SPACE
- Winter Grips Japan
on 10/02/2026The country’s northern regions are accustomed to snow, but unrelenting storms have snarled transportation and caused other challenges this winter.
- A Winter Blanket Covers North Carolina
on 06/02/2026In late January 2026, a strong, moisture-laden storm dropped snow across nearly the entire state, spanning from the Appalachians to the Atlantic Coast.
- 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’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 […]
- SpaceX Makes a Huge Pivot, Wants to Build on the Moon Instead
by Matthew Williams (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/houseofwilliams) on 11/02/2026The commercial space giant SpaceX, which Elon Musk founded in 2002 to build a self-sustaining city on Mars, is no longer focusing on the Red Planet. According to a recent statement on X, SpaceX is now pivoting to the Moon as its intended destination for a human settlement.
- New Sungrazer Comet A1 MAPS Could Be Bright in Early April If It Survives Perihelion
by David Dickinson (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/david-dickinson) on 11/02/2026In a clockwork predictable Universe, comets and how they will ultimately perform is always a big wild card. A new sungrazer comet discovered at the start of this year has given astronomers pause. C/2026 A1 MAPS could put on a memorable if brief show in early April, if it doesn’t join the long […]
- The Radical Propulsion Needed to Catch the Solar Gravitational Lens
by Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick) on 11/02/2026Sending a mission to the Solar Gravitational Lens (SGL) is the most effective way of actually directly imaging a potentially habitable planet, as well as its atmosphere, and even possibly some of its cities. But, the SGL is somewhere around 650-900 AU away, making it almost 4 times farther than […]
- Can Life Begin on a Moon Without a Sun?
by Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick) on 11/02/2026Free-Floating Planets, or as they are more commonly known, Rogue Planets, wander interstellar space completely alone. Saying there might be a lot of them is a bit of an understatement. Recent estimates put the number of Rogue Planets at something equivalent to the number of stars in our galaxy. […]
- NASA's SPHEREx Mission Spots 3I/ATLAS's Bright Envelope
by Matthew Williams (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/houseofwilliams) on 10/02/2026Observations 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.
- Are there Hidden Dimensions to the Universe? Part 4: Looking Past the Universe
by Paul Sutter (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/pmsutter) on 10/02/2026So we did that. And we found nothing. So far, with all of our experiments around the world, we find no evidence of missing momentum, and no signs of towers of gravitons slipping away into hidden dimensions.
- Peering Into the Energetic Turbulence Around Supermassive Black Holes
by Evan Gough (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/ion23drive) on 10/02/2026Astronomers used the XRISM x-ray satellite to observe two supermassive black holes in two separate galaxy clusters. Researchers know that SMBH have powerful effects on star formation and galaxy evolution. The observations reveal new details in how it all works.
- Hunting for the Lunar Debris Hiding Near Earth
by Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick) on 10/02/2026The Moon has a long history of being smacked by large rocks. Its pock-marked, cratered surface is evidence of that. Scientists expect that, as part of those impacts, some debris would be scattered into space - and that we should be able to track it down. But so far, there have been startlingly few […]
- How a Single Martian Storm Triggered Massive Water Loss
by Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick) on 10/02/2026Mars’ water disappeared somewhere, but scientists have been disagreeing for years about where exactly it went. Data from rovers like Perseverance and Curiosity, along with orbiting satellites such as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and ExoMars have shown that Mars used to be a wet world with an […]
- Research Reveals Why Tatooine Planets are Rare
by Matthew Williams (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/houseofwilliams) on 10/02/2026Why are planets rarely found orbiting a pair of stars? UC Berkeley and American University of Beirut physicists find that general relativity makes the orbit of a tight binary pair precess. As the orbit shrinks because of tidal effects, the precesion increases. Eventually the precession matches the […]
- Live coverage: ULA to launch geosynchronous orbit surveillance satellite for the U.S. Space Force
by Will Robinson-Smith on 11/02/2026The USSF-87 will be the second national security flight for United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket and the fourth flight of this type of rocket to date. Liftoff from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 3:30 a.m. EST (0830 UTC).
- SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB
by Will Robinson-Smith on 11/02/2026The Starlink 17-34 mission was the 16th launch for SpaceX so far this year. Liftoff from pad 4E happened at 9:11:29 a.m. PST (12:11:29 p.m. EST / 1711:29 UTC).
- ULA sets sights on ramping up launch cadence in 2026
by Will Robinson-Smith on 11/02/2026The company came under new leadership in December following the departure of Tory Bruno, who left the company to join Blue Origin.
- Weather delays NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 flight to the International Space Station
by Will Robinson-Smith on 09/02/2026The launch is now targeting no earlier than Friday, Feb. 13, for the launch of Crew-12. Liftoff will be at 5:15 a.m. EST (1015 UTC).
- SpaceX test fires its Falcon 9 rocket ahead of midweek launch of Crew-12 to the space station
by Will Robinson-Smith on 08/02/2026The static fire test is an important precursor to the Crew-12 launch, scheduled for the morning of Feb. 11. Ignition at pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 3:16 a.m. EST (0816 UTC).
- SpaceX launches return to flight Falcon 9 mission following brief stand down
by Will Robinson-Smith on 07/02/2026SpaceX halted launches for less than a week following an in-flight anomaly. Liftoff of the Starlink 17-33 mission happened at 12:58:09 p.m. PST (3:58:09 p.m. EST / 2058:09 UTC).
- SpaceX shifts away from Dragon launches at pad 39A as Starship looms
by Will Robinson-Smith on 06/02/2026The last Dragon flight from pad 39A was the CRS-33 mission in August 2025. SpaceX is preparing for the just the second pad 40 launch supporting NASA's Commercial Crew Program no earlier than Feb. 11.
- ULA offloads first Vulcan rocket at Vandenberg at it preps its next Cape launch
by Will Robinson-Smith on 06/02/2026United Launch Alliance is preparing for the launch of the USSF-87 mission for the U.S. Space Force no earlier than Feb. 12, which will fly from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
- 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).