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Latest by G. Torbet

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NASA’s CAPSTONE satellite maneuver sends spacecraft on its way to lunar orbit

NASA's CAPSTONE satellite is on its way to orbit around the moon, following a software issue which caused it to lose contact with Earth this week.
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Here are the cosmic targets for James Webb’s Telescope’s first images

This week will see the release of the first science images from the James Webb Space Telescope, and NASA has announced which objects the images will show.
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captures the sparkling globular cluster NGC 6569 in the constellation Sagittarius. Hubble explored the heart of this cluster with both its Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys, revealing a glittering hoard of stars in this astronomical treasure trove.

Hubble captures a glittering cluster of thousands of stars

This week's image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a stunning field of stars called a globular cluster.
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A Chinese orbiter has mapped the entire surface of Mars

The Chinese Tianwen-1 orbiter has completed imaging the entire surface of Mars, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced this week.
The team conducted a tethered launch of an early version of the sailplane, in which it descended slowly to Earth attached to a balloon.

Motorless sailplane for exploring Mars soars like an albatross

Researchers have proposed an experimental sailplane that operates without a motor and that could sail through the Martian air for days at a time.
In the Sensing With Independent Micro-Swimmers (SWIM) concept, illustrated here, dozens of small robots would descend through the icy shell of a distant moon via a cryobot – depicted at left – to the ocean below. The project has received funding from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program.

Fleet of tiny robots could one day explore subsurface oceans on icy worlds

A fleet of tiny robotic explorers could one day swim through the subsurface oceans of icy worlds.
Space Launch System rocket during the wet dress rehearsal.

NASA’s next-generation rocket returns to assembly building today

NASA's next-generation rocket, the Space Launch System, will return to its home at the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida today.
An artist's impression of an asteroid approaching Earth

Good news: Threatening asteroid won’t impact Earth in 2052

The asteroid 2021 QM1, marked as one of the most threatening to our planet, won't hit Earth after all.
Virgin Orbit launches night mission.

Virgin Orbit successfully launches its first night mission

Virgin Orbit launched seven satellites using its LauncherOne system last night, Friday, July 1, in its first nighttime launch.
MIRI Flight Instrument Undergoing Alignment Testing

Just one instrument mode left and the James Webb Telescope will be ready for science

James Webb is almost ready to start work. Now, the Mid-Infrared instrument (MIRI) has completed its checks and NASA has announced that it is ready for science.
Artist’s illustration of the Lucy concept.

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft has almost completely deployed its stuck array

Good news for NASA's Lucy spacecraft, the solar array of which is now almost completely deployed.
The massive galaxy cluster Abell 1351 is captured in this image by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys. This galaxy cluster lies in the constellation Ursa Major in the northern hemisphere.

This galaxy cluster is so massive it warps space-time and bends light

An image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a galaxy cluster named Abell 1351, so unimaginably massive it is bending space-time itself.
One of the MeerKAT antennae.

Linking 64 antennae together to see the radio universe on a grand scale

Astronomers have linked up data from the 64 antennae of the MeerKAT telescope to map the cosmos on a large scale.
An image of the 22nd orbit of the Juno spacecraft around Jupiter shows the region close to the north pole of the planet. There is a huge diversity in the colors and shapes of these vortices (hurricane-like storms). Scientists need to create a catalog of these storms in order to understand how they form.

You can help analyze Juno images of Jupiter’s clouds

A citizen scientist project is inviting members of the public to help identify atmospheric features in Juno data.
Seen are six views of the Nili Fossae region of Mars captured by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, or CRISM, one of the instruments aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

This giant map of minerals on Mars is a piece of modern art

NASA recently released the first part of a map of the martian surface, in the form of a 5.6 gigapixel image in 72 colors.
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket sits on the pad at the company’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand for wet dress rehearsal ahead of the CAPSTONE launch.

How to watch NASA launch a satellite into an experimental lunar orbit

This Monday, NASA is launching a tiny satellite with a big mission - to test a never-before-tried orbit around the moon for a future lunar outpost.
A rocket body impacted the Moon on March 4, 2022, near Hertzsprung crater, creating a double crater roughly 28 meters wide in the longest dimension. LROC NAC M1407760984R; image enlarged 3x

See the crater left by a space junk impact on the moon

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped an image showing the crater created by a Chinese rocket booster which crashed into the moon earlier this year.
XROOTS hardware undergoing ground-based plant tests.

