Latest science news in Astronomy & Space
NASA Prepares for New Science Flights Above Coastal Louisiana
As sea levels rise, some areas of the Mississippi Delta are drowning while others are actually gaining mass. NASA's Delta-X heads to the delta to figure out why.
'By any means necessary': Vice President Pence urges NASA on moon-Mars goal
Returning American astronauts to the moon in 2024, and then sending pioneers on to Mars in the next decade, remains a top priority for the Trump administration, Vice President Mike...
Russia will replace 2 cosmonauts set for launch to space
Russia's space agency said Wednesday that two cosmonauts scheduled to launch to the International Space Station will be replaced with alternates for medical reasons.
NASA needs to put a price on its moon landing missions to gain support from Congress
When planning for human moon landing missions in the 2020s, NASA needs detailed budgetary estimates to get a better chance of securing Congress' support.
Simple, fuel-efficient rocket engine could enable cheaper, lighter spacecraft
University of Washington researchers have developed a mathematical model that describes how rotating detonation engines work.
Jack Leiter: Ex-MLB star's son strikes out 12 in college debut
Jack Leiter -- the 19-year-old son of former MLB star Al Leiter -- had 12 strikeouts in his college baseball pitching debut for Vanderbilt.
Heather Couper: Broadcaster and astronomer dies at 70
She appeared on TV shows ranging from Blue Peter to The Sky At Night, as well as documentaries.
See the new Solar Orbiter's 1st space measurements (and an awesome video)
The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter has sent back its first measurements from space, confirming the successful deployment of the boom that carries many of its sun-gazing instruments.
ESA Start-up Competition seeks Europe’s brightest innovation stars
ESA is calling on ambitious start-ups to join the new ESA Start-up Competition. This opportunity is open to entrepreneurs in all ESA Member States that are developing innovative services and/or...
Tombaugh's discovery of Pluto revolutionized knowledge of our solar system
Ninety years ago today, Clyde Tombaugh, a young astronomer working at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, discovered Pluto. In doing so he unknowingly opened the door to the vast "third...
There could be meteors traveling at close to the speed of light when they hit the atmosphere
It's no secret that planet Earth is occasionally greeted by rocks from space that either explode in the atmosphere or impact on the surface. In addition, Earth regularly experiences meteor...
Big Weather Data from a Tiny CubeSat
This blog post originated in the 2018 Science Mission Directorate Science and Technology Report. PROJECT Temporal Experiment for Storms and Tropical Systems Demonstration (TEMPEST-D) KEY POINTS The TEMPEST-D CubeSat demonstrated low-cost, lowrisk, millimeter wave radiometer...
'In Bruges' trio reuniting for new film in Ireland
Filmmaker and playwright Martin McDonagh is reuniting with his "In Bruges" stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson for a new movie.
Galaxy Cruise—Your galactic journey as a citizen scientist
The Universe is full of galaxies of various shapes; some galaxies have spiral arms and others don't. Why do galaxies show such diversity? Galaxies are thought to grow by interacting...
Late fall may be best time of year to try to conceive
First-of-its-kind study accounts for when couples are most likely to start trying to conceive, finding couples conceive quicker in late fall and early winter, especially in southern states. In the...
Simple, fuel-efficient rocket engine could enable cheaper, lighter spacecraft
It takes a lot of fuel to launch something into space. Sending NASA’s Space Shuttle into orbit required more than 3.5 million pounds of fuel, which is about 15 times...
Griffith Observatory: Take a picnic, take a pal. Just remember, we are all stardust
If L.A. has a tickle spot, it would be here at Griffith Observatory, east of the sun and west of the moon.
Various variability phenomena observed in the binary star DQ Tau
Hungarian astronomers have observed a pre-main sequence (PMS) binary star known as DQ Tau using a set of space telescopes and ground-based facilities, finding numerous variability phenomena in this system,...
Out-of-this-world images from space
Astronauts from the United States and the European Space Agency, along with engineers and scientists on the ground around the world, are capturing some amazing images from outer space. Here...
BECEP array installed at South Pole
Professor Clem Pryke and his group are on their way back to Minnesota from the South Pole in Antarctica after completing installation of the new BICEP Array Telescope. Over the...
Watch: Justin Bieber sings with James Corden in new 'Carpool Karaoke'
Justin Bieber joined James Corden on "The Late Late Show" for a new installment of "Carpool Karaoke."
Findings from NASA's Juno update Jupiter water mystery
NASA's Juno mission has provided its first science results on the amount of water in Jupiter's atmosphere. Published recently in the journal Nature Astronomy, the Juno results estimate that at...
Engineers devise a decision map to identify the best mission type to deflect an incoming asteroid
On April 13, 2029, an icy chunk of space rock, wider than the Eiffel Tower is tall, will streak by Earth at 30 kilometers per second, grazing the planet's sphere...
In photos: First look inside Orbex's Scotland rocket factory
The private space company Orbex recently allowed cameras into its rocket factory for the first time, offering a glimpse at where the commercial orbital rocket called Prime is being built.
Astronomers look to preserve the night sky as thousands of satellites set to launch
The potential launch of tens of thousands of satellites — called constellations — is a serious threat to astronomy, according to the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Now, it's trying to...
How to deflect an asteroid
On April 13, 2029, an icy chunk of space rock, wider than the Eiffel Tower is tall, will streak by Earth at 30 kilometers per second, grazing the planet’s sphere of geostationary...
ESA's next Sun mission will be shadow-casting pair
After Solar Orbiter, ESA’s next mission observing the Sun will not be one spacecraft but two: the double satellites making up Proba-3 will fly in formation to cast an artificial...
Qarman CubeSat: falling into a fireball
UPDATE: Qarman deployment from the ISS scheduled for Wednesday 19 February at 11:20 UTC (12:20 CET)ESA’s latest mission will enter the vacuum of space not aboard a rocket but by being...