Comets Comet visitor from outside our Solar System will wow scientists for monthsThe Verge - Loren GrushAstronomers have almost certainly detected a second interstellar comet zooming through our Solar System, but there’s still quite a lot of work to be done to find out more about this alien space rock. the
Nick Hague Brad Pitt interviews an astronaut on the space station: ‘Who controls the jam box?’The Verge - Loren GrushToday, Brad Pitt — who is set to play a gun-wielding, pirate-hunting astronaut in the upcoming film Ad Astra — got the chance to speak to someone who actually has the job of his on-screen character: an
Aerospace Bigelow’s next-generation inflatable space habitat is shooting for the MoonThe Verge - Loren GrushStanding on a metal platform labeled “Does not exist” in the middle of an inflatable bouncy house designed for space, I had one question: where’s the bathroom? The mockup of Bigelow Aerospace’s flagship
Exoplanets Water vapor — and maybe even rain — found on distant world twice the size of EarthThe Verge - Loren GrushWater vapor has been found in the atmosphere of a distant planet that’s just over twice the size of Earth. It’s the smallest world yet found with water in its surrounding atmosphere, and it’s possible
Technology India says it has found its Moon lander, but it still cannot communicate with itThe Verge - Loren GrushIndia claims to have spotted the country’s Vikram lunar lander on the surface of the Moon days after the spacecraft presumably crashed during a landing attempt. India still has not made contact with the
India India loses communication with lunar lander shortly before scheduled landing on the MoonThe Verge - Loren GrushWhat was supposed to be India’s first soft landing on the Moon today appeared to end in failure when the country’s robotic Vikram lander seemingly crashed into the lunar surface during its powered descent
Technology Russia’s humanoid robot Skybot is on its way home after a two-week stay in spaceThe Verge - Loren GrushAfter a short stay aboard the International Space Station, Russia’s humanoid robot, Skybot F850, is on its way home, stuffed inside a Soyuz spacecraft with no crew. Skybot, originally known as FEDOR, put
Science (India) Watch India try to land a spacecraft intact on the Moon for the first timeThe Verge - Loren GrushThis afternoon, September 6th, India will attempt a significant first for the nation: landing a vehicle intact on the surface of the Moon. If successful, India will become the fourth country to put a on
SpaceX A bug in SpaceX’s communication system kept the company in the dark about potential satellite collisionThe Verge - Loren GrushOn Monday, a European satellite changed its position in orbit to avoid a potential collision with one of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites — one of 60 probes the company launched in May to beam internet coverage
Constellations Internet-from-space provider OneWeb says it will provide coverage to the Arctic by 2020The Verge - Loren GrushOneWeb — an aerospace company with plans to beam internet connectivity from space — announced plans today to provide “fiber-like internet” coverage to the Arctic starting as early as 2020. Using the company’s
Hurricane Dorian How NASA’s busiest Florida spaceport is preparing for Hurricane DorianThe Verge - Loren GrushHurricane Dorian is slowly making its way toward the eastern coast of Florida, prompting NASA’s premier spaceport, Kennedy Space Center (KSC), to prep for the coming storm. Employees at the spaceport used
Space The Trump administration stands up US Space Command as fate of Space Force is still undecidedThe Verge - Loren GrushToday, the Trump administration stood up a new unified combatant command within the military that will be entirely focused on space. Aptly named the US Space Command, the organization will be run by a
NASA NASA asks students to help name the next Mars roverThe Verge - Barbara KrasnoffThe next NASA Rover is on schedule to land on Mars in February 2021, but it’s still missing one vital component: a name. In order to create interest in the mission, and to inspire students to join in STEM
NASA A mandate to fly NASA’s mission to Europa on a delayed rocket could cost an extra $1 billionThe Verge - Loren GrushNASA’s inspector general is urging Congress to reconsider a mandate specifying which rocket the space agency’s upcoming mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa must fly on. Right now, NASA is legally obligated
