Space Exploration

  It has been almost two months since a SpaceX Dragon II capsule exploded during testing, and NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine has now confirmed publicly that the “anomaly” has pushed back the launch schedule. Boeing has also encountered issues with its CST-100 Starliner vehicle.  At this rate, crewed launches with …

  You can add two new entries to the growing list of potentially habitable exoplanets. Astronomers have spotted a pair of planets orbiting Teegarden’s Star, a red dwarf about 12 light years distant. The star is ancient, as are the planets orbiting it. So, if life was going to evolve …

  NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) works with some of the most advanced technology in the world, including Mars rovers and space telescopes. However, it was a relatively simple piece of consumer technology that allowed hackers to break into its network and steal data. According to a report from the …

Planetary scientists have long observed water-ice clouds in the Martian middle atmosphere (18.6-37.2 miles, or 30-60 km, above the surface). Now, a University of Colorado, Boulder-led study suggests that those clouds owe their existence to a phenomenon called ‘meteoric smoke.’ NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity imaged these drifting clouds on May …

  Astronomers around the world were thrilled in 2016 when the European Southern Observatory announced the discovery of an exoplanet around Proxima Centauri, the closest star to Earth. The Centauri system contains a few more stars, though. Now, the Very Large Telescope (VLT) has gotten an upgrade that will help …

  Mars is home to dust storms, several robots, and as of today, a new crater. Images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) show a fresh impact crater on the surface. Conditions on Mars may eventually sweep the details away, but the reliable probe has spotted the crater while it’s …

Although NASA’s Cassini mission ended in 2017, science continues to flow from the data collected. In a series of papers in the journal Science, planetary researchers analyzed data from Cassini’s ring grazing orbits (December 2016 to April 2017) and its Grand Finale phase (April to September 2017). Key among the …

  Astronomers predict that our Milky Way galaxy is on a collision course with Andromeda, and we’ve got just a few billion years to brace for impact. However, the Milky Way might have a history of smashing up other galaxies. A new analysis suggests that our galaxy may have collided …

  NASA has been talking about going back to the moon for a long time, but plans have been accelerated in the last few years. Under the current administration, NASA has been told to push up its timeline and get a crewed mission to the moon by 2024 instead of …

  Scientists have observed many distant objects with instruments like Hubble and the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope, but everything we’ve seen represents all those stars, nebulae, and galaxies are just the tip of an unfathomable iceberg. Only about 15 percent of the universe is made up of the matter …