Space

T-Minus: SpaceX’s military launch, a rocket family’s final flight, and more

Freethink’s weekly countdown of the biggest space news, featuring a new kind of military satellite, the solar eclipse, and more.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

T-Minus: SpaceX’s first “Bandwagon” launch, NASA’s future moon vehicles, and more

Freethink’s weekly countdown of the biggest space news, featuring a new SpaceX service, a request for “moon time,” and more.

Kristin Houser

An artistic representation of a black hole with accretion disk and relativistic jets emitting from its poles.

Outer Space

Persistent “hiccups” in a far-off galaxy draw astronomers to new black hole behavior

Scientists have found a large black hole that “hiccups,” giving off plumes of gas, revealing another black hole.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office

Aerospace

All-civilian Inspiration4 mission is ready for launch (Updated)

When Inspiration4 launches on September 15, it'll mark a new era in space tourism as the first all-civilian mission to space.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

Perseverance rover collects first Mars rock sample — for real

NASA’s Perseverance rover has collected its first Mars rock sample, which the agency plans to send to Earth in 2031.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

Space radiation won’t stop missions to Mars

A new study predicts that space radiation alone wouldn’t make missions to Mars too risky for astronauts — as long as we timed them right.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

NASA pays space startup $.10 for moon mining mission

NASA paid Colorado startup Lunar Outpost $.10 as part of a moon mining contract that could help advance human space exploration.

Kristin Houser

Outer Space

Can we (legally) colonize space?

The space race is heating up, but many legal issues are still open to debate.

Hope Reese

VR spacewalk will let you see what ISS astronauts see

A VR spacewalk filmed by an “outer space camera” will be the centerpiece of the next episode of Space Explorers: The ISS Experience.

Kristin Houser

Asteroids

Astronomers discover solar system’s fastest-orbiting asteroid

Astronomers have discovered an asteroid that orbits the sun in just 113 days, making it the fastest-orbiting asteroid in our solar system.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

Twin Mars satellites have greenlight for launch

Two tiny Mars satellites will head to the Red Planet in 2024 as part of a NASA program testing smaller spacecraft on planetary missions.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

"Space farmer" grows plants under fake cosmic radiation

Researchers created a mini radioactive sky on Earth to study how cosmic radiation might impact how astronauts on Mars grow food.

Kristin Houser

Asteroids

NASA updates the odds on Bennu asteroid hitting Earth

Using data from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, NASA has updated its predictions about the Bennu asteroid impacting Earth.

Kristin Houser

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