SPACE
- NASA’s Life-Saving Technology Where Cell Signals Can’t Go
by Andrew Wagner on 10/09/2026Search and rescue technology developed in part by NASA saved five lives
- Anak Krakatau Rumbles Again
on 09/09/2026A powerful eruption from the Indonesian volcano lofted ash into the atmosphere, disrupting thousands of flights and degrading air quality.
- NASA Calls for Proposals to Accelerate Lunar Surface Technologies
by Lauren E. Low on 08/09/2026NASA is seeking proposals to advance the technology and infrastructure needed to explore the Moon and establish a Moon Base in the lunar South Pole region. Announced on Tuesday, Sept. 8, the solicitation targets capability gaps, including power generation, oxygen extraction, and producing materials […]
- NASA Technique for Manipulating Satellite Photos Now Reveals Ancient Images
by Andrew Wagner on 08/09/2026Algorithm NASA first applied to satellite imagery is now used to peer into antiquity
- NASA Selects Blue Origin as Mars Telecommunications Network Provider
by Jessica Taveau on 01/09/2026NASA awarded Blue Origin a contract Tuesday to develop the agency’s Mars Telecommunications Network, a next-generation communications system that will enable reliable, high-bandwidth communications and navigation services for current and future Mars missions. The firm-fixed-price contract has a […]
- Ribbon-Cutting Event for NASA Deep Space Network’s Deep Space Station 23
on 30/08/2026Description Leadership from NASA Headquarters, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Deep Space Network (DSN) stand in front of the recently completed Deep Space Station 23 antenna at the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone complex near Barstow, California, on Aug. 25, 2026. From left: Germaine […]
- NASA Deep Space Network’s New Goldstone Antenna Goes Online
on 30/08/2026Description Long shadows are cast by the recently completed Deep Space Station 23 at the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone complex near Barstow, California, in August 2026. A 34-meter (114-foot) multifrequency beam-waveguide antenna, DSS-23 will boost the DSN’s capacity and enhance NASA’s deep […]
- Panorama Showcasing the 34-Meter Antennas of the DSN’s Goldstone Complex
on 30/08/2026Description Five antennas soak in the summer sun at the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone complex near Barstow, California, in August 2026. The recently completed Deep Space Station 23, a 34-meter (114-foot) beam-waveguide antenna, can be seen to the right of the frame in the foreground. The other […]
- New Next-Gen Dish Adds Muscle to NASA’s Deep Space Network
by albarne1 on 25/08/2026NASA’s Deep Space Network facility in California is marking the addition of a brand new 34-meter-wide (114-foot-wide) radio frequency antenna to the agency’s deep space communications and navigation system. The network uses giant dish antennas located at three global facilities to support more […]
- Copernicus Trajectory Design and Optimization System
by Jacob Williams on 21/08/2026Copernicus, a generalized spacecraft trajectory design and optimization system, is capable of solving a wide range of trajectory problems such as planet or moon centered trajectories, libration point trajectories, planet-moon transfers and tours, and all types of interplanetary and asteroid/comet […]
- Ribbon-Cutting Event for NASA Deep Space Network’s Deep Space Station 23by Rafael Alanis on 30/08/2026
Description Leadership from NASA Headquarters, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Deep Space Network (DSN) stand in front of the recently completed Deep Space Station 23 antenna at the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone complex near Barstow, California, on Aug. 25, 2026. From left: Germaine […]
- NASA Deep Space Network’s New Goldstone Antenna Goes Onlineby Rafael Alanis on 30/08/2026
Description Long shadows are cast by the recently completed Deep Space Station 23 at the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone complex near Barstow, California, in August 2026. A 34-meter (114-foot) multifrequency beam-waveguide antenna, DSS-23 will boost the DSN’s capacity and enhance NASA’s deep […]
- Panorama Showcasing the 34-Meter Antennas of the DSN’s Goldstone Complexby Rafael Alanis on 30/08/2026
Description Five antennas soak in the summer sun at the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone complex near Barstow, California, in August 2026. The recently completed Deep Space Station 23, a 34-meter (114-foot) beam-waveguide antenna, can be seen to the right of the frame in the foreground. The other […]
- Galaxy Gallery: Galactic Gems Glisten in New Gallery From NASA’s Chandra
by lamohon on 25/08/2026This gallery displays a collection of 16 galactic images from Chandra and other telescopes. Astronomers put galaxies into three main categories: spirals like our own Milky Way, ellipticals that are older and likely the results of mergers, and irregulars that can encompass a wide range of galactic […]
