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Source: Visit website In The News: HELSINKI — The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is backing a new suite of diverse, cutting edge missions, advancing its ambitious agenda in space science. The initiatives—spanning lunar farside astronomy, astrophysics, exoplanets and heliophysics—aim to place China at the forefront of astronomical research and space exploration. Wang Chi, director of the National Space Science Center (NSSC) under CAS, revealed the missions at the annual Zhongguancun Forum meeting April 27. Selected missions include Discovering the Sky at the Longest Wavelength (DSL), the Enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry (eXTP) mission,...

Source: Found here Dwight was selected by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to enter an Air Force training program known as the path to NASA's Astronaut Corps. When he got the letter in 1961 offering him the opportunity to be the first Black astronaut, "I thought these dudes were crazy," Dwight told national correspondent Jericka Duncan in 2022. "So, all these White folks that I'm dealing with, I mean, my peers, the other guys that were astronaut candidates and the leadership was just horrified at the ide...

More details: Found here In The News: Boeing's Starliner spacecraft will not fly private missions yet, officials say | Space The spacecraft's program manager, Mark Nappi, told reporters Thursday (April 25) the company is very focused on flying the first Starliner mission for NASA with astronauts on board. That mission, Crew Flight Test (CFT), will see NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams rocket to space aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket no earlier than May 6. "It [CFT] really is all of our attention at this point," Nappi said during a telephone press conference from the launch area at NASA's Ke...

Read more: Found here This week, China returns to the Moon with the Chang'e-6 mission, making the first-ever attempt to collect samples from a site on the far side, near the lunar South Pole. SpaceX also plans to keep up its high cadence with the launch of the long-delayed WorldView Legion satellites from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California. Additionally, two further Starlink missions are scheduled to launch this week, with the second Starlink mission possibly completing a r...

Source: Visit website Late last year, NASA scientists pressed start on a highly anticipated space mission. Basically, they launched a spacecraft toward an asteroid that could very well be made entirely of metal, a composition that appears to be a rarity ⁘ at least, in our solar system's vicinity. The robotic adventurer is called Psyche, and its namesake is the giant rock that guides its journey: 16 Psyche. Not only did it transmit data to Earth from Psyche's location at the time, about 140 million miles (225 million kilome...

The telescope went into safe mode on April 23. Safe mode is a protective mode that Hubble enters when it encounters a technical problem. It gives NASA a chance to diagnose and work on the glitch, but it also means Hubble isn't sending back any new science data. There is some good news, though. "Hubble's instruments are stable, and the telescope is in good health," the agency said. The gyros help Hubble point in the right direction. Three of Hubble's six gyroscopes are operational, but one of those three gave faulty readings that triggered the safe mode. The same gyro previously sent the telescope into safe mode in November, so it's a lingering problem. "The team is currently working to identify potential solutions," NASA said. "If necessary, the spacecraft can be re-configured to operate with only one gyro, with the other remaining gyro placed in reserve." ...

LONDON ⁘ A California-based startup wants to launch a constellation of orbiting mirrors, which will beam sunlight to solar power plants to boost renewable electricity production after dark. A prototype light-reflecting satellite could make its way to orbit next year. Ben Nowack, the founder and CEO of Reflect Orbital, introduced the company's plans at the International Conference on Energy from Space, held here last week. Reflect Orbital envisions a constellation of 57 small satellites orbiting Earth in a formation in sun-synchronous polar orbit, at an altitude of 370 miles (600 kilometers). In that orbit, the satellites would circle the planet from pole to pole while the planet rotates underneath them. The satellites would fly over each spot on Earth at the same time of the day, making two passes per 24 hours. Combined, the 57 satellites would provide an additional 30 minutes of sunshine to the powe...

The savvy marketers at Boston Dynamics produced two major robotics news cycles last week. The larger of the two was, naturally, the electric Atlas announcement . As I write this, the sub-40 second video is steadily approaching five million views. A day prior, the company tugged at the community's heart strings when it announced that the original hydraulic Atlas was being put out to pasture , a decade after its introduction. The accompanying video was a celebration of the older Atlas' journey from DARPA research project to an impressively nimble bipedal 'bot. A minute in, however, the tone shifts. Ultimately, "Farewell to Atlas" is as much a celebration as it is a blooper reel. It's a welcome reminder that for every time the robot sticks the landing on video there are dozens of slips, falls and sputters. The company's newly appointed CTO, Pras Velagapudi, recently told me tha...

