Space News & Blog Articles

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See the Surface of Polaris, the North Star

New data from an array of telescopes has enabled astronomers to visualize the surface of the North Star, Polaris.

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What time is Blue Origin's private NS-26 astronaut launch on Aug. 29 (and how to watch live)

A Blue Origin rocket will launch a new private astronaut mission to suborbital space this week. Here's what time and where to watch.

Auroral substorm sparks stunning northern lights visible at mid-latitudes (photos)

A moderate G2 geomagnetic storm sparked auroras at mid-latitudes, and we've rounded up some of the best northern lights photos here.

Astronomers discover new 'odd radio circle' near the center of our galaxy

A mysterious ring invisible at all wavelengths except radio could be a trace of a dramatically unstable star shedding its skin.

Watch Chinese astronauts conduct medical tests and grow plants in orbit (video)

Newly released footage shows Chinese astronauts engaging in environmental monitoring and growing plants aboard the nation's Tiangong space station.

Astronaut John McFall explains how the Paralympic Games shaped his space career (exclusive)

John McFall, a reserve astronaut with the European Space Agency, says he is 'not a great competitor.' But he transformed his Paralympics race in 2008 into a career-boosting moment.

Live coverage: SpaceX to launch 21 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral

File: A Falcon 9 rocket stands at the ready to support the Starlink 10-4 mission, which will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on July 28, 2024. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now

Update 1:46 a.m. EDT: SpaceX pushed back the liftoff time of the mission.

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SpaceX delays Polaris Dawn astronaut launch until at least Aug. 30 due to bad weather

SpaceX scrubbed the planned Aug. 28 launch of the Polaris Dawn astronaut mission due to bad weather. The mission now won't fly until Friday (Aug. 30) at the earliest.

How Can Biofilms Help or Hinder Spaceflight?

As humans spread into the cosmos, we will take a plethora of initially Earth-bound life with us for the ride. Some might be more beneficial or potentially harmful than others. And there is no lifeform more prevalent on Earth than bacteria. These tiny creatures and fungi, their long-lost cousins on the evolutionary tree, have a habit of clumping together to form a type of structure known as a biofilm. Biofilms are ubiquitous in Earth-bound environments and have been noticed on space missions for decades. But what potential dangers do they pose? More interestingly, what possible problems can they solve? A paper from a group of scientists focused on life support systems in the journal Biofilm provides a high-level overview of the state of the science of understanding how biofilms work in space and where it might need to go for us to establish a permanent human presence off-world. 

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Scientists find surprising clue about Venus' past in its atmosphere

Scientists found an unexpected ratio of hydrogen to deuterium in Venus' atmosphere, offering clues about the world's past.

Massive Stars Shine in This Ultraviolet View From Hubble

Just outside the Milky Way Galaxy, roughly 210,000 light-years from Earth, there is the dwarf galaxy known as the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). Measuring about 18,900 light-years in diameter and containing roughly 3 billion stars, the SMC and its counterpart – the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) – orbit the Milky Way as satellite galaxies. Scientists are particularly interested in these satellites because of what they can teach us about star formation and the process where galaxies evolve through mergers, which is something the Milky Way will do with these two galaxies someday.

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'Star Wars Outlaws' enters our galaxy this week! Watch the new launch trailer (video)

A new launch trailer has arrived at Gamescom 2024 for Ubisoft's "Star Wars Outlaws," which will be available on Aug. 30.

Event Horizon Telescope Pushes Toward Sharper Images

The worldwide network of radio dishes has achieved the highest resolution ever obtained from Earth’s surface.

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Is There a Low-Radiation Path To Europa?

Any mission to Jupiter and its moons must contend with the gas giant’s overwhelming radiation. Only a judicious orbital pattern and onboard protective measures can keep a spacecraft safe. Even then, the powerful radiation dictates a mission’s lifespan.

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NASA's DART asteroid crash really messed up its space rock target

DART appears to have derailed its asteroid target from its normal evolution progress. The impact also made a crater.

Salsa's last dance: This European satellite will fall from space soon in a spicy reentry

On Sept. 8, 2024, a satellite named Salsa will re-enter the atmosphere and burn up safely over a hand-picked region of the South Pacific — if all goes to plan.

Why the 1st private lunar lander failed

Astrobotic says the Peregrine lunar lander, aka the first private moon mission, failed because of a faulty valve.

James Webb Space Telescope finds 6 wandering 'rogue' planets that formed just like stars

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has discovered half a dozen rogue planets, one of which apparently hosts a newly forming moon system.

How Can Astronauts Avoid Vision Loss from Spaceflight?

Human bodies are sacks of fluids supported by skeletons. The entire human organism has evolved over billions of years on Earth in harmony with the planet’s specific gravity. But when astronauts spend too much time on the ISS in a microgravity environment, the organism responds, the fluids shift, and problems can occur.

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The Local Bubble: How our solar system got caught up in a cosmic crime scene

The Local Bubble is a region of surprisingly low-density gas that surrounds our solar system and other nearby regions of our galaxy — and it has a violent history.

How 2 fatal shuttle disasters weighed on NASA's decision to bring Boeing Starliner astronauts home on SpaceX Dragon

The Challenger and Columbia space shuttle tragedies influenced NASA's thinking on how the Boeing Starliner astronauts should return home, agency officials said.


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