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An artist’s concept of the dwarf planet Eris and its moon Dysnomia. The sun is the small star in the distance. Eris was one of the first “dwarf planets” to be discovered in the solar system. It is almost the same size as Pluto, and its discovery directly led that former ninth planet’s demotion. Discovery […]

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket sits on the launchpad at the company’s launch facility in New Zealand, ahead of a test flight. The launch window opens Dec. 8, 2017. The spaceflight startup Rocket Lab  has scheduled the second test flight of its innovative Electron rocket, a small vehicle built to accommodate small satellites and other […]

An artist’s illustration of China’s Dark Matter Particle Explorer satellite — called “Wukong” after the fabled Sun Wukong, the Monkey King —is studying cosmic rays to help scientists understand the origins of dark matter. By analyzing cosmic rays in space, China’s “Monkey King” satellite is now helping pin down the identity of dark matter, a […]

Iridium will use the same Falcon 9 first stage booster for its fourth Iridium Next launch as was used for the company’s second Iridium Next mission, shown above. WASHINGTON — The fourth SpaceX Falcon 9 mission for mobile satellite communications operator Iridium remains on track for Dec. 22, the company said today, assuaging concerns that […]

Dr. Wonderful and Her Dog Blast Off to the Moon! The holiday shopping season is here and so are the epic deals for space lovers! Check out these great space books — in ebook or physical form — that are heavily discounted on Amazon.com. And if you need even more gifts for the space fans […]

Two views of Saturn captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The left-hand image was taken on July 13, 2001, when Cassini was about 317 million miles (510 million kilometers) from the ringed planet. At right is a shot taken on Sept. 14, 2017, just a day before the probe plowed into Saturn’s atmosphere in a mission-ending […]

WASHINGTON — Controllers have been unable to contact a weather satellite   launched on a Soyuz rocket from the country’s new spaceport Nov. 28, raising fears of a launch failure. The Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East at 12:41 a.m. Eastern. Its primary payload was the Meteor-M No.2-1 polar-orbiting weather satellite, […]

The Celestron FirstScope is a Space.com top pick for Best Telescopes for Kids. This holiday season, get great deals on skywatching gear for the little space fans in your life. From telescopes to astronomy books, the price is right for these kid-friendly stargazing supplies. And if you need even more gifts for the little space […]

The International Space Station, photographed by an astronaut aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on Feb. 10, 2010.  Scientists have detected living bacteria “from outer space” in samples collected from the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS) during spacewalks, cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov told Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency. These spacewalks were conducted by cosmonauts, who […]

This July 4, 2017, file photo distributed by the North Korean government shows what was said to be the launch of a Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in North Korea’s northwest. North Korea launched another ICBM on Nov. 28, 2017, showcasing the apparent ability to hit the U.S. East Coast. North Korea’s latest test of […]

Liquid water may still flow on Mars, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to spot. The search for water on the Red Planet has taken more than 15 years to turn up definitive signs that liquid flows on the surface today. In the past, however, rivers and oceans may have covered the land. Where did […]

An artist’s illustration of the K2-132 system (main panel), as well as schematics of it on the main sequence (upper left) and now (lower left). The host star has become redder and larger, irradiating the planet more and thus causing it to expand. Sizes not to scale.  “Hot Jupiter” exoplanets are puffed up by the […]

Orbex says it is making progress on a small launch vehicle intended to launch from British soil, but has released few details, including what the vehicle will look like. LONDON — A British company has released new details about a small satellite launch vehicle   it expects to have ready in the next few years, part of […]