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have found new evidence that further suggests there is a ninth planet in our solar system.⁘ Nicknamed ⁘Planet Nine,⁘ researchers said that the most recent data shows something big is able to pull objects from outer space toward our sun and these objects occasionally cross Neptune⁘s line of orbit.⁘ The most plausible explanation, according to some researchers, is that a planet is creating these interferences.⁘ ⁘Without Planet Nine, these objects can't be pushed inward past Neptune very often,⁘ Konstantin Batygin, lead author of the study and astronomer at Caltech, told FOX TV Stations.⁘ Below, the first panel shows a simulation with Planet Nine included. What⁘s more, these simulations actually align with what was observed over long-period orbits that cross Neptune⁘s path, Batygin explained.⁘ The Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile wi...

It would appear that the so-called "great instability" event that wreaked chaos among the planets, sending the gas giants careening through space until they settled into the orbits we know today, occurred between 60 and 100 million years after the birth of the solar system . This is the conclusion of some careful scientific detective work that has connected a type of meteorite to an asteroid that was once pushed around by those marauding planets. Thanks to studies of the compositions and locations of various types of asteroids and comets , scientists know the aforementioned carnage occurred early in the history of the solar system. Still, there are some puzzles yet to be solved when it comes to how exactly everything went down. For instance, scientists are aware that the objects in the solar system we see today, including Earth, formed around the sun from a disk of gas and dust. However, some o...

Public and government interest in the existence of UFOs has skyrocketed in the past year following testimony from former government officials about the existence of what are being called Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, or UAP. The Pentagon has confirmed the existence of a government database with at least 800 reports of "anomalous" objects , launching its All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in July 2022 to investigate what we know about mysterious sightings in the sky. One video posted on X, formerly Twitter , appeared to have caught such a sighting, showing a flying object in the desert, supposedly interfering with a U.S. nuclear tech site. The post included a video of what appeared to be a metallic object floating in the desert, attracting another metallic object toward it before it zoomed into the air and out of the shot. The original video was published four years ago on the Yo...

Propulsion is always a big deal when it comes to space missions. Every gram counts when going up into space, so the more energy-dense your fuel is the better. You also usually can't refuel once you are out there. An alternative solution, which doesn't have this problem, is using a solar sail . By taking advantage of the radiation pressure from sunlight, one can easily propel a spacecraft. This has been demonstrated several times but the technology still has challenges to overcome. So NASA is testing a new design dubbed the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System. It was deployed in orbit just a few days ago after flying on a Rocket Lab launch. To be effective, the deployed sails and booms need to be as light as possible. For this new experiment, NASA has developed new composite materials that are not just lighter but also stiffer than previous approaches to solar sails. "Booms have tended to...

Planet K2-18b – which is more than twice as big as Earth and 120 light-years away – sits within the habitable zone of its star in the Leo constellation.   Now, to confirm the finding, the James Webb Space Telescope will undertake hours of observations of the planet on Friday.   However, space fans will have to wait several months for the results to be authenticated and published. Investigations of planet K2-18b are being led by Dr Nikku Madhusudhan, an astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge.  He's called it a 'hycean' world – a relatively new term he coined for a rocky planet with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere and oceans of water. 'If we do detect DMS [on K2-18b] it does put it basically at the top for potential signs of habitability,' he told the Times .  Read more: See here

Russian astronaut Sergei Krikalev had to spend 312 days extra in space. What he saw after returning to Earth left him stunned. Sergei Krikalev, a Russian cosmonaut, was all set to be deployed to the Mir space station on a Soyuz spacecraft in 1991. Set against the backdrop of the Soviet Union's dissolution, the exploratory mission turned out to be a nightmare for the cosmonaut. Initially, marked as a five-month mission, Sergei returned to a changed Earth after almost a year. The Russian cosmonaut's prolonged stay put financial pressure on the country. To arrange funds, Russia decided to offer space station vacations to Western countries. With the rising talk of selling Mir, concerns sparked among the crew members, but they stayed because had they left Mir, it would have meant the end of the Space Station. In March 1992, Krikalev finally received the news that he would be replaced and could return to Earth. He landed near Arkalyk, in the independent Republic of Kazakhst...