How astronauts on the ISS are growing crops without soil

Astronauts on the ISS recently harvested vegetables from a system which grows plants without soil or other growth medium.
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NASA’s moon rocket could launch as soon as August this year

NASA says there's a chance that its next-generation rocket, the Space Launch System, could launch for the first time this summer.
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NASA’s Psyche mission launch delayed until at least 2023

NASA's mission to visit a metal asteroid with a spacecraft named Psyche has hit a roadblock, with the launch being delayed until 2023 at the earliest.
This star-studded image shows the globular cluster Terzan 9 in the constellation Sagittarius, toward the center of the Milky Way. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captured this glittering scene using its Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys.

Hubble Space Telescope snaps sparkling globular cluster near the heart of our galaxy

Stars shine like diamonds in this week's image from the Hubble Space Telescope, which shows globular cluster Terzan 9.
The Andromeda galaxy, or M31, is shown here in far-infrared and radio wavelengths of light.

See our galactic neighbors as you’ve never seen them before

Images of four nearby galaxies to the Milky Way show the dust in and around these galaxies in all its glory.
NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft, shown in this illustration, has been exploring our solar system since 1977, along with its twin, Voyager 2.

The long goodbye of NASA’s forty-year-old Voyager probes

The Voyager probes, the most distant human-made objects in the universe, are entering their twilight years.
Illustration of two newly discovered, rocky "super-Earths" that could be ideal for follow-up atmospheric observations.

Two rocky super-Earths discovered just 33 light-years away

Researchers using NASA's TESS satellite have discovered two rocky exoplanets in a system in our cosmic backyard, located just 33 light-years from Earth.
This illustration shows a white dwarf star siphoning off debris from shattered objects in a planetary system. The Hubble Space Telescope detects the spectral signature of the vaporized debris that revealed a combination of rocky-metallic and icy material, the ingredients of planets. The findings help describe the violent nature of evolved planetary systems and the composition of its disintegrating bodies.

Hubble Space Telescope finds destructive white dwarf ripping apart planetary pieces

The Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a case of cosmic cannibalism, with a white dwarf consuming rocky and icy material from its surrounding environment.
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‘Alien’ signal seen by Chinese telescope likely due to radio interference

A signal detected by a Chinese telescope and originally reported as possible evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence is almost certainly due to human factors.
An image of NASA’s moon rocket at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, rolling out of the Vehicle Assembly Building for a 4.2-mile journey to Launch Complex 39B on March 17, 2022.

NASA beginning its 4th go at crucial Artemis mission rocket test tonight

NASA is once again preparing for a major test of its new Space Launch System rocket, intended to carry astronauts to the moon under the Artemis program.
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SpaceX fires employees for open letter critical of Elon Musk

A group of SpaceX employees who circulated an open letter criticizing the company's founder, Elon Musk, have been fired from the company.
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How to watch SpaceX launch a German radar satellite this morning

This morning, SpaceX will be launching a German radar satellite using one of its Falcon 9 rockets. Here's how to watch.
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Astra rocket fails to deliver two NASA storm satellites to orbit

Today, Sunday June 12, private rocket company Astra will launch two satellites for NASA.
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the barred spiral galaxy NGC 7496, which lies over 24 million light-years away in the constellation Grus. This constellation, whose name is Latin for crane, is one of four constellations collectively known as the Southern Birds.

Hubble images a globular cluster that holds a mystery

This week's image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a sparkling collection of thousands of stars.
Artist's conception of a neutron star with an ultra-strong magnetic field, called a magnetar, emitting radio waves (red). Magnetars are a leading candidate for what generates Fast Radio Bursts.

What is creating these incredibly bright radio flashes?

Exceedingly brief but incredibly bright, the strange phenomenon of Fast Radio Bursts continues to puzzle scientists.
This image from ESA’s Mars Express shows part of the scarred and colourful landscape that makes up Aonia Terra, an upland region in the southern highlands of Mars.

See the crater scar left on Mars by an ancient impact

The surface of Mars is dotted with craters, created when asteroids, meteoroids, or comets smashed into the planet and caused large impact marks.
Navy UAP UFO Footage

NASA to wade into the issue of UFOs with new study

NASA is stepping into an age-old debate to take what it describes as a scientific perspective on the issue of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs).