NASA will train two Indian astronauts, one of whom will fly to the ISS late next year, a space agency official announced this week.
Space News & Blog Articles
Strange 'blob' circling Milky Way's central black hole is shooting powerful radiation at Earth every 76 minutes
Regular high-energy pulses of gamma-ray radiation emerging from around the Milky Way's central black hole may be coming from a blob of matter whipping around at 30% the speed of light.
Astronomers Discover 562 New Candidate Strong Lenses With Machine Learning
An international research collaboration trained computers to sift through millions of images for cosmic treasure.
Near-Earth asteroids: Hunting and tracking upcoming encounters
Here we explore whether there are any upcoming asteroid encounters and how NASA and other space agencies actively monitor near-Earth asteroids that have the potential to hit our planet.
ESA and UNEP collaborate for a greener future
In a significant step towards a more sustainable future, ESA and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding during Earth Information Day at COP28 currently taking place in Dubai.
Contract secures next step for TRUTHS climate mission
Delegates from around 200 countries are convened at the United Nations COP28 summit in Dubai to assess the action they are taking to combat the climate crisis. With satellites fundamental to understanding and monitoring climate change, ESA has awarded a contract to Airbus to take the TRUTHS satellite mission to its next development phase.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.