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The magnetic field of asteroids lasted for a surprisingly long time, a new research has found. According to it, it may have lasted for millions and millions of years – long enough to potentially protect life forms hitching through the solar system. Asteroids and Life Asteroids are considered to be minor planets, with the larger […]
SpaceX, the company responsible for shipping cargo on and off the International Space Station, which wants to implement global access to the internet with a swarm of satellites, has confirmed a $1 billion investment from Google and Fidelity.
I recently came across this really great infographic with the space events of 2015. This list is of course not exhaustive and some things may change their date (it’s still just January), but it’s a pretty good reference. Check it out: So, the main events are: Atlas V MUOS 3 Rocket Launch 2015 NASA Innovative […]
Even crippled, NASA’s Kepler telescope makes awesome findings: using data acquired previously, the telescope discovered three planets just a little bigger than Earth orbiting a star relatively close to our solar system. Kepler is a space observatory launched by NASA to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars launched back in 2009. Kepler’s main mission was to […]
NASA's Dawn spacecraft is getting closer to Ceres - the largest object from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The space agency released some new pictures of the dwarf planet, and while these aren't the best pictures of Ceres yet, as the shuttle moves closer and closer, the pictures will get better and better.
Scientists have observed a massive burst of radio waves, helping them narrow down the potential sources of these huge bursts of energy. These events, also called blitzars, last about a millisecond but give off as much energy as the sun does in a million years. These are quite possibly the most interesting and shocking sources of […]
Nibiru followers might have cause to rejoice, as Spanish astronomers report a novel hypothesis that suggests two Earth-sized planets might be hiding out in the outskirts of our solar system. Thousands of years after the first planets besides our own were discovered by ancient Babylonian astronomers, it seems like determining the number of planets in our solar is far from being settled, despite Pluto's unfortunate destitution.
Curiosity is preparing for its second drill on Mars - its eyeing a rock which may have a salty story to tell. The rock may be a former lake bed, from which all the water has evaporated.
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has officially begun its six month approach to the planet Pluto. This is the first time a human shuttle will flyby the icy dwarf planet.
Astronomers hunting for habitable Earth-like planets now believe that the best place to look is not around stars like our Sun, but rather around smaller, cooler stars—orange and red dwarfs. These are by far the most abundant stars in our galaxy, and all of them have at least one exoplanet.
The threat of a possible ammonia leak in the US sector of the International Space Station (ISS) forced the American astronauts to abandon their research and relocate to the Russian quarters. The hatch was reopened hours later after no leak was detected, NASA reported. Mission control, NASA/ESA confirmed there was no ammonia leak, hoping to get astronauts […]
For decades, astronomers have believed that meteorites are the building blocks of our solar system - the lego blocks for planets. But a new study from scientists at MIT and Purdue University suggests that this may not be the case after all - and we've given meteorites too much credit.
China’s has reached a new milestone in its space program – its latest spacecraft service module has entered orbit around the moon, after being successfully tested on Earth a few months ago. Chinese media reports that the service module of a test lunar orbiter has successfully began orbiting the Moon. The goal of this mission is to […]
The Sylacauga meteorite fell on November 30, 1954, at 14:46 local time (18:46 UT) in Oak Grove, Alabama, near Sylacauga. However, the meteorite is often called the Hodges meteorite - because it struck Ann Hodges, who became the first person confirmed to be hit by a meteorite.
It's a belated Christmas on the International Space Station - a shipment of much needed groceries arrived, delivered by SpaceX.
A new study may have finally found where Earth’s water came from. There are currently two competing theories, with one claiming that our planet generated its own water geologically, while the other suggests that water was brought by icy comets or asteroids from outside. A new study concluded that most of the water we see […]
Since it was first launched in 2009, the $600 Kepler mission has discovered more than 1,000 alien worlds. Arguably it's one of the most successful space mission in history so far, further cementing its status as a legend. The milestone was breached after eight newly confirmed exoplanets were added to the tally, two of which are very similar to Earth and thus could support alien life.
Following the success of his 2014 Cosmos, the famous astrophysicist and science communicator just nabbed a weekly late-night series for National Geographic Channel called Star Talk. The format and name have existed for some time online as a podcast, where Tyson regularly talks and debates science and major topics concerning it, often featuring celebrities, comedians and scientists as guests.
