Paperclip probe could journey to nearby black hole within a century
Wednesday, 13 August 2025 07:49
It may sound like pure science fiction - a spacecraft no heavier than a paperclip racing toward a black hole at near-light speed - but astrophysicist Cosimo Bambi of Fudan University believes it could be achievable within decades.
Writing in the journal iScience, Bambi presents a conceptual plan for sending a gram-scale nanocraft to a nearby black hole to probe the fabric of space-time and Baby star blast warps its own disk in rare cosmic feedback loop
Wednesday, 13 August 2025 07:49
Astronomers in Japan have identified a rare feedback loop in which a young star's explosive outflow has ricocheted back, striking and warping the very disk of gas and dust from which the star formed. The unexpected discovery may force scientists to rethink the conditions under which stars and planetary systems develop.
Stars form when molecular clouds collapse under gravity, spinning into NASA Hubble captures sharpest view yet of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS
Wednesday, 13 August 2025 07:49
A team of astronomers has used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to obtain the clearest image yet of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, enabling the most precise size estimates so far. The icy nucleus may measure up to 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) in diameter, but could be as small as 1,000 feet (320 meters). Even Hubble cannot directly see the nucleus, but its observations provide tighter constraints than MetOp-SG-A1 and Sentinel-5 launch on Ariane 6
Wednesday, 13 August 2025 05:00
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Europe’s first MetOp Second Generation, MetOp-SG-A1, weather satellite – which hosts the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission – has launched aboard an Ariane 6 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket lifted off on 13 August at 02:37 CEST (12 August 21:37 Kourou time).
MetOp-SG-A1 is the first in a series of three successive pairs of satellites. The mission as a whole not only ensures the continued delivery of global observations from polar orbit for weather forecasting and climate analysis for more than 20 years, but also offers enhanced accuracy and resolution compared to the original MetOp mission –
First MetOp-SG and Sentinel-5 launched
Wednesday, 13 August 2025 01:50
Ushering in a new era of weather and climate monitoring from polar orbit, the first in a new series of satellites, MetOp Second Generation, has been lofted into orbit aboard an Ariane 6 rocket from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. As part of this new satellite’s sophisticated instrument package is the new Copernicus Sentinel-5 instrument, which is designed to deliver critical data on air pollutants, ozone and climate-related gases.
ULA’s Vulcan Centaur launches first national security mission
Wednesday, 13 August 2025 00:11
The launch of USSF-106 marks the Defense Department’s formal shift to flying national security payloads exclusively on domestic rockets powered by U.S.
Mission Control offers in-orbit testbed for AI models
Tuesday, 12 August 2025 23:00
SALT LAKE CITY – Mission Control Space Services is inviting organizations to test machine-learning models on the Canadian startup’s Persistence mission launched in June.
Fully funded key-market coverage plan lifts AST SpaceMobile
Tuesday, 12 August 2025 21:38
Deep-space radar in Australia begins tracking satellites for AUKUS partners
Tuesday, 12 August 2025 21:04
The facility is the first location in the Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) network
Pale Blue teams up with Mitsubishi Electric to advance water propulsion
Tuesday, 12 August 2025 18:59
NASA emphasizes smallsats for science amid budget uncertainty
Tuesday, 12 August 2025 18:20
MetOp-SG-A1 and Sentinel-5 ready for liftoff
Tuesday, 12 August 2025 17:03
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MetOp-SG-A1 and Sentinel-5 ready for liftoff ESCAPADE trajectory design creates new options for Mars smallsat missions
Tuesday, 12 August 2025 17:02
An alternative trajectory developed for a NASA Mars smallsat mission could enable other missions to go to Mars outside the constraints of conventional launch windows.


