US must beat China back to the moon, Congress tells NASA
The newly announced delays to NASA's Artemis 2 and Artemis 3 moon missions are making some members of Congress nervous.
Early Mars Climate was Complex, with Streams Flowing Intermittently for Millions of Years
There’s overwhelming evidence that Mars was once wet and warm. Rivers flowed across its surface and carved intricate channel systems revealed by our orbiters. Expansive oceans even larger than Earth’s may have covered a third of its surface. Then something happened: Mars lost its atmosphere, cooled down, and surface water disappeared.
Watch new trailer for Netflix's sci-fi film 'Spaceman' starring Adam Sandler (video)
Netflix released a new trailer for the upcoming sci-fi film "Spaceman" starring Adam Sandler and Paul Dano.
NASA Selects a Sample Return Mission to Venus
In Dante Alighieri’s epic poem The Divine Comedy, the famous words “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” adorn the gates of hell. Interestingly enough, Dante’s vision of hell is an apt description of what conditions are like on Venus. With an average temperature of 450 °C (842 °F), atmospheric pressures 92 times that of Earth, and clouds of sulfuric acid rain to boot, Venus is the most hostile environment in the Solar System. It is little wonder why space agencies, going all the way back to the beginning of the Space Age, have had such a hard time exploring Venus’ atmosphere.
SpaceX orders 24-hour delay for commercial space station flight
The countdown clock at Kennedy Space Center on hold after SpaceX scrubbed the launch of the Axiom 3 mission on Jan. 17, 2024. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now.
SpaceX called off launch of its third commercial crew flight to the International Space Station Wednesday to allow more time for pre-flight data reviews. The flight, chartered by Houston-based Axiom Space, was reset for Thursday pending final analysis.
Astronomers Have Mapped the Milky Way's Magnetic Fields in 3D
Our galaxy is filled with magnetic fields. They come not just from stars and planets, but from dusty stellar nurseries and the diffuse hydrogen gas of interstellar space. We’ve long known of this galactic magnetic field, but mapping it in detail has posed a challenge. Now a new study gives us a detailed 3-dimensional map of these fields, with a few surprises.
SpaceX delays launch of private Ax-3 astronaut mission to Jan. 18
The SpaceX launch of Axiom Space's Ax-3 private astronaut mission to the ISS has been delayed one day, to 4:49 p.m. EST (2149 GMT) on Thursday (Jan. 18).
Peregrine moon lander aims for 'safe' crash into Earth's atmosphere on Jan. 18
The ailing Peregrine moon lander is expected to crash into Earth's atmosphere on Jan. 18, a demise that its maker, Astrobotic, pledged to make as safe as possible.
Chinese Kuaizhou-1A rocket launches 4th mission in 18 days (video)
China sent a classified experimental satellite into orbit last week with yet another launch of the Kuaizhou-1A solid rocket.
The Night I Met the Crab Pulsar
An account of my journey to the heart of one of most violent cosmic explosions witnessed on Earth. Plus, there's a bright supernova now visible in a Virgo Cluster galaxy.
James Webb Space Telescope discovers oldest and most distant black hole ever seen
The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted the oldest and most distant black hole ever seen. The discovery could explain how supermassive black holes grew so quickly.
China launches Tianzhou 7 cargo craft to Tiangong space station (video)
A Long March 7 rocket launched the robotic Tianzhou 7 cargo spacecraft toward China's Tiangong space station today (Jan. 17).
SpaceX readies Falcon 9 for commercial flight to space station
Update: SpaceX has delayed the launch of the Axiom 3 mission to Thursday.
