Starship V3 From Space: Satellite Snaps Amazing Photo of SpaceX Megarocket on the Pad
A Vantor WorldView Legion satellite captured a high‑resolution image of SpaceX’s 408‑foot Starship V3 on the launch pad at Starbase, Texas, on May 21, 2026. The launch was scrubbed minutes later due to technical issues, and SpaceX rescheduled the attempt for May 22 during a 90‑minute window. V3 represents the most powerful iteration of the megarocket, designed to move beyond test flights toward operational missions, including NASA’s Artemis lunar landings. The image highlights both the rocket’s scale and the growing capability of commercial Earth‑observation assets to monitor space‑flight activities from orbit.
An Ancient Solar Storm Left Clues in Tree Rings and a Famous Poet's Diary: 'Red Lights in the Northern Sky'
Scientists at Japan’s OIST have identified a “sub‑extreme” solar proton event (SPE) that struck Earth between 1200 and 1201 CE, using carbon‑14 spikes in tree rings and a 1204 diary entry describing a red aurora over Kyoto. The research reveals that...
NASA Is Updating Its Artemis Moon Base Plan. You Can Find Out How on May 26.
NASA will brief the public on May 26 about its revised Artemis moon‑base roadmap, shifting focus from the lunar Gateway to a permanent surface outpost. The agency announced that Artemis 3 will now test Orion‑landed docking with private lunar landers in Earth...
Watch Rocket Lab Launch Private Japanese Earth-Observing Satellite Early on May 22
Rocket Lab will lift off a Synspective synthetic‑aperture radar (SAR) satellite from New Zealand on May 22, 2026, in the “Viva La Strix” mission. The 18‑meter Electron rocket will place the Strix payload into a 355‑mile low‑Earth orbit, adding to Japan’s growing SAR constellation....
Lunar Outpost Has Big Plans for the Moon. The New Pegasus Lunar Rover Is Just the Start
Lunar Outpost, a Colorado‑based lunar infrastructure firm, secured $30 million to develop Pegasus, a compact rover that will work alongside its earlier Eagle rover. The company is building a suite of Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) rovers, with four missions in...
The Universe's 'Most Relaxed' Galaxy Cluster Was Shaped by Cosmic Violence, New Study Finds
New Chandra X‑ray observations reveal that the galaxy cluster Abell 2029, long considered the universe’s most relaxed cluster, still bears the imprint of a major merger that occurred about 4 billion years ago. The data show giant sloshing spirals, a “bay” depression,...
SpaceX Launches 24 Starlink Satellites on Falcon 9 Launch From California
SpaceX launched 24 additional Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base on May 19, 2026, bringing the operational constellation to just under 10,500 units. The Falcon 9 booster B1103 completed its second flight, landing safely on the droneship “Of Course I...
Scientists Found Stardust Trapped in Antarctic Ice. What Could It Tell Us About Our Solar System?
Scientists have detected the radioactive isotope iron‑60, a supernova by‑product, trapped in Antarctic ice dating back 40,000‑80,000 years. Analyzing roughly 660 lb (300 kg) of ice, the team used accelerator mass spectrometry to count individual atoms, confirming that the material originated from...
This Amazing NASA Video Shows the Exact Moment the Artemis 2 Orion Capsule Broke Free of Its Service Module, and...
NASA released high‑definition footage of Artemis 2’s Orion capsule separating from its European service module on April 10, 2026. The video highlighted the capsule’s mirror‑like heat shield, which showed minimal charring after engineers altered the re‑entry trajectory to avoid the issues seen...
Watch NASA's New Mars Helicopter Rotor Break the Speed of Sound (Video)
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory completed 137 supersonic rotor tests in a Mars‑simulated chamber, pushing blade tips to Mach 1.08. The data indicate a potential 30% lift boost, enabling future Mars helicopters to carry heavier science payloads and larger batteries. Engineers also...
This Week In Space Podcast: Episode 210 — ESCAPADES at Mars
Episode 210 of *This Week In Space* features Dr. Robert Lillis discussing NASA’s Mars ESCAPADE mission, a pair of low‑cost orbiters designed to measure how the Red Planet’s atmosphere is being stripped away. Built largely by Rocket Lab and launched on Blue Origin’s New Glenn, the...
'Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes' Is a Relentlessly Oppressive Roguelite Inspired by FTL
Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes, developed by Alt Shift and published by Dotemu, launches on PC via Steam and GOG. The game blends menu‑driven crew and resource management with real‑time, pause‑able space battles, creating a harsh roguelite experience. Inspired by FTL...
