Space

Russia wants to speed up space station cargo deliveries with shorter, one-orbit flights

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Roscosmos wants to speed up its deliveries to the International Space Station. The Russian space agency released a proposal to allow its Progress cargo ships to arrive in a single orbit, which would mean stuff would arrive at the orbiting complex only two hours after launch, the agency said. A statement on Roscosmos’ website says … Read more

Astronomers Join Forces to Push Back Against Satellite ‘Pollution’ Ruining The Skies

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The number of active satellites in the night sky has more than doubled since 2019 – from around 2,200 to 5,000. That is mostly due to Starlink, a SpaceX project aimed at providing internet anywhere in the world through ‘mega-constellations’ of satellites.   Since it began, Starlink has launched over 2,000 satellites. Unfortunately, the thousands of … Read more

Asteroid sharing Earth’s orbit discovered — could it help future space missions?

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This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. David Rothery, Professor of Planetary Geosciences, The Open University Research has shown that the Earth trails an asteroid barely a kilometer across in its orbit about the sun — only the second such body to have ever been … Read more

25 Space Conspiracies That Just Won’t Die

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Here are some of the wildest perennial space myths that just won’t go die. Credit: NASA/Getty On the internet, you need to be a skeptical reader these days.  Claims of aliens and UFOs, Mars being abnormally big, or the moon turning green are the kinds of things you should check out carefully.  Here are some … Read more

US Space Force’s ‘Orbital Prime’ project aims to attack space debris by recycling or removing junk

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A new U.S. Space Force video “demands action” on space debris and asks the private sector for their help cleaning up the growing space mess. The video was released Jan. 5 on the Space Force’s SpaceWERX website (its technology branch) to push a program called Orbital Prime, which aims to test out an on orbit-system … Read more

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is cooling down for its next trick: Observing the universe

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It’s been a whirlwind 38 days in space for the James Webb Space Telescope, but its chief scientist says the mission is well on track to uncover the universe soon. “The telescope is cold … the instruments are cooling,” John Mather, a Nobel laureate and astrophysicist who also works at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in … Read more

How a Magnetic ‘Tug-of-War’ With Io’s Volcanic Eruptions Creates Jupiter’s Auroras

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Jupiter’s auroras – the lights that dance around its poles – are the most distinct in our solar system and over a thousand times brighter than Earth’s aurora. Now, a new study confirms that these otherworldly polar lights come from a unique source: space lava.   Jupiter‘s moon Io is the most volcanically active world in the solar … Read more

The International Space Station will plunge into the sea in 2031, NASA announces

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The International Space Station will plunge into the sea in January 2031, NASA has announced.  The orbiting laboratory, which launched in 1998, will splash-land 1,678 miles (2,700 kilometers) from land at Point Nemo, the final Pacific Ocean resting place for many dead satellites and space stations such as Russia’s Mir, according to the National Oceanic … Read more

Winter Olympics 2022: See China’s stadiums from space in these snowy satellite photos

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Beijing National Stadium and Blue Cube (Image credit: MAXAR) The Winter Olympics of 2022 are here and Maxar Technologies has released satellite images revealing what many of the venues in Beijing and around China look like from space.  The winter games are taking place in Beijing, the same host city as the 2008 Summer Olympics. … Read more