NASA shared updated renders of the SpaceX and Blue Origin cargo landers that will bring rovers and other equipment to the Moon. Reference: Found here

Though the moon can sometimes seem like a distant destination for a rocket, the second newly-announced Lego kit takes in a much wider view of deep space. The Lego Art The Milky Way Galaxy set (no. 31212; $199.99 / ⁘199.99 / ⁘169.99) creates a colorful, dimensional map of our home galaxy, spanning more than 620,000,000,000,000,000 miles (1,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilometers or about 100,000 light years) in a 25.5-inch-wide (65-centimeter) mosaic. Lego's gorgeous recreation of our cosmic neighborhood features many galactic landmarks such as the Trappist-1 system, the Pleiades star cluster, the Crab Nebula and the Pillars of Creation. In addition to the astronomical sights, the mosaic also includes a "You are here" sign placed where our solar system is located and what looks to be a spacecraft (though only four probes have just barely left our solar system, with a fifth on its way). D...

Elon Musk's woes keep mounting . This time, it appears that employees at the founder's SpaceX facilities are getting injured at much higher rates than the industry average. Citing data the rocket company reported to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Reuters found that injury rates at SpaceX last year were higher than the year prior at some of the company's facilities , including its Texas and Florida locations. Moreover, according to a Reuters investigation conducted late last year, SpaceX has been dealing with workplace injuries since 2014. The publication found that there have been at least 600 reported injuries since it began its investigation, some of which include broken bones, concussions, amputations, and even one skull fracture. More details: Visit website

WASHINGTON — Companies ranging from Blue Origin to a startup are proposing concepts for missions to visit an asteroid before it makes a very close flyby of Earth in five years. The asteroid Apophis, about 350 meters across, will pass closer to the Earth than geostationary orbit on April 13, 2029, a flyby that scientists say happens only once every thousand years for an asteroid of that size. There is zero chance that the asteroid will hit Earth either in the 2029 flyby or subsequent flybys into the next century, but the close approach is of scientific interest. NASA has already agreed to send one mission to Apophis, using the main spacecraft for the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission. That mission, rechristened OSIRIS-APEX , will rendezvous with Apophis shortly after the asteroid's 2029 flyby. Scientists, though, are interested in sending additional missions to Apophis, particularly those t...

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is happy to announce Dr. Constance Meadors as the new director of the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium (ASGC) and NASA Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program. "I am only the third director since the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium began in 1991," she said. "I think it's a wonderful opportunity. My NASA experience started here at UA Little Rock conducting hybrid rocket research as a graduate student. Immediately upon entering the program, I was identified as the recipient of a NASA fellowship. That was the first time I became involved in NASA, and it was beyond anything I imagined as a young African American female from a small town. It feels like I have come full circle in coming back to the place where it all started." ASGC partners with 17 four-year universities and colleges across Arkansas, dedicated to ad...

Astronomers have used artificial intelligence to reconstruct a 3D video that shows a hot pocket of gas orbiting a stone's throw away from our galaxy's central black hole. For all its "supermassive" status, our resident behemoth, dubbed Sgr A*, is quiet as such black holes go. Perhaps due to strong magnetic fields that constrict its diet, it only picks at the gaseous buffet around it. Even so, it emits minor flares up to several times a day at X-ray, infrared, and radio wavelengths. These flares were a nuisance to the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) team, which produced an image of Sgr A*'s dark silhouette, based off of data collected in 2017. Now, Aviad Levis (Caltech) and collaborators, including several members of the EHT team, have utilized some of this 2017 data for a new project: following the motion of a flaring hotspot in the tumultuous gas flowing around the black hole. The...

If ever there was a way to distract from Tesla's lackluster corporate results on Tuesday, it was this: CEO Elon Musk declared during the company's earnings call that he hopes to sell "sentient humanoid" robots by the end of next year. Before then, the robots known as "Optimus" will likely be used at Tesla's factories sometime this year, he said. "I think Optimus will be more valuable than everything else [at Tesla] combined," Musk boasted. "If you've got a sentient humanoid that is able to navigate reality and do tasks…there is no meaningful limit to the size of the economy." Before the dawn of its not-yet-proven humanoid robot era, Tesla faces big financial issues in the short term. During the first quarter of the year, its profits tanked 55 percent—to $1.1 billion—the company announced Tuesday. Meanwhile, its revenue sank 9 percent, to $21.3 billi...

The simulation findings showed that the orbital properties of Neptune-crossing objects closely matched those predicted by a model that included Planet 9. Researchers may have found the "strongest statistical evidence" yet of Planet 9 (also called Planet X)⁘s existence.  For years, astronomers have been on the hunt for a mysterious planet that could be lurking in the farthest reaches of our solar system. In 2015, Caltech astronomers Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown (well known for reclassifying Pluto) presented compelling evidence for the existence of this hypothetical planet. They proposed that Planet 9 likely follows an unusually elongated orbit in the outer solar system. Previous studies have shown how Planet 9's gravitational impact could explain the strange orbits of objects in the outer solar system. The researchers ran computational simulations that included gravitational in...

