Private mission to save NASA’s Swift space telescope fails
NASA is calling off the effort to save its Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory after a private rescue spacecraft couldn’t overcome its own problems in orbit. LINK, the specialized probe from…
Pluto Planetary Science is the Gift that Keeps on Giving
Something’s wetting the surface of dwarf planet Pluto along the northern edge of Sputnik Planitia, and planetary scientists have found a good explanation for it. A recent study of new…
Scientists create ‘laundry gun’ for astronauts to clean their clothes by shooting out plasma
If you have ever shared a room with multiple people for days on end, you may know how clothes and living conditions can rapidly turn rather smelly. Imagine that happening…
NASA TechLeap Prize: Orbital Clarity Challenge
1 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) The Orbital Clarity Challenge — the sixth in the NASA TechLeap Prize series — is a collaborative effort between…
Katalyst Space and NASA abandon plans for Swift reboost
Katalyst Space and NASA have called off plans to use the company’s Link spacecraft to raise the orbit of the agency’s Swift gamma-ray observatory, citing attitude-control problems with the spacecraft.…
‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ finally blasts onto Disney+ next month
Despite our love for little “Baby Yoda”, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” wasn’t the thrilling “Star Wars” feature film to drag fans back to theaters when it dropped back in May.…
The Fastest Star in the Milky Way Will Test Relativity
Astronomers have discovered another S star, the population of stars that orbits the Milky Way’s SMBH. This one is the fastest of them all, and also comes closest to the…
NASA Updates Next Steps for Commercial Swift Boost Mission
NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, shown in this artist’s concept, has orbited Earth for more than 20 years, studying the ever-changing universe. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image…
Human-Related Microbes May Survive Moon’s South Pole, NASA Finds
This image was taken by an Artemis II astronaut from the Orion capsule in April 2026, as the spacecraft traveled past the Moon and back over 10 days. The gray-brown,…
Dark matter could magnify the jets of a ravenously feeding supermassive black hole
Astronomers have discovered that a jet of plasma erupting from a distant supermassive black hole at near-light-speed is being gravitationally lensed by an unseen clump of dark matter. The discovery…