Mars Orbiter Captures Striking Images of 'Chaos and Craters' Carved by Ancient Floods
Europe’s Mars Express orbiter has released high‑resolution images of Shalbatana Vallis, an 800‑mile (1,300‑km) flood‑carved channel near the Martian equator. The channel stretches up to 10 km wide and 500 m deep, displaying chaotic terrain, layered sediments, volcanic ash deposits, and numerous...
'Directive 8020' Is an Introspective Look at Sci-Fi Horror and Our Fear of the Unknown
Supermassive Games launches "Directive 8020," the first sci‑fi horror entry in its Dark Pictures series, placing a crew on the colony ship Cassiopeia against a shape‑shifting alien on Tau Ceti f. The game modernizes the franchise with an instant‑rewind narrative system that lets...
SpaceX's Starship V3 Megarocket Will Do Something Completely New on Flight 12 — Take a Good Look at Itself
SpaceX will launch the first Starship V3 on Flight 12, its first launch in nearly seven months and the debut of the upgraded vehicle. The mission will deploy 22 dummy Starlink satellites, including two equipped to photograph the rocket’s heat‑shield tiles...
Star Catcher Just Raised $65 Million to Build the World's First Power Grid in Space — with Lasers
Star Catcher Industries announced a $65 million Series A round, bringing its total capital to $88 million, to develop the first orbital power grid that beams energy via lasers. The company’s “power node” satellites will harvest solar power and transmit it to client...
Sun Unleashes Colossal Solar Flare and Coronal Mass Ejection, Raising the Chances of Northern Lights This Week
On May 10, the Sun emitted an M5.7 solar flare from sunspot AR 4436, launching a coronal mass ejection (CME) that is projected to graze Earth early next week. NOAA and the U.K. Met Office estimate the CME could trigger a...
NASA's Twin Voyager Spacecraft Are Very Low on Power After Nearly 50 Years. How Long Can They Keep Going?
NASA’s twin Voyager probes, launched in 1977, are now operating on roughly half their original 470‑watt power output, leaving only a few instruments active. A risky engineering maneuver dubbed the “Big Bang,” scheduled for mid‑2026, will swap heater devices to...
Pentagon Unveils Trove of Declassfied 'UFO' Videos. How to See Them All, From 'a Football-Shaped Body' To 'a Misshapen and...
The Pentagon released 161 declassified UAP files on May 8, 2026, including nearly 30 videos captured by infrared sensors and full‑motion cameras. The material, prompted by a Trump‑era directive, spans reports, astronaut testimonies, and footage showing football‑shaped objects, white‑light balls, and...
Black Holes Slamming Into Scorching Stars May Be Causing Mysterious Blue Flashes in the Cosmos
Researchers propose that luminous fast blue optical transients (LFBOTs) are produced when a black hole or neutron star collides with a Wolf‑Rayet star. Analysis of host galaxies shows LFBOTs favor low‑mass, star‑forming galaxies and occur away from dense stellar regions,...
The Charred Hull of Artemis 2's Orion | Space Photo of the Day for May 8, 2026
NASA’s Artemis 2 mission returned four astronauts safely to Earth after a historic 10‑day lunar flyby, the first crewed trip beyond low‑Earth orbit since Apollo 17. The Orion capsule, nicknamed “Integrity,” endured re‑entry temperatures up to 5,000 °F, scorching its exterior while the...
A Bizarre 'Decapitated' Asteroid Likely Made the Moon's Largest Impact Crater. NASA's Artemis Astronauts May Land Near the Proof
A new study using high‑resolution 3‑D simulations argues that the Moon’s South Pole–Aitken basin was formed by a 260‑km differentiated asteroid that was ‘decapitated’ on impact, leaving its iron core to carve the basin’s tapered shape. The shallow, north‑to‑south impact would...
'Star Wars: Galactic Racer': Release Date, Trailers, Gameplay & Everything We Know About the Return of Podracing
Lucasfilm Games, Secret Mode and Fuse Games announced Star Wars: Galactic Racer, an arcade‑style podracing title slated for release on October 6 2026. The game will launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, leveraging Unreal...
Should Saturn's Huge Moon Titan Be Humanity's Next Destination, After the Moon and Mars?
The Humans to Titan Summit, set for June 11‑12, 2026 in Boulder, Colorado, will outline a roadmap for crewed missions to Saturn’s moon after lunar and Martian exploration. It builds on NASA’s upcoming Dragonfly octocopter, slated for a 2028 launch,...
