Space & Spaceflight

This Lovely Claymation Video Will Help You Make Sense of Asteroids, Comets and Meteorites

What’s better than a stop motion explainer on asteroids, comets, meteors, and meteorites? Nothing. Nothing is better. The Royal Observatory Greenwich, home of the Prime Meridian where longitude is defined to be 0°, is tackling space rocks in this most adorable claymation-style animation. From the composition of asteroids and comets to distinguishing between meteors and…

Space & Spaceflight Mika McKinnon

What Those Frost Patterns on Your Car Window Have To Do With Ice in Space

As we head into winter, many people will see these frosty figures show up on their windows, or on the hoods of their cars. And though you’re seeing them here on earth, such patterns are excellent examples of how ice forms in outer space. We’ve been hearing a lot about water in space lately. Metaphorical…

Space & Spaceflight Esther Inglis-Arkell

A NASA Experiment Is Going to Light Up the Sky With Beautifully Colored Clouds Tonight

If you’re on the east coast tonight, keep an eye on the sky between 7pm and 9pm: NASA is launching a testof some new tech that will include releasing colorful vapor tracers 130 miles above the Earth. It sounds like it’s going to be beautiful. The vapors will be ejected from a sounding rocket launched…

Space & Spaceflight Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

The First Private Mission to the Moon Is Planned to Launch in 2017

A private team from Israel has become the first to secure a launch contract to loft a rover into space and, with any luck, on to the moon in the second half of 2017. SpaceIL has signed a deal with California-based Spaceflight Industries which will see it launch its craft aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

NASA’s Orion Module Is About To Be All Shook Up

What’s that big metal donut on the ceiling? Actually, it’s part of NASA’s forthcoming Orion Service Module, about to be tested to ensure it can withstand the vibrations it will be exposed to during launch and travel. The assembly — actually it’s the the craft’s Crew Module Adapter, which will connect the crew module to…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

Are you Ready to Visit Ryugu, the Undersea Castle in the Asteroid Belt?

The target for the asteroid retrieval mission Hayabusa2 now has a name! Ryugu is leaving the undersea world of myth to take up residence in the main asteroid belt just in time to welcome a swarm of robotic visitors in 2018. Ryugu is a 1-kilometer wide C-type asteroid with a higher probability of organic and…

Space & Spaceflight Mika McKinnon

This Heat Shield Test Takes Us One Fiery Step Closer to Mars

Engineers at NASA’s Ames Research Center finished testing of their brand-new flexible heat shield designed for future Mars exploration vehicles, according to an announcement by the space agency today. Also included? This amazing image of one test. In order to land a spacecraft safely on the surface of Mars, a larger heat shield is needed—because…

Space & Spaceflight Attila Nagy

How NASA Helped Make The Martian‘s User Interfaces Realer Than Real

Filmmakers have invented fanciful spaceship technology for more than a hundred years. But for The Martian, director Ridley Scott went the opposite direction: He asked actual space explorers to help them imagine the technology of the near future. To make The Martian, which arrived in theaters this weekend, Scott asked NASA to advise the people…

Space & Spaceflight Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

Science of The Martian: the Good, the Bad, and the Fascinating

The Martian is a love letter to science, but what does science think of The Martian? It’s time for a report card on what’s dead-on accurate, where the facts are fudged, and what’s plausible for a future that could one day happen. Beware: Spoilers ahead. Plenty of spoilers. Constant spoilers. Endless, unrelenting spoilers. You know…

Space & Spaceflight Mika McKinnon

Stunning Photo Shows Where the Curiosity Rover is Headed Next on Mars

NASA’s Curiosity Rover is currently drilling holes on the lower slopes of Mount Sharp in a region called the Stimson Unit. It recently took a break from its duties to take some long-range photos of a hilly region that the rover will explore in the coming months and years. This composite image was captured by…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Something Strange Is Going On With the Shadows in This Picture of the Moon’s Pole

It’s not just the shadows themselves, though, it’s where they are—because there shouldn’t be any shadows at all. The ESA captured pictures of the Moon’s north pole from every possible angle over two years, compiling over 32,000 different shots. The goal was to catch the pole spun towards the sunlight from every direction and eventually…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra

A Moody View of Titan and Saturn

Saturn and its moon Titan are a moody looking pair in this image. But despite the fact they look similar in a picture like this, they’re actually far from alike. As the European Space Agency points out, Saturn’s mass of swirling gas is a sharp contrast to Titan’s icy, solid body. Both do, however, have…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

