Virgin Galactic tourism rocket ship reaches space in test
Virgin Galactic's tourism spaceship climbed more than 50 miles high above California's Mojave Desert on Thursday, reaching for the first time what the company considers the boundary of space.
Last update Control HIV by treating schistosomiasis, new study suggests, 1 hour ago
Space Exploration news
After a 1.2 billion-mile journey, a reward: There is water on the asteroid Bennu
Nineteen years ago, scientists discovered an asteroid oscillating between the orbits of Earth and Mars. In 2013, they mapped it, creating a model of what they thought it looked like. And on Monday, that model come to life.
Preparing for discovery with NASA's Parker Solar Probe
Weeks after Parker Solar Probe made the closest-ever approach to a star, the science data from the first solar encounter is just making its way into the hands of the mission's scientists. It's a moment many in the field have ...
An astronaut returns to Earth
ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst will return to Earth alongside NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Prokopiev on 20 December. After more than six months living and working on the International ...
Living on Mars: Team to lead simulation facility mission
The air may be breathable and the location is on planet Earth, but for two weeks a multidisciplinary team of Purdue students and alumni will eat, sleep, work and live like they're on Mars.
Four NASA-sponsored experiments set to launch on Virgin Galactic spacecraft
A winged spacecraft will soon take off with four NASA-supported technology experiments onboard. Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo will separate from the WhiteKnightTwo twin-fuselage carrier aircraft and continue its rocket-powered ...
We have a Christmas comet: How to spot interplanetary comet 46P/Wirtanen
We're in for a pre-Christmas treat this weekend, as the cosmos entertains us with two equally exciting gifts: the Geminid meteor shower and the interplanetary comet 46P/Wirtanen.
Photos from Japan space rovers show rocky asteroid surface
Japan's space agency says more than 200 photos taken by two small rovers on an asteroid show no signs of a smooth area for the planned touchdown of a spacecraft early next year.
Virgin Galactic aims to reach space soon with tourism rocket
Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic is gearing up to finally send its tourism rocket ship to the edge of space.
Juno mission halfway to Jupiter science
On Dec. 21, at 8:49:48 a.m. PST (11:49:48 a.m. EST) NASA's Juno spacecraft will be 3,140 miles (5,053 kilometers) above Jupiter's cloud tops and hurtling by at a healthy clip of 128,802 mph (207,287 kilometers per hour). ...
Rosetta witnesses birth of baby bow shock around comet
A new study reveals that, contrary to first impressions, Rosetta did detect signs of an infant bow shock at the comet it explored for two years – the first ever seen forming anywhere in the solar system.
Image: ICESat-2 reveals profile of ice sheets
Less than three months into its mission, NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, is already exceeding scientists' expectations. The satellite is measuring the height of sea ice to within an inch, tracing ...
InSight Mars lander takes its first selfie
NASA's InSight lander isn't camera-shy. The spacecraft used a camera on its robotic arm to take its first selfie—a mosaic made up of 11 images. This is the same imaging process used by NASA's Curiosity rover mission, in ...
Russian spacewalkers take sample of mystery hole at space station
Using knives and shears, a pair of Russian spacewalkers Tuesday cut samples of material around a mysterious hole in a Soyuz spacecraft docked on the International Space Station that a Moscow official suggested could have ...
Spacewalking astronauts check site of capsule leak
Spacewalking astronauts ripped through thick insulation on a capsule docked to the International Space Station on Tuesday, looking for clues to a mysterious drilled hole that leaked precious cabin air four months ago.
Cosmonauts start spacewalk from ISS to examine mystery hole (Update)
Russian cosmonauts began a spacewalk Tuesday to examine a mystery hole in a Soyuz spacecraft docked on the International Space Station that a Moscow official suggested could have been deliberate sabotage.
Australia is still listening to Voyager 2 as NASA confirms the probe is now in interstellar space
NASA has confirmed that Voyager 2 has joined its twin to become only the second spacecraft to enter interstellar space – where the sun's flow of material and magnetic field no longer affect its surroundings. The slightly ...
