Space Exploration

Astronomers have been spotting exoplanets for decades, but the overwhelming majority of newly discovered planets outside our solar system have come courtesy of the Kepler mission. This space observatory has found well over a thousand exoplanets, but Kepler accumulated a ton of data that’s difficult to analyze. Google has stepped …

There’s no use launching a spacecraft to explore a far-off location if you can’t maintain reliable communication with it. NASA’s missions have traditionally relied on complicated human-controlled radio systems, but the agency is now investigating artificial intelligence to control its radios. These so-called “cognitive radios” could keep space networks up …

NASA’s New Horizons probe has already made history several times. At launch, it was the fastest probe ever launched from Earth with a speed of more than 36,000 mph. It was also the first spacecraft to study the dwarf planet Pluto up close. Now, it’s on track for another first. …

According to a paper published in the journal Meteoritics Planetary Science, Earth’s atmosphere is a better shield from meteoroids than scientists thought. A 1.5-mm-long impact track of a meteoroid captured in aerogel exposed to space by the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) spacecraft. Image credit: NASA / ESA. Meteoroids are small …

Data collected by Juno during its first pass over Jupiter’s mysterious, roiling storm called the Great Red Spot in July 2017 indicate that this famous feature has roots that penetrate about 200 miles (300 km) into the gas giant’s atmosphere. This full-disc image of Jupiter was taken on 21 April …

Our solar system used to have nine planets before the demotion of Pluto to “dwarf planet,” but some scientists think there might still be nine planets. Perhaps we simply haven’t been able to spot the ninth planet because it’s so distant. It’s been almost two years since researchers from Caltech …

Every comet, asteroid, and planetoid astronomers have been able to examine up close is native to our solar system, but scientists have long theorized an interstellar visitor could one day come rocketing through our neighborhood. That’s exactly what happened earlier this year when researchers at the Pan-STARRS observatory detected ‘Oumuamua, …

Over the past few years, SpaceX has demonstrated some impressive firsts once relegated to science fiction. The company has slashed the cost of orbital missions, even if the exact details of those savings are somewhat disputed. It developed and successfully landed a rocket, then successfully relaunched several rockets earlier this …

Japanese business Obayashi has revealed that they will have an area elevator built by 2050. The elevator will reach 96,000 km (60,000 mi) into space and will transfer individuals and freight to a new space station. It will also act as a port to carry astronauts to Mars and beyond. …

NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft, the farthest spacecraft from Earth, just turned on a few of its thrusters that haven’t been used since 1980. Presently the only spacecraft we have actually ever sent to interstellar area, Voyager 1’s mindset control thrusters– which it had utilized to point its antenna towards Earth– …