10 Hidden Spots in Spain to See the Rare Sunset Total Solar Eclipse on Aug. 12
On August 12, 2026, a rare sunset total solar eclipse will sweep across northern Spain, offering low‑altitude totality as the sun sets. The article lists ten off‑the‑beaten‑track sites—from the semi‑desert Bardenas Reales to the high‑plateau wetlands of La Rioja—each with...
Scientists Created One of the Largest Simulations of Our Universe Ever — About the Size of 500,000 HD Movies
Astronomers from the FLAMINGO project have released a cosmological simulation dataset exceeding 2.5 petabytes—roughly the size of 500,000 HD movies. The "virtual universes" trace the evolution of matter from shortly after the Big Bang to the present, modeling dark matter, ordinary...
Solar Activity Makes Space Junk Crash to Earth Faster
A new study published May 6, 2026 in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences shows that space debris descends more rapidly during periods of heightened solar activity. Researchers tracked 17 low‑Earth‑orbit objects launched in the 1960s over a 36‑year span, linking their...
Trump's Proposed NASA Budget Is a 'Horrible Threat to Our Future' In Space, Planetary Society CEO Says
Planetary Society CEO Jennifer Vaughn warned that the Trump administration’s proposed 23% cut to NASA’s FY 2027 budget—dropping funding to roughly $18.8 billion—poses a "horrible threat" to U.S. space science. Vaughn, who succeeded Bill Nye earlier this year, said the cuts jeopardize...
Spaceflight Is Hard on the Heart, yet Artificial Ones Grow Better in Space than on Earth
Researchers demonstrated that miniature human hearts grown from stem cells mature faster in microgravity than on Earth. The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation meeting highlighted data from ISS experiments showing a significant boost in organoid production without the...
Why Do some Stars Become 'Supernova Impostors'? Astronomers Still Don't Quite Know
Astronomers have long struggled to explain "supernova impostors"—bright, non‑fatal eruptions of massive stars. A new study led by Shelley Cheng used red supergiant populations in the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds and Andromeda to calibrate the elusive eruptive‑mass‑loss efficiency parameter...
Artemis 2 Astronauts Get the Star Treatment After Historic Moon Trip
NASA’s Artemis 2 mission returned to Earth on April 10 after a historic 10‑day lunar flyby, marking the first crewed trip to the Moon in more than five decades. Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen landed in...
The Claypool Lennon Delirium's Cosmic New Album Is Not Just an AI Warning, but a Reflection on a Global Loss...
The Claypool Lennon Delirium released a concept album, “The Great Parrot‑Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy,” on May 1, 2026. Inspired by Nick Bostrom’s paper‑clip maximizer thought experiment, the record frames AI as a cautionary backdrop for a broader commentary on...
Russia's New Homegrown Soyuz 5 Rocket Aces Debut Launch
Russia successfully launched the domestically‑developed Soyuz 5 rocket from Baikonur on April 30, marking the vehicle’s first flight. The sub‑orbital test confirmed that both the first and second stages performed as designed, delivering a mock payload on a calculated trajectory before re‑entry...
Artemis 3 Has Been Pushed to Late 2027. Can NASA Still Land Astronauts on the Moon in 2028?
NASA has moved Artemis 3’s launch window to late 2027, pushing the first crewed lunar landing to 2028. The agency earmarked $2.8 billion for Human Landing System contracts with SpaceX and Blue Origin, but both Starship and Blue Moon still lack critical uncrewed...
Is Ben Mauro's 'Huxley' Graphic Novel Universe the Next Big Thing in Sci-Fi? (Interview)
Veteran concept artist Ben Mauro, known for work on Halo, Call of Duty and The Hobbit, has released the second installment of his sci‑fi graphic‑novel series, Huxley: The Oracle, slated for 2025. The book showcases more than 100 illustrations from collaborators linked...
The Cosmos Wears a Galactic Sombrero | Space Photo of the Day for April 29, 2026
Space.com released a new high‑resolution photo of the Sombrero galaxy (Messier 104) captured by the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Blanco 4‑meter telescope at Cerro Tololo. The spiral galaxy sits roughly 28 million light‑years away in Virgo and shines at magnitude +8,...
Help Scientists Find Spacetime Warps in These Euclid Space Telescope Images
The European Space Agency has launched Space Warps, a citizen‑science effort that asks volunteers to scan Euclid Space Telescope images for strong gravitational lenses. Euclid streams roughly 100 GB of data each day, and the project will present 300,000 AI‑preselected cutouts...
