The U.S. Air Force’s secretive space plane just set a new record
The U.S. Air Force's secretive X-37B space plane this week has beaten its previous record for the number of consecutive days spent in orbit. It's now been in space for 718 days, though as its missions are classified, it’s hard to know precisely what it’s doing up there.
Time spent in space affects connectivity of astronauts’ brains, new study shows
We already know that spending time in space has effects on the body, and recent evidence suggests it could have an effect on the mind as well. Now, scientists have used magnetic resonance imaging to look at how astronauts' brains changed after they adapted to an environment without gravity.
NASA’s TESS satellite discovered three new planets right next-door
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, affectionately called TESS, discovered three new worlds during its latest exploration. The exoplanets are the smallest, nearest known to date and orbit a star that’s just 73 light-years away,
Life after launch: Inside the massive effort to preserve NASA’s space artifacts
The Apollo 11 mission put a man on the moon, but NASA didn’t necessarily preserve every step of the process. Researchers are trying to rescue the history on Earth and on the moon.
Dark side of the moon: Why lunar landing conspiracies flourish online
Half a century after humans first walked on the moon, there are still people who doubt it happened. Although the internet has connected people around the world to each other and the collective knowledge of humanity, conspiracy theories are not just persisting but thriving on social media.
Elon Musk says SpaceX’s Starship can land on the moon by 2021
SpaceX boss Elon Musk says he believes its Starship spacecraft can land on the moon by 2021, adding that he hopes his company can help to build a "permanently occupied lunar base" there. However, the comments came a few days before a prototype Starship rocket suffered a fiery mishap during a ground test this week.
See how a life-sized astronaut was built from LEGO bricks
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, LEGO has unveiled this life-sized model of an astronaut, constructed entirely from LEGO bricks. The model of the Apollo 11 lunar module pilot is based on the suit which Neil Armstrong wore when he made his historic small step onto the moon.
Space food: Humble chili pepper to become first fruit grown in space
The Española chili pepper could become the first fruiting plant to be grown and harvested in space as part of an experiment taking place soon on the International Space Station. If successful, it will expand the range of foods able to be used for future, more ambitious missions to planets such as Mars.
What Skylab taught us about space research, 40 years later
Thursday was the 40th anniversary of Skylab falling back to Earth. While most people know it as America's first manned space station, its influence extends much further, inspiring space research and scientific curiosity for decades
Virgin Orbit took a major step toward launching satellites from a Boeing 747
Virgin Orbit launched a rocket from a specially-modified Boeing 747 on Wednesday, clearing the way for the company to launch a similar rocket into space later this year. A spinoff of Virgin Galactic, it plans to launch small satellites into low-Earth orbit from a plane instead of from the ground.
Track Bill Nye’s LightSail 2 solar spaceship in real time as it makes history
The LightSail 2 has sent its first signals back to Earth, and The Planetary Society has made it possible for enthusiasts to track those signals from home through an online dashboard. The spacecraft is expected to remain in orbit for a year and demonstrate the viability of solar sailing.
The Pentagon wants to build an itsy-bitsy outpost in space
The U.S. military’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is asking for submissions for a small, free-flying Orbital Outpost that the Department of Defense will use in space. The outpost needs to be capable of space assembly, microgravity experimentation, manufacturing, training, tests, evaluations, and more
Here’s how you can watch Tuesday’s total solar eclipse over South America
By all accounts, the 2017 total solar eclipse was spectacular. There’s another one on Tuesday, but this time it's not passing over the U.S.. Thankfully, NASA has stepped in to offer a live-stream of the celestial event so you can still enjoy it -- and from the comfort of your own armchair, too.
NASA’s eight-rotor Dragonfly drone is heading to Saturn’s largest moon
NASA is sending a drone to Titan, Saturn's largest moon, in an ambitious mission that could unlock the mystery of how life began on Earth. Launching in 2026, the dual-quadcopter will reach Titan eight years later, whereupon it’ll spend several years gathering data from locations of interest.
The U.K.’s biggest (and only) asteroid mining company has designs on our skies
The Asteroid Mining Corporation, the U.K.'s only company dedicated to the dream of mining resources from asteroids in space, plans to launch a prospecting satellite in 2021. Is its founder going to be among the first people to strike gold in space, or is it a doomed venture?
Want to work in the stars? Here are six future space jobs you could hold
Ever dreamed of leaving Earth to find employment amongst the stars? Want to know what some of these far-flung space roles might entail? Here are six future jobs that might sound like science fiction now, but almost certainly won’t a decade or two from now.
Blue Origin test fires the engine that could help it land on the moon
Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company Blue Origin has carried out a test firing of its BE-7 engine, the propulsion system which it hopes will help humankind land on the moon for the first time since 1972. Check out a video showing the impressive test firing, which took place this week.