Geminids meteor shower: An astrophysicist on what to look out for
The Geminids meteor shower peaks on the mornings of December 13 and 14, 2018 – but if you look up any time there's a clear night sky up until December 17, you might just catch a glimpse of a Geminid meteor.
NASA's first look: Tiny asteroid is studded with boulders
NASA's first look at a tiny asteroid shows the space rock is more moist and studded with boulders than originally thought.
OSIRIS-REx discovers water on asteroid, confirms Bennu as excellent mission target
From August through early December, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft aimed three of its science instruments toward Bennu and began making the mission's first observations of the asteroid. During this period, the spacecraft traveled ...
Team finds evidence for carbon-rich surface on Ceres
A team led by Southwest Research Institute has concluded that the surface of dwarf planet Ceres is rich in organic matter. Data from NASA's Dawn spacecraft indicate that Ceres's surface may contain several times the concentration ...
Solar activity research provides insight into sun's past, future
Andrés Muñoz-Jaramillo of Southwest Research Institute and José Manuel Vaquero of the University of Extremadura have developed a new technique for looking at historic solar data to distinguish trustworthy observations ...
NASA's Voyager 2 probe enters interstellar space
For the second time in history, a human-made object has reached the space between the stars. NASA's Voyager 2 probe now has exited the heliosphere – the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the ...
Image: Dione and Rhea appear as one
Sometimes it's all about perspective. This very convincing image of a conjoined moon masquerading as a snowman is actually two separate Saturnian moons – Dione and Rhea – taken from such an angle by the international ...
SpaceX Christmas delivery arrives at space station
A SpaceX delivery full of Christmas goodies arrived at the International Space Station on Saturday, following a slight delay caused by a communication drop-out.
SpaceX Christmas delivery delayed by communication problem
A communication drop-out has delayed a Christmas delivery at the International Space Station.
InSight lander 'hears' Martian winds
NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport InSight lander, which touched down on Mars just 10 days ago, has provided the first ever "sounds" of Martian winds on the Red Planet. A ...
China prepares mission to land spacecraft on moon's far side
China was preparing to launch a ground-breaking mission early Saturday to soft-land a spacecraft on the largely unexplored far side of the moon, demonstrating its growing ambitions as a space power to rival Russia, the European ...
China launches rover for first far side of the moon landing
China launched a rover early Saturday destined to land on the far side of the moon, a global first that would boost Beijing's ambitions to become a space superpower, state media said.
NASA's Mars InSight flexes its arm
New images from NASA's Mars InSight lander show its robotic arm is ready to do some lifting.
Earth's magnetic poles could start to flip. What happens then?
As Earth's magnetic shield fails, so do its satellites. First, our communications satellites in the highest orbits go down. Next, astronauts in low-Earth orbit can no longer phone home. And finally, cosmic rays start to bombard ...
Water plumes on Europa: Tasting an extraterrestrial ocean
Computer simulations of the plumes of liquid water that stream out of Jupiter's moon Europa show that the forthcoming space mission JUICE may offer an answer to the question as to whether the Jovian moon's subsurface ocean ...
Learning from lunar lights
Every few hours observing the moon, ESA's 'NELIOTA' project discovers a brilliant flash of light across its surface – the result of an object hurtling through space and striking our unprotected rocky neighbour at vast speed. ...
Planetary defense: The Bennu experiment
On Dec. 3, after traveling billions of kilometers from Earth, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft reached its target, Bennu, and kicked off a nearly two-year, up-close investigation of the asteroid. It will inspect nearly every ...
Mice display altered immune system following spaceflight
New research published in The FASEB Journal brings to light new information regarding the increased susceptibility of mice to infection during spaceflight. Based on examinations of mice that had been on board the Bion-M1 ...
Blast off for first UK-led experiment on the International Space Station
UK-led research is taking place on the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time, following a successful launch from Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral in the US.
Can space help us understand our cells?
Do astronauts' brains get bigger in space? The answer may be found in 10 small containers of human brain cells on board a SpaceX spacecraft that is scheduled for blast off Dec. 5 for a 16-month voyage to the International ...
Dutch research team involved in first landing on the far side of the moon
The Chinese space agency will be launching the Chang'e 4 moon lander on Friday 7 December, hoping to make China the first country to land on the far side of the moon. Dutch astronomers are also looking forward to the launch ...
Space weather 'piggyback'
The first ESA-funded space weather monitoring instrument was launched on 4 December 2018, hitching a ride on South Korea's new geostationary satellite, GEO-KOMPSAT-2A – the Geostationary Korea Multi-Purpose Satellite-2A.
Mantle neon illuminates Earth's formation
The Earth formed relatively quickly from the cloud of dust and gas around the Sun, trapping water and gases in the planet's mantle, according to research published Dec. 5 in the journal Nature. Apart from settling Earth's ...
SpaceX launches cargo, but fails to land rocket
SpaceX on Wednesday blasted off its unmanned Dragon cargo ship, loaded with supplies, science experiments and food for the astronauts living at the International Space Station but failed to successfully land its booster afterwards.
A meteor may have exploded in the air 3,700 years ago, obliterating communities near the Dead Sea
A meteor that exploded in the air near the Dead Sea 3,700 years ago may have wiped out communities, killed tens of thousands of people, and provided the kernel of truth to an old Bible story. The area is in modern-day Jordan, ...
Christmas turkey, fruitcake rocketing toward space station
Christmas turkey rocketed toward the International Space Station on Wednesday, along with cranberry sauce, candied yams and the obligatory fruitcake.
New study says scientific basis for EPA's Endangerment Finding is stronger than ever
A new study published by Science this week has found that scientific evidence supporting the EPA's 2009 Endangerment Finding for greenhouse gases is even stronger and more conclusive now. This finding could strengthen challenges ...
Data use draining your battery? Tiny device to speed up memory while also saving power
The more objects we make "smart," from watches to entire buildings, the greater the need for these devices to store and retrieve massive amounts of data quickly without consuming too much power.
Team invents method to shrink objects to the nanoscale
MIT researchers have invented a way to fabricate nanoscale 3-D objects of nearly any shape. They can also pattern the objects with a variety of useful materials, including metals, quantum dots, and DNA.
Hubble finds far-away planet vanishing at record speed
The speed and distance at which planets orbit their respective blazing stars can determine each planet's fate—whether the planet remains a longstanding part of its solar system or evaporates into the universe's dark graveyard ...
Scientists overhaul corn domestication story with multidisciplinary analysis
Smithsonian scientists and collaborators are revising the history of one of the world's most important crops. Drawing on genetic and archaeological evidence, researchers have found that a predecessor of today's corn plants ...
New technology paints in-depth picture of organisms' response to climate change
Revolutionary new technology created at the University of Plymouth could fill a major gap in our understanding of how organisms' early development will be impacted by climate change.
Scientists get first look at geometric phase effect in a chemical reaction
In the simplest chemical reaction in nature, the a well-known conical intersection exists between the ground and first excited state. Therefore, the H + H2 reaction and its isotopic variants have long been the benchmark system ...
Tangled magnetic fields power cosmic particle accelerators
Magnetic field lines tangled like spaghetti in a bowl might be behind the most powerful particle accelerators in the universe. That's the result of a new computational study by researchers from the Department of Energy's ...
Research team discovers oldest known plant virus at ancient settlement
Researchers studying ancient corncobs found at a Native American archeological site have recovered a 1,000-year-old virus, the oldest plant virus ever reported.
Scientists maximize the effectiveness of platinum in fuel cells
In the journal Science, Argonne chemists have identified a new catalyst that maximizes the effectiveness of platinum.
Enhanced osteogenic activity of pre-osteoblasts on surface-modified 3-D printed scaffolds
Materials such as poly(ε-caprolactone) are used as scaffolds in bone tissue engineering, but their inherent hydrophobicity and surface smoothness can impair cell attachment, proliferation and differentiation in the lab, ...
