space(Page 13)

Latest in space

SpaceX successfully landed three Falcon Heavy boosters last week. But stormy weather had a different plan for them, and one fell into the water.

SpaceX Landed a Falcon Heavy Booster. Then It Fell Into the Sea.

By Dan Robitzski

Harvard astronomers found evidence that 'Oumuamua isn't the only interstellar visitor we've had in recent years. Others may have crashed into the Earth.

An Interstellar Rock Like ‘Oumuamua May Have Hit Earth In 2014

By Dan Robitzski

Recently, venture capital firms have invested heavily in astrology apps and companies that are benefitting from cultural popularity.

Venture Capital Firms Are Pouring Money Into Astrology

By Dan Robitzski

After an outpouring of anger about the project on social media, PepsiCo no longer says it plans to launch a space billboard.

After Backlash, Pepsi Says It Never Planned a Space Billboard

By Jon Christian

NASA is paying a team of scientists to build an inflatable robot that can move and grasp things by selectively inflating chambers that act like muscles.

NASA is Building Inflatable Robot Astronauts

By Dan Robitzski

In a rare find, scientists found what they think are fragments of a comet sealed away deep inside of a meteorite that struck Antarctica.

Scientists Found a Chunk of a Comet Inside a Meteorite

By Dan Robitzski

New NASA research shows that meteoroid strikes are digging up and vaporizing the Moon's already-scarce stores of surface water.

Meteoroid Strikes Smash Water out of the Moon’s Surface

By Dan Robitzski

The Stratolaunch, the world's biggest airplane, just completed its first test flight, putting us one step closer to cheaper launches into space.

Advanced Transport

See the World’s Biggest Airplane Nail Its First Test Flight

By Kristin Houser

PepsiCo says it's struck a deal with a Russian startup called StartRocket to display an enormous energy drink advertisement in the night sky.

Pepsi Plans to Project a Giant Ad in the Night Sky Using Cubesats

By Jon Christian

NASA just published the full results of its extensive study into how space travel altered astronaut Scott Kelly's health and gene expression.

NASA: Genetic Changes Caused by Space Travel Are Temporary

By Dan Robitzski

The Beresheet lunar lander crashed into the surface of the moon after experiencing engine failure during its final descent.

Israel’s Lunar Lander Just Crashed Into the Moon

By Dan Robitzski

The black hole that scientists imaged is a stellar giant. It would take millions of Earths lined up side-by-side to span its length.

Science & Energy

Here’s How Big the M87 Black Hole Is Compared to the Earth

By Dan Robitzski

The first-ever black hole image is a blurry orange ring. During the announcement, scientists described how they're working to improve the resolution.

Scientists: Next Black Hole Image Will Be Way Clearer

By Dan Robitzski

Scientists Just Released the First-Ever Image of a Black Hole

Scientists Just Released the First-Ever Image of a Black Hole

By Dan Robitzski

New research shows that metallic asteroids may have once been home to volcanoes, as molten metal trapped beneath the surface erupted outward.

Explosive Research: Some Asteroids May Have Had Volcanoes

By Dan Robitzski

Scientists from Georgia developed a way to convert Martian dirt into fertile soil, and also learned which wine grapes are most likely to survive up there.

Scientists Are Trying to Figure Out How to Grow Grapes on Mars

By Dan Robitzski

On Wednesday morning, an international team of scientists will release the first-ever images of black holes. Quite understandably, scientists are pumped.

Here’s Why Everyone’s so Excited About the Black Hole Image

By Dan Robitzski

A new survey figured out how many bacteria and fungi are on the International Space Station. In some places, there are a billion cells per square meter.

International Space Station

The International Space Station is Teeming With Germs

By Dan Robitzski

By getting them to absorb metallic nanomaterials, scientists figured out how to make cyborg plants that may be able to survive out in space.

Scientists Say New Cyborg Plants Could Someday Grow on Mars

By Dan Robitzski

Australia wants to mine water from the surface of the moon and use it to supply crewed missions to Mars or even deeper into space.

Australia Has a Plan to Mine Moon Water

By Dan Robitzski

A new astronomical study found out where the methane on Mars is coming from, and once again confirmed that it's there at all.

Astronomers Found Mars’ Missing Methane

By Dan Robitzski

The goal is to look past the space debris to see its event horizon.