- Perseverance Captures Another Phobos Transit
by Rafael Alanis on 24/08/2026Description NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z camera to capture the silhouette of Phobos, one of the two Martian moons, as it crossed in front of the Sun on Aug. 12, 2026, the 1,948th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The animation has been tinted to simulate what a human […]
- MAIA Air Sensor at Work in Addis Ababa
by Rafael Alanis on 24/08/2026Description This roof-mounted air sensor in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, is one of 10 used by NASA’s Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) to study the city’s air quality. MAIA’s air sensors provide a detailed look at particulate matter that is 2.5 micrometers or less in […]
- Mapping Air Pollution With MAIA Sensors in Addis Ababa
by Rafael Alanis on 24/08/2026Description This map of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, shows the locations of 10 air sensors that NASA’s Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) mission is using to provide one of the most detailed looks ever at the city’s air pollution. Over the course of three years, these sensors […]
- NASA’s SkyFall Helicopters at Work (Artist’s Concept)
by Rafael Alanis on 06/08/2026Description This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s three SkyFall Mars helicopters collecting data while flying over the surface of the Red Planet. The green frequency waves emanating from the helicopters’ large antennas depict collection of subsurface radar data. The red beams depict collect […]
- Antenna Testing for NASA’s SkyFall Mission
by Rafael Alanis on 06/08/2026Description SkyFall ground-penetrating radar engineer Maya Román connects a coaxial cable to a test antenna in the Environmental Test Lab’s electromagnetic interference testing chamber at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The antenna was pointed up during test to […]
- NASA’s Perseverance Captures Phobos and Earth
by Rafael Alanis on 05/08/2026Description This composite of seven images from the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover shows Earth, visible as a small bright dot moving from upper left to lower right, passing behind the Martian moon Phobos on July 2, 2026, 1,907th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The […]
- Could the Clues to Ancient Alien Civilizations Be Hiding in a Bucket of Moon Dust?
by Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick) on 13/09/2026Most of our experience with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has been focused on capturing radio signals that alien species have sent out, whether intentionally or unintentionally. That creates a huge “synchronicity” problem - what if there aren’t any alien civilizations […]
- A New Catalog of Close to 3,000 Supernova Challenges Theories on Dark Energy
by Matthew Williams (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/houseofwilliams) on 13/09/2026The most comprehensive catalogue of exploding white dwarf stars ever assembled has revealed new clues about dark energy, the mysterious force driving the universe’s accelerating expansion.
- Earth From Orbit Is Unpredictable and Messy. Could 'Liquid' AI Clear the View?
by Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick) on 12/09/2026Monitoring Earth from above is a messy, inconsistent business. Clouds can block a satellite view, the angle of the Sun can create huge shadows, and orbital paths might not take a system across the same general area for weeks. That inconsistency is hard to deal with for traditional software, and can […]
- A New Design For A Plasma Engine Fuels On Only Thin Air
by Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick) on 12/09/2026Choosing what orbit to put a satellite in always comes with trade-offs. When it comes to Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO), between 100-450 km, there are distinct advantages. Remote sensing cameras can take better pictures, comms and radar require less power, and atmospheric drag will automatically clean […]
- Venus Moon Would Have Been Doomed From The Start, Says New Paper
by Bruce Dorminey (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/bruce) on 12/09/2026Venus likely never had a moon and even if it did, it would have soon been torn asunder by the planet’s own gravity, says prominent planetary astrophysicist.
- Dense Galaxies Are Carving Out A Bubble in the Early Universe
by Evan Gough (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/ion23drive) on 11/09/2026Light could only travel freely in the Universe after cosmic reionization. Before that, neutral hydrogen stopped photons from travelling. The JWST has found evidence of an overdensity of galaxies carving out a bubble of reionization. Is this how it all started?
