A big chunk of space junk came crashing down in California, and it’s just been identified
When a farmer in Hanford, California took a casual stroll out to his walnut orchard recently, the last thing he expected to find was a …
Space
China wants to put a big fake moon in orbit to reflect sunlight back down at night
The Moon is great, but apparently it’s just not enough for the city of Chengdu in China. Not satisfied with the meager light the Moon …
NASA is playing a ‘claw game’ on Mars, and it’s even more complex than your local arcade
Scoring a stuffed animal or small trinket from a classic claw game at your local arcade can leave you feeling frustrated and full of rage, …
NASA’s Chandra spacecraft snaps out of ‘safe mode’ funk, resumes operations
It was only a few days ago that NASA announced its Chandra X-Ray Observatory was experiencing a bit of unexpected downtime. The spacecraft was forced …
Scientists are going to face off in Los Angeles to decide where the next Mars rover lands
Hey, we’re going to Mars! Well, not us specifically, but NASA is, and they really need to know where to land before they light the …
Massive planets spotted near young star leave astronomers scratching their heads
Astronomers have a pretty good handle on how stars and the planets around them form, and it’s believed to be a process that takes many …
Russia thinks it knows why its trusty Soyuz rocket failed
Last week’s seemingly routine Roscosmos launch to the International Space Station went a bit sideways after the rocket carrying a NASA astronaut and his Russian …
NASA’s one last hope for reviving the Opportunity rover may rest with Mars itself
With NASA’s Hubble and Chandra spacecraft both choosing the same week to malfunction, it’s obviously been a trying time for space agency engineers who are …
Now there’s something wrong with NASA’s Chandra spacecraft, too
It’s been something of a rough week for NASA. First, news broke that the legendary Hubble space telescope has been forced to enter a safe …
The failed Soyuz rocket looked like a giant needle and thread from space
Traveling to the International Space Station is a pretty special thing that only a very select group of people will ever have the opportunity to …
Astronomers now have the dumbest possible name for a moon that’s the moon of another moon
If you gaze up at the night sky there’s a good chance you’ll spot Earth’s only large natural satellite. We just called it “the Moon,” …
Japan forced to delay touchdown of asteroid probe because it’s too darn rough
Japan’s Hayabusa-2 asteroid probe has already completed a number of scientific firsts. It successfully entered orbit around the Ryugu asteroid, deployed a pair of rovers …
Astronauts headed for ISS forced to make emergency landing after in-flight rocket failure
It’s been an interesting couple of months for Russia’s space program. Everything had been going quite smoothly for Roscosmos ahead of the bizarre hole discovered …
More mysterious radio signals heard in deep space, and scientists are still baffled
Humans love staring at images of distant galaxies snapped from high-powered telescopes, but sometimes listening instead of looking can yield even more tantalizing hints at …
Scientists claim we haven’t found alien life because we haven’t been looking hard enough
If intelligent alien life exists somewhere in space it’s abundantly clear that we haven’t made meaningful contact with it yet. Various scientific bodies have devoted …
NASA says it’s doing everything it can to keep Hubble alive as long as possible
It was just yesterday that news began to spread about NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope experiencing some downtime due to a gyroscope issue, and today NASA …
Jupiter’s Europa might be a spiky, dangerous place to land a ship
As telescope technology and other observational tools has improved over the decades we’ve learned more and more about the planets and moons in our Solar …
NASA’s Voyager 2 is about to break out of the Solar System
NASA’s Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft have been cruising through space since 1977. For the past forty years or so they’ve been speeding along …
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch gave California residents another scare
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket into space Sunday evening, ferrying a satellite into orbit and then successfully landing its rocket back down on land …
There’s something wrong with the Hubble Space Telescope
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most reliable pieces of hardware ever launched into Earth orbit. It’s been peering into the depths of …
Saturn’s iconic rings are raining thousands of pounds of material onto the planet every second
Some people love when it rains, but even the most devoted storm-lovers here on Earth would have a hard time dealing with the conditions on …
Michigan man’s doorstop rock turns out to be a $100,000 meteorite
You probably don’t have many incredibly valuable artifacts laying around your house, but if you did you almost certainly wouldn’t be using them as doorstops, …
After nearly 200 days, three ISS crew members land safely back on Earth
A trio of scientists who spent nearly 200 days in space have now landed safely back on Earth after departing the International Space Station. NASA’s …
Planet-sized object 8,000 light years away could be the first alien moon ever found
Spotting a planet orbiting a star 8,000 light-years away isn’t exactly easy, but modern telescope technology has allowed astronomers to accomplish such feats with shocking …
NASA issues statement walking back some comments by Russian officials on ISS leak
The story of the strange hole in a Russian vehicle attached to the International Space Station continues to get stranger. Just yesterday comments from the …
Japan’s asteroid probe sends lander to surface, delivers another ‘first’ photo
The Japanese asteroid probe Hayabusa-2 has already delivered some gorgeous images from its orbit around the asteroid Ryugu which it arrived at a number of …
Astronomers spot a new object orbiting the Sun that supports the Planet Nine theory
There are officially eight planets in our Solar System — yes, I know, Pluto was totally a planet, but not anymore — but that doesn’t …
Traveling to Mars could give you gut cancer, and that’s not good
Getting a manned mission safely to Mars would be the greatest space-age accomplishment of all time. Humans have never visited another planet, and while we’ve …
Creepy skull-shaped asteroid will cruise by Earth after Halloween
If you were planning on holding a Halloween bash on October 31st, you might want to reschedule. A very special asteroid is going to make …
Moon-faring robotics startup ispace is going to catch a ride with SpaceX
SpaceX certainly has a lot on its plate already, with its BFR rocket under construction, a deadline with NASA, and a space tourist program all …
