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This is a new artist’s animation of our galaxy, the Milky Way, based on data from ESA’s Gaia space telescope.

Gaia has changed our impression of the Milky Way. Even seemingly simple ideas about the nature of our galaxy’s central bar and the spiral arms have been overturned. Gaia has shown us that it has more than two spiral arms and that they are less prominent than we previously thought. In addition, Gaia has shown that its central bar is more inclined with respect to the Sun.

No spacecraft can travel beyond our galaxy, so we can’t take a selfie, but Gaia

Image: The best Milky Way map, by Gaia (artist impression, edge-on)

Kennedy Space Center, United States (AFP) Jan 15, 2025
One rocket, two missions: lunar landers built by US and Japanese companies launched their "rideshare" to the Moon on Wednesday, showcasing the private sector's growing role in space exploration. On board the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida were Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost and ispace's Resilience from Japan, which will also deploy a micro rover

Boca Chica, United States (AFP) Jan 15, 2025
Elon Musk's SpaceX is gearing up for the seventh orbital flight test of Starship, the colossal prototype rocket the company hopes will help humans colonize Mars. A launch window from the company's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, opens at 4:00 pm (2200 GMT) Wednesday and will be carried in a live webcast on Musk's X platform. Space enthusiasts will be eager to see if SpaceX can replicate t

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 14, 2025
Pixxel, a California-based company specializing in advanced space technology, has launched the first three satellites of its Firefly constellation as part of the Transporter-12 rideshare mission by SpaceX from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. These satellites, integrated with the assistance of Exolaunch, mark the beginning of Pixxel's commercial operations, aimed at providing critical

Boston MA (SPX) Jan 14, 2025
MIT physicists and colleagues have for the first time measured the geometry, or shape, of electrons in solids at the quantum level. Scientists have long known how to measure the energies and velocities of electrons in crystalline materials, but until now, those systems' quantum geometry could only be inferred theoretically, or sometimes not at all. The work, reported in the Nov. 25 issue o

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 13, 2025
Dragonfly Aerospace has announced a partnership with Australian Earth observation company LatConnect 60 to supply three Chameleon SWIR (shortwave infrared) imagers for their SWIRSAT satellites. Supported by the Australian Space Agency and the Western Australian State Government, the SWIRSAT satellite project aims to enhance Earth observation capabilities, with the satellites set for a 2026 launc

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 13, 2025
The ancient Earth was a harsh and unforgiving environment, characterized by relentless asteroid impacts, volcanic eruptions releasing carbon dioxide, and a dense, toxic atmosphere devoid of oxygen. Despite these inhospitable conditions, life managed to emerge and persist. Recent research, published in *Proceedings of the Royal Society B,* explores how the chemical precursors of life may have sur

The first IRIDE satellite – the Pathfinder Hawk – is now in orbit around Earth after lifting off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on 14 January.

As its ‘Pathfinder’ name suggests, this new microsatellite is a prototype for one of the six IRIDE constellations, which are tailored to provide information for a wide range of environmental, emergency and security services for Italy.

Last night a crucial step in the European Space Agency’s eclipse-making Proba-3 mission was completed: the two spacecraft, flying jointly since launch, have successfully separated. This leaves them ready to begin their cosmic dance in the world’s first-ever precision formation-flying mission.