Space & Spaceflight

This ISS to Earth ‘Handshake’ Was First Space-To-Ground Remote Control

Humankind has remote-controlled plenty of objects in space before, but up until this week, no space-to-ground control —a vital component in mankind’s future invasion of other planets—had happened. The demonstration of remote control was conducted by ISS astronaut Terry Virts and the ESA this week, and was pretty basic: Virts moved a joystick on the…

Space & Spaceflight Chris Mills

Virgin Galactic Pilot Speaks Out About SpaceShipTwo’s Tragic Crash

Last year, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo crashed catastrophically above the Mojave desert, killing one of its pilots. Now, the pilot of White Knight Two, which carried SpaceShipTwo to altitude, has spoken out about what happened on the day. Dave Mackay, who is Virgin Galactic’s chief pilot and was flying White Knight Two when the accident occurred,…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

This Is How You Can Separate Liquids in Space

When you make a salad dressing, you shake together oil and acid to suspend tiny droplets of the latter in the former. Leave it on the counter for a few hours, though, and gravity separates it out into layers of its component liquids. So how would you perform that separation in space? It sounds like…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

Relive 50 Years Of Humans Walking in Space

Nothing quite captures the pinnacle of human accomplishment like spacewalks — it takes a unique combination of political ambition and technical knowhow to allow mankind to wander around the atmosphere. To celebrate 50 years of humans playing in the vacuum of space, NASA has released a documentary about the history of the spacewalk. ‘Suit Up’…

Space & Spaceflight Chris Mills

Sunlight and Graphene Could One Day Power a Spaceship

Graphene, already a plenty weird wondermaterial, has an unexpected new property that could one day play a role in space exploration: When hit with light, it propels forward. Huh! Scientists accidentally stumbled across this discovery when studying graphene sponges, crumpled up versions of the single-atom thick sheets of carbon. As the team used a laser…

Space & Spaceflight Sarah Zhang

Here’s Where We’ll Build Our First Space Mines, According to the Miners

There’s gold in them thar’ space rocks, say the miners of the future. There’s also platinum, rare earth elements, and even water. Mining in space may sound like science fiction, but as the founders of two space mining companies recently told me, their plans are very real. Meet the Miners About 4 billion years ago,…

Space & Spaceflight Kiona Smith-Strickland

Dust from Asteroid Mining Could Turn Into Another Space Junk Hazard

There is gold out there on asteroids. Silver and platinum and titanium, too. And if we’re seriously going to mine asteroids, it might be easier to tow them closer to Earth. But that could be serious trouble for satellites, according to new calculations by astrophysicists. NASA was recently considering an Asteroid Redirect Mission, where it…

Space & Spaceflight Sarah Zhang

The ISS Is Being Torn Apart (and Neatly Put Back Together)

Yesterday, the International Space S1tation’s Permanent Multipurpose Module known as Leonardo was detached from the spacecraft. But don’t worry: it was part of a planned move, in order to make it easier for more visiting spacecraft to dock with the orbiting laboratory. The 10-tonne module was first unbolted by NASA astronauts Terry Virts and Scott…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

Amateur Satellite Trackers Found the Secret X-37B Space Plane in Orbit

The U.S. Air Force’s supersecret X-37B was launched into orbit for the fourth time last week, and amateur satellite watchers have promptly identified its secret orbit—also for the fourth time. There is, you see, a small army of amateurs who keep track of over 300 spy satellites, often with little more than a pair of…

Space & Spaceflight Sarah Zhang

U.S. Air Force Certifies SpaceX for Military Space Missions

The U.S. Air Force has announced that SpaceX is now certified to launch military and spy satellites. That means that the United Launch Alliance, a joint effort between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, no longer holds the monopoly on national security space missions. The news, announced late yesterday, comes after two long years of negotiations between…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

Exoplanet Hunters Will Comb Starlight With Lasers

This picture shows the spectrum of light. You may have seen similar images in the past, but this one is something special—because it’s made of star light. In April 2015, two so-called laser frequency combs were installed at the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) planet-finding instrument of the European Southern Observatory’s 3.6-metre telescope…

Space & Spaceflight Attila Nagy

A Rare Glimpse Into the Eye of Typhoon Dolphin

To remote sensing scientists, peering directly into the eye of a tropical storm is like hitting a hole in one. That’s exactly what NASA’s CloudSat satellite did on May 16th, completing a stunning overpass of Typhoon Dolphin as the category 4 storm churned across the west Pacific. Image: NASA Earth Observatory CloudSat, which comprises part…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

