Due to the mind-blowing distances and speeds required, interstellar travel remains a major spaceflight challenge. But new research highlights yet another hurdle: Communication blackouts.
Space News & Blog Articles
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Astronaut Mike Massimino shares advice from NASA career in new book 'Moonshot'
Former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino shares lessons learned during his career and how they can be applied in his new book, "Moonshot: A NASA Astronaut's Guide to Achieving the Impossible" out Dec. 5.
Galileo Second Generation satellites take shape
To make the future of Galileo a reality, ESA and European industry are hard at work developing ultra-precise atomic clocks, system testbeds, ground mission and ground control segments and, of course, the satellites. Airbus Defence and Space, who is building six of the Galileo Second Generation constellation satellites, presented their first flight model structure to the programme’s stakeholders last week.
'The Star Wars Holiday Special' was a disaster. This new film examines why
"The Star Wars Holiday Special" scores a new tell-all book and making-of documentary about what is widely regarded as the worst "Star Wars" spinoff in history.
Red Sprites are Best Seen from Space
Planet Earth is full of some truly awe-inspiring spectacles, but few are as intriguing as a sprite, which are officially known as a Transient Luminous Event (TLE) and consist of large-scale electric discharges that shoot upwards while occurring above the cloud tops in the Earth’s mesosphere at approximate altitudes of 50-90 km (31-56 mi). In October 2023, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut, Dr. Andreas Mogensen, who is currently onboard the International Space Station (ISS) as Commander of the Expedition 70 mission, took an incredible image of a red sprite with the Davis camera as part of the Thor-Davis experiment and his Huginn mission.
How Can Astronauts Maintain Their Bodies With Minimal Equipment?
Decades of research aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and other spacecraft in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) have shown that long-duration stays in microgravity will take a toll on human physiology. Among the most notable effects are muscle atrophy and bone density loss and effects on eyesight, blood flow, and cardiovascular health. However, as research like NASA’s Twin Study showed, the effects extend to organ function, psychological effects, and gene expression. Mitigating these effects is vital for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and other deep-space destinations.
Pluto's 'almost twin' dwarf planet Eris is surprisingly squishy
Pluto's 'almost twin' dwarf planet Eris has a rocky core blanketed by an icy shell, which appears to be flexing slowly.
Will Wide Binaries Be the End of MOND?
It’s a fact that many of us have churned out during public engagement events; that at least 50% of all stars are part of binary star systems. Some of them are simply stunning to look at, others present headaches with complex orbits in multiple star systems. Now it seems wide binary stars are starting to shake the foundations of physics as they question the very theory of gravity.
How Perseverance rover captured its youngest samples from Mars' Dream Lake (video)
A new NASA video explains how the Perseverance Rover may have collected its youngest rock sample yet from the Red Planet's Jezero Crater.
Stratolaunch's huge Roc plane flies with fueled-up hypersonic vehicle for 1st time (photos)
Stratolaunch's giant Roc airplane conducted its first-ever captive-carry flight with a fueled Talon-A hypersonic test vehicle on Sunday (Dec. 3).
SpaceX buys parachute manufacturer Pioneer Aerospace
SpaceX has acquired Pioneer Aerospace, a company that provided components for Dragon spacecraft parachutes before filing for bankruptcy.
James Webb Space Telescope gazes into 'The Brick,' a dark nebula near the Milky Way's heart
A dark nebula, also known as "The Brick," was imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope.
Europa Clipper Could Help Discover if Jupiter's Moon is Habitable
Since 1979, when the Voyager probes flew past Jupiter and its system of moons, scientists have speculated about the possibility of life within Europa. Based on planetary modeling, Europa is believed to be differentiated between a rocky and metallic core, an icy crust and mantle, and a warm water ocean up to 100 km (62 mi) in depth. Scientists theorize that this ocean is maintained by tidal flexing, where interaction with Jupiter’s powerful gravitational field leads to geological activity in Europa’s core and hydrothermal vents at the core-mantle boundary.
Historic magnetic storms help scientists learn what to expect when one hits
Magnetic storms can create amazing auroras, but they also have the capacity to impact our power grid.
NASA's Interstellar Mapping Probe Prepares for a 2025 Launch
Engineers at NASA have completed an important milestone in developing the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) spacecraft. It’s now moving from development and design to the assembly, testing, and integration phase, targeting a launch in late Spring 2025. After launch, the spacecraft will fly to the Earth-Sun L1 Lagrange Point and analyze how the Sun’s solar wind interacts with charged particles originating from outside the Solar System.
The Predator returns in Marvel Comics' 'The Last Hunt' miniseries
The galaxy's most notorious alien bounty hunter returns in Marvel Comics' "Predator: The Last Hunt #1" coming in February 2024.
A cosmic 'fossil record' could be hidden among orphaned stars
The upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory will help astronomers track stars ripped from their galaxies, revealing a cosmic fossil record to track the evolution of galactic clusters.
Mighty morphin' Centaur rings — a distant icy object's rings are transforming
What is causing the structure of the dust to evolve, and where exactly the dust comes from, is still a mystery.
Huginn inflight call with Andreas Mogensen and ESERO Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland
Video: 00:20:11
ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen called several ESERO establishments in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland where over 1000 students were waiting to ask questions about life in space and how science on the International Space Station can benefit life on Earth. Check it out to learn more about how water is recycled on the Space Station and what you need to be a good astronaut.
The elusive origins of long gamma-ray bursts may finally be revealed
New research helps resolve the mystery surrounding strange long gamma-ray bursts, suggesting these blasts of high-energy radiation emerge from collisions of neutron stars that birth black holes.
Space mysteries: Why are there no gas moons?
In our solar system we have rocky moons, ocean moons and frozen-ice moons, but there are no gas moons. Are we just unlucky not to have any gas moons, or are there physical reasons why they cannot exist?
