Space SpaceX Secures $733M U.S. Space Force Contract for National Security Launches This significant contract further cements SpaceX’s role as the only certified provider for these critical launches, with competitors Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance (ULA) still awaiting certification for national security missions.
Space NASA's Perseverance Rover Captures a "Face" on Mars, Sparking Curiosity The photo showcases a rock formation that remarkably resembles a human face with a somber expression. This unusual discovery earned the title of "Image of the Week" for September 22-28, 2024, following a public vote.
Space Could Alien Life Exist Without a Planet? Scientists Explore New Possibilities Challenging the traditional view that life must thrive on planets, researchers now theorize that simple life forms could exist in free-floating colonies in space, drawing from Earth-based examples like the resilient tardigrade.
Space NASA’s Perseverance Rover Discovers Mysterious Green Spots on Martian Rocks While the Perseverance team couldn’t place its instruments close enough to examine the spot’s exact composition, they’re hopeful future samples might unlock further clues about Mars’ watery past and potential for life.
Space Astronomers Capture Breathtaking Image of Star-Studded Rosette Nebula While it appears faint through telescopes, the long-exposure image taken by DECam reveals its true splendor, showing the dense molecular clouds and “elephant trunks”—dark, dust-filled pillars believed to contain nascent stars.
Space Water and Hydroxyl Found Across the Moon's Surface The study, based on data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) aboard India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission, reveals water-bearing minerals present across all lunar latitudes, even in areas exposed to sunlight.
Space Hubble Captures Explosive Star Duo in Mesmerizing Detail The material from these stellar eruptions now extends roughly 248 billion miles from the central core, showcasing one of the most spectacular examples of symbiotic star interaction in our galaxy.
Space Curiosity Rover Uncovers Clues to Mars’ Shift from Wet to Barren Researchers analyzing samples from Gale Crater found carbon-rich minerals called carbonates, which likely formed billions of years ago under conditions that alternated between being suitable and hostile for life.
Space NASA's Perseverance Rover Captures Stunning Solar Eclipse on Mars This rare event was recorded using Perseverance's Left Mastcam-Z camera, providing a striking view of Phobos' irregular, asteroid-like shape against the sun’s bright backdrop.
Space Astronomers Solve 30-Year Mystery of Brown Dwarf Gliese 229 B Once believed to be a single failed star, new research reveals that it is actually a pair of closely orbiting brown dwarfs, now named Gliese 229 Ba and Gliese 229 Bb.
Space Martian Dusty Ice May Harbor Conditions for Life, Scientists Suggest The findings suggest that despite the planet's hostile conditions, thin "habitable zones" might exist under the ice, where ancient life could have survived in more water-abundant eras.
Space Axiom Space and Prada Reveal Futuristic Moon Suit for NASA’s Artemis III Mission This historic mission will be the first crewed moon landing since 1972, and the AxEMU spacesuit will outfit the first woman and the first person of color to walk on the lunar surface.
Space NASA Launches Europa Clipper to Investigate Life on Jupiter’s Moon The spacecraft is set to arrive in the Jupiter system in 2030. Once there, Europa Clipper will conduct 49 flybys of the moon, using a suite of advanced instruments to study its icy surface and subsurface ocean.
Space NASA Finds More Ice on the Moon Than Previously Thought The breakthrough comes from the LEND (Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector) instrument, which detected signs of hydrogen in the lunar surface, suggesting the presence of ice.
Space Dwarf Planet Ceres May Hold a Frozen Ocean Beneath Its Surface Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, has long intrigued researchers due to its unique features, including craters and bright spots that hint at the presence of water.
Space NASA’s Juno Discovers Massive New Volcano on Jupiter's Moon Io This discovery was made by comparing recent images taken by Juno in February 2024 with older images from NASA’s Galileo spacecraft, captured over 25 years ago in 1997.
Space ESA's Juice Confirms Earth Is Habitable as It Prepares for Jupiter Mission While the results were unsurprising, they ensure that Juice will be ready to search for potential life-supporting environments when it reaches Jupiter's moons, including Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa.
Space NASA’s Perseverance Rover Discovers Mysterious Striped Rock on Mars Preliminary analysis suggests that the stripes may have been created through volcanic or metamorphic processes, though its exact origin remains unclear. One theory is that Freya Castle may have rolled down from higher up the crater wall.
Space Curiosity Rover Captures Historic Image of Earth and Mars’ Moon Phobos The image, released by NASA on September 13, features a rocky Martian landscape with Earth and Phobos visible in the upper right. An inset zooms in on the two celestial bodies for closer inspection.
Space Hubble Captures Rosy View of Andromeda, Milky Way's Neighbor Known as the closest major galaxy to the Milky Way, Andromeda sits about 2.5 million light-years away and spans roughly 152,000 light-years across, making it comparable in size to our galaxy.
Space NASA Releases First Image of Deployed Solar Sail in Space The solar sail, about half the size of a tennis court, relies on sunlight to create pressure, allowing it to navigate space without fuel. This technology is expected to be a game-changer for future missions, reducing fuel costs.
Space NASA Transforms Cosmic Images into Sound, Revealing the Universe’s Hidden Symphony Using data from Chandra, the James Webb, Hubble, and Spitzer space telescopes, scientists created a soundscape that starts from the neutron star at the center and moves outward.
Space Hubble Captures Distant "Cosmic Fossil" Offering Insight into Early Universe This dwarf spheroidal galaxy, much smaller and dimmer than typical galaxies, contains very little dust and has a stellar population that is skewed toward older stars.
Space Scientists Recreate Mars’ Mysterious ‘Spiders’ in NASA Lab The experiment confirmed the leading theory, known as the Kieffer model, which suggests that the spiders form when sunlight heats carbon dioxide ice, causing it to sublimate directly into gas.
Space Historic First: Non-Professional Astronauts Complete Spacewalk on SpaceX's Polaris Dawn Mission The mission, funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, aimed to test new technologies for future space exploration. Alongside Isaacman, the crew included retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Scott Poteet and two SpaceX employees.