Bizarre Nasty Star is Being Devoured by its Companion

Astronomers are calling it the “Nasty 1,” but the hefty, rapidly aging star that shines in the center of the image above sure is beautiful. It’s also damn peculiar, and it may hold clues to a stellar mystery that’s puzzled scientists for decades. Image credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Mauerhan First discovered over fifty years…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

See How SpaceX Astronauts Could Survive a Failed Launch

Two weeks ago, SpaceX successfully tested the launch abort system for its new commercial crew capsule, which is designed to carry astronauts to the International Space Station by 2017. The company has just released a first-person view video recorded by cameras mounted on the Dragon capsule, so you can take a virtual ride on the…

Space & Spaceflight Attila Nagy

The Star That NASA Nicknames ‘Nasty One’

While this star was discovered decades ago, it’s the first time researchers have seen it up close—and it’s brought with it some surprises. But none of that explains why NASA chooses to call it Nasty One. This new image was captured by Hubble. NASA explains what you can see—and what it didn’t expect: Nasty One…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

NASA’s Plan To Make Cheap Spacecraft That Will Explore Distant Worlds

Right now, the cost of studying the atmosphere of a distant planet or moon is a multi-million dollar mission. But NASA is working to make space exploration way more affordable—using cheap, lightweight CubeSats. The CubeSat, a spacecraft that is just 10cm by 10cm, has been enthusiastically adopted by citizen scientists, students, and budget-strapped researchers over…

Space & Spaceflight Kiona Smith-Strickland

You Might Not Even Notice This Wallpaper Is Made From Images of Space

One of the wonderful things about our nation’s Copyright Act is found under Section 105, which stipulates that the stuff government agencies—like NASA—create is free for anyone to use. Which makes projects like this space-plastered wallpaper possible. If you walked by a wall decorated with this wallpaper designed by Calico Wallpaper and BCXSY, you probably…

Space & Spaceflight Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

The Closest Look Yet at Ceres’ Many Bright Spots

Earlier this month we discovered that Ceres’ pair of mysterious bright spots were, in fact, not two—they were many, many more. Now, we’ve got the closest look yet of the spots thanks to NASA’s Dawn mission. This image, captured on May 16th, show a group of the brightest spots on the dwarf planet. Taken from…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

Here’s How Space Megastructures Will Look, According to Neal Stephenson

Famed scifi author Neal Stephenson’s new novel Seveneves is out today, and one of the most exciting things about it is that it’s packed with realistic representations of space megastructures where humans live. We talked to Stephenson about his ideas, and have some exclusive art from Weta showing what they look like. Mild spoilers for…

Space & Spaceflight Annalee Newitz

This Vacuum Chamber Looks Like Some Futuristic Spaceship Corridor

Huge vacuum chambers on Earth are crucial for building and testing spacecraft, so we explore further into space. The photo above is Vacuum Chamber 5, where electric propulsion and power systems are being tested at Glenn Research Center. According to NASA, the VF-5 is very special because it has “the highest pumping speed of any…

Space & Spaceflight Attila Nagy

This ISS to Earth ‘Handshake’ Was First Space-To-Ground Remote Control

Virgin Galactic Pilot Speaks Out About SpaceShipTwo’s Tragic Crash

This Is How You Can Separate Liquids in Space

Relive 50 Years Of Humans Walking in Space

Sunlight and Graphene Could One Day Power a Spaceship

Here’s Where We’ll Build Our First Space Mines, According to the Miners

Dust from Asteroid Mining Could Turn Into Another Space Junk Hazard

The ISS Is Being Torn Apart (and Neatly Put Back Together)

Amateur Satellite Trackers Found the Secret X-37B Space Plane in Orbit

U.S. Air Force Certifies SpaceX for Military Space Missions

Exoplanet Hunters Will Comb Starlight With Lasers

A Rare Glimpse Into the Eye of Typhoon Dolphin

Bizarre Nasty Star is Being Devoured by its Companion

See How SpaceX Astronauts Could Survive a Failed Launch

The Star That NASA Nicknames ‘Nasty One’

NASA’s Plan To Make Cheap Spacecraft That Will Explore Distant Worlds

You Might Not Even Notice This Wallpaper Is Made From Images of Space

The Closest Look Yet at Ceres’ Many Bright Spots

Here’s How Space Megastructures Will Look, According to Neal Stephenson

This Vacuum Chamber Looks Like Some Futuristic Spaceship Corridor

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