Science & Energy

Astronomers Are Teasing the First-Ever Photo of a Black Hole

By Jon Christian

A distant asteroid named 6478 Gault likely fell prey to the YORP effect — sunlight caused it to spin so fast that it's ripping apart.

Astronomers Just Spotted an Asteroid Ripping Itself Apart

By Dan Robitzski

In a missile defense test, the U.S. military launched and successfully intercepted an ICBM with ground-based, defensive missiles.

The US Military Just Blew Up an ICBM With Another Missile

By Dan Robitzski

To save money on future missions, Japan's space agency is working to develop remote-controlled robots that can handle menial or dangerous tasks in space.

Japan Wants to Send Telepresence Robots to Space

By Dan Robitzski

A drone just flew through an Icelandic cave and generated a 3D map of the area in minutes, in a test run for systems that will do the same on Mars.

NASA’s Working on a Drone to Hunt For Life in Martian Caves

By Dan Robitzski

A new antimicrobial coating kept bacteria from growing on the International Space Station's door, which could protect immune-compromised astronauts.

International Space Station

Scientists’ New Goal: Make the ISS Bathroom Less Disgusting

By Dan Robitzski

Leaders from 25 nations, including China, Russia, and the U.S. are currently meeting in Geneva to draft laws that would prevent a space arms race.

25 Governments Are Meeting Right Now to Prevent a Space Arms Race

By Dan Robitzski

The Japanese Space Agency just announced that Hayabusa2, the same robotic probe that landed on an asteroid, will drop a bomb on it and mine the fragments.

Japan Announces Plan to Bomb Asteroid

By Dan Robitzski

The makers of a new hypersonic rocket engine say it could whip flights from London to Sydney in just four hours, traveling at five times the speed of sound.

Advanced Transport

New Rocket Engine Could Whip You From London to Sydney in 4 Hours

By Jon Christian

Tests show that dormant herpes viruses reactivate in more than half the astronauts who travel on the Space Shuttle and International Space station.

NASA: Space Travel Is Causing Astronauts’ Herpes to Flare Up

By Jon Christian

A new scientific hypothesis posits that interstellar rocks like 'Oumuamua could have helped form planets throughout the galaxy.

Interstellar Visitor Like ‘Oumuamua May Have Formed Earth’s Core

By Dan Robitzski

Every picture of the solar system shows Venus as our closest neighbor. Sure, it comes closer to Earth than any planet, but on average Mercury is closer.

Mercury Is Every Planet in the Solar System’s Closest Neighbor

By Dan Robitzski

Cosmologists have long sought to reconcile differences among calculations and observations of how fast the universe is growing. A new idea may explain how.

Bizarre New Theory: Something Tampered With the Early Universe

By Dan Robitzski

The Lunary Library, a backup copy of human knowledge, is on its way to the moon, where it will serve as an archive in case things go wrong on Earth.

Israeli Moon Lander Is Carrying a Vast Backup of Human Knowledge

By Dan Robitzski

Scientists have discovered a star in the Andromeda Galaxy that explodes every year — the first of its kind in the known universe.

Scientists Discovered a Star That Explodes Every Year

By Jon Christian

NASA commissioned SpaceX and Boeing to develop shuttles for crewed missions. Upcoming test flights may be delayed as NASA found several safety flaws.

NASA Warns SpaceX and Boeing About Safety Flaws in Spacecraft

By Dan Robitzski

Air and Space Law professor Michelle Hanlon argues that if we don't draft new laws, the destruction of landmarks that happens on Earth will repeat in space.

Lawyer: People Could Try to Sell the Apollo Moon Footprints

By Dan Robitzski

A new tool called the TreePol spectropolarimeter could someday scan for extraterrestrial life without picking up any false positives.

New Gadget Detects Lifeforms From Long Distances

By Dan Robitzski

An anthropologist is making the case that long space missions, like a crewed trip to Mars, would require crew members with senses of humor.

NASA Is Studying Whether a Mars Crew Would Need a Class Clown

By Jon Christian

Surveys of all the matter in the universe missed about a third of what was predicted by calculations. Scientists may have finally found the missing stash.

Scientists May Have Finally Found the Universe’s Missing Matter

By Dan Robitzski

A philosopher wanted to unify the various field-specific definitions physicists have for black holes. He decided that the variety was good for science.

