Urbana, IL (SPX) Mar 24, 2025
Interstellar objects are among the last unexplored classes of solar system objects, holding tantalizing information about primitive materials from exoplanetary star systems. They pass through our solar system only once in their lifetime at speeds of tens of kilometers per second, making them elusive. Hiroyasu Tsukamoto, a faculty member in the Department of Aerospace Engineering in The Grainger

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 24, 2025
Data from the European Space Agency's Euclid satellite is already delivering significant scientific insights, even though the survey has only just begun. Launched in July 2023, Euclid is embarking on a six-year mission to chart over one billion galaxies, offering fresh perspectives on dark matter and dark energy. The newly released dataset, which represents less than 0.5 percent of Euclid'

Fairbanks AK (SPX) Mar 24, 2025
Three NASA-funded rockets are set to launch from Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, Alaska, in an experiment that seeks to reveal how auroral substorms affect the behavior and composition of Earth's far upper atmosphere. The experiment's outcome could upend a long-held theory about the aurora's interaction with the thermosphere. It may also improve space weather forecasting, critical

London, UK (SPX) Mar 24, 2025
A startling cosmic discovery has shed light on a potential future for the Milky Way, revealing that it could one day generate powerful radiation jets capable of endangering life on Earth. Astronomers led by CHRIST University in Bangalore have identified an enormous spiral galaxy, located nearly one billion light-years from our planet, housing a supermassive black hole billions of times the

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 24, 2025
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL) Narrow Field Imager (NFI) has officially commenced operations in orbit after being launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of NASA's Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission on March 11. The NFI payload successfully deployed from the launch vehicle on March 12 and is now gathering data from low Earth orbit. PUNCH co

Washington DC (UPI) Mar 21, 2025
SpaceX has set a rocket re-use record for launch-turnaround by sending a Falcon 9 up twice within nine days early Friday morning. The previous record was 14 days. The rocket launched at 2:49 a.m. EDT Friday form Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The mission was for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. The NROL-57 mission came nine days after the rocket was used to ta

Oslo (AFP) Mar 24, 2025
A German start-up hopes to conduct Monday a test flight of its Spectrum rocket from Norway's Andoya Spaceport, a first for Europe which is keen to maintain its access to space. Scheduled to take place sometime between 12:30 pm and 3:30 pm (1130 and 1430 GMT), the launch from the Arctic space centre will be the first flight of an orbital launch vehicle from the European continent, excluding R

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 24, 2025
NASA has confirmed that all three satellites of the Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) mission are functioning well and communicating with mission control as anticipated. The trio of spacecraft was deployed into orbit via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base on March 15 EDT (March 14 PDT). Following this successful launch, engineers and mission s

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 24, 2025
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is currently engaged in its 23rd solar science campaign, heading toward a Sun encounter on Saturday, March 22, that will once again bring it within a mere 3.8 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) of the solar surface. This approach matches the spacecraft's previous record for the closest distance to the Sun, achieved during its December 24 flyby. During this lat

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 24, 2025
NASA's SPHEREx mission, newly launched into low Earth orbit on March 11, has taken a major step toward beginning its cosmic survey by discarding its dust cover. On March 18, mission controllers successfully directed the observatory to jettison the shield that safeguarded the telescope's aperture from particles and moisture. This crucial component, which measured roughly 25 inches by 16 inc