SPACE
- Goldstone’s DSS-15 Antenna and the Milky Way
by Monika Luabeya on 30/01/2026Deep Space Station 15, one of the 112-foot antennas at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California, looks skyward, with the stars of the Milky Way overhead, in September 2025. Goldstone is part of NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN), which operates three complexes around […]
- NASA Heat Shield Technology Enables Space Industry Growth
by Loura Hall on 29/01/2026Using cutting-edge material licensed from NASA, a protective heat shield manufactured in-house by Varda Space Industries for the first time enabled one of its capsules to blaze through Earth’s atmosphere on Thursday, marking a significant milestone for the agency and America’s space industry. […]
- NASA Researchers Probe Tangled Magnetospheres of Merging Neutron Stars
on 29/01/2026New simulations performed on a NASA supercomputer are providing scientists with the most comprehensive look yet into the maelstrom of interacting magnetic structures around city-sized neutron stars in the moments before they crash. The team identified potential signals emitted during the stars’ […]
- The West Faces Snow Drought
on 29/01/2026Very wet—but very warm—weather in the western U.S. has left many mountainous regions looking at substantial snowpack deficits.
- Networks Keeping NASA’s Artemis II Mission Connected
by Katherine Schauer on 28/01/2026NASA’s Artemis II mission will transport four astronauts around the Moon, bringing the agency one step closer to sending the first astronauts to Mars. Throughout Artemis II, astronaut voice, images, video, and vital mission data must traverse thousands of miles, carried on signals from NASA’s […]
- Snow Buries the U.S. Interior and East
on 28/01/2026Satellites observed a frozen landscape across much of the country after a massive winter storm.
- NASA Launches Its Most Powerful, Efficient Supercomputer
by Tara Friesen on 27/01/2026NASA is announcing the availability of its newest supercomputer, Athena, an advanced system designed to support a new generation of missions and research projects. The newest member of the agency’s High-End Computing Capability project expands the resources available to help scientists and […]
- NASA Technology Brings Golden Age of Exploration to Earth
by Tiernan P. Doyle on 26/01/2026As NASA fosters technologies needed to live and work farther away from home than ever before, the agency’s Technology Transfer program has the sole mission of getting those innovations into the hands of companies, entrepreneurs, and, ultimately, everyday people. The agency’s Spinoff publication […]
- NASA Awards Global Modeling, Assimilation Support Contract
by Tiernan P. Doyle on 23/01/2026NASA has selected ADNET Systems, Inc. of Bethesda, Maryland, to provide global modeling and data assimilation support at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Global Modeling and Assimilation Support contract is a single-award, cost-plus-fixed-fee, […]
- NASA Selects Participants to Track Artemis II Mission
by Katrina Lee on 23/01/2026NASA has selected 34 global volunteers to track the Orion spacecraft during the crewed Artemis II mission’s journey around the Moon. The Artemis II test flight will launch NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, carrying the Orion spacecraft and a crew of four astronauts, on a mission into […]
- NASA’s SPHEREx Examines Comet 3I/ATLAS’s Coma
by Rafael Alanis on 04/02/2026Description These observations by NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) show the infrared light emitted by the dust, water, organic molecules, and carbon dioxide contained within comet 3I/ATLAS’s coma. The comet brightened […]
- Visualizing Perseverance’s AI-Planned Drive on Mars
by Rafael Alanis on 30/01/2026Description This animation of NASA’s Perseverance was created with the Caspian visualization tool using data acquired during an 807-foot (246-meter) drive on the rim of Jezero Crater made by the rover on Dec. 10, 2025, the 1,709th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The mission’s […]
- Video: Perseverance Rover’s View of Crater Rim Drive
by Rafael Alanis on 30/01/2026Description This animation shows Perseverance’s point of view during drive of 807 feet (246 meters) along the rim of Jezero Crater on Dec. 10, 2025, the 1,709th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Captured over two hours and 35 minutes, 53 Navigation Camera (Navcam) image pairs were combined […]
- Mapping Perseverance’s Route With AI