- How Big Can The Universe's First Starbursts Get?
by Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick) on 11/09/2026As our telescopes have improved and we’ve been able to peer farther back in time, we’ve begun finding more fascinating features of the universe. But one thing we definitely haven’t found yet is Population III (Pop III) stars. These were the earliest stars in the universe, formed completely […]
- What's Carving Active Gullies on Mars? It's Not Water
by Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick) on 11/09/2026Scientists were shocked when they received the first images of Martian gullies. They were even more shocked as those gullies appeared to change over time. Their similarities to gullies seen on Earth were uncanny, but all of Earth’s gullies are formed by the water run-off, and Martian is too cold […]
- NASA's Next Great Observatory Could Spot Oceans on Distant Worlds
by Andy Tomaswick (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/andy-tomaswick) on 11/09/2026We’ve found over 5,500 exoplanets so far. Dozens of them have been in the habitable zone of their parent stars, where, at least in theory, they could host an ocean. But we’ve never definitively found a liquid ocean on another planet. A new paper from researchers Eleanor Cornish and Tyler […]
- eROSITA's Second Data Release Catalog Delivering the Most Comprehensive High-Energy Census of the Cosmos to Date
by Matthew Williams (https://www.universetoday.com/authors/houseofwilliams) on 10/09/2026The eROSITA Consortium has issued the survey's second data release (DR2), nearly doubling the previously known eROSITA X-ray sources to two million.
- SpaceX launches 700th Falcon rocket, carries final 3 O3b mPOWER satellites to orbit for SES
by Will Robinson-Smith on 13/09/2026The launch marks the 400th orbital flight from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff is scheduled during an 87-minute window that opens at 2:49 p.m. EDT (1849 UTC).
- SpaceX launches classified payload for the U.S. Space Force
by Will Robinson-Smith on 09/09/2026The mission, dubbed USSF-153 mission, launched an undisclosed number of satellites for the U.S. Space Force. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 8:42 a.m. PDT (1142 a.m. EDT / 1542 UTC).
- SpaceX launches 80th Starlink mission of 2026
by Will Robinson-Smith on 05/09/2026SpaceX decided to shift all Starlink missions flying on Falcon 9 rockets to the West Coast as it pushes towards the debut of its Starship-Super Heavy in Florida. Liftoff of the Starlink 15-24 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 7:26 a.m. PDT (10:26 a.m. EDT / 1426 UTC).
- SpaceX launches Starlink mission from West Coast
by Steven Young on 01/09/2026Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California occurred at 1:42 a.m. PDT (4:42 a.m. EDT / 0842 UTC).
- Roman Space Telescope, NASA’s next ‘great observatory,’ launched
by William Harwood on 29/08/2026Using a donated Hubble-class mirror originally built for a spy satellite, NASA's Roman Space Telescope launched Sunday on a $4.3 billion mission to open a new window on the universe. Liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy came at 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 UTC).
- SpaceX launches 27 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg
by Will Robinson-Smith on 25/08/2026The Falcon 9 rocket flew on a south-easterly trajectory upon launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Liftoff happened at 2:35 a.m. PDT (5:35 a.m. EDT / 0935 UTC).
- SpaceX launches Starlink mission on a Falcon booster’s record-breaking 37th flight
by Will Robinson-Smith on 24/08/2026The Starlink 10-49 mission is set to be the 100th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket in 2026. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 5:33 a.m. EDT (0933 UTC).
- SpaceX launches 100th orbital mission of 2026
by Will Robinson-Smith on 21/08/2026The Starlink 15-20 mission represented the 99th Falcon 9 rocket launch of the year. Liftoff from pad 4 East happened at 12:25 a.m. PDT (3:25 a.m. EDT / 0725 UTC).
- SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral following last-minute scrub
by Will Robinson-Smith on 20/08/2026The Starlink 10-39 mission includes the 2,000th Starlink satellite to fly this year. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 11:14 a.m. EDT (1514 UTC).
- LandSpace becomes first commercial Chinese company to land an orbital-class booster
by Will Robinson-Smith on 19/08/2026The August 19 landing of its ZhuQue-3 rocket marked the first landing of a Chinese-made rocket using landing legs as well.