A “fossil” natural nuclear reactor site in the Okio region of Gabon. The large uranium deposit present underwent nuclear fission on and off for hundreds of thousands of years some 2 billion years ago. The yellow rock is uranium oxide. Life on early Earth seems to have begun with a paradox: while life needs water […]
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Ancient Mars May Have Thawed Through Methane Bursts
Mars went through warmer, wetter periods in its climate (right), and new research suggests the warming could have come from bursts of methane. Ancient Mars may have been warmed by bursts of methane trapped under its surface, a new study finds — which could help explain past episodes of warmer, wetter climate on the otherwise […]
No Life Needed: Organic Compound Forms at Comet and Baby Star System
Organic compounds were identified in the protostar system IRAS 16293-2422. The young binary system sits in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud in the red circle on the left edge of this image. Organic molecules once thought to be produced only by life-forms have been found in two separate regions of space: a nearby comet and the […]
Blue Origin Engineer Talks Next Steps for New Shepard, New Glenn
Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital rocket and space capsule during a test flight. ATLANTA — Earlier this month, at the Dragon Con science-fiction and fantasy convention, a representative from the private spaceflight company Blue Origin spoke to a crowd about the company’s progress on its two launch vehicles: New Shepard and New Glenn. “Our vision […]
Water Ice Mystery Found at Martian Equator
New research into old data suggests that ice may hide around Mars’ equator. Here, the Red Planet is seen in a vivid Hubble view. A new examination of old data suggests that there might be ice hiding in the Martian equator, even though scientists previously thought that the substance couldn’t exist there. Scientists uncovered an […]
Sputnik 1! 7 Fun Facts About Humanity's First Satellite
Sputnik 1 came perilously close to suffering the same fate as the United States’ TV3 satellite, which was destroyed in a launch failure on Dec. 6, 1957. Sputnik 1 was lofted by an R-7 rocket, which consisted of four first-stage boosters — known as Blocks B, V, G and D — strapped onto a core […]
Spaceport Tucson Takes Flight with World View 'Stratollite' Balloon Launch
World View Enterprises prepares to launch a “Stratollite” balloon from Spaceport Tucson on Oct. 1, 2017. Spaceport Tucson is now up and running. The facility earned its wings Sunday (Oct. 1) with the launch of a World View Enterprises “Stratollite” balloon into the stratosphere. “Spaceport Tucson , the first-ever purpose-built stratospheric launch facility in the […]
Earth May Be Close to 'Threshold of Catastrophe'
A NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite captured its first view of the entire sunlit side of the spherical planet Earth, on July 6, 2015. The amount of carbon dioxide that humans will have released into the atmosphere by 2100 may be enough to trigger a sixth mass extinction, a new study […]
Bus-Size Asteroid Zooms by Earth in Close (But Harmless) Encounter
An asteroid about the size of a bus gave Earth a close shave this morning (Oct. 2), cruising well inside the orbit of the moon. The roughly 26-foot-wide (8 meters) space rock, known as 2017 SX17, zoomed within 54,100 miles (87,065 kilometers) of our planet at 6:20 a.m. EDT (1020 GMT) today. For perspective, the […]
Long March 5 Failure to Postpone China's Moon Exploration Program
A Long March 5 rocket lifts off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center July 2. The launch was later declared a failure. Updated 1:40 a.m. Eastern Sept. 26. ADELAIDE, Australia — A leading official of China’s space program confirmed Sept. 25 that the July failure of the country’s largest launch vehicle will lead to delays to […]
New Season of Neil deGrasse Tyson's 'StarTalk' Premieres Tonight
[embedded content] Neil deGrasse Tyson returns to the National Geographic Channel with a brand-new season of “StarTalk” tonight (Oct. 1). Season 4 of the talk show will feature interviews with big science celebrities like Stephen Hawking and Jane Goodall as well as pop culture stars like Katy Perry and Stephen Colbert. As always, comedians like […]
NASA to Update EM-1 Schedule in October
NASA will provide an update for the schedule of Exploration Mission 1, the first launch of the Space Launch System, in October. SYDNEY — NASA plans to publish a revised launch date for the first mission of its Space Launch System in October amid reports that the flight has been pushed back to nearly the […]
NASA Asteroid Probe Snaps Farewell Photo of Earth and Moon
This black-and-white image of the Earth-moon system was captured on Sept. 25, 2017 by OSIRIS-REx’s NavCam 1. At the time this image was taken, the spacecraft was 804,000 miles (1,297,000 kilometers) from Earth and 735,000 miles (1,185,000 km) from the moon. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft now has some nice photos of home to look at during […]