by Rafael Alanis on 30/01/2026Description This annotated image from NASA’s HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera aboard the agency’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image depicts the AI-planned route and the actual route taken by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover during its 807-foot (246-meter) drive on […]
- U.S.-India NISAR Satellite Images Mississippi River Delta Region
by Rafael Alanis on 30/01/2026Description The NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) Earth-observing satellite’s L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) instrument captured this image of the Mississippi River Delta region in southeastern Louisiana on Nov. 29, 2025. The colors in the image represent varying types of cover, […]
- Ammonia-Bearing Compounds Discovered at Surface of Jupiter’s Moon Europa
by Rafael Alanis on 29/01/2026Description Advanced analysis of decades-old data from NASA’s Galileo spacecraft identifies ammonia-bearing compounds discovered on the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa, as shown in this composite image. Zooming in on an area about 250 miles (about 400 kilometers) wide, the black-and-white […]
- NASA Analysis Shows La Niña Limited Sea Level Rise in 2025
by Rafael Alanis on 29/01/2026Description This graph shows the rise in global mean sea level from 1993 to 2025 based on data from a series of five international satellites. The solid red line indicates the trajectory of this increase, which has more than doubled over the three decades. The dotted red line projects future sea […]
- Europa’s Ice Shell (Artist’s Concept)
by Rafael Alanis on 29/01/2026Description This artist’s concept depicts a cutaway view showing Europa’s ice shell. It contains a shallow layer of small imperfections (cracks, pores, and voids) that extend down from the surface hundreds of feet. The icy moon of Jupiter is thought to harbor an ocean below its frozen exterior. […]
- Webb Data Reveals Dark Matter
by Rafael Alanis on 27/01/2026Description This image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, containing nearly 800,000 galaxies, is overlaid with a map of dark matter, represented in blue. Brighter blue areas indicate a higher density of dark matter. Researchers used Webb data to find the dark matter — which is invisible […]
- Black Hole Eats Star: NASA Missions Discover Record-Setting Blast
by Francis Reddy on 08/12/2025Editor’s note, Dec. 11, 2025: This story was updated to include an additional partner’s research and related release. Astronomers have been poring over a flood of data from NASA satellites and other facilities as they try to work out what was responsible for an extraordinary cosmic outburst […]
- Cosmic Collision: The JWST Found An Early 5-Galaxy Merger
by Evan Gough (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/ion23drive) on 04/02/2026The JWST found a system of at least five interacting galaxies only 800 million years after the Big Bang. The discovery adds weight to the growing understanding that galaxies were interacting and shaping their surroundings far earlier than scientists thought. There's also evidence that the collision […]
- Neutron Scans Reveal Hidden Water in Famous Martian Meteorite
by Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick) on 04/02/2026New tools unlock new discoveries in science. So when a new type of non-destructive technology becomes widely available, it's inevitable that planetary scientists will get their hands on it to test it on some meteorites. A new paper, available in pre-print on arXiv, by Estrid Naver of the Technical […]
- Researchers Conduct the Largest Study of Runaway Stars in the Milky Way
by Matthew Williams (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/houseofwilliams) on 04/02/2026Researchers from the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB) and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), in collaboration with the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), have led the most extensive observational study to date of runaway […]
- Is the Universe Older Than We Think? Part 1: The Cosmological Clock
by Paul Sutter (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/pmsutter) on 03/02/2026When I say that the universe is 13.77 billion years old, it sounds rather authoritative.
- Red Giant Stars Can't Destroy All Gas Giants. Some Are Hardy Survivors
by Evan Gough (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/ion23drive) on 03/02/2026Astronomers haven't found many gas giants orbiting white dwarfs. But is that because they're so difficult to spot? Or is it because their survival rate is so low? New research probes the issue.
