Scientists gearing up for rocket body’s March 4 moon crash

A wayward rocket stage is poised to bombard the moon on Friday (March 4), and the coming impact has earned some scientific attention. Reportedly, the Goldstone Solar System Radar near Barstow, California, is set to observe the object a few days before impact. And NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will look for changes in the … Read more

Russian Capture of Ukraine’s Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Threatens Future Research

The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. Shortly after Russia launched its attack on Ukraine, both governments said that the Russian military had taken over the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster. In a tweet, the Ukrainian Ministry of … Read more

How will Ukraine keep SpaceX’s Starlink internet service online?

SpaceX’s Starlink internet is now active in Ukraine. But will the company be able to keep it online?  Russia’s attacks on Ukraine continue to take lives and destroy infrastructure as the country invades. This infrastructure damage has disrupted internet access in Ukraine, leading a government official to publicly request Starlink satellite internet access for the … Read more

U.S. Forces Are Leaving a Toxic Environmental Legacy in Afghanistan

As U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan, the Taliban immediately rushed in, and it recently took over the country’s major cities in just a few days. The end of the two-decade American occupation has not only produced a fraught political situation; it has also created an environmental one. Some of the military bases the U.S. handed … Read more

Ukraine’s proud space industry faces obliteration but country’s former space chief has hope for future

Ukraine has a mighty space industry whose Zenit rocket is Elon Musk’s favorite. But the country’s potential might soon lie in ruins together with its dreams as Russia continues its bloody siege. However, the country’s former space boss told Space.com that he still has hopes for the future and believes the underdog Ukraine could help … Read more

Distant galaxies appear to overlap in new Hubble telescope image

A new Hubble image shows two deceivingly close galaxies located in the constellation Virgo.  The Hubble Space Telescope captured the barred spiral galaxy NGC 4496A and the spiral galaxy NGC 4496B. The two galaxies only appear to overlap due to a chance alignment — in reality, they are actually located incredibly far apart. NGC 4496A … Read more

Largest shock wave in the universe is ’60 times larger than the Milky Way,’ new study finds

What happens when two of the largest objects in the universe collide? Simple, says a new study: They create one of the largest shock waves in the universe. Located about 730 million light-years from Earth, Abell 3667 is a galaxy cluster in chaos. Actually composed of two clusters (or groups) of galaxies colliding into one another, Abell 3667 … Read more

Russia refuses to launch UK’s OneWeb satellites unless demands are met

Roscosmos will not launch three dozen OneWeb internet satellites as planned on Friday (March 4) unless the company meets new demands, the Russian space agency announced today (March 2). This morning, Roscosmos rolled a Soyuz rocket out to the launch pad at the Russia-operated Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying 36 satellites for the London-based company … Read more

Stonehenge may have been used as a solar calendar

Stonehenge may have been used as a solar calendar, with each of the stones representing a day and sections of the circle of stones possibly corresponding to weeks, an archaeologist now says. An accurate solar calendar consists of about 365.25 days and is important for preventing the seasons from falling out of place (such as … Read more

Scientists uncover the largest crater on Earth under 100,000 years old

A crescent-shaped crater in Northeast China holds the record as the largest impact crater on Earth that formed in the last 100,000 years. Prior to 2020, the only other impact crater ever discovered in China was found in Xiuyan county of the coastal province of Liaoning, according to a statement from the NASA Earth Observatory. Then, … Read more