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An image of one of the many valley networks in the southern highlands of Mars. A new study suggest that water only flowed intermittently, but that it was enough to create these networks. The wet past of Mars may have unfolded in short bursts. Even though climate models suggest that the Red Planet’s temperatures mostly […]

SpaceX Falcon 9 launch of NROL-76. Updated Oct. 19, 2017 at 11:48 a.m. Eastern. WASHINGTON — Israeli satellite operator Spacecom has agreed to launch its next satellite on a Falcon 9 rocket  from SpaceX in 2019, and will likely launch a second satellite on another Falcon 9 in 2020. In a statement provided to SpaceNews Oct. […]

Sylvia Tilly, played by Mary Wiseman (who utters one of the f-bombs on “Star Trek: Discovery”) works to the right of Michael Burnham, played by Sonequa Martin. While the f-bomb in “Star Trek: Discovery’ this week was not the first time Trekkies heard swearing in the Final Frontier, fans were still shocked by the series’ […]

Houston, we have a rockin’ rocket. The legendary rock band Styx has teamed up with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center to unveil an awesome space-age music video set to the band’s song “Gone Gone Gone.”  The video starts with a clip from Vice President Mike Pence’s opening address at the first meeting of the reinitiated National […]

Artist’s conception of Earth’s solar system (not to scale). A good book about space can feed a kid’s obsession or inspire a brand new interest in exploring the wonders of the universe. If you’re hoping for a holiday gift, you’re in the right place: Here are Space.com writers’ and editors’ suggestions of great books about […]

Black holes are some of the strangest and most fascinating objects found in outer space. They are objects of extreme density, with such strong gravitational attraction that even light cannot escape from their grasp if it comes near enough. Albert Einstein first predicted black holes in 1916 with his general theory of relativity . The […]

One of the year’s best sky shows will peak this weekend between Oct. 20 and 22, when the Orionid meteor shower reaches its best viewing. The meteors that streak across the sky are some of the fastest and brightest among meteor showers, because the Earth is hitting a stream of particles almost head on. Weekend […]

Orbital ATK has named its next space station-bound Cygnus cargo ship the S.S. Gene Cernan after the late moonwalker. The last human to step off the moon is the latest astronaut to be memorialized with the naming of a space station-bound cargo ship. Gene Cernan, who commanded NASA’s final Apollo moon landing mission in 1972, […]

A bus-size asteroid will zoom between Earth and the moon today (Oct. 19), but poses no threat of hitting our planet. The recently discovered space rock is designated asteroid 2017 TD6. It will fly by Earth at a range of 119,000 miles (191,000 kilometers) when it makes its closest approach, which is calculated to occur […]

NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson happily displays the progress of the Advanced Astroculture experiment aboard the International Space Station in July 2002. Many people step into their home gardens for a bit of DIY therapy. A new study suggests that astronauts could also reap the psychological benefits of gardening. In short, space missions are stressful . […]

NASA is using information from Earth-observing satellites to assist in recovery efforts following a series of devastating wildfires in Northern California.  The agency released a “damage proxy map” today (Oct. 19) that provides aerial views of the cities of Sacramento and Santa Rosa (just north of San Francisco) taken before and after the fire outbreaks. […]

The Crab Nebula, known as Messier object M1, was generated in a supernova blast recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054. Starting in the mid-1700s, Charles Messier cataloged more than 100 galaxies, nebulas, star clusters and other objects — and today, they remain popular skywatching targets. Ninety-three of the objects have been imaged by the Hubble […]

In “Soonish,” authors Kelly and Zach Weinersmith offer a glimpse of emerging technologies that could play an instrumental role in shaping our future. Visions for futuristic technology can be immensely practical (self-driving cars) or outlandish (personal jetpacks), but they typically are accompanied by certain inevitable questions: How will scientists and engineers get us there — […]