Peering deep into the past, the James Webb Space Telescope’s keen detectors are revealing unprecedented details of some of the oldest structures in the universe.
Space News & Blog Articles
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Commercial Chinese rocket launches small returnable spacecraft to orbit (video)
The Chinese company iSpace's sixth Hyperbola-1 rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center early Sunday (Dec. 17) morning, carrying a recoverable satellite to orbit.
Live coverage: Firefly Aerospace stands down from its 4th Alpha rocket launch due to poor weather
Firefly Aerospace is aiming to launch its fourth Alpha rocket to date before the end of 2023. The ‘Fly the Lightning’ mission will launch a satellite from Lockheed Martin using a satellite bus built by Terran Orbital. Image: Firefly Aerospace
A New View of Uranus’ North Pole from JWST
One cool thing about Uranus is that its orientation, compared to the rest of the solar system, allows a unique perspective of the planet from our home planet. It is tilted at 98° compared to the rest of the ecliptic plane. So, when viewed from Earth, we can see its North Pole and its rings in some exceptional cases. That perspective is fully displayed in an image of Uranus recently released by the European Space Agency (ESA) and captured using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Microbes in Atacama desert's lost lagoons may mirror early life on Mars
A jaw-dropping ecosystem of crystal-clear lagoons and salt plains in Argentina's Puna de Atacama desert could offer a window onto early life on Earth and Mars.
Houston, you've got visitors
Last week, members of ESA’s astronaut class of 2022 embarked on their first overseas field trip. They visited NASA’s facilities at the Johnson Space Centre (JSC) in Houston, Texas, USA, to get familiar with the environment where they will spend a significant part of their training once assigned to a mission.
Pinhole propulsion for satellites
Image: Pinhole propulsion for satellites
Top 10 Earth observation stories of 2023
This year has been a whirlwind of captivating Earth observation stories and news, spanning from dramatic volcanic eruptions to powerful earthquakes to witnessing icebergs on the run. Join us as we revisit some of the most memorable stories from 2023.
Strange 'slide whistle' fast radio burst picked up by alien-hunting telescope defies explanation
The fascinating patterns of 35 repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) reveal new properties of these mysterious blasts of deep-space radiation that appear and disappear in milliseconds.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard Completes 24th Flight; New Glenn Hopefully on the Horizon
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket successfully launched and landed today at the company’s Launch Site One in West Texas, with an uncrewed science and goodwill payload onboard. This was the 24th New Shepard flight and 13th payload mission today from Launch Site One in West Texas.
Can Webb Find the First Stars in the Universe?
The Universe’s very first stars had an important job. They formed from the primordial elements created by the Big Bang, so they contained no metals. It was up to them to synthesize the first metals and spread them out into the nearby Universe.
Watch Chinese astronauts get haircuts aboard Tiangong space station (video)
Shenzhou 17 commander Tang Hongbo and rookie crewmates Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin recently helped each other get haircuts aboard China's Tiangong space station.
Astronomers Find Two Planetary Systems Around Sun-Like Stars
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has been busy. Clocking in over 5000 exoplanet candidates, the researchers who manage the telescope’s data have enlisted an army of volunteer classifiers to sift through its data to confirm whether these planets exist. In a new paper in Astronomy & Astrophysics, some researchers from Brazil think they have found three planets that almost certainly do – and they happen to orbit stars that are very similar to our own Sun.
Astronomers Find 100,000-light-year Bow Shock in the Milky Way’s Outskirts
New simulations showed astronomers where to look for evidence of a dwarf galaxy's bow shock as it crashes through the Milky Way's halo.
How the runaway greenhouse gas effect can destroy a planet's habitability — including Earth's
Scientists watched as a simulated planet was driven from a habitable Earth-like heaven to an inhospitable Venus-like hell as the result of a runaway greenhouse effect, delivering a stark climate message.
A Radio Telescope on the Moon Could Help Us Understand the First 50 Million Years of the Universe
In the coming decade, multiple space agencies and commercial space providers are determined to return astronauts to the Moon and build the necessary infrastructure for long-duration stays there. This includes the Lunar Gateway and the Artemis Base Camp, a collaborative effort led by NASA with support from the ESA, CSA, and JAXA, and the Russo-Chinese International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). In addition, several agencies are exploring the possibility of building a radio observatory on the far side of the Moon, where it could operate entirely free of radio interference.
NASA laser-beams adorable cat video to Earth from 19 million miles away (video)
NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications experiment streamed a high-definition video of Taters the cat to Earth from 19 miles (31 million km) away in a groundbreaking demonstration.
Blue Origin launches New Shepard rocket on return to flight mission
A Blue Origin New Shepard rocket lifts off from the launch site in Van Horn, Texas, on the NS-24 mission. This was the first launch of a New Shepard rocket since the vehicle was grounded in the after math of the NS-23 anomaly. Image: Blue Origin
Updated 3:11 p.m. EST: Added comments and additional mission information from Blue Origin.
Why String Theory Requires Extra Dimensions
String theory found its origins in an attempt to understand the nascent experiments revealing the strong nuclear force. Eventually another theory, one based on particles called quarks and force carriers called gluons, would supplant it, but in the deep mathematical bones of the young string theory physicists would find curious structures, half-glimpsed ghosts, that would point to something more. Something deeper.
Pew! Pew! Pew! NASA's 1st successful two-way laser experiment is a giant leap for moon and Mars communications
NASA has completed its first laser link with an in-orbit laser relay system, marking a significant advancement in space communication technology.
