SpaceX has conducted a test of the Starship it plans to use for flights to Mars, and while the experiment ended badly the flight was judged a success. Wednesday’s flight used just the Starship – the second stage of SpaceX’s planned heavy lifter. Previous flights had seen the craft ascend to around 500 feet. This Read more about SpaceX Starship blows up on landing, but Elon Musk says it’s the data that matters and that landed just fine[…]

Vids’n’pics Japanese and Australian astroboffins have successfully recovered samples taken from Asteroid Ryugu by the Hayabusa2 probe. Hayabusa2 has had quite a ride and has more adventures ahead of it. The probe launched in 2014 and spent three-and-a-half years travelling to near-Earth asteroid 162173 Ryugu, which has a diameter of about 1km and occasionally passes Read more about Japan sticks the landing: Asteroid sample recovered from Hayabusa2 probe[…]

Look up at the night sky and, if you’re away from city lights, you’ll see stars. The space between those bright points of light is, of course, filled with inky blackness. Some astronomers have wondered about that all that dark space–about how dark it really is. “Is space truly black?” says Tod Lauer, an astronomer Read more about Scientists Discover Outer Space has as much light between galaxies as inside galaxies – it’s not black after all[…]

AST & Science, a Texas-based company, has applied for approval to build SpaceMobile, which claims to be the “first and only space-based cellular broadband network to be accessible by standard smartphones.” Its proposed network is under review by the FCC. However, NASA reckons it will heighten the risk of contact between spacecraft within a region Read more about AST & Science wants to launch 243 mobile broadband satellites into space used by the A Train – and NASA’s quite worried about crashes into scientific craft[…]

Supermarket chain Iceland has launched a chicken nugget into space to celebrate its 50th anniversary of trading. The breaded snack was launched into the stratosphere from a location close to the company’s head office in Deeside, North Wales, as part a joint venture with Sent Into Space, a team of experts in the field of Read more about Supermarket giant Iceland sends chicken nugget into space to mark 50th anniversary[…]

Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is the only moon in our solar system that has a thick atmosphere. It’s four times denser than Earth’s. And now, scientists have discovered a molecule in it that has never been found in any other atmosphere. The particle is called cyclopropenylidene, or C3H2, and it’s made of carbon and hydrogen. Read more about Unusual molecule found in atmosphere on Saturn’s moon Titan, precursor to life[…]

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a rare, heavy and immensely valuable asteroid called “16 Psyche” in the Solar System’s main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Asteroid Psyche is located at roughly 230 million miles (370 million kilometers) from Earth and measures 140 miles (226 kilometers) across, about the size of West Virginia. What Read more about NASA Discovers a Rare Metal Asteroid Worth $10,000 Quadrillion[…]

“Water” has since been detected inside the minerals in lunar rocks. Water ice has also been discovered to be mixed in with lunar dust grains in cold, permanently shadowed regions near the lunar poles. But scientists haven’t been sure how much of this water is present as “molecular water”—made up of two parts hydrogen and Read more about Water on the Moon: Research unveils its type and abundance – boosting exploration plans[…]

To date, the company has launched over 800 satellites and (as of this summer) is producing them at a rate of about 120 a month. There are even plans to have a constellation of 42,000 satellites in orbit before the decade is out. However, there have been some problems along the way, as well. Aside Read more about About 3% of Starlink satellites have failed so far – that’s 360 potential collisions now and 1,260 once SL is up[…]

A team of astronomers from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Institute for Astronomy (IfA) has produced the most comprehensive astronomical imaging catalog of stars, galaxies, and quasars ever created with help from an artificially intelligent neural network. The group of astronomers from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Institute for Astronomy (IfA) released a catalog Read more about AI Created a Detailed 3D Map of Stars, Galaxies, and Quasars. Largest universe map so far.[…]

. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which launched in 2018, has snapped hundreds of thousands images of the night sky using its four cameras in the hopes of finding exoplanets. That’s too much data for professional astronomers to pore over, and NASA doesn’t trust computer-vision algorithms to do all the work, so they’ve decided Read more about Help spot planets for NASA or Oxford[…]

A study of comet motions indicates that the solar system has a second alignment plane. Analytical investigation of the orbits of long-period comets shows that the aphelia of the comets, the point where they are farthest from the Sun, tend to fall close to either the well-known ecliptic plane where the planets reside or a Read more about Second alignment plane of solar system discovered[…]

Future moon explorers will be bombarded with two to three times more radiation than astronauts aboard the International Space Station, a health hazard that will require thick-walled shelters for protection, scientists reported Friday. China’s lander on the far side of the moon is providing the first full measurements of radiation exposure from the lunar surface, Read more about New measurements show moon has hazardous radiation levels[…]