Past and Future Collide in This Gorgeous ISS Photo of Athens

This web of lights is one of the most ancient cities in the world, seen from 249 miles above the Earth. Athens, Greece, is the ancient home of Plato and Aristotle, but in this photo taken from the International Space Station, it’s a sprawling modern metropolis. Cosmonaut Sergey Volkov posted this image from his Twitter…

Space & Spaceflight Kiona Smith-Strickland

All Hail Sputnik, the First Robotic Overlord to Orbit our Planet

October 4, 1957: Sputnik beeps out a cheerful declaration of survival in the harshest of environments as the first artificial satellite to successfully orbit the Earth. A 1957 newsreel cartoon introduced Americans to the first artificial satellite. Watch the entire reel here. On October 5, 1957 at 1:28am local time, an R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile…

Space & Spaceflight Mika McKinnon

The Blood Moon Was Recorded Back in 19th Century Thailand

This past Monday, people from around the world aimed their cameras upwards in hopes of catching a glimpse of the “blood moon” lunar eclipse. But as this 19th century manuscript shows, it’s a phenomenon that’s been chronicled long before the advent of camera phones and telescopic lenses. This Thai manuscript dates back to the time…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Here’s Our First Glimpse of the Rosetta Comet’s Dark Side

The Rosetta spacecraft has taken hundreds of stunning photographs of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko over the past year, but a portion of the comet was obscured due to its odd seasonal shifts. Now, thanks to a special camera aboard Rosetta, scientists have created a sketch of its elusive dark side. Comet 67P/C-G’s double-lobed shape and rotational axis…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Mars Orbiter Spots a Huge Avalanche of Carbon Dioxide on the Red Planet

In another reminder that the Red Planet features a complex and active surface, the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured an image of a “dry ice avalanche” streaming down a cliff. The avalanche, which measures about 65 feet (20 meters) across, was spotted on a scarp at the edge of the North…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

This Is the Latest Soyuz-Progress Launch — Viewed From the Space Station

The Russian space agency successfully launched its latest transport cargo spaceship on Thursday evening, and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly managed to photograph the event from aboard the International Space Station. In the combination image above you can see the late-evening launch of the Soyuz-U rocket with THC Progress M-29M unmanned spacecraft on the left. And…

Space & Spaceflight Attila Nagy

Last Night’s ISS Sunset Sure Was a Good One

This was astronaut Scott Kelly’s view from the International Space Station before he went to bed last night. Those primary colors are really quite incredible. [Scott Kelly]

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

How the ISS Astronauts Grew Their Space Lettuce

One of the most important research works take place aboard the International Space Station is to find out how astronauts can grow their own food. In August, Expedition 44 astronauts Scott Kelly, Kjell Lindgren, and Kimiya Yui tasted lettuce entirely grown in space, for the first time in history. This video released by NASA’s Johnson…

Space & Spaceflight Attila Nagy

This Lovely Claymation Video Will Help You Make Sense of Asteroids, Comets and Meteorites

What Those Frost Patterns on Your Car Window Have To Do With Ice in Space

A NASA Experiment Is Going to Light Up the Sky With Beautifully Colored Clouds Tonight

The First Private Mission to the Moon Is Planned to Launch in 2017

NASA’s Orion Module Is About To Be All Shook Up

Are you Ready to Visit Ryugu, the Undersea Castle in the Asteroid Belt?

This Heat Shield Test Takes Us One Fiery Step Closer to Mars

How NASA Helped Make The Martian‘s User Interfaces Realer Than Real

Science of The Martian: the Good, the Bad, and the Fascinating

Stunning Photo Shows Where the Curiosity Rover is Headed Next on Mars

Something Strange Is Going On With the Shadows in This Picture of the Moon’s Pole

A Moody View of Titan and Saturn

Past and Future Collide in This Gorgeous ISS Photo of Athens

All Hail Sputnik, the First Robotic Overlord to Orbit our Planet

The Blood Moon Was Recorded Back in 19th Century Thailand

Here’s Our First Glimpse of the Rosetta Comet’s Dark Side

Mars Orbiter Spots a Huge Avalanche of Carbon Dioxide on the Red Planet

This Is the Latest Soyuz-Progress Launch — Viewed From the Space Station

Last Night’s ISS Sunset Sure Was a Good One

How the ISS Astronauts Grew Their Space Lettuce

Do ‘Disclosure Day’ Prep With a Spielberg Sci-Fi Marathon

How to Watch the F1 Japanese GP 2026 on a Free Channel

Ranking 2016’s Superhero Debuts, 10 Years Later

Fourth Most Populous Country in the World Bans Most Social Media for Kids

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‘The Mummy 4’ Is Getting the Family Back Together

JD Vance Says UFOs Are Actually Demons

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

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