Space & Spaceflight

7 Gadgets Rosetta Is Sending To the Surface of the Comet

Last week, the European Space Agency announced a final date—November 11—for when it will release its Rosetta lander, a tiny pod called Philae, down to the surface of the comet. Like a cosmic hobo carrying a stick and bindle, it will travel laden with only the essentials. Thanks to Universe Today, ESA, and NASA, we…

Each of These Panoramic Pictures Is Its Own Tiny Twisted Planet

There are tons of 360-degree panoramic images out there, but Russian photographer Andrew Bodrov’s latest work totally twists my mind. He depicts rockets, Mars rover Curiosity, statues of science and faith all embraced into lovely micro worlds, so simple and neat they could make a sweet set of scenery for a 21st century Little Prince.…

India’s Space Probe Successfully Enters Mars Orbit

India just cemented its place as a space power, and put NASA’s billions to shame, with the news that its $74 million space probe just entered Mars orbit. The orbiter, dubbed Mangalyaan, dropped into orbit following a burn at 10:30 EST, making India the first country to successfully reach Mars orbit on the first try.…

A Bunch of US High-Schoolers Broke the Paper Airplane World Record

A ‘science’ project for high school kids normally involves making a poster of the periodic table, or perhaps torching things with a small gas burner if your science teacher is a bit Walter White. If you’re also a cadet with the Civil Aviation Patrol, on the other hand, you can make a computer-controlled, record-breaking paper…

10 Strange Projects In Development At NASA

NASA is pursuing future cosmic exploration with some rather unexpected whimsy. Occasionally fantastical but always backed by concrete science, here are 10 of the most awesomely strange projects NASA’s scientists are cooking up. 10. Dextre We’ve all seen footage of spacewalks—when astronauts dangle precariously off the side of the International Space Station, just begging to…

We’re Finally Going to Be Able to Track Missing Airliners

It’s only taken two major crashes and untold millions in search operations, but the world is finally going to have the capability to track airliners anywhere in the world. A collaboration between Iridium and Nav Canada will see a constellation of 66 — count ’em — satellites in orbit by 2017, and hopefully the tracking…

Everything You Need to Know About NASA’s New Mars-Orbiter

It took just ten months for NASA’s water-seeking satellite to traverse the 442 million miles between Earth and Mars. And, now that it has successfully entered stable orbit around the red planet, it’s time to get to work figuring out where the heck all that water went. The MAVEN spacecraft won’t pound the soil with…

NASA’s MAVEN Spacecraft Enters Mars Orbit After 10 Month Journey

NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft hitched a ride on an Atlas V launch vehicle on November 18th of last year. Now, just over 10 months later, it’s finally about to reach its objective: orbiting Mars. Watch along as it closes in on success. [Update: We have orbit!] While the video below will doesn’t offer a live feed…

Watch SpaceX’s Early Morning Dragon Spacecraft Launch to the ISS

After a 24-hour delay due to rain, NASA and SpaceX finally launched the Falcon 9/Dragon spacecraft at 1:52 am ET at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on its three-day journey to the International Space Station. Now, you can watch the 15-minute spectacle thanks to NASA. “There’s nothing like a good launch, it’s just…

NASA Is Blasting the First 3D Printer Into Space Tonight

A few minutes after 2 AM tonight, a SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft will lift off from Cape Canaveral in Florida carrying something that’s never been taken into space: A 3D printer. When it docks with the ISS, it will deliver the first machine capable of making things in orbit—a huge step forward for exploration.…

Boeing’s New Space Taxi Has the Cleanest Cabin on Earth

With NASA’s rather surprising decision to split the Commercial Crew Program prize between Boeing’s CST-100 and SpaceX’s Dragon 2 capsule, America is officially back in the manned space exploration game! Woohoo! And even better, our astronauts will be shuttled to the ISS in style aboard the spacious CST-100 from Boeing. The CST-100, like the Dragon…

Nobody Knows How These Strange Ridges Appeared on Mars

The technology used to map to Mars is advancing at a thrilling rate and uncovering all kinds of curiosities. The latest head-scratching image comes from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). It reveals a series of mysterious sandy ridges. No one knows exactly how they got there. Researchers at the University…

This Incredible Aurora Is 2014’s Best Astronomy Photograph

Another year, and another set of winners of the Royal Observatory’s Best Astronomy Photographer. This year’s overall winner is this insane shot of an aurora captured over a glacier, which is so other-wordly it looks like it was made with special effects. The winning shot was captured by the UK’s James Woodend over the Vatnajökull…

MIT’s New BioSuit Shrinkwraps Astronauts to Hold Them Together

Our current spacesuits are awesome pieces of technology, but they certainly have their limitations. This is why MIT scientists (and NASA itself) have been working on a next generation spacesuit. And their latest innovation is super futuristic. Put bluntly, it’s a lot like shrink-wrapping. MIT’s so-called BioSuit replaces the gas pressure in existing space suits…

An Organization Wants to Send You to Space For Free (Maybe)

Always wanted to go to space, but put off by Richard Branson’s beard (or the hundreds of thousands of dollars he also wants)? A US not-for-profit might be able to get you there on the cheap — but better get crossing those fingers. https://gizmodo.com/virgin-galactic-is-finally-cleared-for-u-s-take-off-1583708624 Spaceship Earth Grants’s business model is very simple: fork over a…

This majestic mess of curves and swirls isn’t modern art, but Lake Gairdner National Park in Australia. Hot and dry in the summer but a flooded salt lake in the wet, it’s perhaps most majestic when seen from this angle. [ESA]

Virgin Galactic Has Delayed Its First Flight

Things don’t always run smoothly for Virgin Galactic, though it is increasingly making progress. Now,those eager to make it into space on a plane may have more of a wait than they’d like though—because the company has had to push back its maiden voyage. While it was hoped that the first flight out of its…

Low Gravity Makes Astronauts Fall Over

In the good old days of moonwalks, NASA astronauts fell over quite a lot. But they weren’t being clumsy or struggling with their suits: despite what you might think, low gravity actually makes it harder for astronauts to say upright. New research from York University in Toronto, Canada, reveals that the low gravity on the…

Here’s the Rosetta Spacecraft Lining Up Its Asteroid Landing Shot

After a decade of interplanetary travel and a harrowing orbital entry, the ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft is finally cruising within 50 kilometers of its target, the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko asteroid. To commemorate the momentous event, the Rosetta snapped this selfie with its target in the background. Up next: landing on the rapidly spinning space rock. The Rosetta program…

Here’s Some Great 4K Space Porn to Test Your Expensive Display

Like space timelapses? Spend a lot of money on monitors and TVs? Then today is your lucky day, because this time-lapse, shot by astronaut Alexander Gerst, will let you enjoy both at once. (It also looks perfectly lovely on a normal display, too.) All the images in this video we captured by the European Space…