Tag Archives: NASA

Alpha Centauri is our closest stellar neighbor, a binary star system located just 4.376 light-years away. Despite its proximity, repeated astronomical surveys have failed to find hard evidence of extrasolar planets in this system. Part of the problem is that the system consists of two stars orbiting each other, which makes detecting exoplanets through the two most popular methods very ...

Venus has active volcanoes, we get a glimpse of NASA’s new lunar exploration suits, and scientists build a completely flat telescope lens. Active Volcano Found On Venus Venus holds many mysteries, and one of the biggest is whether or not there are still active volcanoes on its surface. NASA’s Magellan mission gathered radar images of Venus’s surface decades ago, but ...

The ExoMars Rover mission is back on track for its mission to Mars, but Russia won’t be a part of it this time. Following Russia’s disastrous invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022, the ESA suspended the ExoMars program. Now, the mission is targeted for a 2028 launch to Mars without Russian involvement. In anticipation of that launch date, the ...

Interest in the exploration of Venus has kicked up a notch lately, especially after a contested recent discovery of phosphine, a potential biosignature, in the planet’s atmosphere. Plenty of missions to Venus have been proposed, and NASA and ESA have recently funded several. However, they are mainly orbiters, trying to peer into the planet’s interior from above. But they are ...

Using archival radar images taken in the 1990s by NASA’s Magellan spacecraft, scientists have found evidence of recent active volcanism on Venus.  The images revealed a volcanic vent that changed shape and increased significantly in size over an eight-month period. The scientists say their findings confirm long-held suspicions that the planet, which is known to have a very geologically young ...

SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule approaches the International Space Station for docking Thursday. Credit: NASA TV / Spaceflight Now A day-and-a-half after launching from Florida, SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon spacecraft is on course for docking at the International Space Station Thursday to deliver fresh food, experiments, CubeSats, and a suite of U.S. military tech demo payloads. The automated linkup between the Dragon ...

Watch a replay of our live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket launched SpaceX’s 27th resupply mission to the International Space Station. SFN Launch Replay  A SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft packed with nearly 6,300 pounds of fresh food, ...

Planetary exploration, specifically within our own Solar System, has provided a lifetime of scientific knowledge about the many worlds beyond Earth. However, this exploration, thus far, has primarily been limited to orbiters and landers/rovers designed for surface exploration of the celestial bodies they visit. But what if we could explore subsurface environments just as easily as we’ve been able to ...

A newly discovered asteroid called 2023 DW has generated quite a buzz over the past week, due to an estimated 1-in-670 chance of impact on Valentine’s Day 2046. But despite a NASA advisory and the resulting scary headlines, there’s no need to put an asteroid doomsday on your day planner for that date. The risk assessment doesn’t have as much ...

The official verdict on Artemis 1. Canadian kids discovered something NASA didn’t know. Was there a Dark Big Bang? The next bright comet for 2024. SLS Good For Humans. Artemis 2 in 2024 NASA released the results of the analysis of the Artemis 1 mission. Surprise-surprise, it was a success. Apart from some damage to the ground systems infrastructure, everything ...