Cosmic rays may offer an out-of-this-world answer to a long-standing mystery about lightning on Earth, a new study suggests. Thunderstorms are exceedingly common; a staggering 3 million lightning strikes occur…
Category: Space
SpaceX to launch private astronauts on first crewed polar orbit
This picture courtesy of Fram2/SpaceX shows from left to right, mission specialist and medical officer Eric Philips, mission commander Chun Wang, pilot Rabea Rogge and vehicle commander Jannicke Mikkelsen. SpaceX…
Rocket carrying European orbital vehicle crashes after launch
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The first orbital rocket launched from continental Europe crashed seconds after blast-off Sunday, dealing a blow to the continent’s bid to build a new space economy.…
SpaceX’s Fram2 astronaut flight over Earth’s poles will be the 1st to grow mushrooms in space
Astronauts will attempt to grow mushrooms in space for the first time during SpaceX’s upcoming Fram2 mission. Launching aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as early as Monday (March 31),…
When glaciers roamed Mars
Perspective view of Kalkaska crater and the Heart Lake system from CTX-MOLA DTM mosaic over global CTX mosaic. Credit: Berman & Williams (2025) The surface of Mars is known for…
A total solar eclipse from 2471 B.C. may have shaken Egypt’s cult of the sun
The date is April 1, 2471 B.C., and a total solar eclipse has forced night to fall during the day in Egypt. The sun has morphed into a lifeless black…
How NASA’s Perseverance is helping prepare astronauts for Mars
This graphic shows an illustration of a prototype astronaut suit, left, along with suit samples included aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover. They are the first spacesuit materials ever sent to Mars.…
Boeing’s next Starliner launch for NASA could slip to early 2026 after fixes
Boeing’s Starliner capsule will remain ground-bound for a while longer yet. Last June, Starliner launched on its first-ever crewed flight, which sent NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to…
NEO surveyor instrument enclosure tested inside historic chamber for Apollo spacecraft testing
Credit: NASA The instrument enclosure of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Surveyor was prepared for critical environmental tests inside the historic Chamber A at the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory at NASA’s Johnson…
When’s the next ‘parade of planets’? The past, present and future of planetary alignments
The recent and much-ballyhooed “planetary parade” was an interesting celestial event that likely spurred even infrequent skywatchers to seek out the seven planets stretched out across the sky. Some of…