A Philosopher Is Trying to Figure out What Black Holes Really Are

By Dan Robitzski

Chinese scientists recently announced plans to build and launch a solar power plant that would float in outer space and beam electricity down.

China Is Building a Solar Power Station in Space

By Dan Robitzski

Scientists say a new map of how structures of dark matter have grown throughout the life of the universe could upend current understanding of physics.

New Map of Dark Matter Breaks Scientists’ Understanding of Physics

By Jon Christian

Former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly announced Tuesday that he's running for Senate in Arizona — and positioned himself as a defender of science.

NASA Astronaut Runs for Senate, Warns Of “Retreat From Science”

By Jon Christian

Mars One, the startup that said it was going to fund a crewed mission to Mars by turning the journey into a reality television spectacle, is bankrupt.

Mars One Planned to Colonize the Red Planet. Now It’s Bankrupt.

By Jon Christian

In a new interview with The Times, University of St. Andrews astronomer Martin Dominik cautioned against sending messages into the unknown of deep space.

Astronomer Warns Against SETI: “Maybe They Will Come and Eat Us.”

By Jon Christian

Scientists Want to Build a Space Station Inside an Asteroid

Scientists Want to Build a Space Station Inside an Asteroid

By Dan Robitzski

Russian media is reporting that the American toilet on the International Space Station (ISS) burst late last week, spilling gallons of fluid.

Russia Says the American Toilet on the Space Station Blew Up

By Jon Christian

A new 3D map of the Milky Way galaxy shows a different structure than scientists expected. It turns out the outer disk is all warped out of shape.

The Milky Way is a Lot More Warped Than Scientists Thought

By Dan Robitzski

A team of four universities is working on the comprehensive guide to all existing space law, a field they argue is currently too jumbled to make sense of.

These Four Universities Are Trying to Figure Out Space Law

By Dan Robitzski

NASA administrator Thomas Zurbuchen argues that extraterrestrial life may be out there, given recent discoveries of off-world water and organic molecules.

NASA Administrator: Alien Life Is More Likely Than We Thought

By Dan Robitzski

A new underwater tent provides scuba divers with a portable, air-filled resting area while they decompress or conduct research.

Science & Energy

Air-Filled Tent Lets Scuba Divers Camp Out Underwater

By Dan Robitzski

This Ridiculous Startup Wants to Roast Coffee in Space

This Ridiculous Startup Wants to Roast Coffee in Space

By Victor Tangermann

Under Armour is Making Spacesuits for Virgin Galactic

Under Armour is Making Spacesuits for Virgin Galactic

By Dan Robitzski

A catastrophic impact with a "Mars-sized planet" may have left behind the chemical building blocks that led to life on Earth.

New Theory: Life on Earth Came From Impact With Another Planet

By Jon Christian

New research suggests that supermassive black holes formed in halos of dark matter that serve as "gravitational glue" for galaxies.

New Theory: Vast, Ancient Black Holes Formed Because of Dark Matter

By Jon Christian

Computer simulations can help spot new planets that were previously obscured by the death throes of old stars.

This Scientist Is Hunting for Planets That Orbit Dead Stars

By Dan Robitzski

A stylized picture of a 3D-printed heart like one NASA wants to print in space.

Here’s Why NASA Wants to 3D Print Human Hearts in Space

By Dan Robitzski

The ESA says it's studying the prospects of a 2025 mission to the Moon that would use robotic mining equipment to extract water and fuel.

Europe Wants to Extract Rocket Fuel From Lunar Surface in 2025

By Jon Christian

Astrophysicists just uncovered why some dying stars' supernovae appear to lack high-energy gamma ray bursts. A protective cocoon has been blocking them.

Protective “Cocoons” Could Block Deadly Stellar Gamma-Ray Bursts

By Dan Robitzski

Scientists published more data about an exoplanet named K2-22b, just one of three ever observed to be disintegrating in real time.

Astronomers Are Watching as a Neptune-Sized Exoplanet Disintegrates

By Dan Robitzski

The consensus: it's not just Futurism readers who hate the idea of space billboards — scientists are worried about the concept as well.

Experts Respond to Orbiting Space Billboards: “Harmful”

By Jon Christian

For the past three decades, NASA and Russia's Roscosmos have operated as equals. But now it seems that NASA may have outgrown its Russian counterpart.

Russia and America’s Long Space Partnership Could Soon Fall Apart

By Dan Robitzski