Space

Let Glorious Jupiter Distract You From Existential Dread

Lingering sense of ennui creeping in? Concerned about our crumbling infrastructure? Allow me to temporarily assuage your problems by offering up some lovely images of Jupiter. They won’t solve anything, but they just might help you get through the day without shouting into a stranger’s face or kicking over a traffic cone. The stunning, enhanced-color…

Space & Spaceflight Rae Paoletta

The Best Version of Princess Leia Gets an Amazing Figure, and More Wonderful Toys of the Week

Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9’s weekly round-up of all the coolest new toys. This week we’ve got a truly spectacular Princess Leia figure, a double dose of Wonder with new Wonder Woman toys, some out-of-this-world cards, and a tiny version of the legendary Dragonzord from Power Rangers. Hide your wallets! Hot Toys Hoth Princess…

io9 James Whitbrook and Andrew Liszewski

These Flowers Hold Clues to Spreading Life Beyond Earth

It feels like we’re constantly searching for a friend out there in the cosmos, only to be repeatedly disappointed. But what if, in our quest to discover life beyond Earth, we’ve overlooking a more important question? What if the question we should really be asking is, how do we ensure life spreads beyond Earth? Seeds…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

Cassini’s Second Grand Finale Dive Might Be Outshining the First One

Cassini’s six-month-long Grand Finale mission has become the unofficial nerd Super Bowl: each time the NASA-led spacecraft drops a new batch of raw images, we jump to our computers and frantically scroll through to find the best. (Actually, we never leave our computers, because we are nerds.) But in any case, the raw photos from…

Space & Spaceflight Rae Paoletta

What the Hell Is This Space Council Mike Pence Is Going to Lead?

When considering vice president Mike Pence, one might be inclined to recall that time he voted against recognizing Pi Day, or his alleged tendency to refer to his wife as “mother.” In his latest ascension within the Trump administration, Pence—who is ostensibly a creationist—will be given the responsibility of leading a science and technology-oriented committee.…

Space & Spaceflight Rae Paoletta

Chill Out to This Galaxy-Sized Wave of Hot Gas Swirling Through the Void

It’s another casual day in space discovery: Apparently, an international team of scientists has found a giant wave of hot gas chugging along through the Perseus galaxy cluster, located about 250 million lightyears away. By combining data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory with radio observations and computer simulations, the researchers have attempted to demystify the…

Space & Spaceflight Rae Paoletta

This Is Our First ‘Sound’ From the Creepy Void Inside Saturn’s Rings

Today, Cassini prepares to once again boldly go where no spacecraft has gone before: into the gap between Saturn and its rings. While we’re all excited to see the the results of Cassini’s second dive, astronomers are still parsing through the findings from her first. And some, including a soundscape generated from the emptiness, are…

Space & Spaceflight Rae Paoletta

Astronomer Wonders If We’ve Looked Hard Enough For Signs of Long Extinct Alien Life

Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus is the latest target in the perennial excitement around finding extraterrestrial life. Its warm subterranean ocean is thought to contain all the right ingredients to harbor alien microbes, which would arguably be the biggest scientific discovery in human history. While finding microbes—even biosignatures on places like Mars—would be incredible, perhaps we’re…

Space & Spaceflight Rae Paoletta

SpaceX Just Performed Its Most Mysterious Mission Yet

After a literal last-minute cancellation yesterday, SpaceX successfully launched and landed a Falcon 9 rocket earlier this morning in Cape Canaveral, Florida. While the details on most of SpaceX’s missions are very public, this one was purposely shrouded in mystery: the rocket was ferrying up a spy satellite, the NROL-76, for National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).…

Space & Spaceflight Rae Paoletta

Cassini’s First Grand Finale Images Are Stunning—But What Are We Really Looking At?

It was 11:56 pm Wednesday night when a Deep Space Network receiver picked up a signal from NASA’s Cassini orbiter as it emerged from its first trip through the gap between Saturn and the gas giant’s rings. In the ensuing data came pictures of the planet’s north pole and cloud tops from only 1,800 miles…

Space & Spaceflight Bryson Masse

The Moon Magically Appears on the Post Office’s New Total Solar Eclipse Stamp

On August 21, millions of people across the United States, from Salem, Oregon, to Charleston, South Carolina, will be able to witness something that hasn’t been seen here since 1979: a total solar eclipse. To commemorate the rare celestial occurrence, the post office has issued a new forever stamp. The stamp features an image taken…

Space & Spaceflight Andrew Liszewski

Live Out Your Astronaut Dreams With Lego’s Meter-Tall NASA Apollo Saturn V Rocket

To this day, the Saturn V remains the largest and most powerful rocket NASA has ever blasted into space, which is perfectly reflected in Lego’s new Apollo Saturn V model. That model stands a full meter (over 39 inches) in height, with the Apollo lunar lander, lunar orbiter, and astronauts, hidden away inside. The set…

Space & Spaceflight Andrew Liszewski

People Are Already Opening Accounts to Save for Space

In the halcyon days of yore, people put away money with the hopes of retiring somewhere warm, where they could argue about chicken salad with other curmudgeons until they expired. But very soon, the new retirement hotspot might be on Mars. While billionaires like Elon Musk have long touted human settlement of the Red Planet,…

