Earth’s atmosphere is shrinking due to climate change and one of the possible negative impacts is that space junk will stay in orbit for longer, bonk into other bits of space junk, and make so much mess that low Earth orbits become less useful. That miserable set of predictions appeared on Monday in a Nature Read more about Bad news for Starlink: Earth’s atmosphere is shrinking[…]
NASA and the Italian Space Agency made history on March 3, when the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) became the first technology demonstration to acquire and track Earth-based navigation signals on the Moon’s surface. The LuGRE payload’s success in lunar orbit and on the surface indicates that signals from the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Read more about NASA, ASI Blue Ghost Successfully Acquires GPS Signals on Moon lander Blue Ghost[…]
Blue Ghost, a NASA-funded lunar lander built and operated by the private U.S. company Firefly Aerospace, has successfully touched down on the moon. After 45 days in space—and a pulse-pounding semi-autonomous hour-long descent to its landing site—at 3:35 A.M. EST three of the boxy, car-sized spacecraft’s four footpad-tipped legs crunched into the surface of Mare Read more about Blue Ghost, a Private U.S. Spacecraft, Successfully Lands on the Moon[…]
In a statement adopted in October 2024, the American Astronomical Society declared that humankind’s scientific understanding of the universe is under threat from space activities, including the proliferation of satellite constellations, space debris, and radio- and electromagnetic interference. Of note is the potential for a space-based eyesore: giant billboards hanging out in low Earth orbit. Read more about Astronomers Call for Global Ban on Space Advertising Before It’s Too Late[…]
LignoSat was sent to the ISS in November 2024 on a mission to demonstrate that wood could be a viable material from which to build spacecraft. The goal of the satellite includes studying how the selected wood reacts when exposed to the environment of space and its resistance to cosmic radiation. Researchers will also monitor Read more about Japan’s wooden satellite leaves International Space Station • The Register[…]
The ionosphere is a layer of weakly ionized plasma bathed in Earth’s geomagnetic field extending about 50–1,500 kilometres above Earth1. The ionospheric total electron content varies in response to Earth’s space environment, interfering with Global Satellite Navigation System (GNSS) signals, resulting in one of the largest sources of error for position, navigation and timing services2. Networks Read more about Mapping the ionosphere with millions of phones[…]
The world’s first wood-panelled satellite has been launched into space to test the suitability of timber as a renewable building material in future exploration of destinations like the Moon and Mars. Made by researchers in Japan, the tiny satellite weighing just 900g is heading for the International Space Station […]. It will then be released Read more about LignoSat: First wood-panelled satellite launched into space[…]
The dawn of annoyingly massive satellites is upon us, shielding our views of the shimmering cosmos. Five of the largest communication satellites just unfolded in Earth orbit, and this is only the beginning of a Texas startup’s constellation of cellphone towers in space. AST SpaceMobile announced today that its first five satellites, BlueBirds 1 to Read more about Largest Commercial Satellites Unfurl, Outshining Most of the Night Sky[…]
Orbital mechanics is a fun subject, as it involves a lot of seemingly empty space that’s nevertheless full of very real forces, all of which must be taken into account lest one’s spacecraft ends up performing a sudden lithobraking maneuver into a planet or other significant collection of matter in said mostly empty space. The Read more about Lagrange Points visualised, explained and what satellites are parked there[…]
A Texas telecommunications startup launched its first five massive “BlueBird” communications satellites into orbit on September 12. Each device is nearly 700-feet-wide when fully deployed, and like BlueWalker 3—AST SpaceMobile’s 2022 prototype, also in orbit—every BlueBird will soon shine brighter than most stars and planets in the night sky. But despite the concerns of critics Read more about Five new massive satellites outshine most evening stars and will get bigger[…]
The U.S. Space Force is testing a new ground-based satellite jamming weapon to help keep U.S. military personnel safe from potential “space-enabled” attacks. The tests were conducted by Space Training and Readiness Command, or STARCOM, which is responsible for educating and training U.S. Space Force personnel. The satellite jammer is known as the Remote Modular Read more about Space Force tests small satellite jammer to protect against a ‘space-enabled attack’[…]
The mysterious brightening of a galaxy far, far away has been traced to the heart of the star system and the sudden awakening of a giant black hole 1m times more massive than the sun. Decades of observations found nothing remarkable about the distant galaxy in the constellation of Virgo, but that changed at the Read more about Astronomers detect sudden awakening of black hole 1m times mass of sun[…]
