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Mars is a harsh, cold world. It is much colder than Earth; but then, it is also farther from the sun . The small, barren planet also has a thin atmosphere that is 95 percent carbon dioxide. Extreme differences Mars’s atmosphere is about 100 times thinner than Earth’s. Without a “thermal blanket,” Mars can’t retain […]

Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser test vehicle glides during a Nov. 11 flight that the company said met or exceeded its expectations. WASHINGTON — Executives with Sierra Nevada Corporation said Nov. 13 they believed the recent glide flight of a Dream Chaser test article was successful and they won’t need to fly that vehicle again. […]

Our solar system is a vast place, with lots of mostly empty space between planets. But out there are comets, asteroids and more rocky, frozen objects (including dwarf planets) yet to be discovered in the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. The solar system is made up of the sun and everything that orbits around it, […]

An artist’s conception of Kepler-22b, a planet known to be in the habitable zone of a sun-like star. Kepler-22b is the first extra-solar planet, or exoplanet, that the Kepler Space Telescope found in the habitable zone of its star. It is thought to be a promising spot to search for life. But at 600 light-years […]

“The Martian” author Andy Weir sets his new novel, “Artemis,” on the moon, near the location of the first Apollo moon landing. About 115 years after NASA’s historic Apollo 11 mission landed the first astronauts on the moon, tourists bound about “Tranquility Base” and stay at a commercial lunar base, at least as envisioned by […]

A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket stands atop Space Launch Complex 2 on Nov. 13, 2017 as the pad gantry is rolled back in preparation for the launch of the Joint Polar Satellite System 1 weather satellite. An attempted launch on Nov. 14 was delayed by a rocket issue. A first-of-its-kind weather satellite will […]

The International Space Station’s robotic arm grapples the incoming Cygnus cargo spacecraft on Nov. 14, 2017. A Cygnus cargo spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) today (Nov. 14) to deliver food, supplies and some fascinating science experiments to the Expedition 53 astronauts.  Orbital ATK, a private spaceflight contracted by NASA to fly cargo […]

Virgin Galactic’s second SpaceshipTwo space plane, VSS Unity, soars over the Mojave Desert during an unpowered test flight in December 2016. SEATTLE — Suborbital space tourism and research may be just the beginning for Virgin Galactic. The private spaceflight company eventually aims to add superfast point-to-point passenger flights to its repertoire, which would dramatically reduce […]

Saturn’s ice-covered, ocean-harboring moon Enceladus, seen by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. SEATTLE — A privately funded team may beat NASA to the punch when it comes to looking for life on the Saturn moon Enceladus. Breakthrough Initiatives — a program founded by billionaire tech investor Yuri Milner to hunt for alien life and help explore the […]

Micrometeorites travel through Earth’s atmosphere at up to 50 times faster than a rifle bullet, and are exposed to intense heat and pressure. Those conditions can transform the rocks from craggy, asymmetric objects into smooth spheres. Glass spherules, like the ones shown here, experience the highest temperatures — up to about 3,630 degrees Fahrenheit (2,000 […]

Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano was recently given a celestial honor: An asteroid was named after him. A European astronaut now has a permanent presence in space. Luca Parmitano — who flew on the International Space Station in 2013 — has an asteroid named after him, called “37627 Lucaparmitano.” The asteroid, formerly known just as 1993 […]

NASA is launching a shoebox-size satellite into Earth’s orbit that could help improve weather forecasting.  The Microwave Radiometer Technology Acceleration (MiRaTA) cubesat is expected to launch to space on Tuesday (Nov. 14) alongside another weather satellite called the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1), and four other cubesats. MiRaTA is designed to study temperature, water vapor […]

An artist’s illustration of the Joint Polar Satellite System 1 satellite in Earth orbit. A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket will launch the satellite for NASA and NOAA on Nov. 14, 2017 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. If you’re a space fan and early-riser, then NASA has the Tuesday for you. In […]