Updated Nov. 3 to include OHB Sweden’s role on the satellite. WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab says it will make a second mid-air recovery attempt of an Electron booster during the launch later this week of a Swedish scientific satellite. Rocket Lab announced Nov. 1 plans for its next Electron launch, a mission it calls “Catch … Read more
The end is nigh for NASA’s marsquake hunter. So much dust is choking off the solar power supply to NASA’s InSight lander that the Mars mission, which is operating well past its expiration date, is expected to fall silent very soon. “The spacecraft’s power generation continues to decline as windblown dust on its solar panels … Read more
Gabriel Jorgewich Cohen began researching whether turtle species — and other vertebrates thought to be mute — make sounds by recording his own pet turtles. The hydrophone used for recording can be seen on the left. Gabriel Jorgewich Cohen hide caption toggle caption Gabriel Jorgewich Cohen Gabriel Jorgewich Cohen began researching whether turtle species — … Read more
The Hubble Space Telescope captured the sight of a beautiful spiral galaxy, adorned with the sparkle of two nearby stars. Galaxy NGC 5495 lies 300 million light-years from Earth, far behind the jewel-like celestial bodies to the top-left of the galaxy’s center, and another to the right. These are stars within the Milky Way, Earth’s … Read more
SpaceX launched a telecom satellite to orbit and landed a rocket on a ship at sea early Thursday (Nov. 3). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying Eutelsat’s Hotbird 13G satellite lifted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Thursday at 1:22 a.m. EDT (0522 GMT). The Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth a little … Read more
Glowing in the Pegasus constellation are five apparently closely packed galaxies known as Stephan’s Quintet — and they are whispering the secrets of galactic evolution to scientists. Like all galaxies, these orbs started out as masses of atomic gas that clumped together and eventually collapsed in on themselves, forming what would become the stars that … Read more
NASA is targeting October 2023 for the launch of its Psyche mission. A mission to investigate the metal-rich asteroid Psyche, which might be the exposed core of a long-dead planet, has been given the go-ahead by NASA. The mission’s fate had previously been in doubt after technical difficulties made it miss its 2022 launch window. … Read more
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket will launch Eutelsat’s Hotbird 13G geostationary communications satellite. Follow us on Twitter. SFN Live SpaceX is poised to launch a Falcon 9 rocket early Thursday from Cape … Read more
Artist impression of ultra fluffy gas giant orbiting a cool red dwarf. Astronomers have found a planet with the average density of a marshmallow. Along with being a big softie, scientists found that the Jupiter-sized exoplanet would also float if it were hypothetically put in a giant cosmic bathtub. Astronomers using the Kitt Peak National … Read more