Brightest stars in the night sky can strip Neptune-sized planets to their rocky cores
Over the last 25 years, astronomers have found thousands of exoplanets around stars in our galaxy, but more than 99% of them orbit smaller stars - from red dwarfs to stars slightly more massive than our sun, which is considered an average-sized star.
Few have been discovered around even more massive stars, such as A-type stars - bright blue stars twice as large as the sun - and most of the Hubble sees red supergiant star Betelgeuse slowly recovering after blowing its top
Analyzing data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and several other observatories, astronomers have concluded that the bright red supergiant star Betelgeuse quite literally blew its top in 2019, losing a substantial part of its visible surface and producing a gigantic Surface Mass Ejection (SME). This is something never before seen in a normal star's behavior.
Our Sun routinely blows off p SpaceX launches 46 new Starlink satellites into orbit
SpaceX launched its next round of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from the Vandenberg Space Force Center in California on Friday afternoon.
The Elon Musk-owned private space company plans to add 46 new satellites to its constellation of small satellites around the world in order to allow access to the Internet regardless of how remote the locat Chinese commercial carrier rocket Smart Dragon-3 completes ground tests
China's new carrier rocket Smart Dragon-3 (SD-3), designed for commercial use, has completed large-scale ground tests, its developer said on Thursday.
The rocket was developed by the China Rocket Co. Ltd., which is affiliated with the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALVT). It is a four-stage solid-propellant carrier rocket.
The rocket is the largest of the SD series and Harvest from heavenly breeding
When China's Shenzhou-14 spaceship returns to Earth late this year, it will bring home some unusual packages - brewer's yeast grown in space.
It will be part of the harvest of a 6-month-long breeding experiment aboard the Tiangong space station, which is under construction. Scientists say that the microorganism, exposed to deep space, will induce genetic mutations that may create superior Virgin Orbit reduces launch forecast while increasing per-launch revenue

Virgin Orbit now expects to perform four launches this year, at the low end of earlier projections, but with a higher per-launch revenue.
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Op-ed | Why a ‘hybrid’ space architecture makes sense for economic and national security

Once-in-a-generation advances in commercial technology will fundamentally strengthen the U.S. economic and security posture in space
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All systems go in Houston as NASA prepares return to Moon

Rick LaBrode has worked at NASA for 37 years, but he says the American quest to return to the Moon is by far the crowning moment of his career.
LaBrode is the lead flight director for Artemis 1, set to take off later this month—the first time a capsule that can carry humans will be sent to the Moon since the last Apollo mission in 1972.
"This is more exciting than really anything I've ever been a part of," LaBrode told journalists at the US space agency's Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas.
Software-defined satellite enters commercial service

Europe’s first commercial satellite capable of being completely reprogrammed while in space is now in commercial use.
Iran seeks 3 more Khayyam satellites
Iran plans to commission three more versions of a satellite launched this week by Russia, Tehran's government spokesman said Friday.
The Khayyam blasted into orbit on Tuesday, prompting US accusations that it is intended for spying. Iran dismissed Washington's claim as "childish."
"The construction of three other Khayyam satellites with the participation of Iranian scientists is on the g 