[…] The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has released the highest-resolution geological maps of the Moon yet. The Geologic Atlas of the Lunar Globe, which took more than 100 researchers over a decade to compile, reveals a total of 12,341 craters, 81 basins and 17 rock types, along with other basic geological information about the Read more about China releases most detailed Moon atlas ever made[…]
A spacecraft containing pharmaceutical drugs that were grown on orbit has finally returned to Earth today after more than eight months in space. Varda Space Industries’ in-space manufacturing capsule, called Winnebago-1, landed in the Utah desert at around 4:40 p.m. EST. Inside the capsule are crystals of the drug ritonavir, which is used to treat Read more about Varda Space, Rocket Lab nail first-of-its-kind spacecraft landing in Utah, bring back space grown drugs[…]
[…] how can we determine the mass of something larger, such as the Milky Way? One method is to estimate the number of stars in the galaxy and their masses, then estimate the mass of all the interstellar gas and dust, and then rough out the amount of dark matter… It all gets very complicated. Read more about Astronomers Measure the Mass of the Milky Way by Calculating How Hard it is to Escape[…]
Our planet sits in the Habitable Zone of our Sun, the special place where water can be liquid on the surface of a world. But that’s not the only thing special about us: we also sit in the Galactic Habitable Zone, the region within the Milky Way where the rate of star formation is just Read more about The Galactic Habitable Zone[…]
Astronomers have discovered stars that appear to be blowing out plumes of smoke. The “old smokers”, as they have been nicknamed, challenge our ideas of what happens at the end of giant stars’ lives. Generally, when red giant stars grow old, they begin to pulsate. They become brighter, dimmer, brighter again and so on, while Read more about Newly discovered smoking stars emit huge clouds.[…]
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed the smallest exoplanet where water vapor has been detected in its atmosphere. At only approximately twice Earth’s diameter, the planet GJ 9827d could be an example of potential planets with water-rich atmospheres elsewhere in our galaxy. GJ 9827d was discovered by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope in 2017. Read more about Hubble finds water vapor in small exoplanet’s atmosphere[…]
One promising technology is the Rotating Detonation Engine (RDE), which relies on one or more detonations that continuously travel around an annular channel. In a recent hot fire test at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, the agency achieved a new benchmark in developing RDE technology. On September 27th, engineers successfully tested a Read more about NASA Tests Out 3D-printed Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine![…]
[…] humans have sent over 15,000 satellites into orbit. Just over half are still functioning; the rest, after running out of fuel and ending their serviceable life, have either burned up in the atmosphere or are still orbiting the planet as useless hunks of metal. […] That has created an aura of space junk around Read more about Orbit Fab wants to create refueling stations in space, standardised fuel ports, refineries[…]
Before a massive star explodes as a supernova, it convulses and sends its outer layers into space, signalling the explosive energy about to follow. When the star does explode, it sends a shockwave out into its own ejected outer layer, lighting it up as different chemical elements shine with different energies and colours. Intermingled with Read more about JWST Delivers A Fantastic New Image Of Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A[…]
Scientists have discovered the first indication of nuclear fission occurring amongst the stars. The discovery supports the idea that when neutron stars smash together, they create “superheavy” elements — heavier than the heaviest elements of the periodic table […] “People have thought fission was happening in the cosmos, but to date, no one has been Read more about Nuclear fission seen for 1st time in space[…]
Sir Richard Branson is leaving his space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, to stand or fall on its own two feet after declaring that his business empire will not be tipping any more cash into the project. Branson told the Financial Times: “We don’t have the deepest pockets after COVID, and Virgin Galactic has got $1 Read more about Richard Branson’s wallet too small to support Space travel[…]
Dream Chaser, built by Sierra Space, is being prepped for transport to a NASA facility in Ohio, where it will undergo a series of tests to make sure the spaceplane can survive its heated reentry through Earth’s atmosphere. Starting these tests is crucial, demonstrating Dream Chaser’s readiness for flights and potentially transforming commercial space travel. Read more about World’s First Commercial Spaceplane Faces Crucial Test at NASA[…]
A team of astronomers have detected over 500 planet-like objects in the inner Orion Nebula and the Trapezium Cluster that they believe could shake up the very definition of a planet. The 4-light-year-wide Trapezium Cluster sits at the heart of the Orion Nebula, or Messier 42, about 1,400 light-years from Earth. The cluster is filled Read more about JuMBOs Planets – but without stars to orbit. So not planets according to definition[…]