Commissioned back in 2018 and launching into the cosmos in 2021, the NASA telescope is at the forefront of deep space discovery through its hi-tech equipment. Just this month, Webb found yet another supermassive black hole that was red in colour and devouring everything around it . It's also coming across some outright bizarre discoveries in the images it sends back to Earth, including a 'question mark' sitting in space in what is one of the most fascinating things scientists have ever seen. Sitting some 40 light years away from Earth and the solar system is a star known as TRAPPIST-1, which has seven planets orbiting it. Doug Hudgins, Exoplanet Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said that if they have atmosphere, Webb will then be 'key to unlocking their secrets'. Reference: Visit website

"Files of the Unexplained" features chilling encounters from people across the world. Events are what witnesses describe as "unexplainable and strange occurrences." For five decades, the story has been debated about what exactly took place on the Pascagoula River in October 1973. "We're celebrating that. We have had a lot of traction about that. It's been really good to see the story told on film. We're excited. It's been nearly 51 years. We have the marker underneath the Pascagoula Bridge where it happened. People are able to go and visit there whenever they like," said Susannah Northrop, Executive Director of Pascagoula Main Street. Read more: Visit website

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University of Florida Distinguished Professor Rob Ferl will be the first NASA-funded academic researcher to conduct an experiment as part of a commercial space crew on an upcoming mission of Blue Origin⁘s New Shepard rocket. Now, funded through a grant from NASA⁘s Flight Opportunities program, Ferl has an opportunity to personally conduct experiments on how the transition to and from microgravity impacts gene expression in cells and, more broadly, to develop protocols for future ⁘researcher-tended⁘ suborbital flights. ⁘The University of Florida is committed to the mission of space exploration and research,⁘ UF President Ben Sasse said. ⁘The discoveries that will result from this work will be breathtaking. We⁘re proud of Rob, grateful for our partners, and excited about the work ahead.⁘ Ferl and colleague Anna-Lisa Paul, also a professor of horticultural sciences, have spent their careers seeking to un...

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An independent review board  balked last year at the Mars Sample Return mission's "unrealistic" budget, highly complex mission design, and glaring management failures. Earlier this year, budget cuts forced the agency's Jet Propulsion Lab to let go of a whopping 530 employees , with NASA leaders racing to keep the MSR mission from imploding completely. The space agency announced this week that it would solicit proposals from the private space industry for "innovative designs" to return Martian samples collected and bagged by its Perseverance rover over the last couple of years. "Starship has the potential to return serious tonnage from Mars within [around] five years," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk suggested in a tweet earlier this week, responding to the announcement. "It's encouraging companies to use infrastructure built for Artemis," he told SA . "...

It will make a clean pass by our planet and is expected to reach speeds of more than 24,000mph. The asteroid is one of three which will pass Earth this weekend, with two others flying past on Saturday. 2024 GD5 is estimated to be between 11 metres and 24 metres in diameter and will fly past our planet at 3:39am. Any objects coming within 128million miles of Earth is technically considered an NEO. NEOs are relatively common, despite the scary-sounding name. These asteroids can also be incredibly far away from Earth and still be classified as an NEO by astronomers. NASA said: "As they orbit the Sun, NEOs can occasionally approach close to Earth. "Note that a 'close' passage astronomically can be very far away in human terms: millions or even tens of millions of kilometres. Occasionally, asteroids' orbital paths are influenced by the gravitational tug of planets, which cause their path...

Space science costs money. To study the Universe and the worlds within it, we have to employ scientists, build observatories and research facilities, and launch spacecraft — among other things. So why is it worth the money? What does space science do for society? Space science is a broad field that includes disciplines like astrophysics, cosmology, planetary science, and the study of space weather and space environments. Space science uses observational tools such as optical and radio telescopes, exploration missions such as orbiters and rovers, computational and theoretical methods, and more. All of this work aims to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and mechanics of the Cosmos and all that exists within it. The process of conducting space science also provides a societal benefit by being interrogative, rational, and collaborative. A society that cultivates these kinds of qualities enriches i...

