Space Travel

270: Essential phone review, Charlottesville online, and Space Craft

NASA launches satellite to relay data from Hubble, ISS and other spacecraft

NASA launched a new satellite on Friday morning, aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral. The launch occurred at just before 8:30 AM ET, after a brief delay from its original planned launch due to a minor technical issue with the booster that was promptly corrected …

Hear the Essential Phone review on this week’s Vergecast

Along with a whole lot more<p>On <i>The Verge</i>’s flagship / only podcast, Nilay, Dieter, and Paul go through the weekly rundown of news that hit the site this week.<p>The show begins by addressing the accumulation of online hate as a result of the Charlottesville attack, and how it’s affecting the topics we …

Risk Takers Are Back in the Space Race—and That’s a Good Thing

“In a fight between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, who would win?” Peter Diamandis asked Blue Origin’s Erika Wagner to kick off a conversation with a …

US Air Force Prepping Mysterious X-37B Space Plane for September Launch

The United States Air Force's X-37B program is readying its next robotic mini-shuttle for launch, this time atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.<p>The liftoff …

Google Lunar X Prize teams get extra time to win competition

WASHINGTON — After months of stating that it would offer no further extensions of the Google Lunar X Prize competition, the X Prize Foundation …

Deadline for Google Lunar X Prize Extended to March 2018

The remaining teams in this private space race have more time—and the opportunity for more money—on their way to the Moon

Space boffins competing for $20m Moon robot X-Prize are told: Be there by March 31 – or bust

Teams get extra wiggle room to hit final deadlineThe X-Prize Foundation has cut some slack for teams vying to be the first to land a robot on the …

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft just began its death dive into Saturn

NASA’s incredibly successful Cassini probe has delivered a wealth of information about Saturn and its many moons during its 13+ years hanging around …

Cassini Just Became the First Spacecraft to Touch Saturn's Air

For a few hours on Monday, NASA's Saturn spacecraft became an aircraft.<p>We've sent several probes to Saturn over the years, but none has been as successful as the Cassini spacecraft, which has been orbiting the gas giant since 2004. Cassini has made hundreds of groundbreaking discoveries of Saturn …

See Saturn's wavy clouds pop in NASA Cassini image

It looks like somebody spilled paint on Saturn in a Cassini spacecraft image showing the planet's fascinating cloud patterns.<p>Saturn is a wild and wonderful place. NASA released a Cassini spacecraft image on Monday that brings home just how different the ringed planet is from our blue and watery …

Google Lunar XPrize competitors now have until March 31, 2018 to reach the moon; more prizes also being offered

When Google Lunar XPrize initially started, participants had until the end of this year to launch their spacecraft so that it could make its journey to the moon. With that deadline quickly approaching, Google has made some adjustments to the Lunar XPrize competition that not only gives competitors …

NASA, ESA Spacecraft Track Solar Storm Through Space

Using seven spacecraft, along with computer models, scientists have pieced together the journey of a coronal mass ejection from the Sun outward to …

SpaceX Launches NASA Cargo to Space Station, Sticks Rocket Landing (Again)

SpaceX has pulled off another one-two spaceflight punch.<p>One of the company's Falcon 9 rockets lifted off from historic Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy …

Nasa satellite brushes Saturn's atmosphere

Description "Haze on the Horizon": a Cassini-captured image of SaturnCredits NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science InstituteAlt Text Saturn, Cassini …

The Road To Rocket Fuel’s Sale

AdExchanger |As with matrimony, the road to acquisition is paved with dalliances – some serious and some … less so. For evidence, look no further …

CubeSats: faster and cheaper, but are they better?

CubeSats have become very popular in recent years as a low-cost platform for many missions, but some have found difficulties using them for certain …

NASA, ESA spacecraft track solar storm through space

Our Sun is active: Not only does it release a constant stream of material, called the solar wind, but it also lets out occasional bursts of …

11 books on the future of humanity that everyone should read

No one knows for sure what the next decade, century, or millennium will look like.<p>But many writers have imagined the future in their work, inviting us to travel through time.<p>We asked Lynn Lobash, manager of the New York Public Library's Reader Services department, to recommend the books about the …

SpaceX is planning to do something really cool today

<b>UPDATE: Aug. 14, 2017, 1:36 p.m. EDT</b> The launch and landing of the Falcon 9 rocket was successful. Read our post and watch the video of the successful spaceflight feat here.<p>SpaceX has an uncanny way of making the most amazing spaceflight events seem routine.<p>If you need proof of that look no further …

Inside the Ambitious, Absurd, Technically Feasible Plan to Send a Spacecraft to Our Neighbor Star

The Breakthrough Initiatives, created by Russian billionaire physicist Yuri Milner, is one of the most forward-thinking space exploration groups in …

Elon Musk’s Space X And Richard Branson’s Virgin Will Use The Moon Colony As A Stepping Stone [Opinion]

Elon Musk and Richard Branson are reaching for the stars, but they will start with the Moon. It seems that the Moon is being equipped with cell phone …

Cassini's Final Dives Will Take Us Where No Spacecraft Has Gone Before

As things here on Earth become increasingly more Theater of the Absurd, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft whizzes millions of miles away, unaffected by our …

NASA Reignites Program for Nuclear Thermal Rockets

In its pursuit of missions that will take us back to the Moon, to Mars, and beyond, NASA has been exploring a number of next-generation propulsion …

NASA May Use Atomic Rockets to Reach Mars - ExtremeTech

By on August 11, 2017 at 2:58 pm<p>This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use.<p>Engineers have developed some …

Last chance to submit a message for NASA to beam 13 billion miles into space

By Sam Meredith<p>NASA has been asking for suggestions from the public to beam up to the most distant man-made object in the universe.<p>The U.S. space …

Star Ark: A Living, Self-Sustaining Spaceship

Think of the ease. With a simple command of “Make it so” humans travelled from one star to the next in less time than for drinking a cup of coffee. …

President Trump Needs to Go to the Moon

In just two years, the United States will celebrate the anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, an event that perhaps more than any other …

NASA looks at reviving atomic rocket program

When the first manned mission to Mars sets out, it may be on the tail of an atomic rocket engine. The Space Race vintage technology could have a …

Our new video series Space Craft launches next week

The season premiere is Tuesday, August 15th<p>Space is in my blood. Growing up as the daughter of two NASA engineers, the conversation at dinner was always about rockets, astronauts, and propulsion systems. Fast-forward a decade, and I’ve come full circle. Now I report on spaceflight full time, but …