NASA’s Perseverance rover has achieved a significant milestone on the Red Planet, having now completed exploration for 1,000 Mars days. The car-sized rover, along with its companion, the Ingenuity helicopter, touched down inside Mars’ Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021. Team members celebrated the milestone on Tuesday (December 12), noting, “Sol in, sol out! I completed 1,000 Martian days … and my work is far … Continue reading Perseverance rover celebrates 1,000 Mars days on the Red Planet

In the two and a half months following the safe landing of NASA’s inaugural asteroid sample-return mission on Earth, technicians have meticulously extracted over 70 grams of asteroid dust and pebbles from the spacecraft’s canister exterior. This quantity surpasses more than tenfold the amount ever retrieved from an asteroid, exceeding the threshold NASA had established for declaring the mission a success. Notably, some of the … Continue reading First look at asteroid dust brought to Earth offers surprises

Millennia ago, a celestial event unfolded in our galaxy as a star underwent a violent explosion, giving rise to the luminous supernova remnant known as Cassiopeia A—a subject of fascination for scientists over the decades. Recently, astronomers have unveiled an unprecedented, close-up view inside the remnants of the exploded star, thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope. This cutting-edge image promises to provide valuable insights … Continue reading Scientists discover ‘staggering’ features in massive Milky Way star explosion

The enigmatic X-37B space plane from the U.S. Space Force is gearing up for its seventh mission, with the Space Force and SpaceX completing final preparations for a scheduled Sunday evening launch (Dec. 10). The robotic X-37B will ride atop a Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with a 10-minute launch window opening at 8:14 p.m. If the launch is webcast … Continue reading SpaceX, US Space Force set to launch secretive X-37B space plane

SpaceX successfully deployed a new set of Starlink internet satellites into orbit in the early hours of Thursday morning (December 7th). The event marked the 90th orbital mission of 2023 for SpaceX, as a Falcon 9 rocket carried 23 Starlink spacecraft, lifting off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 12:07 a.m. Starlink constitutes SpaceX’s expansive and continually expanding broadband megaconstellation, delivering internet service … Continue reading SpaceX launches its 90th orbital mission of the year

NASA and its astronauts are commemorating the 25th anniversary of the International Space Station (ISS) being in orbit. To mark the occasion, the federal space agency organized a live conversation on Wednesday afternoon between the Expedition 70 crew and NASA Associate Administrator Robert Cabana and Joel Montalbano, the space station program manager. While the ISS officially launched on Nov. 25, 1998, a significant milestone occurred … Continue reading NASA celebrates 25th anniversary of the ISS with call to crew aboard the station

A gamma-ray space telescope engaged in scanning the cosmos has augmented its catalog with hundreds of potent dead stars. This inclusion of 294 stars, previously unidentified, elevates the count of gamma-ray pulsars in the Fermi catalog to over 340 objects. This marks a significant advancement from the telescope’s initiation in 2008, when fewer than 10 such pulsars were known, Science Alert reported. The recently unveiled … Continue reading Hundreds of Dead Stars Discovered Pulsing Gamma Rays

The James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled AzTECC71, a dusty star-forming galaxy from the early universe, challenging previous assumptions about the prevalence and composition of galaxies. This discovery provides new insights into cosmic history and the evolution of galaxies. Initially observed as a luminous blob through ground-based telescopes, AzTECC71 mysteriously disappeared in Hubble Space Telescope images. Now, the elusive entity has reemerged as a faint … Continue reading Webb Captures Mysterious Reappearance of a Ghostly Object

Astronomers have uncovered an unusual family of six planets located approximately 100 light years away from Earth. These exoplanets are larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune, placing them in a category known as sub-Neptunes, commonly observed around sun-like stars in the Milky Way. What distinguishes this discovery is that the planetary system exhibits resonance, indicating that the six planets engage in a celestial dance, … Continue reading 6-planet solar system found in Milky Way galaxy with all planets in sync

Last week, many were treated to a dazzling display of auroras thanks to strong solar activity. This week, the Earth is likely to be impacted by even more solar activity, without the aerial color show. Over the weekend, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) issued a geomagnetic storm watch for Monday and Tuesday, saying a “high speed stream from a coronal hole is expected to influence the … Continue reading Geomagnetic storm likely to impact Earth through Tuesday

Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) assumed manual control of an approaching cargo ship carrying numerous supplies following a malfunction in its automated rendezvous system. The unmanned cargo ship, named Progress 86, successfully docked with the ISS’s Russian-built Poisk module under the remote guidance of Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub. Monitoring its approach from inside the ISS, Kononenko utilized a system … Continue reading Cosmonauts dock Russian Progress cargo ship to ISS

On Tuesday, a gold-capped laser transceiver associated with the asteroid probe Psyche achieved a significant milestone by activating its laser for the first time. This Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment, conducted by NASA, successfully transmitted and received data encoded within a near-infrared laser from a distance of nearly 10 million miles in deep space (16 million kilometers). The laser beams communicated with the Hale … Continue reading NASA Probe Transmits Groundbreaking Laser Message From 10 Million Miles Away

SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket from the West Coast at 2:30 a.m. PST on Monday, carrying a payload of 22 Starlink satellites. This marked the 55th Starlink delivery mission of the year. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, heading southeast to reach a specific orbit of 183×178 miles (295×286 km) inclined at … Continue reading SpaceX Falcon 9 launches 22 Starlink satellites from California

During a spacewalk around the International Space Station, NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara accidentally released their toolbox, and the floating kit might be visible from Earth. The astronauts spent six hours and 42 minutes conducting maintenance work outside the ISS. Unfortunately, a satchel-sized bag containing tools floated away, now orbiting the Earth ahead of the space station. The incident was captured on camera … Continue reading Astronaut’s toolbag orbits Earth after escaping during spacewalk

The Taurid meteor shower is not yet concluded, as one of its two streams is poised to peak this weekend. During the peak activity of the Northern Taurids, a minor annual meteor shower, observers might witness the spectacle of bright meteors streaking across the night sky. While the Southern Taurids reached their peak on November 5, the Northern Taurids are anticipated to reach their peak … Continue reading Northern Taurid meteor shower could soon produce extra-bright meteors

On November 11, as the International Space Station soared over central Brazil at an altitude exceeding 262 miles, a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft successfully and autonomously docked with the station’s Harmony module at 5:07 a.m. EST. NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara oversaw the operations from the station. The Dragon was launched as part of SpaceX’s 29th contracted commercial resupply mission for NASA at … Continue reading SpaceX Dragon Docks to Station With Crucial Supplies and Science Cargo

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft, launched in October 2021 with a mission to explore Jupiter’s asteroids, captured an image of a smaller asteroid near Mars last week, yielding an unexpected revelation for scientists. The asteroid, dubbed Dinkinesh, which Lucy photographed, has unveiled a fascinating secret: it possesses a diminutive moon in orbit. This revelation came to light during Lucy’s close encounter with Dinkinesh within Mars’ primary asteroid … Continue reading NASA surprised to discover ‘dinky’ moon orbiting asteroid in close flyby

Researchers have uncovered the most ancient black hole to date, a colossal celestial entity that took shape a mere 470 million years following the occurrence of the Big Bang. The outcomes of this revelation, published on Monday, affirm long-standing theories that supermassive black holes were in existence at the inception of the universe. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory collaborated over … Continue reading Oldest black hole discovered dating back to 470 million years after the Big Bang

In our solar system, the diminutive rocky planet Mercury maintains its position as the closest body to the scorching sun, subject to unrelenting solar radiation seven times more intense than what we experience on Earth. Recent findings from astronomers, utilizing data collected by NASA’s now-retired Kepler space telescope, have unveiled a star in our Milky Way galaxy, encircled by a staggering seven planets, all enduring … Continue reading Astronomers find seven planets being ‘fried’ by their star

On Sunday, NASA initiated the launch of a new sounding rocket with the primary aim of investigating a celestial occurrence within the Cygnus Loop. This particular event pertains to a supernova remnant that transpired approximately 20,000 years ago. The Cygnus Loop is located at a distance of around 2,600 light years from our planet. The sounding rocket mission, bearing the name “Integral Field Ultraviolet Spectroscope … Continue reading NASA launches mission to 20,000-year-old supernova remnant to understand life cycle of stars

In a groundbreaking discovery, astronomers have, for the very first time, utilized data from the Keck II telescope to identify the presence of an infrared aurora on the planet Uranus. This remarkable finding has the potential to provide crucial insights into the enigmatic characteristics of the magnetic fields within our solar system’s planets, and it might also offer an explanation for why a planet as … Continue reading Uranus has a weird infrared aurora

Aboard China’s Shenzhou 16 mission, astronauts have been engaged in an intriguing experiment involving the cultivation of vegetables on the Tiangong space station. This initiative forms a crucial part of their preparations for future deep space exploration. The mission, under the command of Jing Haipeng, along with novice astronauts Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao, has been in residence on Tiangong since late May. They are … Continue reading Chinese astronauts harvest tomatoes, lettuce in space

The final component of NASA’s inaugural two-way laser communication relay system is poised to make its way to the International Space Station (ISS). Known as the ILLUMA-T terminal, this device, roughly the size of a large chest, will be loaded into the cargo hold of a Cargo Dragon spacecraft as part of SpaceX’s CRS-29 resupply mission, tentatively scheduled for November 5 or later. Once delivered … Continue reading SpaceX to launch final piece of NASA’s 1st two-way laser communications relay

During a recent spacewalk, one of the cosmonauts was struck on the visor by a contaminated tether as a pair of International Space Station (ISS) crew members ventured outside the station to investigate a radiator with a leak. The spacewalk was broadcast live on NASA TV, and the astronauts had multiple tasks to complete, with the focal point being the investigation of the radiator leak … Continue reading Spacewalk turns into space work as cosmonauts grapple with ISS leak

A recent space image has garnered considerable interest and raised intriguing questions. On September 7, 2023, NASA’s Juno mission snapped a picture of an area within one of Jupiter’s northern regions known as Jet N7, as reported by NASA. This image, portraying clouds and storms, drew the curiosity of scientists engaged in their studies, Fox News reported. NASA explained that the cloud formations on Jupiter … Continue reading NASA spacecraft snaps ‘face figure’ on Jupiter during close flyby of the planet