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An image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope depicts the open star cluster NGC 330, which lies around 180,000 light-years away inside the Small Magellanic Cloud. The cluster – which is in the constellation Tucana (the Toucan) – contains a multitude of stars, many of which are scattered across this striking image.

Hubble captures a star cluster in hues of red, white, and blue

This week's Hubble image is, appropriately enough, a star cluster called NGC 330 which glitters in shades of red, white, and blue.
Space News
The SpaceX Cargo Dragon resupply ship is pictured approaching the International Space Station June 5, 2021, carrying over 7,300 pounds of new science, supplies and solar arrays to replenish the Expedition 65 crew.

How to watch the SpaceX Cargo Dragon depart from the Space Station this week

This Tuesday, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule will depart from the International Space Station, carrying 5,000 lbs of cargo. Here's how to watch.
Space News
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover took this selfie at a location nicknamed "Mary Anning" after a 19th century English paleontologist. Curiosity snagged three samples of drilled rock at this site on its way out of the Glen Torridon region, which scientists believe preserves an ancient habitable environment.

What’s up with the methane on Mars? Curiosity is finding out

A new study hopes to unravel the mystery of methane on Mars by examining the differences in methane levels between Martian day and night.
Space News
The white dwarf ZTF J1901+1458 is about 2,670 miles across, while the moon is 2,174 miles across. The white dwarf is depicted above the Moon in this artistic representation; in reality, the white dwarf lies 130 light-years away in the constellation of Aquila

Tiny, fast-spinning white dwarf is the most massive ever discovered

Researchers from the W. M. Keck Observatory have found an unusual white dwarf which is both the smallest and the most massive ever observed.
Space News
insect robot sticky footpads robotbricks bn 1

Tiny insect-inspired robot has speed of a cockroach and agility of a cheetah

Scientists from the University of Berkeley have taken inspiration from insects to design a fast, agile, tiny robot with sticky footpads.
News
ExoMars parachute deployed during high-altitude drop tests

Watch the European Space Agency test its Mars rover parachute

The European and Russian ExoMars rover is scheduled to travel to Mars in 2022, and agencies recently performed a high-altitude test of the rover's parachute.
Space News
The Hubble Space Telescope is deployed on April 25, 1990 from the space shuttle Discovery. Avoiding distortions of the atmosphere, Hubble has an unobstructed view peering to planets, stars and galaxies, some more than 13.4 billion light years away.

Hubble woes continue as NASA prepares to switch to backup hardware

The computer problems plaguing the Hubble Space Telescope continue, with NASA attempting to switch over to backup computers in order to fix the issue.
Space News
NASA's Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image using its Left Mastcam-Z Camera. Mastcam-Z is a pair of cameras located high on the rover's mast. This image was acquired on Jun. 15, 2021 (Sol 114).

Mars helicopter Ingenuity is getting ready to try its fastest flight yet

The plucky little Mars helicopter Ingenuity is preparing to venture out far away from its rover companion on its most challenging flight to date.
Space News
NASA Perseverance rover

Perseverance rover is driving itself around Mars using auto-navigation system

As the Perseverance rover explores Mars, engineers at NASA are trying out a new capability which lets the rover navigate itself around the rocky terrain.
Space News
This illustration shows the distant Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein as it might look in the outer Solar System. Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is estimated to be about 1000 times more massive than a typical comet, making it arguably the largest comet discovered in modern times. It has an extremely elongated orbit, journeying inward from the distant Oort Cloud over millions of years. It is the most distant comet to be discovered on its incoming path.

Largest comet ever discovered is 1,000 times the typical mass

Comets are typically are 6 miles across, but scientists have recently discovered a mega comet that is 10 times that diameter.
Space News
Illustration of one of the eight CYGNSS satellites in orbit above a hurricane.

Researchers use satellites to track ocean microplastics from space

Environmentalists have been raising awareness about microplastics in the oceans. Now, researchers are using a NASA satellite to track the problem.
Space News
Ingenuity Helicopter in 3D: NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is seen here in 3D using images taken June 6, 2021, by the left and right Mastcam-Z cameras aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover.

How engineers for NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter do tech support on another planet

Ever wondered how NASA fixes software glitches on its explorers? Here's how engineers are fixing problems with the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars.
Space News
Tracks in the martian regolith captured by China's Zhurong rover.

See and hear China’s Zhurong rover exploring the surface of Mars

The China National Space Administration has shared video and audio footage of the Zhurong rover in action on the surface of Mars.
News
The bright white region of this image shows the icy cap that covers Mars’ south pole, composed of frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide. ESA’s Mars Express imaged this area of Mars on Dec. 17, 2012, in infrared, green and blue light, using its High Resolution Stereo Camera.

Could there be underground lakes on Mars’s southern pole?

A new study suggests that there could be large subsurface lakes on Mars, though it seems to be too cold for liquid water to exist in the area.
Space News
The Hubble Space Telescope is deployed on April 25, 1990 from the space shuttle Discovery. Avoiding distortions of the atmosphere, Hubble has an unobstructed view peering to planets, stars and galaxies, some more than 13.4 billion light years away.

Hubble has a computer problem and it’s proving difficult to fix

The Hubble Space Telescope is experiencing a computer problem and is not collecting scientific data. Engineers are working on a fix, but it's proving difficult.
Space News
VSS Unity glides home after second supersonic flight in 2018

Virgin Galactic cleared to fly space tourists on SpaceShipTwo

The age of space tourism is almost here. Virgin Galactic has been cleared to fly paying customers on its suborbital spaceplane, the SpaceShipTwo.
Space News
Spacewalkers (from left) Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet work to install new roll out solar arrays on the International Space Station’s P-6 truss structure on June 16, 2021.

