Collaborate Disseminate
Researchers just can’t seem to keep their hands off asteroid Itokawa, and with good reason. Following on from the discovery of pyroxene, which contains water in its crystal structure, in a sample taken from the stony space mass, another team at the Uni… Continue reading Table salt found in asteroid shakes up how water surfaced on Earth
When Meatloaf sang “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” in 1977, we’re all but certain he was not doing the math on the potential of planets in the galaxy having the right conditions to harbor life. Because new findings suggest that two out of three are actual… Continue reading New findings suggest hundreds of millions of planets may harbor life
Sir Richard Branson’s space launch company Virgin Orbit has closed its doors and ceased to exist after the United States Bankruptcy Court in the District of Delaware broke it up and sold off its assets to bidders. This comes after a failed attempt to c… Continue reading Virgin Orbit crashes out of the space race as assets are sold off
After an initial disappointment, Jeff Bezos is back in the Moon business. NASA selected Blue Origin’s Blue Moon crewed lander for the space agency’s Artemis V mission to the lunar South Pole in 2029 under a firm-fixed price contract of (US)$3.4 billion… Continue reading Bezos gets his Moon wish with $3.4 billion lunar lander contract
Finally, a promising upgrade to the antique space radio systems that make orbital data transfer so ridiculously slow. Terran Orbit has set a new record for transmitting at high-speed from space to Earth as NASA’s Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator 3 (P… Continue reading High-speed orbital data link drags space communications out of the ’60s
A new, Earth-sized planet has been discovered only 90 light-years away from us. In astronomical terms, that’s right next door. What’s more, it might be capable of supporting life.Continue ReadingCategory: Space, ScienceTags: Exoplanet, TESS, Spitzer, v… Continue reading New Earth-sized planet discovered, and it may be able to support life
In a close encounter of the Jovian kind, NASA’s Juno deep space probe has made its closest flyby yet of Jupiter’s volatile moon Io. During its 51st orbit of the giant planet, the solar-powered robotic spacecraft came within 22,600 miles (35,500 km) of … Continue reading Jupiter probe Juno has close encounter with fiery Io
The new BlackGEM telescopic array at the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO’s) La Silla Observatory in Chile has officially begun scanning the southern skies, searching for the sources of gravitational waves.Continue ReadingCategory: Space, ScienceTa… Continue reading New trio of telescopes scans the southern sky for gravitational waves
ESA’s Juice Jupiter mission is back on track after Mission Control in Darmstadt, Germany managed to shake loose and deploy the stuck ice-penetrating Radar for Icy Moons Exploration (RIME) antenna that was stuck due to a tiny pin.Continue ReadingCategor… Continue reading Success: Juice radar antenna breaks free after remote control thump
Space startup Vast has announced that it intends to launch what it calls the world’s first commercial space station, Haven-1, sometime after August 2025 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as the first element of a 100-m (330 ft) rotating station.Continue Re… Continue reading Startup Vast plans first commercial space station for launch in 2025