Night has fallen for the star-tracking European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft, Gaia. The mission, which has been mapping the Milky Way for the last 12 years, shut down science operations on Wednesday (Jan. 15). The close of the mission’s data-collecting phase was necessitated by Gaia running low on cold gas propellant it uses to spin. …
ESA Spacecraft Shuts Down After 12 Years Of Milky Way Mapping. Read More »
Astronomers studying elusive supermassive black holes at the hearts of galaxies are intrigued not only by the cosmic behemoths themselves but also by the colossal jets they launch into space at near-light speeds, the biggest of which are known to span millions of light-years. In particular, the physics of what creates and accelerates these jets …
Astronomers Investigate Black Hole Jets With Event Horizon Telescope. Read More »
If you’re more of an auditory learner than a visual one, this timelapse video is for you. (And, well, visual learners will probably love it, too!) The European Space Agency (ESA) has released an audio-visual representation of solar activity over the last three years, pulling data from its Solar Orbiter probe, which it runs with …
Scientists Turn 3 years’ Worth Of Solar Flares Into Audible Sound. Read More »
SpaceX launched another set of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida’s Space Coast this morning (Jan. 13). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink craft, including 13 with direct to cell capabilities, lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 11:47 a.m. EST (1647 GMT). The first stage booster returned to Earth about …
SpaceX Launches 21 Starlink Satellites From Florida, Lands Booster For 15th Time. Read More »
Research work on building China’s Chang’e 7 lunar exploration mission includes sending a flag that can flutter in the moon’s thin and tenuous atmosphere. “We know that the moon is vacuum with no air, so it is difficult to make a flag flutter by wind like on Earth,” said Zhang Tianzhu, deputy head of the …
China Plans To Plant A Waving Flag On The Moon In 2026. Read More »
SpaceX plans to launch another set of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida’s Space Coast this morning (Jan. 13). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink craft, including 13 with direct to cell capabilities, is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today during a 3.5-hour window that opens at 10:08 a.m. …
SpaceX Launching 21 Starlink Satellites From Florida This Morning. Read More »
We’ll have to wait a bit longer to see Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket lift off for the first time. Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, aimed to launch its first New Glenn heavy-lift rocket from Florida’s Space Coast this morning (Jan. 13), during a three-hour window that opened at 1 …
Blue Origin Scrubs 1st New Glenn Rocket Launch Due To Technical Issue. Read More »
An experimental satellite made of wood has been deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) to test how the renewable, sustainable material withstands the harsh orbital environment. The satellite, designed and built by Kyoto University and Japanese wood processing company Sumitomo Forestry, is called LignoSat, a reference to the organic polymer lignin, which is prevalent …
World’s 1st Wooden Satellite Deploys From ISS To Demonstrate Cleaner Spacecraft Tech. Read More »
Astronauts aboard China’s Tiangong space station have been getting some assistance from an “intelligent” robot. Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze — the crew of the current Shenzhou 19 mission aboard Tiangong — have been working alongside a robot named Xiao Hang (“Little Space”) using human-robot collaborative interaction software. The software has allowed them …
Smart Robot Helps Out Astronauts On China’s Tiangong Space Station. Read More »
Blue Origin plans to launch the debut mission of its powerful New Glenn rocket no earlier than early Monday (Jan. 13) after a delay, and you can watch the action live. New Glenn is scheduled to lift off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Monday’s wee hours during a three-hour window that opens …
Watch Blue Origin Launch Its 1st New Glenn Rocket Early Monday In A free Livestream. Read More »
