NASA astronauts on spacewalk prep space station for new solar array

The International Space Station is now ready for the addition of an upgraded solar array after two NASA astronauts completed a nearly seven-hour spacewalk on Tuesday (March 15). Expedition 66 crewmates Kayla Barron and Raja Chari secured brackets and erected struts at the base of one of the space station’s eight original power-providing arrays, preparing … Read more

Radical Idea Shows Laser Propulsion Could Rapidly Accelerate Trips to Mars

NASA and China plan to mount crewed missions to Mars in the next decade. While this represents a tremendous leap in terms of space exploration, it also presents significant logistical and technological challenges.   For starters, missions can only launch for Mars every 26 months when our two planets are at the closest points in … Read more

NASA’s Lucy asteroid spacecraft still has a wonky solar array as it flies through space

Three months after launch, a new NASA asteroid spacecraft is still getting settled into its life beyond Earth. NASA’s Lucy mission launched Oct. 16 with a mission to explore the Trojan asteroids, which orbit the sun ahead of and behind Jupiter. No spacecraft has ever visited the Trojan asteroids, which scientists believe are “fossils” from … Read more