Space News & Blog Articles

The European Space Agency (ESA) has powered down its Gaia spacecraft after more than a decade spent gathering data that are now being used to unravel the secrets of our home galaxy.

Dark energy may have a completely unknown aspect of physics acting as an accomplice in its efforts to defy gravity, suppressing the growth of large-scale structures like galaxy superclusters.

Image: Spying a spiral through a cosmic lens (Webb telescope image)

The search for evidence of life on Mars just got a little more interesting with the discovery of large organic molecules in a rock sample. The Mars Curiosity Rover, which is digging in the Martian rock beds as it goes along, tested pieces of its haul and found interesting organic compounds inside them.

Vulcan climbs away from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station shortly after sunrise on Oct. 4, 2024. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.

In an announcement highly anticipated by United Launch Alliance and others in the spaceflight community, the U.S. Space Force’s Assured Access to Space (AATS) office affirmed that the Vulcan rocket is now fully certified to launch national security payloads.

SpaceX launched a stack of Starlink internet satellites to orbit from California and returned a booster to Earth Friday afternoon (March 26).

Suppose humanity was faced with an extinction-level event. Not just high odds, but certain-sure. A nearby supernova will explode and irradiate all life, a black hole will engulf the Earth, a Mars-sized interstellar asteroid with our name on it. A cataclysm that will end all life on Earth. We could accept our fate and face our ultimate extinction together. We could gather the archives from libraries across the world and launch them into space in the hopes that another civilization will find them. Or we could build a fleet of arks containing life from Earth. Not people, but bacteria, fungi and other simple organisms. Seed the Universe with our genetic heritage. Of all of these, the last option has the greatest chance of continuing our story. It's an idea known as directed panspermia, and we will soon have the ability to undertake it. But should we?

The nova is ignited when a "vampirific" white dwarf steals too much matter from a companion star.

What drives us to send probes throughout the Solar System and rovers and landers to Mars? It's not cheap, and it's not easy. It's because we live inside a big, natural puzzle, and we want to understand it. That's one reason. But the main reason for space exploration is to search for life beyond Earth. That our planet could be the only planet to host life is a disquieting thought.

Observers across eastern North America and much of Europe will have front-row seats to the striking partial solar eclipse on March 29. Here's what to expect.

John Scalzi cased out the Armstrong Museum before writing "When the Moon Hits Your Eye." The author may have been confused of planning a heist given the way he eyed an Apollo 11 moon rock on display.

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured bright aurora activity on Neptune for the first time.

It’s been almost 10 years since Breakthrough Starshot began funding research into interstellar missions. Back then, state of the art meant a tiny lightsail just 0.25mm across, skip forward to today and, following their funded research, a new prototype has been revealed measuring 60mm x 60mm and just 200 nanometres thick! We are not quite able to use it to hop to Proxima Centauri but the technology keeps advancing until that day arrives.

NASA's Perseverance rover has encountered another rock on Mars that has left scientists puzzled.

A group of stellar Sherlocks have solved the mystery of red transient objects that appear and fade in the sky, linking them to the total explosive death of stars.

File: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to launch the Starlink 7-14 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Image: SpaceX

SpaceX is preparing to send a batch of 27 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. This flight ties the record for the most number of these types of satellites launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California to date.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have captured direct images of Neptune's elusive auroras for the first time.

Earth's Mightiest Heroes are assembling again, as Avengers: Doomsday is finally in production and has unveiled its complete roster.

Using the unique infrared sensitivity of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, researchers can examine ancient galaxies to probe secrets of the early Universe. Now, an international team of astronomers has identified bright hydrogen emission from a galaxy in an unexpectedly early time in the Universe’s history. The surprise finding is challenging researchers to explain how this light could have pierced the thick fog of neutral hydrogen that filled space at that time.

The moon will appear to take a "bite" out of the sun during a deep partial solar eclipse visible across eastern North America and Europe.

An artist’s depiction of an OroraTech OTC-P1 satellite in low Earth orbit. Graphic: OroraTech via Rocket Lab

Update 12:35 p.m. EDT: Rocket Lab confirms successful deployment of all eight satellites.