Unveiling the all-new ESA Impact: Dive into our Q1 2024 edition
Space News & Blog Articles
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Euclid's sight restored
A newly devised procedure to de-ice Euclid's optics has performed significantly better than hoped. Light coming in to the visible ‘VIS’ instrument from distant stars was gradually decreasing due small amounts of water ice building up on its optics. Mission teams spent months devising a procedure to heat up individual mirrors in the instrument’s complex optical system, without interfering with the finely tuned mission’s calibration or potentially causing further contamination. After the very first mirror was warmed by just 34 degrees, Euclid's sight was restored.
SMOS and Swarm team up to spot huge solar storm
The Sun erupted over the weekend, flinging electromagnetic radiation towards Earth, even illuminating skies with spectacular aurora borealis. For the first time, ESA’s unlikely space weather duo of SMOS and Swarm tracked the severe solar storm — which warped Earth’s magnetic field.
NASA’s VERITAS Mission Breathes New Life
In a win for planetary scientists, and planetary geologists in particular, it was announced at the recent 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) in Texas earlier this month that NASA’s VERITAS mission to the planet Venus has been reinstated into NASA’s Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) budget with a scheduled launch date of 2031, with the unofficial announcement coming on the first day of the conference, March 11, 2024, and being officially announced just a few days later. This comes after VERITAS experienced a “soft cancellation” in March of last year when NASA revealed its FY24 budget, providing VERITAS only $1.5 million, which was preceded by the launch of VERITAS being delayed a minimum of three years due to findings from an independent review board in November 2022.
SpaceX fires up Starship rocket ahead of 4th test flight (video)
SpaceX fired the engines on the upper stage of its next Starship vehicle, performing a key test ahead of the giant rocket's fourth test flight.
Life Might Be Difficult to Find on a Single Planet But Obvious Across Many Worlds
If we could detect a clear, unambiguous biosignature on just one of the thousands of exoplanets we know of, it would be a huge, game-changing moment for humanity. But it’s extremely difficult. We simply aren’t in a place where we can be certain that what we’re detecting means what we think or even hope it does.
Keep the lines of communication open by building your own infrared transmitter
Sponsor Content Created With United States Space Force
Chasing the Eclipse from the Air
A solar-imaging instrument will fly on a high-altitude aircraft to explore infrared emission from the Sun’s corona.
Brown Dwarf Pairs Drift Apart in Old Age
The only thing worse than drifting through space for an eternity is doing it alone. Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope show that brown dwarfs that once had companions suffer that fate. Binary brown dwarfs that were once bound to each other tend to drift apart as time passes.
NASA is holding a total eclipse 2024 briefing tomorrow. Here's how to watch it live
Watch NASA's total eclipse 2024 briefing live and learn about the scientific and transportation plans for the eclipse.
Dwarf Galaxies Could be the Key to Explaining Dark Matter
If you have a view of the southern celestial sky, on a clear night you might see two clear smudges of light set off a bit from the great arch of the Milky Way. They are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, and they are the most visible of the dwarf galaxies. Dwarf galaxies are small galaxies that typically cluster around larger ones. The Milky Way, for example, has nearly two dozen dwarf galaxies. Because of their small size, they can be more significantly affected by dark matter. Their formation may even have been triggered by the distribution of dark matter. So they can be an excellent way to study this mysterious unseen material.
SpaceX launching 23 Starlink satellites from Florida this evening
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch 23 more of the company's Starlink broadband satellites to orbit this evening (March 25).
Live coverage: SpaceX aims for 175th Falcon 9 flight from Cape Canaveral with Monday evening Starlink mission
A Falcon 9 stands ready for the Starlink 6-46 mission from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.
SpaceX is preparing to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Monday evening with 23 Starlink satellites on board. This mission will mark the 175th launch for SpaceX from its workhorse pad to date.
Intuitive Machines' historic private moon moon mission comes to an end
Intuitive Machines' Odysseus moon lander has failed to send out a wakeup signal, confirming that its pioneering mission is over.
An Asteroid Found Sharing the Orbit of Mars
Astronomers discovered another asteroid sharing Mars’ orbit. These types of asteroids are called trojans, and they orbit in two clumps, one ahead of and one behind the planet. But the origins of the Mars trojans are unclear.
Fake solar eclipse glasses are everywhere ahead of the total solar eclipse. Here's how to check yours are safe
With two weeks until April 8's total solar eclipse, the American Astronomical Society is warning buyers about unsafe and counterfeit solar glasses.
'Star Wars' fan-favorite Sith returns in 'Darth Maul: Black, White & Red'
A preview of Marvel Comics' upcoming miniseries, "Darth Maul: Black, White & Red"
3 spaceflyers arrive at the ISS aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft delivered three spaceflyers, including one NASA astronaut, to the International Space Station today (March 23).
Opposites attract? Not in new experiment that finds loophole in fundamental rule of physics
Like-charged objects were found to clump together while opposites repelled because of the newly discovered "electrosolvation force."
March's Full Worm Moon wriggles its way through a subtle lunar eclipse in stunning photos
The Worm Moon underwent a slightly undramatic lunar eclipse on Sunday, March 24, two weeks before the main event: April's total solar eclipse.
