Space

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

Concept art of ESA's LISA in space, with two red laser beams shooting out of it

Astronomy

How three laser-shooting spacecraft could reveal the birth of the universe

The first space-based mission to detect gravitational waves, LISA, could give us a brand new perspective into the universe’s past.

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

NASA announces first missions to Venus since the '80s

NASA has just approved two missions to Venus that will provide the scientific community with a wealth of new data on Earth’s closest planetary neighbor.

Kristin Houser

Astronomy

Colorful clouds on Mars captured in new rover pics

NASA’s Curiosity rover has captured images of colorful clouds on Mars, forming at higher altitudes and earlier in the Martian year than expected.

Kristin Houser

Robotics

Gecko gripper could clean up space junk

The Earth is circled by a sea of space junk, and it poses a danger to satellites and astronauts. We know we should...

Teresa Carey

Aerospace

Fridge for astronaut food aces first flight tests

Purdue University engineers have designed a fridge for astronaut food that could double its shelf life, potentially overcoming a barrier to longer missions.

Kristin Houser

Entertainment

Discovery Channel is looking for wannabe astronauts

The winner of Discovery Channel’s new astronaut competition series, “Who Wants To Be an Astronaut?” will spend eight days aboard the ISS.

Kristin Houser

Astronomy

See the most realistic simulation of star formation yet

A new simulation of star formation is the most realistic ever created, giving scientists an unprecedented opportunity to study the birth of a star.

Kristin Houser

Astronomy

Radioactive plutonium from space found in Pacific Ocean

A rare form of plutonium has been discovered on Earth for the first time — and an exploding star appears to have helped it get here.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

China’s Mars rover nails landing

China’s Mars rover, Zhurong, has landed on the Red Planet, making China only the second nation to successfully land a rover on Mars.

Kristin Houser

Astronomy

Volcanoes on Mars might still be active

New evidence suggests that volcanoes on Mars may have erupted just 50,000 years ago, far more recently than previously thought.

Kristin Houser

Series| Just Might Work

Catching the most dangerous thing in space

5:57

More than 8,000 tons of space debris orbit Earth, endangering our astronauts and satellites. Can we clean up space before it’s too late?

Jack Berning

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