Space & Spaceflight

Forgotten Data From 1996 Sheds New Light on Jupiter’s Mysterious Moon Ganymede

Twenty-two years ago, the Galileo spacecraft made its first flyby of Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon. Scientists with NASA have taken a new look at the data collected during that historic encounter, providing tantalizing new details about this strange celestial object, its unique magnetic shield, and its unusually bright auroras. We don’t talk very much about…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky May 1

Image: NASA/Evan-Amos/Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Boeing Brags About Size of Its Rocket, Says SpaceX’s Is Too Small for NASA’s Needs

SpaceX’s rocket just isn’t big enough to please NASA, Boeing says. Shouldn’t a big, important space agency be looking for a longer, more powerful rocket to fulfill its deep-space desires? Ars Technica’s Eric Berger reports: Recently, Boeing created a website called “Watch US Fly” to promote its aerospace industry—a grab bag of everything from Chinese…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum May 1

Our Galaxy Was Walloped by a Neighbor in Its Not-So-Distant Past, New Analysis Suggests

Space is a chaotic, ever-changing place. But that’s not limited to exploding stars and colliding black holes. Even our own Milky Way galaxy could have recently received a massive jolt from which it is still recovering. Since the Gaia mission’s massive data drop last week, scientists around the world have been hard at work crunching…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 30

What’s the Best Astronomical Object in Your Zodiac Sign?

It’s true that astrology is not science—there is no evidence to support that personal traits or mystical truths have anything to do with the Sun and the planets’ locations in the sky at the time you were born. But there is an intersection with astronomy, the real science behind the Sun, the stars, and what…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 27

Gorgeous Photo of Martian Landscape Is Just the Beginning for ExoMars Mission

The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has released the first images from its new orbit, taken on April 15 from 400 kilometers above the Martian surface. Here’s the uncropped composite image: The image reveals 40 kilometers of dust, dirt, and ice (seen in white) along the Korolev impact crater in the planet’s Northern Hemisphere, according to…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 27

NASA and ESA Are Getting Serious About Bringing Martian Soil to Earth

Earlier today, officials with NASA and the European Space Agency signed a statement of intent to explore the various ways in which Martian soil samples can be collected and delivered back to Earth. Sounds great, but a complex project of this nature won’t be easy, as it would involve the first-ever rocket launch from the surface…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Apr 26

Asteroids Really Could Have Brought Water to Earth, Experiment With Giant Rock Blaster Shows

You may have heard the theory that asteroids are responsible for Earth’s water. You may also have thought, hah, there’s no way that asteroids could have brought all that water to Earth. But fake asteroid impacts are now demonstrating that, yeah, maybe they did. Scientists from Brown University have found that the melted rocks from…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 25

AI Is Getting Pretty Good at Studying Distant Galaxies

Will all the warped images and funny names, it can be easy to forget that machine learning can have important uses in science—specifically, when it comes to categorizing things. Scientists have lately been putting a neural network to good use identifying distant galaxies. An international team of researchers point out that there are a buttload…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 25

Incredible New View of the Milky Way Is the Largest Star Map Ever

The European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft team has dropped its long-awaited trove of data about 1.7 billion stars. You can see a new visualization of all those stars in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies above, but you really need to zoom in to appreciate just how much stuff there is in the map. Yes,…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 25

Tomorrow’s Star Map Release Could Revolutionize Our Understanding of Astronomy

Astronomers from the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission will release the biggest map of our galaxy ever tomorrow, using data collected by the Gaia space telescope. That includes 1.7 billion stars, as well as new information that could potentially solve some cosmic mysteries. The ESA’s Gaia telescope launched in 2013 and soon after began its galaxy-mapping mission.…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 24

Incredible New Gif Shows Cosmic ‘Snow’ on the Surface of a Comet

I think I’m going to let this one speak for itself: What you’re looking at is the surface of the comet 67p/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which is orbited by the European Space Agency’s Rosetta probe. The photo comes from Rosetta’s OSIRIS, or Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System. The raw data was collected on June 1, 2016,…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 24

Intense Gravity of Super-Earths Could Trap Aliens on Their Home Planet

Rocky worlds larger than Earth are commonplace in the galaxy, and a few of them may even be habitable. Which poses an interesting question: How difficult would it be for aliens living on these super-Earths to launch rockets into space, given the tremendous gravity? According to new research, it would be difficult to the point…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Apr 23

Confirmed: Uranus Smells Like Farts

I’m sick and tired of Uranus jokes. It’s time to get serious about Uranus, because there is some really serious science surrounding Uranus’s mysteries. And wow, is Uranus mysterious. Following some of our very serious informed speculation, scientists have directly observed a molecule in the planet’s deep atmosphere that confirms Uranus’s stench. That molecule is…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 23

Hubble Releases Mind-Blowing New Images of the Lagoon Nebula to Honor Its 28th Anniversary

NASA has released incredible new images of the Lagoon Nebula taken by the Hubble space telescope, in honor of its 28th anniversary and presumably 4/20. Dude… have you ever like… thought about how small we are… and how big the universe is…? These images show the Lagoon Nebula, just 4,000 light-years away, in intense detail.…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 20

