Space & Spaceflight

Jodrell Bank Observatory Declared UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Jodrell Bank Observatory, part of the University of Manchester and home of the massive Lovell Telescope and numerous others, has received UNESCO World Heritage Site status, the BBC reported on Sunday. According to the BBC, the decision was made during a UN World Heritage Committee meeting in Azerbaijan and gives the site protected status…

Space & Spaceflight Tom McKay

Astronauts Aren’t Dying From Space Radiation, New Research Suggests

Excessive exposure to the Sun’s harmful rays is an occupational hazard endured by astronauts, who run the risk of contracting cancer and heart disease as a result. At least that’s what we thought. New research shows that astronauts aren’t dying prematurely, but scientists caution that long duration missions will pose serious risks. A study published…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

The Coolest Images of Yesterday’s Solar Eclipse

For thousands of people in Chile yesterday, the Moon passed directly between Earth and the Sun, casting a day-blotting shadow just prior to the real dusk. And of course, there are pictures. In the image below, you can see the lines of the solar corona, its hot outer atmosphere. The Moon’s shadow reached the Chilean…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Freaky Star Seems to Dim Randomly, and Astronomers Don’t Know Why

What is going on with this strange, winking star? Typically, if the planet-hunting Kepler telescope saw a regularly dimming star, that would signal the presence of an exoplanet periodically passing between the star and Earth. But researchers identified a star called EPIC 249706694 (HD 139139) that seems to dim at random, and the team hasn’t…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

NASA Successfully Completes Dramatic In-Flight Test of Orion’s Abort System

NASA reached an important stepping stone to a crewed mission to the Moon today, with a successful demonstration of the Orion spacecraft’s launch abort system. Rocket failures are rare, but they do happen. In October 2018, for example, a Soyuz rocket carrying Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague experienced a booster failure…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Watch Today’s Total Solar Eclipse Right Here

The Moon will cast its shadow over a small swath of Earth today. But unlike the hyped-up 2017 eclipse, the odds of the eclipse passing over your town are a whole lot lower. Thankfully, the Exploratorium in California, working in partnership with NASA, is broadcasting live views of the eclipse. You can watch that stream…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Will NASA Find Life on Titan?

JoAnna Wendel is a science cartoonist and writer in Washington, DC. She loves space, planets, rocks, and her cat, Pancake. You can find her work at joannawendelcomics.com and follow her on Twitter at @JoAnnaScience.

Space & Spaceflight JoAnna Wendel

China’s Mission on the Moon’s Far Side Resumes After Recent Glitch

China’s mission exploring the lunar far side has now entered into its seventh lunar day, with the Chang’3 lander and Yutu 2 rover resuming activities despite a recent communication problem with a relay satellite. The lander and rover successfully awoke on June 27 after entering into hibernation mode back on June 9, reports the Chinese…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

NASA Is Officially Sending an Aerial Drone to Titan and It’s a Dream Come True

With its oily black seas, hazy golden atmosphere, and electrically charged sand, Saturn’s moon Titan is one of the most intriguing objects in the solar system. Earlier today, NASA approved an exciting new mission that will send a tiny aerial drone to soar above Titan’s alien surface. Called Dragonfly, the dual-quadrotor drone is the brainchild…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Mysterious Cosmic Radio Burst Detected in a Completely Unexpected Region of Space

For years, astronomers have struggled to understand the source of fast radio bursts, powerful split-second pulses of energy that originate far outside our galaxy. In an astonishing technical feat, astronomers have finally managed to pinpoint the galactic origin of a one-off FRB—but its unexpected location in space suggests scientists need to go back to the…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

New Video Shows How Humanity Could Spread Throughout the Galaxy

A fascinating competition to devise an efficient way of colonizing the galaxy has resulted in this beautiful—and provocative—visualization. This is the 10th running of the Global Trajectory Optimization Competition (GTOC X), which is organized by the Mission Design and Navigation section of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. These contests present complex problems having to do with…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

All the Cool Things Going to Space Tonight Aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket

In a launch Elon Musk is calling the most difficult yet for his company, SpaceX will attempt to deposit 24 satellites into three different orbits around Earth. Here’s everything you need to about tonight’s launch, including how to watch. The launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is scheduled for 11:30 p.m. ET, with…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Detects Spike in Methane on Mars

NASA’s Curiosity rover discovered “startlingly high amounts of methane in the Martian air” on Wednesday in what could potentially be a sign of life on the Red Planet, the New York Times reported on Saturday. The detection of methane would be a major discovery because, as the Times noted, it breaks down within a few…