What Is Quantum Gravity? Scientists Think It Could Explain the Beginning of Our Universe
Physicists have proposed a quantum‑gravity framework that extends Einstein’s general relativity to ultra‑high energies, potentially eliminating the Big Bang singularity. The theory naturally generates an inflation‑like expansion, fitting current cosmological measurements better than many standard inflation models. Researchers plan to...
Is Tatooine the Norm? Planets May Prefer Living with Two Suns Instead of One
New computer simulations from the University of Lancashire show that protoplanetary disks around binary stars can more readily form planets once they lie beyond a turbulent “forbidden zone.” In these outer regions, gravitational instability fragments the disk, spawning multiple gas‑giant...
NASA Chief Jared Isaacman Says He's Fighting for Pluto: 'I Am Very Much in the Camp of 'Make Pluto a...
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced he will champion a campaign to restore Pluto’s planet status. He told a Senate appropriations hearing that NASA is preparing scientific papers to reignite the debate within the astronomical community. The move revives a controversy...
Clean up Rebel Scum in the Upcoming Star Wars DLC for PowerWash Simulator 2
Lucasfilm Games and FuturLab have announced a Star Wars‑themed DLC for PowerWash Simulator 2, slated for release this summer across PC, Xbox Series X|S, PS5 and the upcoming Switch 2. The pack will let players clean iconic locations such as Hoth, Tatooine, and...
Aurora Expert Captures Rare Pulsating Northern Lights in Remarkable Detail: 'One of the Most Profound Sightings of My Career'
During a massive geomagnetic storm on 22 Feb 2026, Tom Kerss, chief aurora chaser for Hurtigruten, recorded an almost three‑hour pulsating aurora over Arctic Norway—one of the longest such displays ever documented. The footage, captured aboard the MS Trollfjord with a Sony A7S and...
Could the Moon Ever Be Blockaded? Experts Predict Cislunar Space Could Be the Next Strait of Hormuz
Experts warn that cislunar space – the region between Earth and the Moon – could become a strategic chokepoint akin to the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. Space Force has set up a dedicated acquisition office to assess warfighting needs...
Satellite Snaps Amazing 36th Birthday Pic of Hubble Space Telescope (Photo)
On April 24, 2026, Vantor’s WorldView Legion 4 satellite photographed NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope from just 62 km (38.4 mi) away, marking the telescope’s 36th birthday. The image shows Hubble’s cylindrical body, thermal shielding, solar arrays, and open aperture door with a ground‑sample...
This X-Ray Image Shows Our Solar System 'Breathing'
Astronomers using the eROSITA X‑ray telescope have produced the clearest soft‑X‑ray map of the sky, revealing the “breath” of the solar system—solar wind charge exchange (SWCX) occurring when charged particles collide with Earth’s atmosphere and the heliosphere. The phenomenon, previously...
What Will Happen when Our Sun Starts Dying? These 'Stellar Archaeologists' May Have Found a Clue
Scientists have identified fossilized magnetic fields on white dwarfs, linking them to magnetic cores observed in red‑giant stars. The finding supports a revived "fossil‑field" theory that magnetic fields formed early in a star’s life can persist through later evolutionary stages....
James Webb Space Telescope Peers Into a Dying Star Surrounded by Mysterious Buckyballs: 'The Structures We're Seeing Now Are Breathtaking'
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the first high‑resolution infrared view of planetary nebula Tc 1, a dying star 10,000 light‑years from Earth, revealing the distribution of buckminsterfullerene (buckyballs) around its central white dwarf. The MIRI image shows an upside‑down...
NASA's TESS Spacecraft Discovers a Weird System of Exoplanets Unlike Anything Seen Before
NASA’s TESS mission, together with the Antarctic ASTEP observatory, identified the TOI‑201 system—a trio of planets ranging from a super‑Earth to a 16‑Jupiter‑mass giant—exhibiting rapid, observable orbital shifts. The outer planet’s tilted, elliptical path is tugging on the inner worlds,...
Mysterious Rings Around Uranus Point to Hidden Moons Orbiting the Ice Giant
Infrared observations from the James Webb Space Telescope, combined with earlier Hubble and Keck data, have produced the first complete reflectance spectrum of Uranus’s two outermost rings, μ and ν. The analysis shows the μ‑ring is dominated by water‑ice particles...
'Dark Subhaloes' May Explain Why Galaxies Seem to Form Pre-Determined Shapes
Astronomers Jorge Peñarrubia and Ethan Nadler propose that dwarf spheroidal galaxies evolve toward a universal "dynamical attractor" shaped by stochastic heating from dark‑matter subhaloes and external tidal stripping. Their N‑body simulations show that internal kicks from invisible subhaloes expand stellar...