Scientists crack the CRISPR code for precise human genome editing
Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute have discovered a set of simple rules that determine the precision of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in human cells. These rules, published in Molecular Cell, could help to improve the ...
Death near the shoreline, not life on land
Our understanding of when the very first animals started living on land is helped by identifying trace fossils—the tracks and trails left by ancient animals—in sedimentary rocks that were deposited on the continents.
Neuroscientists uncover sensory switches controlling infanticide and parental behavior
Many species of mammals have evolved what appear to be paradoxical behaviours towards their young. Like humans, most exhibit nurturing, protective behaviours, and in some circumstances even act as surrogate parents. However, ...
Neandertal genes shed light on unique aspects of the modern human brain
A characteristic feature of modern humans is the unusually round skull and brain, in contrast to the elongated shape seen in other human species. By studying Neandertal DNA fragments found in the genomes of living Europeans, ...
Tumor cells conquer territory from their neighbors using a newly discovered mechanism
Despite decades of cancer research, the early phases of tumour progression that connect the appearance of few abnormal cells to the formation of a clinically detectable tumour mass remains poorly understood. It was previously ...
Biologists turn eavesdropping viruses into bacterial assassins
Princeton molecular biologist Bonnie Bassler and graduate student Justin Silpe have identified a virus, VP882, that can listen in on bacterial conversations—and then, in a twist like something out of a spy novel, they found ...
New techniques better determine how ancient viral DNA influences human genes
New laboratory techniques can identify which of our genes are influenced by DNA snippets that are left behind in our genetic code by viruses, a new study finds.
Stretched quantum magnetism uncovered by quantum simulation
By studying ultracold atoms trapped in artificial crystals of light, Guillaume Salomon, a postdoc at the Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics and a team of scientists have been able to directly observe a fundamental effect ...
The secret life of cloud droplets
Do water droplets cluster inside clouds? Researchers confirm two decades of theory with an airborne imaging instrument.
Invention promises airport security screening without queues
A research team led by The Australian National University (ANU) has invented a device that could be developed into ultra-sensitive cameras for security screening which would not require people to queue at airports.
Record-wet and record-dry months increased in regions worldwide
More rainfall extremes are observed in regions around the globe, setting both wet and dry records, a new study shows. Yet there are big differences between regions: The central and Eastern U.S., northern Europe and northern ...
Novel X-ray imaging technique provides nanoscale insights into behavior of biological molecules
Berkeley Lab researchers, in collaboration with scientists from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the Max Planck Institute, have demonstrated that fluctuation X-ray scattering is capable of capturing the behavior of ...
Selective dissolution of elemental gold from multi-metal sources in organic solutions
"Urban mining", the recycling of precious metals from electronic gadgets, becomes ever more important, although processes that are both efficient and environmentally benign are still scarce. An international team of scientists ...
Researchers capture 'key' to deadly malaria infection
An international team led by Institute researchers has visualised the unique molecular 'key' used by the world's deadliest malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, to enter and infect human blood cells.
Pushing lithium ion batteries to the next performance level
Conventional lithium ion batteries, such as those widely used in smartphones and notebooks, have reached performance limits. Materials chemist Freddy Kleitz from the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Vienna and international ...
Mini-detectors for the gigantic? Bose-Einstein condensates are currently not able to detect gravitational waves
The gravitational waves created by black holes or neutron stars in the depths of space have been found to reach Earth. Their effects, however, are so small that they can only be observed using kilometer-long measurement facilities. ...
Networking goes quantum
A scientist involved in expanding quantum communication to a network of users, is continuing his work at the University of Bristol.
The long dry: global water supplies are shrinking
A global study has found a paradox: our water supplies are shrinking at the same time as climate change is generating more intense rain. And the culprit is the drying of soils, say researchers, pointing to a world where drought-like ...
New climate model to be built from the ground up
Facing the certainty of a changing climate coupled with the uncertainty that remains in predictions of how it will change, scientists and engineers from across the country are teaming up to build a new type of climate model ...
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