- Reading the Moon’s Diary, One Speck of Dust at a Time
by Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick) on 03/02/2026Magnetism on the Moon has always been a bit confusing. Remote sensing probes have noted there is some magnetic signature, but far from the strong cocoon that surrounds Earth itself. Previous attempts to detect it in returned regolith samples blended together all of the rocks in those samples, […]
- Elon Musk lays out a new vision of AI satellites as SpaceX acquires xAI
by Alan Boyle (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/cosmiclog) on 03/02/2026SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says he’s making space-based artificial intelligence the “immediate focus” of a newly expanded company that not only builds rockets and satellites, but also controls xAI’s generative-AI software and the X social-media platform. That’s the upshot of Musk's announcement […]
- The Magnetic Superhighways That Drive Galaxy Evolution
by Evan Gough (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/ion23drive) on 02/02/2026Arp 220 is a well-known pair of galaxies that are merging. New ALMA observations of polarized light reveal the complex and powerful magnetic fields that shape the process.
- Hubble And The Fingerprints Of An Ancient Merger
by Evan Gough (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/ion23drive) on 02/02/2026This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows NGC 7722, a lenticular galaxy about 187 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. This “lens-shaped” galaxy sits in between more familiar spiral alaxies and elliptical galaxies in the galaxy classification scheme. The dark, […]
- For the First Time, Scientists Detect Molecule Critical to Life in Interstellar Space
by Matthew Williams (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/houseofwilliams) on 31/01/2026For the first time, a complex, ring-shaped molecule containing 13 atoms—including sulfur—has been detected in interstellar space, based on laboratory measurements. The discovery closes a critical gap by linking simple chemistry in space with the complex organic building blocks found in comets […]
- NASA waves off February launch for Artemis II moon mission; now targeting early March
by William Harwood on 03/02/2026Artemis 2 commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, in pre-flight medical quarantine at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, had hope to fly to Florida Tuesday to begin final preparations for launch. Instead, they will remain in Houston and rejoin […]
- SpaceX experiences Falcon 9 upper stage anomaly following Starlink deployment
by Will Robinson-Smith on 01/02/2026The Starlink 17-32 mission was the first Starlink mission in February. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 7:47:11 a.m. PST (10:47:11 a.m. EST / 1547:11 UTC).
- Countdown underway for critical moon rocket fueling test Monday
by William Harwood on 01/02/2026The countdown began Saturday evening and will continue through the start of a simulated launch window opening at 9 p.m. EST Monday. The test started two days late because of predicted arctic weather along Florida's Space Coast.
- Cold weather delays earliest Artemis 2 launch opportunity
by Will Robinson-Smith on 30/01/2026The agency is looking at Feb. 11 as the earliest date for launching the SpaceX Crew-12 mission. However, it hinges entirely on the status of Artemis 2 and whether or not it has launched.
- SpaceX launches overnight Starlink flight as it unveils new ‘Stargaze’ space situational awareness system
by Will Robinson-Smith on 30/01/2026The Starlink 6-101 mission was SpaceX’s 13th and final launch of the month. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 2:22 a.m. EST (0722 UTC).
- SpaceX launches 11,000th Starlink satellite to date on Thursday
by Will Robinson-Smith on 29/01/2026SpaceX currently has more than 9,500 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit. Liftoff of the Starlink 17-19 mission from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 9:53:20 a.m. PST (12:53:20 p.m. EST / 1753:20 UTC).
- SpaceX launches GPS 3 satellite following switch from ULA Vulcan rocket
by Will Robinson-Smith on 26/01/2026This was the third launch of a GPS satellite in as many years. Liftoff of the GPS 3-9 mission from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station launched at 11:53:16 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Jan. 27 (0453:16 UTC on Jan. 28).
- SpaceX launches 25 Starlink satellites to polar, low Earth orbit
by Will Robinson-Smith on 25/01/2026The Starlink 17-20 mission was the seventh Starlink mission this year. Liftoff from pad 4E happened at 9:30 a.m. PST (12:30 p.m. EST / 1730 UTC).
- Eastern Range ready for same day fueling of Space Launch System, Vulcan rockets
by Will Robinson-Smith on 23/01/2026Florida’s Space Coast is preparing for a future that could see in excess of 350 launches annually.
- SpaceX launches first West Coast Starlink mission of 2026
by Will Robinson-Smith on 21/01/2026The Starlink 17-30 mission sent the batch of satellites into a polar low Earth orbit. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 9:47:29 p.m. PST (12:47:29 a.m. EST / 0547:29 UTC).