Many are already preparing for Christmas – some shopping for presents, some Christmas lights… the usual. But as you’re gearing up for the winter holidays, NASA is watching you. Well, they’re not really watching you, it’s more that they are monitoring light emissions from big cities – and they report that during the holiday season, patterns in […]
I usually don’t pay much attention to the “Person of the Year”, but this one is really special. Euronews, the largest European news channel has named “The Rosetta Team” as their “Person of the Year”. Why it matters It’s almost always politician, economists or humanitarians that take the laurels – and for good reason. The […]
As far as manned spaceflight is concerned, all attention seems to be directed toward Mars, which makes sense after all considering it’s the most Earth-like planet in the solar system. It’s not as hospitable as it was a few billion years ago, though, and because of the long trip that realistically takes at least two […]
If you’ve always wanted to choose the name of stuff from outer space but never got the chance… now’s your time to shine! NASA is offering you the chance to name one of the craters of Mercury in honour of the MESSENGER mission, which is nearing its final days. Apply or Vote HERE. NASA, together with Johns […]
NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover has discovered a tenfold spike in methane, an organic chemical which may indicate that there actually was life on Mars – or still is. The rover detected this high concentration in the atmosphere, as well as in a rock-powder sample collected by the robotic laboratory’s drill. Curiosity on the Red Planet Curiosity has […]
Only weeks after it became operational around Mars‘ orbit, NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission has uncovered a new process by which the solar wind can penetrate deep into a planetary atmosphere, past the ionosphere even this shouldn’t have been possible. It seems like a magic trick at the moment, but in time this mechanism […]
The European Space Agency (ESA) is the European equivalent of NASA. Recently, they’ve been uploading some amazing images on their website, so here is a selection of the best pictures they’ve published recently. The magnetic field of the galactic plane Ground Displacement in Bucharest, Romania South Kalimantan, Borneo Conducting skin experiments in outer space Vegetation […]
A nonprofit foundation called Mars One wants to build a human colony on Mars, and send people there on a one way mission. In order to facilitate the development of this colony, they have hosted a competition to find the best possible payload to fly to Mars. The winning design will be included in the scientific […]
When we think about Jupiter, we have a certain image in mind – the big red giant with a huge spot on its surface and rings around it. But if you look at it from “below” (from the southern Hemisphere), the planet looks entirely different, as the Cassini probe showed. “If you were to float […]
Space-based telescopes have been used to spot planets (even Earth-like planets) for years now, but this is the first time ever that a ground-based telescope has detected an Earth like planet. A telescope based on the ground in La Palma (one of the Canary Islands) called Nordic has found 55 Cancri e, an exoplanet two times bigger than […]
It’s like Christmas before Christmas – the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has started sending back images it took of the red planet, and there’s just so many fantastic stuff it feels like Christmas has come earlier this year. Now, the MRO sent back images peculiar features along the slopes of dunes: long, sharply defined grooves (pictured) that seem […]
It’s a glorious reminder, but a sad day as well. It’s been 42 years since humans have been on the moon… or anywhere else beyond low orbit for that matter. Apollo 17 was the final mission of the United States’ Apollo lunar landing program, and was the sixth and last landing of humans on the […]
For the first time, scientists may have found signals of dark matter. After analyzing reams of X-ray data, scientists in EPFL’s Laboratory of Particle Physics and Cosmology (LPPC) and Leiden University believe they could have identified the signal of a particle of dark matter. The substance, which was never observed, exists only as a theoretical cause […]
As you might remember, a few days ago we were telling you about the fantastic success of the Rosetta mission – a spacecraft launched by the European Space Agency which orbited a comet and sent landed a probe on it. Now, we already have the first result: Earth’s water probably didn’t come from comets. Did […]
New experimental research found that Saturn’s largest Moon, Titan, has much stronger winds than previously believed. These rogue winds actually shape the hydrocarbon dunes observed on its surface. Titan is, along with Earth, one of the few places in the solar system known to have fields of wind-blown dunes on its surface. The only other ones […]
New evidence beamed back by the Curiosity rover and analyzed by NASA JPL scientists suggests that the Gale Crater on Mars had large lakes, rivers and deltas for millions or tens of millions of years. The implications are huge, since if Mars ever had a chance of fostering life, it needed to not only have flowing water […]