Space & Spaceflight Rae Paoletta

Alien: Covenant‘s Rover Might Actually End Up Going to the Moon

Alien: Covenant has a lot of far-flung futurist tech in it, which will inevitably be smeared in bits of the cast by the time the xenomorphs are done with them. But one piece in the movie is actually a bit of present-day technology: a small Rover provided by Audi that the manufacturer actually plans to…

io9 James Whitbrook

Saturn Looks Haunted in Cassini’s First Grand Finale Photos

Good morning, Cassini! Today, at about 3:00am EDT, NASA’s Deep Space Network Goldstone Complex in California’s acquired the orbiter’s signal for the first time since it began its series of Grand Finale dives. The photos it took from the space between Saturn and its rings, which have just been released, are nothing short of breathtaking.…

Space & Spaceflight Rae Paoletta

When the Hell Will We Find Planet Nine?

The hunt for Planet 9—a hypothetical, Neptune-sized object beyond Pluto—has stirred the scientific community since last year year, when a pair of Caltech astronomers argued in favor of the idea. Those intrepid scientists—Mike Brown, best known as the guy who killed Pluto, and Konstantin Batygin—are currently spearheading a search for this elusive giant. Recently, a…

Space & Spaceflight Rae Paoletta

Scientists Are Already Planning the Next Mission to Pluto

The Pluto-shaped void in our hearts has yet to be filled by Planet 9, copious amounts of Ben & Jerry’s, or anything. Ever since the summer of 2015, when NASA’s New Horizons performed a six-month-long reconnaissance flyby study of Pluto and its moons, fans of the dwarf planet have wondered if or when we’d ever…

Space & Spaceflight Rae Paoletta

How to Watch the Spectacular Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower

Stargazers love a good meteor shower, and while the Perseids or Leonids get the most attention, another exquisite one is just ramping up. The Eta Aquarid meteor shower occurs every spring between April 22nd and May 20th, and this year, it’s expected to peak around dawn on May 6th. This underrated shower gets its name…

Space & Spaceflight Rae Paoletta

NASA Is Developing 3D-Printed Chain Mail to Protect Ships and Astronauts

Chain mail was an essential tool for medieval warriors hoping to avoid a quick (or slow) death by a sword. But NASA engineers hope a similar material, with a few modern upgrades, could prove to be just as useful for spacecraft and astronauts looking to survive the rigors of outer space. The biggest improvement NASA…

Space & Spaceflight Andrew Liszewski

Celebrate Hubble’s Birthday by Tearfully Reviewing Its Best Photos

For so many nerds, the Hubble space telescope feels more like a friend than a hunk of metal in the cold vacuum of space—a friend whose job you’re super jealous of. The ‘scope, which launched on the space shuttle Discovery in 1990, has sent back some of the most incredible images from the final frontier—over…

Space & Spaceflight Rae Paoletta

Let Glorious Jupiter Distract You From Existential Dread

The Best Version of Princess Leia Gets an Amazing Figure, and More Wonderful Toys of the Week

These Flowers Hold Clues to Spreading Life Beyond Earth

Cassini’s Second Grand Finale Dive Might Be Outshining the First One

What the Hell Is This Space Council Mike Pence Is Going to Lead?

Chill Out to This Galaxy-Sized Wave of Hot Gas Swirling Through the Void

This Is Our First ‘Sound’ From the Creepy Void Inside Saturn’s Rings

Astronomer Wonders If We’ve Looked Hard Enough For Signs of Long Extinct Alien Life

SpaceX Just Performed Its Most Mysterious Mission Yet

Cassini’s First Grand Finale Images Are Stunning—But What Are We Really Looking At?

The Moon Magically Appears on the Post Office’s New Total Solar Eclipse Stamp

Live Out Your Astronaut Dreams With Lego’s Meter-Tall NASA Apollo Saturn V Rocket

People Are Already Opening Accounts to Save for Space

Alien: Covenant‘s Rover Might Actually End Up Going to the Moon

Saturn Looks Haunted in Cassini’s First Grand Finale Photos

When the Hell Will We Find Planet Nine?

Scientists Are Already Planning the Next Mission to Pluto

How to Watch the Spectacular Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower

NASA Is Developing 3D-Printed Chain Mail to Protect Ships and Astronauts

Celebrate Hubble’s Birthday by Tearfully Reviewing Its Best Photos

What’s Actually the Best Way to Get a Good Night’s Sleep? We Asked Scientists

Game to Lose Online Mode After Its Server Partner Pivots to You’ll Never Guess What

This $400 (Not) AI Keychain Is Pointless, Extravagant, and Weirdly Lovable

New Getaway Means Subaru Has an Electric SUV in Every Size

pCloud Easter Special: One Payment, Lifetime Storage for Entire Family (68% Off)

Getting Stuck Inside a Glitching Robotaxi Is a Whole New Thing to Be Scared of

Artemis 2 Live Updates: Humanity’s Epic Return to the Moon 🔴

NASA’s Artemis 2 Mission Blasts Off

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

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