An object lurking in the outer region of our solar system may well be the elusive Planet 9, a leading British astronomer has suggested after digging through the telescope archives of 250,000 point sources. Possible evidence of a mysterious planet up to 10 times bigger than Earth, with a distant …
Read More »NASA Delays Return to the Moon to 2025
NASA on Tuesday delayed putting astronauts back on the moon until 2025 at the earliest, missing the deadline set by the Trump administration. The space agency had been aiming for 2024 for the first moon landing by astronauts in a half-century. In announcing the delay, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said …
Read More »NASA, SpaceX delay ISS mission due to bad weather
NASA and SpaceX have delayed a mission sending four astronauts to the International Space Station to avoid “a large storm system,” the agency said Saturday. The astronauts of “Crew-3” were due to launch aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft named “Endurance” fixed atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space …
Read More »China tested new space capability with hypersonic missile: Report
China has tested a new space capability with a hypersonic missile, the Financial Times reported on Saturday. The report, citing multiple sources familiar with the test, said Beijing in August launched a nuclear-capable missile that circled the Earth at low orbit before descending toward its target, which three sources said …
Read More »NASA’s Lucy mission blasted into outer solar system to study Trojan asteroids & planetary evolution
An ambitious project aiming to learn more about the birth and development of the solar system has launched from Florida ahead of a 12-year mission to reach asteroids near Jupiter. Given the same name as a skeleton of a human ancestor that provided scientists with insight into evolution, the Lucy …
Read More »Space mission to Mercury gets first glimpse of the planet
Joint European-Japanese mission to Mercury gets its first glimpse of the planet A joint European-Japanese spacecraft got its first glimpse of Mercury as it swung by the solar system’s innermost planet while on a mission to deliver two probes into orbit in 2025. The BepiColombo mission made the first of …
Read More »Smoke detected in Russian module on space station – Roscosmos
A smoke alarm was activated in a Russian service module on the International Space Station (ISS), the Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Thursday, and Russian news agencies reported that cosmonauts had smelled burning plastic. The RIA news agency quoted Roscosmos as saying all systems were later working properly. Plans …
Read More »NASA looking for paid volunteers for simulated Mars mission, here are the conditions:
NASA is currently recruiting applicants for participation as crew members for a simulated Mars mission set to begin next year. Successful applicants will join a one-year analog mission in habitat to simulate life in a distant world to prepare NASA for real-life challenges of future missions to Mars, with the …
Read More »UAE’s Hope Probe captures crystal-clear image of Mars’ surface
The United Arab Emirates’ Hope probe mission captured a striking image of Mars, taken from an altitude of around 1,325 kilometers above the red planet’s surface. The image, which was obtained on March 15 this year, was shared on the Hope Mars Mission’s official Twitter account on Sunday and has …
Read More »Jeff Bezos offers to cover $2 billion in NASA costs for lunar lander contract
NASA in April awarded Elon Musk’s SpaceX with a sole $2.89 billion contract to build the next crewed lunar lander under its Human Landing Systems program. Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos on Monday offered to cover billions of dollars of NASA costs in exchange for a contract to build a …
Read More »Chinese spacecraft returns to Earth after inaugural flight
A Chinese spacecraft capable of flying to the edge of the atmosphere took off and returned to Earth on the same day in what China said was a big step towards developing reusable space transportation technology. The spacecraft lifted off from a launch center in northwest China on Friday and …
Read More »WATCH: Astronauts at China’s new space station conduct their 1st spacewalk
The first astronauts to arrive at China’s new space station carried out their debut spacewalk, marking only the second time the country’s astronauts have ventured out of their craft while in orbit. Tang Hongbo, Nie Haisheng, and Liu Boming docked with the Tiangong space station in June, beginning a three-month …
Read More »Blue Origin flight: Wally Funk, 82, to join Jeff Bezos space flight
An 82-year-old woman who has spent six decades trying to reach space will join Jeff Bezos on the first human flight by his space company later this month. Wally Funk was one of the “Mercury 13” who underwent training in the 1960s. Mr. Bezos has invited Ms. Funk as an …
Read More »Hubble findings deepen mystery surrounding galaxy missing dark matter
The search is on for more galaxies lacking Hubble findings deepen the mystery surrounding galaxy missing dark matter, with more work needed in order to understand how these galaxies formed without dark matter.
Read More »China to launch first human spaceflight since 2016
Shenzhou-12, meaning ‘Divine Vessel’, will be the third of 11 missions needed to complete China’s space station by 2022. A Chinese spacecraft will blast off from the Gobi Desert on a Long March rocket in the coming days, ferrying three men to an orbiting space module for a three-month stay, …
Read More »$28M is winning bid for seat aboard Blue Origin’s 1st human space flight
For $28 million, a civilian will see space. That’s the winning bid for a seat aboard the New Shepard when Jeff Bezos’ space tourism venture Blue Origin flies people to space for the first time next month. The live auction lasted under 10 minutes Saturday, after opening at $4.9 million …
Read More »NASA investigating UFO sightings, agency chief says: Report
NASA is now on the perplexing UFO case. NASA chief Bill Nelson, who assumed his post just last month, has asked agency researchers to look into the spate of UFO sightings that U.S. Navy pilots have reported over the past two decades, media reported. “Now that I’m here at NASA, …
Read More »NASA Announces First Missions to Venus Since the ‘80s
NASA has just approved two missions to Venus that will provide the scientific community with a wealth of new data on Earth’s closest planetary neighbor. “The combined results of these missions will tell us about the planet from the clouds in its sky through the volcanoes on its surface all …
Read More »Milky Way photographer of the year 2021 – in pictures
The annual Milky Way photographer of the year competition features the best photos of our galaxy as selected by Capture the Atlas. This year’s images were taken from around the world by 25 photographers of 14 different nationalities. The best time to see and photograph the Milky Way is usually …
Read More »NASA’s Mars helicopter goes on wild ride after navigation error, but is “ready to fly again”
A navigation timing error sent NASA’s little Mars helicopter on a wild, lurching ride, its first major problem since it took to the Martian skies last month. The experimental helicopter, named Ingenuity, managed to land safely, officials at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported Thursday. “Despite unexpected motion from an image …
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