Space Exploration

NASA has been without its own launch vehicle since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011. That won’t be the case for much longer. The agency hopes to begin flying the Space Launch System (SLS) in 2020 without a crew, and manned missions to deep space could start as …

NASA could have a new tool to scout for exoplanets this summer. The long-awaited Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is set to launch as soon as Monday (a little behind schedule) on a mission to survey our galactic neighborhood for exoplanets. The mission isn’t just to spot them a la Kepler, …

You have undoubtedly seen the moon, but have you ever seen it up close in glorious 4K resolution? Probably not, but you can see it right now on YouTube. NASA has uploaded a new video, created mostly from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) observations. The video takes you on a …

Researchers on NASA’s Juno mission shared a 3D infrared movie depicting densely packed cyclones and anticyclones that permeate the north polar region of Jupiter. The movie utilizes imagery derived from data collected by the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument aboard the Juno orbiter during its fourth pass over the …

SpaceX has big plans for Mars, some of which seem profoundly difficult to accomplish. The company has a goal of building a colony of 1 million people on Mars in the next few decades. The chance that SpaceX can reach the red planet and begin colonization drops to zero if …

SpaceX had been behind several “wow, this is the future” moments in recent years, but it didn’t get there without a few failures. SpaceX has lost rockets in flight and on the launchpad, but there’s one failure for which it is not to blame. According to a new government report, …

Virgin Galactic is today much closer to its goal to take passengers on quick jaunts into space. Its prototype vehicle known as SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity successfully engaged its rocket engine for the first time in flight, reaching a maximum speed of Mach 1.87 (1,424 miles per hour) in just 30 …

About a decade ago, the X Prize Foundation partnered with Google to kick off the Google Lunar X Prize. The challenge offered cash prizes totaling $30 million to teams of engineers and scientists aiming to land an unmanned rover on the moon. However, the prize expired last week without being …

When it comes to finding life on other planets, so far the score stands at Earth 1, Universe 0. It’s certainly not been for lack of trying. Over the past few decades NASA has launched a wide range of exploratory vehicles, from rovers like Curiosity to probes like Cassini. We’ve …

The planet Venus is not usually what you’d think of as “habitable,” with its clouds of sulfuric acid and atmospheric pressure 92 times higher than Earth. The surface temperature is roughly 870 degrees Fahrenheit (465 degrees Celsius), which is hot enough to melt lead, so it’s safe to say life …