Space News & Blog Articles

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Does Betelgeuse Even Rotate? Maybe Not

Betelgeuse is the well known red giant star in the corner of Orion the hunter. The name translated in some languages means ‘armpit of the giant’ which I think of all the star names, is simply the best! Betelgeuse has been fascinating observers of late not only because it unexpectedly faded a few years ago but more recently a study shows it’s super fast rotational speed which is, when compared to other supergiants, is like nothing seen before. 

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Cosmonauts dock Russian Progress cargo ship to ISS on remote control after autopilot glitch

Russian cosmonauts on the International Space Station took manual control of an incoming Progress 86 cargo ship on Sunday, Dec. 3, due to an autopilot issue.

A 'runaway star' could save Earth from extinction a billion years from now. Here's how.

Earth will become too hot to handle in a billion years. There's a (very) remote chance a passing star could save us by knocking our planet back into the habitable zone.

China's Landspace gears up for 3rd launch of its methane-powered rocket

The Zhuque-2 was the first methane-fueled rocket to reach Earth orbit, and the Chinese private spaceflight company Landspace is set to launch it again later on Dec. 5.

SpaceX conducts static fire test ahead of fifth Falcon Heavy launch of 2023

The Falcon Heavy for the USSF 52 mission to launch the U.S. military’s X-37B spaceplane inside the hangar at launch complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Image: SpaceX.

Following two Falcon 9 launches from both California and Florida, SpaceX closed out the first weekend of December with a Falcon Heavy static fire test. The ignition of the 27 Merlin engines came a week ahead of the planned launch of a national security mission that has been on the books for half a decade.

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From Earth orbit to the moon: Europe's I-Hab continues Spacelab 40-year legacy

A legacy of European-built and operated space modules, which began in Earth orbit and is now heading for the moon, got its start with Spacelab 40 years ago.

1st launch of Europe's Ariane 6 rocket finally has June 2024 launch target

After a 4-year delay, the new heavy-lift rocket for Europe is almost ready for space. Ariane 6 should launch for the European Space Agency no earlier than June 15.

Axiom Space's 3rd private mission will conduct pioneering microgravity experiments on ISS

Set to launch to the ISS in Jan. 2024, the commercial mission Axiom-3 will continue to push the frontiers of science by conducting an array of experiments in microgravity.

SpaceX launches 23 more Starlink satellites from Florida (video)

SpaceX launched another 23 Starlink internet satellites from Florida on Saturday night (Dec. 2).

Eris Could be Slushier Than Pluto

In 2005, astronomer Mike Brown and his colleagues Chad Trujillo and David Rabinowitz announced the discovery of a previously unknown planetoid in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune’s orbit. The team named this object Eris after the Greek personification of strife and discord, which was assigned by the IAU a year later. Along with Haumea and Makemake, which they similarly observed in 2004 and 2005 (respectively), this object led to the “Great Planet Debate,” which continues to this day. Meanwhile, astronomers have continued to study the Trans-Neptunian region to learn more about these objects.

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SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on Starlink mission

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket streaks across the sky above Florida’s Space Coast amid the Starlink 6-31 mission. Image: Adam Bernstein

SpaceX continued a busy weekend with the launch of another batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station late Saturday night. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 occurred at 11:00 p.m. EST (0400 UTC).

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This Week In Space podcast: Episode 89 — Who’s in Charge in Space?

On Episode 89 of This Week In Space, Tariq and Rod discuss the challenges of regulating spaceflight.

Unwrapping Uranus and its icy secrets: What NASA would learn from a mission to a wild world

Unvisited by spacecraft for more than 35 years, Uranus inhabits one of the least explored regions of our solar system.

Lockheed Martin's 'Tantrum' tech could help get satellites up and running without the wait

Lockheed Martin and Firefly Aerospace are combining to launch a demonstrator that aims to slash the time it takes spacecraft payloads to become operational.

The Peregrine Lunar Lander is set to launch on Dec 24. Here's what it'll bring to the moon

There will be 20 total payloads being brought to the moon, five of which are NASA's.

A Planetary System With Six Sub-Neptunes Locked in Perfect Resonance

A team of researchers led by University of Chicago astronomer Rafael Luque analyzed data acquired by both NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and ESA’s CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (Cheops) and found a unique planetary system. Orbiting a star cataloged as HD110067, this system contains six sub-Neptune planets. Incredibly, all six planets are orbiting in direct resonance with each other. The results of the work were published on November 29 in Nature.

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After Stalling Out for 40 Years, the Largest Iceberg in the World is on the Move

In 1986, a gigantic iceberg separated from the Fichner-Ronne ice shelf in West Antarctica. It was so big that it became grounded, stuck to the seafloor, and remained in position for 40 years. Finally, it has now been pushed off the seafloor and has begun drifting in the Weddell Sea to a region in the South Atlantic called Iceberg Alley. Designated A23a, this monster berg measures 4000 sq km (1,500 square miles) and is about 400 meters (1,300 feet) thick – the world’s largest.

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Lift-off for EIRSAT-1, Ireland’s first ever satellite

Six years of hard work and dedication paid off in spectacular fashion today, as the Educational Irish Research Satellite, EIRSAT-1, successfully blasted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Hitching a ride on a Space-X Falcon-9 launcher, the tiny satellite – measuring just 10.7cm x 10.7cm x 22.7cm – has now made history as Ireland’s first satellite!

Amazon buys three launches from SpaceX for rival internet constellation

A pair of prototype satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet constellation are encapsulated in a pair of payload fairings for launch aboard a ULA Atlas 5 rocket. Image: ULA

Tech giant Amazon is adding a fifth rocket to launch its satellite internet constellation. In a surprise move on Friday afternoon, the company announced it purchased three flights aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets to send batched of its Project Kuiper satellites to low Earth orbit.

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EIRSAT-1 liftoff

Video: 00:04:04

On 1 December 2023, at 19:19 CET (18:18 GMT), Ireland's first satellite EIRSAT-1 launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA. 

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SpaceX launches ride share mission with South Korean spy satellite, first Irish satellite

A Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to launch the Korea 425 mission from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base. Image: SpaceX

Kicking off the month of December for SpaceX was a Falcon 9 ride share mission with a payload of 25 spacecraft on board. The launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base was headlined by the Korea 425 mission.

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