Ice on the moon may be billions of years old, new study shows
An important step toward more long-term manned missions to the moon is locating a source of water. A new study has investigated the age and origin of lunar water and found it could have multiple different sources. Some of the ice deposits seem to be billions of years old, while others are more recent.
Help tackle light pollution by identifying photos of cities taken from the ISS
Light pollution is an environmental issue that you might not think much about, but it can have serious consequences. To understand the scale of the problem, the European Space Agency is promoting a program to catalog images of cities taken from space and is asking for the public's help in the project.
New images reveal more about the history of water on Mars
Two new images reveal more about the history of water on Mars. Scientists believe that billions of years ago, Mars had a thick atmosphere that trapped heat and allowed liquid water to exist on the surface. They want to learn more about this period to see if liquid water might still exist there today.
NASA’s Mars 2020 rover practices its crucial descent separation
When the Mars 2020 spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere in two years' time and prepares to land, the rover will need to detach from the rocket-powered descent stage. This delicate operation was recently practiced here on Earth, with engineers at NASA performing a successful separation test.
NASA uses a plane to launch a craft to the very edge of space
NASA has launched a new spacecraft, the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON), for exploring the border between our planet's atmosphere and space. The ICON spacecraft was carried aboard a Stargazer L-1011 aircraft, which took it to an altitude of 39,000 feet. The craft was then deployed on a rocket.
Scientists discovered 20 new moons around Saturn, and you can help name them
Astronomers using the Subaru telescope in Hawaii have discovered 20 news moons in orbit around Saturn. This brings the total number of moons discovered orbiting Saturn to 82, making it the planet in our solar system with the most known moons. It has surpassed Jupiter, which has 79 known moons.
Apple rejects Hong Kong protest map from App Store, relents under pressure
Pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong have been using an app that shows information about police activity. The developers wanted to make the map available as a mobile app, but Apple rejected it from the iOS App Store. Under international pressure, Apple walked back that decision and allowed the app.
Can you locate India’s crashed lunar lander in this image?
Last month, the Indian Space Research Organization attempted to land the Vikram lander on the moon but lost communication during the final descent. Now, NASA's orbiting lunar spacecraft, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has snapped a picture of the area where the crash is believed to have occurred.
China grows a cotton plant on the far side of the moon in a biological first
China has broken new ground, successfully growing cotton on the moon for the first time. The experiment was part of the Chang'e 4 project, in which China is exploring the far side of the moon with a lander. The cotton plant was one of several organisms encased in a mini biosphere aboard the lander.
The Medusa merger galaxy is the site of a galactic mystery
A new Hubble image features a legendary monster who gave her name to the merging of two galaxies, the Medusa merger. Located 130 million light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major, this merger was created when a large galaxy collided with a smaller system rich in gas and devoured it.
Facebook’s crypto dreams could be crushed as PayPal exits Libra Association
Facebook's chances of launching its own cryptocurrency, Libra, are growing ever slimmer. Visa and Mastercard are reportedly reconsidering involvement following regulatory scrutiny. Yesterday, PayPal put a nail in Libra's coffin by announcing it would no longer be participating in the Libra Association.
Hear the sounds of Mars with these incredible audio samples from InSight
NASA's InSight lander may be struggling with its stuck drill, but while it's sat in place on the Martian surface it's still collecting a ton of useful scientific information about the planet. This week NASA released a unique set of sounds collected by the lander from its time on the red planet.
First all-female spacewalk is back on for ISS astronauts this month
Two astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Christina Koch and Jessica Meir, are set to perform the first all-female spacewalk in history later this month. Their work will be part of a slew of upcoming spacewalks in an ongoing project to upgrade the batteries on the space station.
Can the InSight lander free its stuck drill and continue exploring Mars?
NASA's InSight lander is equipped with a drill designed to tunnel up to 16 feet beneath the surface. Unfortunately, earlier this year the drill stopped moving in an issue caused by the drill getting stuck in the soil. Now the team is trying to rescue the stuck drill using the lander's robotic arm.