Astronauts deploy a second new solar array for the International Space Station

Astronauts are making progress on upgrading the power system for the International Space Station, completing a spacewalk to install a second new solar array.
Space News
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter, seen here about 13 feet (3.9 meters) from the rover. This image was taken by the WASTON camera on the rover’s robotic arm on April 6, 2021, the 46th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

How NASA’s Perseverance rover captured its iconic selfie

Earlier this year, NASA released a now-iconic image of the Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars. Ever wondered how that shot was taken?
Space News
Artist’s animation of Betelgeuse and its dusty veil

Mystery solved: Astronomers discover what’s up with Betelgeuse

The mystery of Betelgeuse's dimming has been solved, thanks to observations which show that the star was obscured by a cloud of dust.
Space News
mars 2020 perseverance rover

The sound of science: Why audio is the next frontier in Mars exploration

For most of human history, space exploration has been carried out with visual technologies like telescopes. Now, astronomers are turning to microphones
Emerging Tech Features
This image, taken with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, features the spiral galaxy NGC 4680. Two other galaxies, at the far right and bottom center of the image, flank NGC 4680. NGC 4680 enjoyed a wave of attention in 1997, as it played host to a supernova explosion known as SN 1997bp. Australian amateur astronomer Robert Evans identified the supernova and has identified an extraordinary 42 supernova explosions.

This beautiful galaxy captured by Hubble defies classification

This week's image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows no less than three galaxies, including one which can't easily be categorized.
Space News
WISA Woodsat is a 10x10x10 cm ‘CubeSat’ – a type of nanosatellite built up from standardised boxes – but with surface panels made from plywood. Woodsat’s only non-wooden external parts are corner aluminium rails used for its deployment into space plus a metal selfie stick.

Europe to launch renewable wooden satellite made of plywood

A Scandinavian company plans to launch the world's first wooden satellite to bring attention to the use of renewable materials in space.
Space News
Healthy 'space pups' born from sperm which had been freeze-dried on the International Space Station.

Healthy ‘space pup’ mice born from sperm stored on International Space Station

Healthy mice have been born from sperm that was freeze-dried and sent to the International Space Station for nearly six years.
Space News
NEO Surveyor is a new mission proposal designed to discover and characterize most of the potentially hazardous asteroids that are near the Earth.

NASA is designing a space telescope to protect Earth from asteroid impacts

NASA's Near-Earth Object Surveyor space telescope would use infrared sensors to detect asteroids or comets which threaten the planet.
News
blue origin tests crew capsule upgrades in latest rocket launch new shepard test jan 2021

Seat on Blue Origin’s first space tourism flight goes for $28 million

A buyer has bid a massive $28 million for a seat on the first crewed test flight by Blue Origin, the space tourism company founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
Space News
Artist’s rendering of TOI-1231 b, a Neptune-like planet about 90 light-years away from Earth.

This Neptune-like planet has a thick atmosphere and maybe even a tail

Oddball planet TOI-1231 b is a bit smaller than Neptune but has a substantial atmosphere, which gives it some interesting astronomical quirks.
Space News
This image looking west toward the Séítah geologic unit on Mars was taken from the height of 33 feet (10 meters) by NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter during its sixth flight, on May 22, 2021.

Check out this awesome 360-degree panorama of the Van Zyl Overlook on Mars

You can feel what it would be like to stand on Mars with this 360-degree panorama of the Martian surface, captured by NASA's Perseverance rover.
Space News
Artist impression of ESA's EnVision mission

There’s a third mission traveling to Venus, Earth’s ‘evil twin’

Venus is not an inviting place, but sending probes there could answer some long-standing questions. ESA has announced it will send a mission called EnVision.
Space News
nasa moon far side prism iss062e137200 0 width 1024 1

NASA sending probes to the far side of the moon for the first time

For the first time, NASA will be sending probes to the far side of the moon ahead of the manned Artemis missions later this decade.
Space News
China's Zhurong Mars rover, captured by a wireless camera.

China’s Zhurong rover snaps a selfie on the surface of Mars

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has shared new images of its Zhurong rover on the surface of Mars.
Space News
The Perlmutter supercomputer at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

How this supercomputer will use A.I. to map the universe’s dark energy

To hunt for the most mysterious force in the universe, you need a powerful computer. Soon the hunt for dark energy will get a boost from a new supercomputer.
Space News
Falcon 9 launches SXM-8 to orbit on SpaceX’s 125th successful mission, Sunday, Jun 6 2021.

SpaceX completes 125th successful mission with nighttime booster landing

SpaceX launched a Sirius XM satellite into orbit early this morning, Sunday, May 6, marking the company's 125th successful mission.
Space News
Artist's impression of a relativistic jet of a gamma-ray burst (GRB), breaking out of a collapsing star, and emitting very-high-energy photons

Astronomers get closest look yet at epic explosion in our ‘cosmic backyard’

Gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful explosions in the universe, a million trillion times as bright as the sun, and scientists just observed one up close.
Space News
Left to right: The mosaic and geologic maps of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede were assembled incorporating the best available imagery from NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft and NASA’s Galileo spacecraft.

Juno will swing by Ganymede, visiting the moon for the first time in 20 years

Jupiter's moon Ganymede is an intriguing place. Tomorrow, the Juno probe will perform a flyby of it, providing the closest encounter in decades.
Space News
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