This was the seventh flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which had previously launched ESA Euclid, Ax-2, Ax-3, CRS-30, and two Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage was planned to land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Source: Found here

Atlas, the humanoid robot that dazzled followers for more than a decade with its outdoor running, awkward dancing and acrobatic back flips, has powered down. In other words, it is retiring. On Wednesday, Boston Dynamics, the company that created it, announced the arrival of the next generation of humanoid robots — a fully electric robot (also named Atlas) for real-world commercial and industrial applications. For anyone worried about what would happen to the hydraulic bipedal machine (a robot home? the junkyard? a window display?) that was created for research purposes, the company had an answer. A spokesman, Nikolas Noel, said that retirement would mean that the Atlas would move to its "robot retirement home," which is to say that it would be "sitting in our office lobby museum" with other decommissioned robots. "For almost a decade, Atlas has sparked our imagination, inspire...

For years, some astronomers have been suggesting that unusual behaviour on the edge of our solar system is best explained by another, undiscovered planet. That helps explain the orbits of objects that lie at the very far reaches of our solar system, more than 250 times away from the Sun than we are. Now Konstantin Bogytin, an astronomer who helped popularise the theory, says that he and his team have found yet more evidence that suggests that planet exists. The new work represents "the strongest statistical evidence yet that Planet 9 is really out there", he said. The new work looked at those objects that have their movement made unstable because they interact with the orbit of Neptune. That instability meant they were harder to understand, so typically astronomers looking at a possible Planet Nine have avoided using them in their analysis. "This upcoming phase of exploration promises t...

A huge heart-shaped feature on the surface of Pluto has intrigued astronomers since NASA's New Horizons spacecraft captured it in a 2015 image. Now, researchers think they have solved the mystery of how the distinctive heart came to be — and it could reveal new clues about the dwarf planet's origins. The feature is called Tombaugh Regio in honor of astronomer Clybe Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto in 1930. But the heart is not all one element, scientists say. And for decades, details on Tombaugh Regio's elevation, geological composition and distinct shape, as well as its highly reflective surface that is a brighter white than the rest of Pluto, have defied explanation. A deep basin called Sputnik Planitia, which makes up the "left lobe" of the heart, is home to much of Pluto's nitrogen ice. The basin covers an area spanning 745 miles by 1,242 miles (1,200 kilometers by 2,000 ki...

"We don't have any evidence of any credible source that would indicate the presence of alien technology in our skies. And we never have," said Bill Diamond, president and chief executive officer of the SETI Institute, headquartered in Mountain View, California. "The idea that the government is keeping something like this secret is just totally absurd. There's no motivation to do so." Related: 'It's getting closer and closer for sure.' How SETI is expanding its search for alien intelligence (exclusive) SETI is a key research contractor to NASA and the National Science Foundation, and collaborates with industry partners throughout Silicon Valley. Space.com caught up with Diamond for a close-encounter with his own thoughts and counterpoints to claims of alien visitation and to ask whether there's any signal in all the UFO noise. Diamond said that, while we shou...

As NASA focuses on exploring the Moon, Mars, and the solar system for the benefit of humanity, the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) is shifting how it prioritizes technology development . As part of this refinement effort, NASA is asking the American aerospace community for feedback on nearly 190 national space technology needs – or shortfalls – it has identified for future space exploration and science endeavors. "Our ambitious future missions pose many unique challenges, and STMD is positioned – as the nation's tech base for civil space – to innovate and advance solutions for those problems," said Dr. Kurt Vogel, associate administrator for Space Technology at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "STMD is developing many critical technologies, but shifting to a more open and collaborative approach allows us to better prioritize our efforts and align with key stakehol...

From observing other stars, we know the possibility of such an as-yet-undiscovered world isn⁘t too far-fetched (figuratively speaking). In 2000, astronomers published a paper showing that an exoplanet might exist around the star HD 163296 at a distance of nearly 50 billion kilometers, over 10 times Neptune⁘s distance from the sun (not-so-humblebrag: I was an author on that paper), much farther out than models at the time suggested. Indeed, several planets were later found orbiting that star at great distances. So a priori, it⁘s possible a planet might exist in the cold, dark depths of our own solar system. It could even be quite large, the size of an ice giant like Neptune . Somewhat tongue-in-cheek, they gave this hypothetical planet the moniker Planet Nine (or P9), a bit of fun-poking at astronomers still unhappy that the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto⁘s planetary status in 2006 . And sinc...