SpaceX SpaceX’s prototype rocket flies to its highest altitude yet during hover testThe Verge - Loren GrushThis afternoon, a prototype of SpaceX’s next generation rocket took to the skies for a second time in south Texas, reaching a height of a small skyscraper before landing back on Earth. The flight demonstrated
Space Exploration The first alleged crime committed in space raises questions about jurisdiction in orbitThe Verge - Loren GrushNASA is currently investigating what could be considered the first crime perpetrated in space, after one of the agency’s astronauts was accused of illegally accessing her wife’s bank account during her
Space Station After a botched docking attempt, Russia delivers a humanoid robot to the space stationThe Verge - Loren GrushA new Russian humanoid robot arrived at the International Space Station on August 26th. It was the only crew member of a Soyuz rocket that launched to orbit on August 22nd from Kazakhstan. The mission
Falcon 9 These three companies are all aiming to land the first private spacecraft on the Moon in two yearsThe Verge - Loren GrushThe Moon is a hot destination right now — especially for NASA, which wants to send people back to the lunar surface, but also for the private space industry. The most ambitious private lunar exploits still
Watch as ULA launches the final flight of its Delta IV Medium rocketThe Verge - Loren GrushThis morning, August 22nd, the United Launch Alliance is set to fly the very last mission of its Delta IV Medium rocket, a single-core vehicle that’s been launching to space since 2002. This final flight
Aviation The government’s plan to update rocket launch licensing is pissing off the commercial space industryThe Verge - Loren GrushTo address the rapid growth of the commercial space industry, the Trump administration has vowed to streamline the licensing process for rocket launches. But as the government has taken steps to fulfill
India’s lunar mission enters the Moon’s orbit ahead of landing attemptThe Verge - Loren GrushIndia’s mission to the Moon, known as Chandrayaan-2, successfully entered lunar orbit on August 20th, ahead of the country’s first attempt to land a vehicle on the lunar surface. The maneuver was a critical
Moon delivery startup Astrobotic picks future Vulcan rocket to launch first lunar missionThe Verge - Loren GrushUS aerospace startup Astrobotic — a company that wants to establish a delivery service to the Moon — says it will fly its very first lunar mission on top of the United Launch Alliance’s future rocket,
Why stowaway creatures on the Moon confound international space lawThe Verge - Loren GrushThis month, space enthusiasts were shocked to learn that an Israeli lunar lander that crashed into the Moon’s surface in April actually had some passengers aboard: a tiny capsule filled with dehydrated
Sierra Nevada picks the future Vulcan rocket to fly its mini-spaceplane to orbitThe Verge - Loren GrushPrivate space company Sierra Nevada Corporation announced today that its mini-spaceplane, the Dream Chaser, will launch into orbit on top of the United Launch Alliance’s future Vulcan Centaur rocket. Dream
How Blue Origin is trying to rework the rules of the Air Force’s coveted rocket competitionThe Verge - Loren GrushOn Monday, August 12th, aerospace company Blue Origin filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), arguing that the Air Force is running a “flawed” competition to pick the agency’s
The Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight, but the Moon is going to spoil the funThe Verge - Loren GrushOn the evening of August 12th and early on August 13th, the Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak, with streaks of light zooming across the skies up to once every minute or so. Unfortunately, stargazers
Roscosmos Europe and Russia’s mission to Mars runs into a speed bump after two failed parachute testsThe Verge - Loren GrushEurope and Russia’s joint robotic mission to Mars has hit a snag after the parachutes needed for landing the spacecraft on the Red Planet failed in two back-to-back tests. There isn’t much time left to
Small satellite launcher Vector pauses operations after ousting CEOThe Verge - Loren GrushAerospace startup Vector — a US company developing small rockets to send small satellites into orbit — announced on Friday it is pausing operations due “to a significant change in financing.” The company’s
More than 50 pieces of debris remain in space after India destroyed its own satellite in MarchThe Verge - Loren GrushMore than four months after India destroyed one of its own satellites in space, dozens of pieces of debris from the cataclysmic event still circulate in orbit — posing a small, but potential threat to
