For the first time, astronomers have directly detected radio emissions from a planet beyond our Solar System. This artist’s impression shows what the gas giant exoplanet might look like inside the disk of Beta Pictoris. Image credit: L. Calçada / ESO. First discovered in 2008 by astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope, Beta Pictoris b … Read more
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will carry astronauts again, but not until 2028. If all goes as planned, Starliner will make an uncrewed test flight to the International Space Station (ISS) in December or January of next December or January, and then carry astronauts sometime in 2028, NASA announced in an update today (Sept. 28). It’s a … Read more
SpaceX’s Starship performed a landing before touching down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii after completing its mission to enter Earth’s orbit for the first time. (SpaceX) SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket lifted off from Texas on Monday morning on its most ambitious test flight yet, aiming for a roughly 10-hour mission that would have sent … Read more
SpaceX Starship Flight 14 launches from Texas on Monday. Flight 14 was the first to send Starship into orbit around Earth and deploy Starlink satellites. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images SpaceX launched its Starship spacecraft from the company’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica Beach in Texas, … Read more
The JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) spacecraft returned to Earth on Monday (September 28), but only for a brief aerial visit. The European Space Agency (ESA) probe stopped only to receive gravitational assistance to continue its journey to Jupiter and its moons. JUICE launched in April 2023, and this is the third time during its … Read more
Today I posed a puzzle that Isaac Newton posed in 1679 in a last writing to Robert Hooke. I mentioned that the answer is counterintuitive and also gave them the hint that it might have something to do with figure skating. Here is the problem again, with its solution. The Fall of the Tower The … Read more
Heart transplants are limited by donor availability. Credit: Vsevolod Zviryk/Science Photo Library What happens to organs when they are transplanted? According to one study,1 young donor hearts age rapidly in the bodies of older recipients, and older hearts rejuvenate inside young ones. The findings, published on the preprint server bioRxiv and not yet peer-reviewed, imply … Read more
During each Starship test flight, beneath the roar of rocket engines is the anxious drumbeat of an urgent, impending deadline. NASA hopes to use Starship, or a lunar lander built by SpaceX’s archrival Blue Origin, to take its astronauts back to the moon amid a space race with China. Both countries intend to build permanent … Read more
SpaceX has already built the world’s largest rocket with its Starship and will attempt to put that giant vehicle into orbit for the first time today (September 28). But if you’re hoping to watch the historic launch yourself, you’ll need to know exactly where and when to tune in. We have all the details you … Read more
Tanystylum kiixin, a new species of sea spider, with round eggs inside its legs. Cormac Toler-Scott/The University of British Columbia hide caption toggle caption Cormac Toler-Scott/The University of British Columbia Researchers in Canada have discovered two new species that are related to spiders, but you don’t have to worry about them crawling around your living … Read more