Yesterday, NASA and Russian flight controllers performed an “avoidance maneuver” to protect the International Space Station from a wayward chunk of space debris. This episode—already the third of its kind this year—highlights a growing problem and the importance of mitigating potential collisions in space. Low Earth orbit (LEO) is vast and mostly empty, but when Read more about ISS Maneuvers to Avoid Space Debris, in What’s Becoming the New Normal[…]

Earlier this week, scientists announced the discovery of phosphine on Venus, a potential signature of life. Now, in an amazing coincidence, a European and Japanese spacecraft is about to fly past the planet – and could confirm the discovery. On Monday, September 14, a team of scientists said they had found evidence for phosphine in Read more about In A Complete Fluke, A Euro/Jap Spacecraft Is About To Fly Past Venus – And Could Look For Signs Of Life[…]

The International Space Station has served as the world’s most unique laboratory for two decades, hosting hundreds of scientific experiments, crews of astronauts and even the occasional slime. But now, NASA, one of the space station’s primary operators, is preparing to oversee the largest push of business activity aboard the ISS. Later this month, up Read more about Estée Lauder products will launch to space. NASA astronauts will fllm them floating around the ISS[…]

An international team of astronomers, led by Professor Jane Greaves of Cardiff University, today announced the discovery of a rare molecule—phosphine—in the clouds of Venus. On Earth, this gas is only made industrially, or by microbes that thrive in oxygen-free environments. […] finding that phosphine is present but scarce—only about twenty molecules in every billion. Read more about Hints of life on Venus: Scientists detect phosphine molecules in high cloud decks[…]

Rocket Lab recently made a successful return to flight and launched a client satellite from its Electron Rocket, but that’s not all that happened on the mission. The company also secretly launched its own satellite, called Photon, that could one day fly ambitious deep space missions. Photon is based on Rocket Lab’s “Kick Stage,” which Read more about Rocket Lab secretly launched its own satellite that may one day go to the Moon[…]

In recent days, China has quietly launched a secret reusable spacecraft, left it in orbit for two days and safely landed it back on Earth. And although the spacecraft is top secret—we’re not even privy to its design—there are some things that China apparently wants the world to know about it. According to Xinhua, China’s Read more about China Just Launched and Landed a Secret Reusable Spacecraft[…]

All the planets of our solar system are encased in a magnetic bubble, carved out in space by the Sun’s constantly outflowing material, the solar wind. Outside this bubble is the interstellar medium — the ionized gas and magnetic field that fills the space between stellar systems in our galaxy. One question scientists have tried Read more about Our Solar System’s Magnetic Sheild (Heliosphere) is Shaped like a croissant[…]

The Mars 2020 mission with its Perseverance rover is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. The Mars 2020 mission addresses high-priority science goals for Mars exploration, including key Astrobiology questions about the potential for life on Mars. The mission takes the next step by not Read more about NASA sends Perseverance Rover to Mars – with a little helicopter on it![…]

Researchers have spotted large waves of martian sand migrating for the first time. The discovery dispels the long-held belief that these “megaripples” haven’t moved since they formed hundreds of thousands of years ago. They’re also evidence of stronger-than-expected winds on the Red Planet. It’s pretty staggering that humans can detect these changes on Mars, says Read more about Giant waves of sand are moving on Mars[…]

“Comet Neowise has been the brightest and most visible space snowball in a generation, but it’s also the first naked-eye comet to visit us in the new era of satellite mega-constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink,” writes CNET. “In just the latest episode of Starlink ‘trains’ irritating astronomers, a number of images have been circulating of the Read more about SpaceX’s Starlink Satellites ‘Photo-Bombing’ Shots of Comet Neowise[…]

“A photo and film restoration specialist, who goes by the name of DutchSteamMachine, has worked some AI magic to enhance original Apollo film, creating strikingly clear and vivid video clips and images,” reports Universe Today: Take a look at this enhanced footage from an Apollo 16 lunar rover traverse with Charlie Duke and John Young, Read more about Historic Moon Landing Footage Enhanced By AI, and the Results Are Incredible[…]

China has successfully launched a Mars probe. The middle kingdom’s previous red planet effort, 2011’s Yinghuo-1, rode on a Russian rocket that failed to leave Earth orbit and therefore did not fulfill its orbital observation mission. For this new mission, dubbed Tianwen-1, China has used its own Long March 5 heavy lifter and packed in Read more about China successfully launches Mars probe that packs an orbiter, lander, rover[…]