Space Exploration

  The history of civilian human spaceflight is brief, but SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is going to have to change that if he’s ever going to realize his dream of colonizing Mars. We’re not there yet, but SpaceX is taking a step in that direction announcing the first all-civilian spaceflight. …

  The potential discovery of phosphine in Venus’s atmosphere last year made headlines around the world. On Earth, phosphine is produced by living things. Any detection of it inside another planet’s atmosphere would be a strong potential indicator of life. One reason folks got excited about the possibility is that …

  NASA is going back to the moon; at least that’s the plan. To get there, the agency has to develop a new generation of crewed spacecraft, including the Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket and the Orion crew module. While the SLS is still in development, Orion has already passed …

Solar Orbiter, a collaborative mission between ESA and NASA to study the Sun, has captured a series of images showing three solar system planets: Venus, Earth, and Mars. This image was captured on November 18, 2020, by the SoloHI camera on board Solar Orbiter. Venus (left), Earth (middle), and Mars …

  SpaceX made history recently when it launched a record 143 satellites on a single rocket. Among the plethora of spacecraft were ten new Starlink internet satellites. According to CEO Elon Musk, these are the first nodes in SpaceX’s network that have fully operational laser communication systems, allowing the satellites …

  Astronomers are getting very good at hunting for exoplanets with a little help from powerful ground and space-based telescopes. We’re no longer finding one planet here and there — we’re discovering entire solar systems. TRAPPIST-1 has been of particular interest with its system of seven planets, discovered in 2016 …

Using the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) observatory on the International Space Station (ISS), researchers have observed five intense blue flashes, one of which initiated a pulsating blue jet into the stratosphere, over the Pacific Ocean, close to the island of Nauru. Blue jet: (a) the cloud-top altitude of the storm …

  NASA’s InSight lander has been studying the red planet for more than two years now. During that time, InSight has beamed back data on the planet’s seismic activity, weather, and even the sound of blowing wind. It was also supposed to relay data on the planet’s internal temperature, but …

  NASA retired the Space Shuttle in 2011 and embarked on two projects that would eventually restore its access to space. There’s the Commercial Crew Program, which recently led to the SpaceX Dragon successfully transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The Space Launch System (SLS), which is …

  Astronomers have discovered about 750,000 quasars, which are among the brightest and most energetic objects in the universe. Despite its uninspiring designation, J0313-1806 is distinct from other quasars. This recently spotted object is the oldest known quasar in the universe, with a supermassive black hole more than 13 billion …