Spacecraft & Probes
The New Telescope Could Find More Than 1,000 Planets
NASA’s new telescope, WFIRST, will give humans the largest, deepest, clearest picture of the universe since Hubble Space Telescope. NASA has scheduled the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) to launch next year. Experts hope it will help unravel some of the biggest mysteries of the universe. The new...
Curiosity Rover is Back to Work after a Reset
Just days after NASA gave up on the Opportunity rover, they had to pause scientific work of the Curiosity probe after a sudden ‘hiccup’ during boot-up. NASA announced Friday that Curiosity experienced a “hiccup during boot-up” the previous Friday. This triggered the rover to go into safe mode and interrupted...
Japanese Spacecraft Fires Bullet into Asteroid
Japanese spacecraft touched down briefly on the Ryugu asteroid, fired a bullet, collected pieces of the ejected material and ascended from the space rock. Yesterday (Feb. 21; Feb. 22 Japan time) the Hayabusa2 probe successfully landed on an asteroid 300 million kilometers away. The spacecraft fired a 0.2-ounce (5 grams)...
NASA Is Going Back To Moon But This Time to Stay
NASA is going back to the Moon using commercial operators. But this time, the US space agency says it will be there to stay. It’s been almost 50 years since humans first set foot on the moon. And since that historic time, space exploration has experienced tremendous progress. “It’s important that we get back...
NASA’s Opportunity Rover Officially Finishes its Mission
After 15 years of exploration, NASA’s Opportunity rover finally concludes a successful mission. It was the longest-lasting robot on another planet ever. NASA declared its Opportunity Mars rover dead today (Feb. 13), more than eight months after the solar-powered robot went silent during a raging dust storm on the Red...
SpaceX Just Fired its Mars Rocket Engine
SpaceX has test-fired the flight version of its new Raptor rocket engine for the first time. Thus, taking another step toward Mars. SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk announced the test in a series of tweets yesterday (Feb. 3). “First firing of Starship Raptor flight engine! So proud of great work by @SpaceX team!!”...
Japan Blasts Satellite Into Space To Deliver Artificial Meteor Shower
Japanese company blasted a rocket on Friday. It carried a satellite on a mission to deliver the world’s first artificial meteor shower. Astro Live Experiences (ALE), a Tokyo-based start-up has developed a micro-satellite which can create what it calls a “shooting stars on demand” service. So, engineers designed the...
Elon Musk Unveils SpaceX’s First Starship
SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk shares a photo of its Starship test flight rocket. The glorious rocket may one day carry people to the Moon and Mars. Musk tweeted an image on Thursday night of the completed Starship test-flight rocket from a SpaceX facility in south Texas. Starship test flight rocket just finished assembly at the...
TESS Discovers An Exoplanet 23 Times The Size Of Earth
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered a third exoplanet outside our solar system. TESS has been hunting for three months now. The new planet, named HD 21749b, orbits a bright, nearby dwarf star about 53 light-years away, in the constellation Reticulum. It has the longest orbital period at...
SpaceX Moved its 1st Crew Dragon Spaceship on the Launch Pad
SpaceX is set for its first orbital test flight of Crew Dragon. The private company has moved its Dragon Spaceship to the launch pad. SpaceX has raised a Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A in Florida Thursday (Jan. 3). It’s been eight years since the last space...