space exploration

The Gaia space mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) is mapping our galaxy, providing unprecedented, detailed data that promises to revolutionize our knowledge of the solar system and beyond. Gaia, launched on December 19th, 2013,…

An F-104 Starfighter (hopefully named after the 1984 movie, the Last Starfighter or the Star Wars spacecraft) kicked off the grand opening of Gateway™: The Deep Space Launch Complex at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on the 15th.…

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are part of a large international collaboration that unveiled the first image proving a supermassive black hole spins at the center of the Milky Way. The partnership published their…

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope uncovered a companion star previously hidden in the glare of its partner's supernova. The discovery marks the first time astronomers have found a supernova without evidence of the star's atmosphere in its…

The alignment of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is finished, and it's ready to capture images with its four powerful onboard science instruments. Webb will now move to a final series of preparations, known as science instrument…

An Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) launched by NASA on 9 December 2021 is a space-based observatory. Developed with the Italian Space Agency (ASI), it has three identical telescopes, each with an imaging X-ray detector sensitive…

NASA's Perseverance mission is taking the first-ever recordings of the soundscape on Mars. Perseverance recorded the first sounds from Mars on February 19, 2021, the day after its arrival. The result? Mars is quiet, and natural sound…

Odd radio circles or ORCs, first revealed in 2020 by the ASKAP radio telescope, have now been brought into focus. Theories as to their cause range from galactic shockwaves to their being the throats of wormholes. The new detailed image,…

Reminiscent of fireflies flickering in the dark, lighting up the screen in chunks and clusters. A simulation of the early universe when the cosmos moved from darkness to a radiant, light-filled environment. The amazing video is part of the…

In a research paper recently published in Space: Science & Technology, Qi Li from Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering studied aerodynamic characteristics of two types of Mars Ascent Vehicles (MAV). Those with slender…