#space
- Comet NEOWISE Just Survived Its Closest Brush With the Sun
Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) reached perihelion on July 3, made it through intact, and is shaping up to be the best naked-eye comet in over two decades.
- SpaceX Closes June With a Space Force Launch and a Starship Tank Test
SpaceX launched its first Space Force mission with a GPS III satellite while Starship SN5 passed a cryo proof test in Texas.
- Astronauts Step Outside to Swap Batteries on the ISS
Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnken conducted a spacewalk to replace nickel-hydrogen batteries with newer lithium-ion units on the ISS truss.
- Starship SN5 Rolls Out to the Pad in Boca Chica
SpaceX's Starship SN5 prototype heads to the test stand, about a month after SN4 was destroyed in a static-fire explosion.
- A Solstice Stargazing Guide for Summer 2020
Short nights, a brightening comet, and two giant planets nearing opposition make this the best week of the year to look up.
- Proxima b Is Real: Our Nearest Neighboring Planet Gets Confirmed
ESPRESSO data from ESO's VLT confirms Proxima b, an Earth-sized planet orbiting the closest star to the Sun.
- SpaceX Ties a Starlink Launch to a Rideshare Twist
SpaceX's ninth Starlink batch shared its Falcon 9 ride with Planet's Earth-imaging satellites, spotlighting a growing rideshare side business.
- Comet NEOWISE is quietly becoming one to watch
C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is brightening ahead of its July 3 perihelion and could be the best Northern Hemisphere comet since Hale-Bopp.
- SpaceX Sends Up Another 60 Starlink Satellites, Sticks the Landing (Again)
A Falcon 9 launched 60 more Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral and landed its booster on a droneship, continuing SpaceX's rapid constellation buildout.
- A Weird Spin: 200,000 Galaxies Show a Directional Bias Nobody Expected
Astronomers surveying over 200,000 spiral galaxies found a roughly 2% asymmetry in clockwise vs counterclockwise rotation across the sky.
- Liftoff: SpaceX Launches NASA Astronauts, Ending a 9-Year Gap
SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavour carried NASA astronauts to orbit and docked with the ISS, the first crewed U.S. launch since 2011.
- Starship SN4 Goes Out With a Bang After Its Sixth Static Fire
SpaceX's SN4 prototype, the most durable Starship test article yet, was destroyed at the South Texas site when a ground fitting failed post-test.
- T-Minus One Day: Final Countdown to Crew Dragon's First Crewed Flight
NASA and SpaceX are one day from launching Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley aboard Crew Dragon 'Endeavour,' with weather already looking iffy.
- Starlink's Satellite Swarm Has Astronomers Worried
SpaceX has launched hundreds of Starlink satellites since May 2019, and astronomers are increasingly vocal about the trails they leave in telescope images.
- Artemis and the New Race Back to the Moon
NASA's Artemis program is targeting a 2024 crewed lunar landing with SLS, Orion, and commercial partners like SpaceX.
- There's More Water on the Moon Than We Thought
New lunar research suggests water may be widespread across the Moon's surface, even in sunlit regions, strengthening the case for Artemis-era resource use.
- Why NASA's Next Mars Rover Is Racing a Launch Window
Perseverance must launch in a narrow July 2020 window to reach Jezero Crater, where it will hunt for ancient microbial life and cache samples.
- Betelgeuse's Great Dimming Looks Like a Starspot, Not a Supernova Countdown
New spectroscopy points to a giant cool starspot and a temperature drop behind Betelgeuse's historic dimming, not an imminent explosion.
- Crew Dragon Demo-2: The Countdown to America's Return to Human Spaceflight
SpaceX and NASA are targeting May 27 to launch astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley aboard Crew Dragon, the first crewed orbital flight from U.S. soil since 2011.
- Hubble Turns 30, and It's Still Not Done
The Hubble Space Telescope hit its 30th anniversary this week, and NASA/ESA marked it with a new image of a giant red nebula and its blue neighbor.
- SpaceX Launches 60 More Starlink Satellites, Nails Another Landing
SpaceX's seventh Starlink batch flew on a Falcon 9 making its 84th flight, the most-flown active US rocket, with another clean droneship landing.
- Hubble Confirms Comet ATLAS Has Shattered Into Pieces
Hubble images from April 20 show Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) broken into at least three or four fragments, likely ending hopes for a great naked-eye comet.
- NASA Sets May 27 Target for First Crewed Launch From US Soil Since 2011
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine announced a May 27 target for the SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission carrying astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the ISS.
- Smallsat Launchers Hit Turbulence as the Pandemic Slows the Range
COVID-19 safety measures are delaying smallsat and rideshare launches even as demand from Earth-observation and comms startups keeps climbing.
- Comet ATLAS Is Falling Apart, Amateur Astronomer Shows
Amateur astronomer José de Queiroz photographed Comet C/2019 Y4 ATLAS showing clear signs of fragmentation, likely ending hopes for a naked-eye 'great comet.'
- Long March 3B Fails at Launch, Takes Indonesian Satellite Down With It
A Long March 3B rocket suffered a third-stage engine anomaly on April 9, destroying Indonesia's Palapa-N1 satellite in China's second launch failure in under a month.
- Starlink's Satellite Fleet Keeps Growing, and So Does Astronomers' Frustration
SpaceX has dozens of Starlink batches in orbit, and astronomers are increasingly vocal about bright satellite streaks ruining telescope images.