Why is it still so hard to land on the moon?
Two missions from SpaceIL and the Indian Space Research Organization both failed to land craft on the moon this year. Fifty years after Apollo, we spoke to two space experts to understand why are lunar landings still so challenging.
Planet Nine could be a miniature black hole hiding in our solar system
The concept of a ninth planet in our solar system captured the public's imagination and gained steam when astronomers found more evidence in support of its existence. Now, a different team has suggested that the strange body we're seeing evidence of is not a planet but a miniature black hole.
Artificial skin gives haptic feedback, could let you feel VR
Researchers have come up with a flexible artificial skin which can provide haptic feedback and could be used for everything from VR to medical rehabilitation. The skin is made of silicone and electrodes and can conform to shapes such as a wrist to provide feedback in the form of pressure or vibration.
Upcoming space telescope can pick out distant exoplanets against glare of stars
For the last few years, NASA has been working away a new space telescope even more advanced than Hubble. The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope was announced in 2016 and will have 100 times the field of view of the Hubble. Now, NASA has shared an update on WFIRST and how its coronagraph will operate.
SpaceX unveils its stunning, shiny, stainless steel-clad Starship
SpaceX has unveiled is next-generation rocket, the Starship, and it's a stainless steel stunner. The prototype, called the Starship Mk1, sits at 50 meters tall with a diameter of 9 meters and will be powered by a total of 37 engines. It will have both a resuable first stage and a reusable second stage.
Strange radio bursts shed light on mysterious galactic halos
In a galactic version of killing two birds with one stone, astronomers have come up with a way to investigate two puzzling cosmic phenomena at the same time. They observed a fast radio burst from a distant galaxy which passed through a galactic halo, shedding light on both the bursts and the halo.
SpaceX shows off its new Starship tonight. Here’s how to watch
Today we should get a first look at SpaceX's Starship project, a reusable rocket for carrying cargo and crew "to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and anywhere else in the solar system." We're expecting an announcement from Elon Musk tonight, and you can watch the livestream here from 8 p.m. EST.
Stunning image shows astronaut’s-eye view of rocket approaching the ISS
This week a new group of astronauts headed for the International Space Station. Astronaut Christina Koch was looking forward to being joined by her best friend and fellow NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, so she decided to capture an image of the incoming craft from her perspective on board the ISS.
Autobots, roll out: NASA creates transforming robot for exploring Titan
Finally, the future that children of the '80s want to see is on its way. NASA is working on its very own Transformer -- a bot called Shapeshifter made up of smaller robots which can combine into different configurations to roll, swim, fly, and float. It is a prototype for exploring Saturn's moon Titan.
Faster super-resolution microscope can see virus particles moving through a cell
Super-resolution microscopes can look at resolutions of a millionth of a millimeter, but they work slowly due to the volume of image data they need to record. Now, researchers have developed a way to speed up the process by creating a method which can record data at this microscopic scale in real-time.
Researchers develop flexible brain-machine interface for controlling wheelchairs
Brain-machine interfaces could potentially allow people with physical disabilities to control a wheelchair. But, current BMI systems require the use of a large, bulky system. Now, researchers have found a way to miniaturize the technology and make it more discreet and usable in everyday situations.
Smartphone battery capacity could be increased using nanochain material
If you're frustrated by the fact electronic gadgets get more sophisticated but your smartphone battery still can't last a full day, then research from Purdue University could offer some relief. Chemists have developed a new method for designing lithium-ion batteries which could make them last longer.
Two new images show Mars’ icy poles and pockmarked surface
The European Space Agency has captured a stunning image of Mars from top to bottom with its Mars Express craft which is currently in orbit around the planet. The slice shows Mars from its north to its south pole, with frozen ice caps on top and bottom and a boundary of rock formations between them.