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This is the last photo the Rosetta spacecraft took before crashing into Comet 67P on Sept. 30, 2016. Nearly a year after the Rosetta spacecraft  intentionally crashed into a comet, the mission’s scientists have discovered a new surprise: the very last image Rosetta took before its cosmic demise. The European Space Agency (ESA) launched Rosetta […]

Bubbles grew in the mixture of water-methanol-ammonia ice within seconds when the mixture was irradiated with ultraviolet light. When exposed to ultraviolet light, interstellar ice may act more like a liquid than a solid, a new study has found.  Researchers discovered this effect while re-creating the conditions of our early solar system’s planet-forming disk in […]

Despite the universe being billions of years old, today we can still see the early stages of the its expansion through a phenomenon called cosmic microwave background radiation. NASA describes the CMB as “literally the remnant heat left over from the Big Bang.” The energy is visible in microwave wavelengths, which means it can’t be […]

Artist’s illustration of SpaceX “BFR” spaceships on the surface of Mars. SpaceX aims to launch its first cargo mission to Mars in 2022 and send people toward the Red Planet just two years after that. Those are just two of the highlights of the company’s current Mars-colonization plan, which SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk […]

Skywatchers may wonder how nebulas get their marvelous colors and shapes, and a team of astronomers used the Very Large Telescope to find out.  An international team of scientists has now made the first detailed optical map of gas and dust inside a planetary nebula . The astronomers concentrated their efforts on a beautiful celestial […]

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took to Instagram to share a tantalizing sneak peek of his vision of space colonization tonight ahead of a much-anticipated presentation at the International Astronautical Congress in Australia.  Moon Base Alpha A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on Sep 28, 2017 at 7:44pm PDT First, Musk posted an artist’s illustration he called […]

The aerospace company Lockheed Martin has an ambitious vision for Mars exploration by astronauts. Called Mars Base Camp , the plan includes sleek landers and huge interplanetary ships to carry humans to Mars. See Lockheed Martin’s Mars exploration vision in images here. In this image, an Orion spacecraft and propulsion stage are arriving near the […]

A commercial effort to get humans into orbit around Mars in the late 2020s now includes a sleek vehicle to send astronauts down to the surface of the Red Planet. The aerospace company Lockheed Martin late Thursday (Sept. 28) revealed new details for its Mars Base Camp plan , an architecture aimed at building a […]

Vice President Mike Pence (center) receives a model of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Director Todd May (left) as Rep. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala. looks on outside the SLS structural test stand, Monday, Sept. 25, 2017 at the center in Huntsville, Alabama. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will […]

Tonight (Sept. 28), SpaceX and Lockheed Martin will unveil their latest plans for getting people to Mars. Both companies will do so at the 68th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Adelaide, Australia. First up is Lockheed, which will announce updates to its “Mars Base Camp” concept at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT; 7:30 a.m. Friday […]

Comparing the Great American Solar Eclipse to the Super Bowl doesn’t do justice to the amazing interest in last month’s sky show, a new study reveals. About 215 million American adults — 88 percent of the adult population — watched the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse in some fashion, according to the study.  That’s nearly […]

An emergency responder carries an orange case containing FINDER, which will be used to locate people trapped under debris. NASA search-and-rescue technology has been sent to Mexico following the series of earthquakes that shook the country last week. The suitcase-size device, dubbed FINDER, uses radar to detect human heartbeats under rubble. The device was developed […]

This Damage Proxy Map (DPM) depicts areas of Eastern Puerto Rico that are likely damaged (shown by red and yellow pixels) as a result of Hurricane Maria. The map covers an area of 105 by 60 miles (169 by 96 kilometers). NASA is using data from Earth-observing satellites to assist relief efforts in Puerto Rico, […]