NASA has selected a new crew of four volunteers to participate in a simulated mission to Mars within a habitat at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. HERA enables scientists to study how crew members adapt to isolation, confinement, and remote conditions before NASA sends astronauts on deep space missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Crew members will carry out scientific research and operational tasks throughout their simulated mission to the Red Planet, including a "walk" on Mars's surface using virtual reality. They will also experience increasing communication delays lasting up to five minutes each way with Mission Control Center as they "near" Mars. In a first for HERA, one crew member, Shareef Al Romaithi, hails from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and will participate in the mission through a partnership between NASA and the UAE's Mohammed Bin Rashid Spac...

Aerospace engineers entering the field today, or looking to advance in their careers, have a multitude of options. They can apply at traditional aerospace companies like Boeing or Lockheed, become government employees at NASA, or seek employment and glory at the next generation of aerospace companies, including private firms like Elon Musk's SpaceX or Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. Thanks to the higher profiles of these billionaire-owned companies, traditional aerospace firms and NASA are having difficulty recruiting engineers with the "right stuff," so to speak. Generous compensation packages undoubtedly aid in recruiting. Ann Richmond, deputy director of talent services at NASA, admitted to Fortune.com that NASA has "little bit of a tougher time" competing with private space companies when it comes to salary. According to Fortune.com, NASA uses the federal government's Gene...

By Jess Weatherbed , a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews. NASA has confirmed suspicions that the strange object that crashed into a Florida home last month did indeed come from the International Space Station (ISS). The agency analyzed the cylindrical object after it tore through the roof and two floors of a house in Naples on March 8th and established that it came from a cargo pallet of aging batteries that was released from the ISS back in 2021. It's not unheard of for space-related junk to find its way back to Earth — components from rockets launched by SpaceX and (more recently) the China National Space Administration have crashed into properties, for example, though such debris typically burns up in the atmosphere. NASA said that also should have happened in this incident, and it...

But after several years atop the space industry, rivaled only by nation states such as China, Elon Musk's space venture may finally be facing a space industry that has grown in its wake and is poised to challenge SpaceX on a number of fronts. Several space ventures, including Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, Rocket Lab and the United Launch Alliance — the joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing — are poised to debut new heavy-lift rockets this year to compete with SpaceX's Falcon 9 workhorse. The Pentagon is looking for another provider for the lucrative business of launching national security payloads. Boeing is set to finally launch a crew of astronauts for NASA to the International Space Station, giving NASA, which has relied on SpaceX for the past four years, another way for its astronauts to orbit. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.) And while SpaceX has dominated the internet satellite indus...

The hefty asteroid, named 2013 NK4, is around 2,000 feet (610 meters) wide, making it about twice the size of the "god of chaos" asteroid Apophis, which will make a superclose approach to Earth in 2029, EarthSky reported . The space rock made its closest approach to Earth at 10:50 a.m. EDT Monday (April 15), when it reached around 2 million miles (3.2 million kilometers) from our planet, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) . At the time, it was traveling at around 37,000 mph (59,000 km/h). The asteroid is big enough to destroy a large city and cause serious environmental impacts if it were to smash into Earth. According to NASA's calculations, the space rock will likely never get anywhere near impacting Earth. However, due to its size and proximity to our planet, it is still considered a potentially hazardous asteroid . While the asteroid poses no threat to Earth, its...

On April 8, 2024, the Moon's shadow swept across North America, treating millions to a breathtaking view of a total solar eclipse. As the Moon passed in front of the Sun, it revealed the Sun's wispy white outer atmosphere — the corona. Pictures of total solar eclipses are beautiful — they capture a moment happening so far away, yet feels so close at the same time. But being there in person, you experience it in 3D. The eclipse doesn't just appear in the sky. You feel it all around you. The light slowly dims, then suddenly engulfs you in darkness from every angle, while the Sun's corona emerges in the sky. Although you know totality is coming, its arrival can still be overwhelming. For some people, their hearts race or their eyes well up with tears. You try to absorb everything you can in those minutes: from the corona, to the planets peeking out around the eclipse, to the temperature drop...

These periodic orbits around a model of the Jupiter-Europa system show the varied and intricate possibilities that mission planners must knit together. To plan convoluted tours like this one, trajectory planners use computer models that meticulously calculate the trajectory one step at a time. The planning takes hundreds of mission requirements into account, and it's bolstered by decades of mathematical research into orbits and how to join them into complicated tours. Mathematicians are now developing tools which they hope can be used to create a more systematic understanding of how orbits relate to one another. "What we have is the previous computations that we've done, that guide us as we do the current computations. But it's not a complete picture of all the options that we have," said Daniel Scheeres , an aerospace engineer at the University of Colorado, Boulder. "I thin...