Space

Deuterium in Comets Reveals Hidden Tales of Origins Date: 2026-06-29 Featured image: [Artist’s impression of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS passing through the solar system; credit: NASA/ESA/STScI] When the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS swept past Earth in December 2025, astronomers trained the James Webb Space Telescope on its glowing coma. What they found rewrites the story of how […]

Featured image: [NASA Langley’s Freefly Alta X quadcopter on the CERTAIN test range; credit: NASA Langley / David C. Bowman] On June 5, 2026, researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, flew human kidneys by drone beyond visual line of sight for the first time, a milestone that could reshape the logistics of […]

Hayabusa2 Set for Super-Close Asteroid Flyby on July 5: ‘A New Beast in the Zoo of Asteroids’ Featured image: [Artist’s concept of Hayabusa2 approaching asteroid Torifune; credit: JAXA] Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft, already one of the most accomplished asteroid missions in history, is about to add a new feat to its resume. On July 5, the […]

Hayabusa2 Set for Super-Close Asteroid Flyby on July 5: ‘A New Beast in the Zoo of Asteroids’ Featured image: [Artist’s concept of Hayabusa2 approaching asteroid Torifune; credit: JAXA] Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft, already one of the most accomplished asteroid missions in history, is about to add a new feat to its resume. On July 5, the […]

How to Tell a Comet From an Asteroid and a Meteor From a Meteorite Date: 2026-06-29 Featured image: [Composite illustration showing a comet, asteroid, and meteor against a star field; credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech] Next time you see a streak of light across the night sky, you are watching the end of a journey that began 4.6 […]

Astronomers Catch the Glowing Shockwave of a Galaxy on the Move Featured image: [LOFAR radio image overlay showing the bow-and-arrow morphology of RAD-BAARG, with the giant arc-shaped shock front on the western side and the distorted S-shaped jet on the eastern side; credit: Ananda Hota / RAD@home / LOFAR / RAS] Astronomers have discovered a […]

Europe’s Next Security Challenge Is in Orbit Date: 2026-06-28 Featured image: [Artist’s representation of objects in low Earth orbit and geostationary orbit, illustrating the congestion and complexity of the space environment; credit: ESA] Across the European Union, satellite navigation alone underpins more than 10 percent of GDP. In the United Kingdom, space-based activity accounts for […]

How to Protect Earth from a Deadly Asteroid Impact Date: 2026-06-28 Featured image: [Artist’s illustration of a kinetic impactor approaching an asteroid, with the DART spacecraft as reference; credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL] A meteoroid just 1.5 meters wide lit up the skies over Massachusetts in late May 2026, producing a fireball visible in broad daylight […]

Featured image: LOFAR radio image of RAD-BAARG, showing the bow-and-arrow structure spanning 1.8 million light-years; credit: LOFAR / RAD@home / Hota et al. A volunteer citizen scientist working through the RAD@home Astronomy Collaboratory has spotted a never-before-seen structure in deep space: a giant radio galaxy that looks like a bow and arrow, spanning approximately 1.8 […]

Featured image: Starlink Direct-to-Cell satellite illustration; credit: SpaceX SpaceX has signaled its intention to launch a direct-to-consumer Starlink mobile service in the United States, a move that would upend the country’s multibillion-dollar telecommunications market and potentially reshape how Americans connect to cellular networks. Company President and COO Gwynne Shotwell disclosed the plan to investors during […]