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Mercury scout mission concept with solar sail propulsion

The planet Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, and also the most difficult for spacecraft to visit and explore. This is because as spacecraft get closer to Mercury, the sun’s enormous gravity pulls in the spacecraft, greatly increasing its speed and making it hard to slow down without large amounts of fuel. But […]

Gravitational waves suggest a ‘forbidden zone’ for stellar-origin black holes

An international team led by Monash University has uncovered evidence of a rare form of exploding star, helping to shed light on one of the most cataclysmic events in the universe. At the end of their lives, most massive stars collapse into black holes—objects with gravity so strong that not even light can escape.

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Gemini South confirms long-suspected link between the composition of exoplanets and their host stars

Astronomers have discovered that a giant planet, WASP-189b, echoes the composition of its host star, providing the first direct evidence of a foundational concept in astrobiology. This discovery was achieved through the first-ever simultaneous measurement of gaseous magnesium and silicon in a planet’s atmosphere. The team used the Gemini South telescope, one half of the […]

Q&A: What to know about NASA’s first crewed moon landing since 1972

Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed mission to the moon in more than 50 years, represents a shift from short visits toward sustained exploration, where understanding lunar geology and resources becomes as important as the engineering that gets astronauts there. Artemis II is currently scheduled to launch Wednesday, April 1, at 6:24 p.m. EDT, with backup […]

High nickel concentrations in Martian bedrock point to potential biosignatures

In 2024, NASA’s Perseverance rover found surprising levels of Nickel in the Martian bedrock of an ancient river channel, called Neretva Vallis, which flowed into the Jezero crater. A new study, published in Nature Communications, has taken a closer look at the data collected from the region and researchers are seeing what could be remnants […]

SpaceX files to go public, paving way for record stock offering

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has filed papers with US regulators that set the stage for what could be the largest-ever public stock offering, a source familiar with the matter told AFP on Wednesday.

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Cosmic collision of galaxies mapped by Maunakea telescope

An astronomer at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo is using data from the Canada–France–Hawaiʻi Telescope (CFHT) on Maunakea to help reconstruct a slow-motion cosmic collision, one that has been unfolding for hundreds of millions of years. A new study from principal investigator R. Pierre Martin, a professor of astronomy at UH Hilo, and international […]

What it takes to keep astronauts safe in deep space

The Artemis II mission launches this week as a first step toward returning to the moon and reaching Mars. Materials scientist Debbie Senesky explains the material tech that makes these missions possible.

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Artemis II space launch ‘politically important’ in new era of space competition, expert says

Astrophiles are eagerly awaiting the launch of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Artemis II on Wednesday, which is set to be the most powerful rocket launch on record and will send human beings back toward the moon for the first time in over 50 years.

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NASA begins fueling rocket to launch astronauts on the first lunar trip in half a century

NASA begun fueling its moon rocket Wednesday for humanity’s first lunar trip in more than half a century, aiming for an evening liftoff with four astronauts.

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Could a solar storm derail the Artemis II mission?

Every mission to deep space is fraught with danger. A hardware failure during launch, an equipment malfunction far from Earth, or a small space rock hitting the vehicle are all scenarios astronauts will train for.

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5 reasons why the Artemis II mission is a big deal

The Artemis II mission, scheduled to launch on Wednesday, will send four astronauts on a 10-day journey from Earth around the moon—the first time humans will travel that far into space since 1972. While the crew will not land on the moon, the mission marks a major step toward returning people to the lunar surface. […]

FAST observes a peculiar rotating radio transient that also switches to pulsar states

Using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), Chinese astronomers have explored the behavior of a rotating radio transient (RRAT) known as RRAT J1574+4703. The new observations found that this object switches between RRAT and normal pulsar states. The finding was detailed in a paper published March 25 on the arXiv pre-print server.

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Unexplained sky flashes from the 1950s: Independent analysis supports their existence

Historical observations from an observatory in Germany have now independently verified evidence for brief, mysterious flashes of light in the night sky, first picked up by an American astronomical survey in the 1950s. Through fresh analysis of a German survey from the same period, independent researcher Ivo Busko, a now-retired developer at NASA, has uncovered […]

It’s happening: Historic Moon mission set for launch

On Wednesday three men and one woman are set to embark on the first crewed journey to the moon since 1972, a landmark odyssey that aims to launch the US into a new era of space exploration.

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