Sydney, Australia (SPX) Mar 01, 2025
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has successfully facilitated the re-entry of Varda Space Industries' capsule using its custom-built Pioneer spacecraft. The capsule, part of Varda's W-2 mission, landed at the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia on February 27 at 1:52 pm UTC, with operational support from Southern Launch. The W-2 mission carried a hypersonic re-entry capsule featuring

Paris (AFP) Mar 1, 2025
After several postponements, Europe's Ariane 6 launcher will carry out its first commercial mission on Monday when it puts a French military intelligence satellite into space. The launch from the Kourou base in French Guiana is key to Europe's efforts to build up its security autonomy amid the shocks caused by the US-Russia diplomatic rapprochement. "The whole world is watching us," Aria

Washington DC (AFP) Mar 02, 2025
A US company successfully landed its spacecraft on the Moon on Sunday after a long journey through space, marking only the second private mission to achieve the milestone - and the first to do so upright. Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1 touched down shortly after 3:34 am US ET (0834 GMT) near Mons Latreille, a volcanic formation in Mare Crisium on the Moon's northeastern near side.

Washington (AFP) Feb 27, 2025
Fake stories that atmospheric experiments are triggering natural disasters have led to US states pushing blanket bans on weather modification, which experts say may jeopardize current local scientific programs and hinder future research. From recent deadly flooding in Kentucky to the Florida and North Carolina monster hurricanes of 2024, Americans have amplified increasingly conspiratorial e

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 28, 2025
The Andromeda galaxy, situated 2.5 million light-years from Earth, appears to the unaided eye as a dim, spindle-shaped formation comparable in size to the full Moon. However, beyond this faint glow lies a dynamic environment teeming with nearly three dozen small satellite galaxies orbiting Andromeda like a hive of bees. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has provided an unprecedented view of th

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 28, 2025
BAE Systems (LON: BA) has been chosen to construct the spacecraft bus for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) forthcoming Space Weather Next L1 Series mission. Designed as the successor to the Space Weather Follow-On L1 (SWFO-L1) mission, which is set for launch this year, the new spacecraft will deliver critical data to NOAA's Space We

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Feb 28, 2025
Astronomical research has identified nearly 6,000 exoplanets, some of which reside in habitable zones where liquid water may exist on their surfaces. The quest to detect life on these distant worlds remains one of the foremost scientific challenges of the 21st century, with ongoing development of direct imaging technologies aimed at detecting biosignatures. On Earth-like planets, one of th

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Feb 28, 2025
Planetary-mass objects (PMOs) are celestial wanderers, freely drifting through space without being bound to any star. Weighing less than 13 times the mass of Jupiter, these objects have been observed in abundance within young star clusters like the Trapezium Cluster in Orion. While their origins have long puzzled scientists, prevailing theories have suggested they might be either failed stars or

East Lansing MI (SPX) Feb 28, 2025
Astronomers have long grappled with the question, How do planets form? A new collaboration among Michigan State University, Arizona State University and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will seek to answer this question with the help of a powerful telescope and high-performance computers. The team of researchers will use 154 hours on the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, to probe

Washington (AFP) Feb 27, 2025
Pop star Katy Perry is set to "shoot across the sky" this spring when she lifts off as part of a six-member, all-female crew on Blue Origin's next space flight, the company announced Thursday. As if answering the call of her hit song "E.T.," Perry will embark on a star-studded journey alongside journalist Lauren Sanchez, who is Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos's fiancee, and CBS Mornings co-host