Space & Spaceflight Tom McKay

Behold: Scientists Get Great View of Uranus’ Glowing Rings

Astronomers captured a first look at radiation emitted directly by Uranus’ rings. Scientists have known for a few decades that the planet has faint rings, but there’s a whole lot that remains mysterious about them—the rings’ composition and mass, and the sizes of their individual pieces. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and the…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

NASA Put Wheels on Its Mars 2020 Rover and Holy Crap This Is Actually Happening

It’s amazing what a set of wheels can do. What was once a vague chunk of metal, wires, and circuit boards is now finally starting to look like an actual rover. We are now just a little over a year away from the launch of the Mars 2020 Mission, which will see NASA’s new rover…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

The European Space Agency Has a Plan to Intercept a ‘Pristine’ Comet

With the historic Rosetta mission now firmly in the rear view mirror, the European Space Agency has set its sights on a different kind of comet, that is, a comet that’s never visited the inner reaches of the solar system. Called Comet Interceptor, the mission will include a mothership and two “daughter” spacecraft. A press…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

An Ambitious Search for Aliens Came Up Short—so Astrobiologists Are Thinking Bigger

The Breakthrough Listen project has completed a sweeping search of over 1,300 nearby stars for signs of alien technology. Sadly, no evidence of extraterrestrials was found, but the $100 million project took a major leap forward in terms of its ability to continue the search. If at first you don’t succeed, try again—but with better…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

This Could Be the Most Earth-Like Exoplanet Discovered Yet

Scientists have discovered a pair of temperate, Earth-sized exoplanet candidates around a nearby star, according to a new paper. What makes this planetary system stand out from all the others discovered in recent years is just how similar one of its planets may be to Earth. Teegarden’s star is a relatively quiet, ultra-cool star, only…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Astronomers Peer Back 13 Billion Years and See Two Galaxies Colliding

Scientists have spotted one of the most distant (and therefore the youngest) example of merging galaxies yet observed, according to new results. The team of researchers in Japan observed a distant source of light called B14-65666 using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array of telescopes in Chile. Higher-resolution data from light emitted by oxygen and carbon…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Photo: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Takes Stunning Photo of Asteroid Bennu From Just 0.4 Miles Away

NASA’s asteroid-sampling OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which is currently in position around the tiny, near-Earth asteroid 101955 Bennu, has transmitted its closest shot of the asteroid’s surface yet. NASA has already released photos of OSIRIS-REx taken with the craft’s NavCam 1 navigation camera on January 17, 2019 from a distance of roughly a mile (1.6 kilometers) above…

Space & Spaceflight Tom McKay

Jodrell Bank Observatory Declared UNESCO World Heritage Site

Astronauts Aren’t Dying From Space Radiation, New Research Suggests

The Coolest Images of Yesterday’s Solar Eclipse

Freaky Star Seems to Dim Randomly, and Astronomers Don’t Know Why

NASA Successfully Completes Dramatic In-Flight Test of Orion’s Abort System

Watch Today’s Total Solar Eclipse Right Here

Will NASA Find Life on Titan?

China’s Mission on the Moon’s Far Side Resumes After Recent Glitch

NASA Is Officially Sending an Aerial Drone to Titan and It’s a Dream Come True

Mysterious Cosmic Radio Burst Detected in a Completely Unexpected Region of Space

New Video Shows How Humanity Could Spread Throughout the Galaxy

All the Cool Things Going to Space Tonight Aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Detects Spike in Methane on Mars

Behold: Scientists Get Great View of Uranus’ Glowing Rings

NASA Put Wheels on Its Mars 2020 Rover and Holy Crap This Is Actually Happening

The European Space Agency Has a Plan to Intercept a ‘Pristine’ Comet

An Ambitious Search for Aliens Came Up Short—so Astrobiologists Are Thinking Bigger

This Could Be the Most Earth-Like Exoplanet Discovered Yet

Astronomers Peer Back 13 Billion Years and See Two Galaxies Colliding

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Takes Stunning Photo of Asteroid Bennu From Just 0.4 Miles Away

Tesla Goes Ahead and Admits Its Robotaxis Are Sometimes Fully Human-Controlled

School Forced to Replace Toilets After Kids Flush Vapes

‘Scream 7’ Just Won’t Stop Making Money as ‘Scream 8’ Gets Started

The Curtain Has Closed on Meta’s Movie Rating-Inspired Content Filters

Good News! You Can Finally Change That Ridiculous Gmail Address

ExpressVPN Just Launched ExpressAI: Your Prompts Are Now Invisible

VR Just Took Another Massive Body Blow

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

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