Got $400 million to burn? The world’s largest airplane is up for sale
Stratolaunch, the world's largest airplane, is up for sale. All it'll cost you is $400 million dollars. The brainchild of late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, the plane was supposed to make space travel more accessible and affordable. Could Elon Musk be interested in buying it?
If you want to visit the ISS, you’d better start saving. And working out, too
The International Space Station (ISS) will soon begin accepting space tourists. But not just anyone will be allowed on board -- there will be a strict set of training requirements for potential astronauts, NASA told Digital Trends.
Jeff Bezos unveils Blue Moon lander in grand plan to return to lunar surface
Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos on Thursday unveiled Blue Moon, a lander that he says will journey to the lunar surface by 2024. A larger version of the lander will be able to carry astronauts, deliver payloads, deploy rovers, and act as a launch platform for moon-orbiting satellites.
Sustainability guidelines could help solve the growing problem of trash in space
Not content with trashing our own planet, it seems that humanity has a growing problem with space debris as well. A new set of Space Sustainability Rating guidelines, aimed at future satellite and rocket launches, hopes to help by cracking down on the very worst offenders going forward.
Public vote opens for new planet name, but Planet McPlanetface won’t fly
The largest unnamed world in our solar system needs an official title, and you can help choose it. The scientists who discovered the icy planetoid in 2007 recently announced a public vote offering three choices. The most popular choice will be submitted to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) for consideration.
NASA’s twin study reveals effects of time spent in space on the human body
A NASA study has revealed clues about the effects of space by studying twins. Two retired astronauts, twin brothers Scott and Mark Kelly, lent their bodies to science to be studied between 2015 and 2016. Mark stayed on Earth while Scott spent 340 days aboard the International Space Station.
In space, clothes can smell really bad. Russian firm seeks way to wash them
Russia's go-to company for space technology since 1946 appears to be working on an interesting project to accompany its investment in the International Space Station A washing machine for astronauts' space clothes would turn the carbon dioxide astronauts expel into a cleaning liquid.
Microbes survive outside the International Space Station, might do same on Mars
A new study from researchers at the German Aerospace Center shows that some microbes (in particular, the “extremophiles,” or ones that live in extreme conditions) can inhabit the inhospitable environment of space outside the International Space Station (ISS). The study raises hope for life on Mars.
Germany’s space agency wants to catch rockets in the sky after launch
SpaceX and Blue Origin land their rockets back on Earth shortly after launch, but Germany's space agency is developing an alternative rocket recovery system capable of catching the booster as it glides back to terra firma. The agency hopes the design, if successful, will slash the cost of future satellite launches.
See a cluster of cosmic wild ducks in flight in Hubble’s picture of the week
Hubble has provided another space picture for us to marvel at. The telescope has been imaging the Messier 11 cluster, a group of stars in the southern constellation of Scutum also known by another name: the Wild Duck Cluster, because the brightest stars look like a flock of ducks in flight.
NASA’s planet-hunting satellite TESS locates its first exoplanet
NASA's planet-hunting satellite, TESS, was launched last year to search for exoplanets. The satellite will observe 400,000 stars and select a target from the new TESS Habitable Zone Star Catalog. The search is already paying off, as astronomers announce they have discovered a Saturn-sized planet.
A tiny pebble could have caused the dramatic self-destruction of a 5-mile-long asteroid
The Hubble telescope has captured images of a self-destructing asteroid called 6478 Gault with a distinctive double tail. The two comet-like tails of debris are evidence of activity in the asteroid which is ejecting material into space, suggesting that Gault is breaking apart.
See baby stars being born in the beautiful Butterfly Nebula
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope was launched in 2003 and was supposed to only be on its mission for two and a half years. But remarkably enough, 16 years later it is still going. Now astronomers have used its data to create this infrared image of a beautiful nebula that acts as a nursery for baby stars.
NASA scientists want to send a cave-diving rover to the moon
NASA is considering a plan to send rover to the moon in the mid-2020s. It would touch down a few hundred feet from one of the moon’s deep pits and deploy a smaller rover, Axel, to rappel hundreds of feet into the caverns that pockmark the moon’s surface.
Volunteers sent to bed for 60 consecutive days in offbeat space experiment
Twenty-four volunteers went to bed earlier this week and won't be getting up again for two months. It's part of an experiment by NASA and ESA to learn more about the negative effects on the human body of prolonged periods of weightlessness — important if astronauts are ever to embark on missions into deep space.
Another giant leap: U.S. plans to send astronauts back to the moon by 2024
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence says that President Donald Trump is directing NASA to commit to sending American astronauts to the moon by 2024. Provided that this is carried out successfully, it will be the first time that people have walked on the moon since December 1972.