Senate Confirms Non-Scientist Jim Bridenstine as NASA Head

The US Senate voted to confirm Jim Bridenstine as the NASA administrator in a 50-49 vote today. The position has been vacant since January 2017. President Trump first nominated Bridenstine this past September. The Senate went months without confirming Bridenstine after Republican senators Jeff Flake and Marco Rubio opposed the nomination. Rubio had said that…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 19

Watch Live: NASA and SpaceX Make Second Attempt to Launch Planet-Hunting TESS [Update: Launch Successful]

Update, April 18, 7:05pm: NASA launched the TESS spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 6:51pm local time, hitting its 30-second launch window. The first stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic ocean. It marked the 24th time the company has successfully recovered one of its rockets,…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 18

Diamonds Packed Inside Rare Meteorite Offer Clues to a Destroyed Planet

Back in 2008, an 80-ton meteor exploded over the Nubian Desert of Sudan, showering the region with hundreds of tiny rocks. New research suggests the diamonds packed inside these meteorites could have only formed within a planetary body the size of Mercury or Mars—a planet that no longer exists. It’s called the Almahata Sitta meteorite,…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Apr 18

Weekend Asteroid Flyby Confirms We’re Worrying About the Wrong Space Rocks

An asteroid approximately the size of a football field flew close by Earth only a day after it was first spotted this weekend. This near miss is a perfect example of an argument I’ve been making for some time: These are the asteroids we should worry about, not the so-called potentially hazardous rocks being tracked…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 17

Watch NASA’S New Exoplanet-Hunting Satellite Launch Aboard a SpaceX Rocket Right Here [Update: Launch Delayed]

If all goes according to plan, NASA’s new Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, will launch today at 6:32 pm ET from Cape Canaveral. You can watch the stream below on NASA TV, which will be airing TESS-related coverage throughout the day: Given how much press it’s gotten, you can tell that folks are pretty…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 16

Image: Pieter van Dokkum/Ryan F. Mandelbaum

Heated Debate Surrounds Galaxy Seeming to Lack Dark Matter

Strong skepticism should always accompany strong claims. One such recent claim has generated a ton of talk about a strange, fuzzy galaxy that appears to be missing its dark matter. That a galaxy would have no dark matter is an amazing finding, and it was covered rather uncritically by lots of news outlets (including us!).…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Apr 16

Forgotten Data From 1996 Sheds New Light on Jupiter’s Mysterious Moon Ganymede

Boeing Brags About Size of Its Rocket, Says SpaceX’s Is Too Small for NASA’s Needs

Our Galaxy Was Walloped by a Neighbor in Its Not-So-Distant Past, New Analysis Suggests

What’s the Best Astronomical Object in Your Zodiac Sign?

Gorgeous Photo of Martian Landscape Is Just the Beginning for ExoMars Mission

NASA and ESA Are Getting Serious About Bringing Martian Soil to Earth

Asteroids Really Could Have Brought Water to Earth, Experiment With Giant Rock Blaster Shows

AI Is Getting Pretty Good at Studying Distant Galaxies

Incredible New View of the Milky Way Is the Largest Star Map Ever

Tomorrow’s Star Map Release Could Revolutionize Our Understanding of Astronomy

Incredible New Gif Shows Cosmic ‘Snow’ on the Surface of a Comet

Intense Gravity of Super-Earths Could Trap Aliens on Their Home Planet

Confirmed: Uranus Smells Like Farts

Hubble Releases Mind-Blowing New Images of the Lagoon Nebula to Honor Its 28th Anniversary

Senate Confirms Non-Scientist Jim Bridenstine as NASA Head

Watch Live: NASA and SpaceX Make Second Attempt to Launch Planet-Hunting TESS [Update: Launch Successful]

Diamonds Packed Inside Rare Meteorite Offer Clues to a Destroyed Planet

Weekend Asteroid Flyby Confirms We’re Worrying About the Wrong Space Rocks

Watch NASA’S New Exoplanet-Hunting Satellite Launch Aboard a SpaceX Rocket Right Here [Update: Launch Delayed]

Heated Debate Surrounds Galaxy Seeming to Lack Dark Matter

Anthropic Is Jacking Up the Price for Power Users Amid Complaints Its Model Is Getting Worse

Bose SoundLink Max Bluetooth Speaker Quietly Drops to Its Lowest Price, Now Cheaper Than Last Week’s Low

The Wicked Stepmother of ‘The Testaments’ Is So Much Fun to Hate

Apple’s Smart Glasses Are Stepping Into a Privacy Minefield

Allbirds Is Getting Out of the Shoe Business and Pivoting to AI Infrastructure

Anker Nebula P1i Portable Projector Debuted at CES 2026 and Now Hits Record Low Just Weeks After Launch

There’s No Saving Windows 11. It’s Time for Windows 12

Axiom Space Is Ready to Test Its Next-Generation Spacesuit in 2027

Sony Inzone H6 Air Review: A Perfect Case for Open-Back Gaming Headsets

Anker’s EufyMake E1 Finally Brings Printers Out of the Dark Ages

The Soundboks Mix Is Going to Make You the Most Popular Guy at the Park

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

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