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has set sail to Ceres – one of the most intriguing objects in our solar system. Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, containing a third of all the mass in the asteroid belt. The unmanned Dawn spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at Ceres in early 2015, […]
A NASA probe has taken a picture of a surprising pie-like geological feature on Mars. Scientists are not yet sure what caused the feature, but the likely culprit is lava. The 1.2 mile (1.9 km) wide feature was imaged by the HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) appears like an island of iron in […]
Nine years and three billion miles later, NASA’s New Horizon probe awoke once it neared a strip close to Pluto. The probe was kept in hibernation for more than two thirds of its trek and will is soon expected to finally explore the dwarf planet and, most importantly, the world that surrounds it – the Kuiper belt. […]
Pulsars and black holes, two of the most enigmatic celestial bodies in the Universe may actually hold the key to understanding how Einstein’s theory of relativity and gravity interact. A pulsar is a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation. Pulsars are from when a star that turns becomes a supernova and then […]
A series of setbacks, including a strayed boat, gusts of wind and other technical issues, have ruined NASA’s plans of launching its much anticipated Orion capsule into space today. Just before the launch window closed, officials announced that the launch would be scrubbed until a later time. The next attempt might be on Friday, 7:05am ET. […]
Only a couple of weeks ago, a historic rendezvous between the Rosetta spacecraft and Comet 67P was made after a 10-year round-trip journey of four billion miles. Most importantly, the Rosetta deployed its lander, Philae, safely on the comet’s surface which is set to soon beam back important information pertaining to the comet’s inner composition and other details. For […]
Many thousands of miles above our planet’s surface, electrons whiz through close to the speed of light. These electrons can streak past Earth in under five minutes, but can also become dangerous and have been known to destroy satellites and even injure astronauts in extreme cases. Most of the time, however, our gear and astronauts can rest […]
UPDATE: The Hayabusa 2 probe was successfully launched late Tuesday night from the Tanegashima Space Cente While just two weeks ago we were telling you about the European Rosetta mission which orbited a comet and ultimately sent a lander to the surface of the comet, now, the Japanese space agency, JAXA, is preparing to one-up Rosetta: they […]
As a teen, I was fascinated by Sci-Fi novels – I loved reading about the future and humanity – Isaac Asimov, A. E. van Vogt and George Martin were my idols (yes lads, he was writing science fiction before Game of Thrones). After that, I started to watch a lot of movies and documentaries – […]
Tuesday morning, ministers from each of the 20 nations involves in the European Space Agency will meet to decide how they should fund their next missions. The plan is to come to terms with developing a much sought after upgraded version of the Ariane rocket, which services satellite launches – the bread and butter of the […]
An experiment fortuitously called DARE (DNA atmospheric re-entry experiment) has come to a most unexpected conclusion: DNA can indeed survive full exposure to space flight and atmospheric re-entry. The findings were reported after DNA molecules placed onto the outer surface of a rocket were collected and analyzed upon its return. Moreover, even after bearing these extreme […]
Today, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving – a special time of the year when families gather together and share what they’re most grateful for. And they eat turkey, of course. While they may be hundreds of miles above their families’ home, the three astronauts aboard the International Space Station upheld the tradition and had their own Thanksgiving meal, […]
For a long while astronauts coming back home from the ISS would complain how bad the coffee is in Earth’s orbit. Of course, one might say there’s little room for frivolities when tasked with a mission of such importance as an ISS astronaut. Coffee can wait, so can pastas, sex or cats. The world’s space […]
What’s that – a starfighter? Ambitious as he may be with his SpaceX ventures, Elon Musk isn’t quite there yet. What he recently unveiled is a new rocket configuration called “X-wing” – like the epic Star Wars spacecraft – that is going to help the next, upgraded version of the Falcon 9 to land itself […]
This is an article by Dave Syndergaard, professor in the Space Studies program at the American Public University. Miraculous. That’s the first word that comes to my mind when I think about the European Space Agency (ESA) mission to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gersimenko. The Rosetta spacecraft and its lander, Philae, recently reached 67P after a 10-year round-trip journey of […]
As we were telling you already in several articles, the Rosetta probe is in orbit of a comet – the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet. But to make things even more exciting, Philae, Rosetta’s lander, also made contact with the comet; among other things, the lander found carbon molecules on the comet – the basis of life on Earth. Considering […]
