Space

A rocket lifts off from its launch pad with clouds of smoke billowing around it, set against a blue sky.

The New Space Race

Reusable rockets are real, the internet is in orbit, and we’re heading to Mars. With space manufacturing, asteroid mining, and lunar bases, the new space race has just begun, transforming life on Earth forever.
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T-Minus: 10 milestones in commercial spaceflight
T-Minus looks back at 10 major milestones in the commercial space industry — including several SpaceX triumphs.
T-minus
T-Minus: 10 space startups to watch
Today’s aerospace industry includes hundreds of startups, all vying to be the next SpaceX. Here are 10 that could actually do it.
T-Minus: 10 space stations of the future
The International Space Station may be nearing retirement, but 10 new space stations are just preparing for launch.
T-Minus: Counting down 10 upcoming moon missions
A countdown of 10 upcoming moon missions, all leading up to the one expected to return NASA astronauts to the lunar surface.
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Clever sleeping bag design might save astronauts’ eyesight 
A sleeping bag designed for use in microgravity could protect astronauts’ vision by pulling eyeball-deforming fluids away from their brains.
What comes after the ISS?
NASA is investing more than $400 million to help private companies develop space stations that could one day replace the ISS.
Is this one-seat flying saucer the future of flight?
Startup ZEVA Aero’s vision for the future of eVTOLs is a one-person flying saucer-shaped vehicle that travels 160 miles per hour.
This near-Earth asteroid may be a chunk knocked off of the moon
A near-Earth asteroid discovered in 2016 may have once been part of the moon — making it unlike any space rock we’ve ever discovered.
First commercial mission to the ISS prepares for launch
Private astronauts will have a chance to conduct microgravity research on the International Space Station during Axiom Space’s Ax-1 mission.
NASA plans to put a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2031
NASA and the Department of Energy are asking U.S. companies for help putting a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2031.
Bullet-shaped plane promises to slash air travel costs
Otto Aviation has finished phase 1 flight testing of its Celera 500L, a highly efficient airplane that could cut the cost of air travel.
NASA’s DART mission will move an asteroid (Updated)
If a giant asteroid were to slam into Earth, well, we’d be in trouble. That’s why NASA is launching DART, the world’s first planetary defense mission.
How a powerful telescope found a tiny black hole
Astronomers just discovered a black hole of a mass comparable to the Sun.It is small and not so far away, which opens the window to new discoveries.
94% of the universe’s galaxies are permanently beyond our reach
Today, most of the universe’s galaxies are already receding faster than the speed of light.
The Moon has enough oxygen to sustain 8 billion people for 100,000 years 
A Belgium startup expects to send their technology to the Moon by 2025 to improve the process of making oxygen via electrolysis.
See the surface of the sun evolve in stunning time lapse
A stunning time lapse of the surface of the sun created using NASA images shows the activity that occurs over the course of just one month.
Russian satellite strike creates huge cloud of space debris
A Russian anti-satellite weapons test threatened the safety of ISS astronauts by adding more space debris to Earth’s orbit.
Perseverance is collecting more rock samples from Mars
NASA’s Perseverance rover is on the hunt for its next samples from Mars, scraping away a small circle of rock to see beneath its surface.
The future of space launches: a giant spinning arm in a vacuum 
SpinLaunch has tested a new approach to satellite launches that flings the objects into space, rather than blasting them up with rockets.
The world’s biggest industrial robot lasers off airplane paint
Dutch company Xyrec recently demonstrated a 67-ton industrial robot that uses lasers to quickly strip paint from aircraft.
Forget Mars, let’s terraform the moon
We need to make outer space more Earth-like if we’re going to inhabit it one day — let’s start with the moon, not Mars.
New thruster tech that vaporizes metal could help clean up space
Hypernova Space Technologies’ metal-fueled propulsion system for small satellites could be a game-changer for space exploration.
“Pulverize It”: The plan to slice and dice space rocks
To prevent asteroid impacts, UCSB physicists suggest we slice up the space rocks using arrays of “penetrator rods.”
Air Force gunship will be equipped with anti-drone lasers
Two U.S. military branches are building compact, portable laser guns — taking us closer to laser warfare.
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