Bringing space down to earth
Campers at the Cosmosphere use virtual reality headsets to interact with “ISS: Rupture,” an interactive game that simulates…
Scientists recreated the conditions on Saturn’s moon Titan and watched molecules that shouldn’t mix form stable crystals together — at around minus 179°C, polar hydrogen cyanide accepts nonpolar methane and ethane into its crystal structure, breaking one of chemistry’s most familiar rules of thumb.
“Like dissolves like” is one of chemistry’s most useful shortcuts. Polar materials tend to associate with polar materials,…
We just got a glimpse at what NASA’s Skyfall helicopters will look like in action
If you just can’t wait for NASA’s new Mars helicopters to get to work, you can now see…
Voyager 2 is nearly 50 years old, losing about 4 watts of power every year as its plutonium power source fades — and NASA just bought it at least another year of science with an all-at-once power-system swap engineers called the “Big Bang,” performed on a spacecraft with razor-thin power margins and no possibility of physical repair.
Voyager 2 has no repair port that anyone can reach, no spare spacecraft waiting nearby and no possibility…
NASA funds spherical ‘Aerobots’ that could explore the caves of Saturn’s moon Titan
Spherical “Aerobots” may one day swarm the caves of Titan — a moon of Saturn that NASA says…
On this day in space! Aug. 16, 1963: Wingless M2-F1 completes 1st glide flight
On Aug. 16, 1963, NASA’s M2-F1 aircraft prototype made its first glide flight. This wingless aircraft kind of…
Astronomers find water in the harsh environment near the Milky Way’s black hole — Space photo of the week
A view of the Milky Way galaxy. (Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, F. Peißker, J. Lu, F.…
Astronomers Discover the Existence of a Black Hole Star
When Soundgarden Wrote “Black Hole Sun,” they may have inadvertently been onto something. In a new paper in…
AustralianSuper still wary of Musk’s SpaceX months after listing
AustralianSuper has taken a small stake in Elon Musk’s SpaceX, with the country’s biggest pension fund wary of…
Ancient Egypt Will Soon Host The Century’s Longest Total Solar Eclipse
Topline Ancient Egypt’s former capital is about to become ground zero for the world’s eclipse chasers. On Aug.…
Starship’s 33 engines push down with 74,400 kilonewtons at liftoff — roughly twice the force of the Saturn V that sent humans to the Moon, yet the whole vehicle is designed to be caught like a falling pencil and flown again the next day
At the moment of liftoff, SpaceX’s Starship pushes off the launch pad with approximately 74.4 million newtons of…
New record! SpaceX launches 2 Falcon 9 rockets just 38 minutes apart
SpaceX keeps setting spaceflight records. Elon Musk‘s company launches far more frequently than any other outfit, and it…