In a groundbreaking announcement, the U.S. Space Force stated publicly on Monday, Sept. 14, that it currently has on-orbit weapons in space. Department of the Air Force Secretary Troy Meink’s keynote address at the 2026 Air and Space Cyber Conference focused on plans to modernize the Air Force against AI-powered weapons and capabilities wielded byContinue reading "U.S. confirms it has weapons in orbit"

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After over 7,000 days in space, the Cassini mission ended on Sept. 15, 2017. Since its Oct. 15, 1997 launch, the spacecraft had returned a wealth of new knowledge and images of Saturn and its moons. Thanks to Cassini’s observations, researchers discovered liquid methane lakes on Titan, the potential habitability of Enceladus and the geysersContinue reading "Sept. 15, 2017, Cassini’s Grand Finale"

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Rocket launches this week On Monday, Sept. 14 at 9:21 p.m. EST, Avio — a publicly traded Italian aerospace company headquartered near Rome — is set to launch a Vega C rocket from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana, carrying two Earth-observation satellites for the European Space Agency (ESA). The first, Sentinel-3C, is theContinue reading "Europe launches two Earth-observation satellites amidst a busy week for China"

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Rocket launches this week On Thursday, Sept. 10 at 5:00 a.m. EST, a Long March 2D rocket is set to lift off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northern China’s Gobi Desert carrying an undisclosed payload, according to tracking from Next Spaceflight. The rocket is operated by the state-owned space contractor China Aerospace Science andContinue reading "SpaceX closes out SES’s O3b mPower constellation"

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On Sept. 8, 2016, the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission launched from Cape Canaveral, setting off on its 4.4-billion-mile (2 billion kilometers) journey to asteroid Bennu. About the size of an SUV, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft carries several cameras, an altimeter used to create maps of Bennu, and anContinue reading "Sept. 8, 2016: OSIRIS-REx launches"

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James Van Allen, who was born in Iowa on Sept. 7, 1914, showed talent and interest in science and math from an early age. A major in physics from Wesleyan College in 1935 was followed by a Ph.D. in nuclear physics in 1939. Before and after World War II – during which he developed antiaircraftContinue reading "Sept. 7, 1914: The birth of James Van Allen"

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If a satellite’s velocity increases as it approaches a planet during a slingshot maneuver, why does it not decrease by the same amount when it leaves the planet? How can it experience a net gain in velocity? Robert WaltyStephens City, Virginia Slingshot maneuvers can seem counterintuitive. We know that a spacecraft speeds up as itContinue reading "How do slingshot maneuvers work to propel spacecraft?"

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Rocket launches this week On Monday, Aug. 10, a Long March 7A rocket carrying an undisclosed payload broke apart roughly one minute and 27 seconds after lifting off from Wenchang Space Launch Site at 8:02 a.m. EST. Footage from online livestreams captured the failure in real time; Chinese state media had not released any informationContinue reading "A Long March 7A failure opens a week of Starlink launches"

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On Aug. 10, 1990, the Magellan orbiter arrived at Venus and was inserted into orbit. Its goal was to map the surface of the planet, using radar to peer beneath the cloudy atmosphere. Launched aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis in May 1989, Magellan was the first deep space probe launched from a shuttle. Budget constraintsContinue reading "Aug. 10, 1990: Magellan enters venusian orbit"

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The Soviet Luna program, designed for lunar research and mission planning, ran from 1959 to 1976. On Aug. 9, 1976, Luna 24, the final mission of the program, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in present-day Kazakhstan. The probe landed on the Moon’s surface nine days later, in the Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises), a previouslyContinue reading "Aug. 9, 1976: Luna 24 blasts off"

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NASA launched its Mars rover Curiosity inside the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) on Nov. 26, 2011. Complete with 10 science instruments and 17 cameras, the robot can analyze mineral types, search for signs of microbial life, and take color panoramas of the Red Planet’s surface. Curiosity’s landing on Mars was a new process, nicknamed theContinue reading "Aug. 6, 2012: Curiosity lands on Mars"

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With the Space Race heating up, the Ranger program was developed as an answer to Sputnik: The U.S. would land spacecraft on the Moon. When President John F. Kennedy vowed in 1961 to put a man on the lunar surface, the project evolved. Instead of being purely scientific or exploratory, Ranger spacecraft would also beContinue reading "July 31, 1964: Ranger 7 returns the first close pictures of the Moon"

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Earth’s orbit is getting crowded. About 16,000 satellites currently circle our planet, supporting everything from GPS navigation and weather forecasting to banking, emergency services and internet communications. Dozens more are launched every few weeks. Some estimates suggest the total number of satellites could exceed 100,000 within this decade, with more conservative estimates landing on up to 60,000 satellites byContinue reading "There are already 16,000 satellites in Earth’s orbit. How will we manage the next 100,000?"

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On July 23, 1999, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory launched aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia; it would see first light a few weeks later, on Aug. 26. With resolution eight times greater than any previous scope, Chandra is the most powerful X-ray telescope ever built. The observatory is intended to help scientists understand the universe’s evolutionContinue reading "July 23, 1999: Chandra X-Ray Observatory launches"

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Nearly 400 days and a billion kilometers after leaving Earth, China’s Tianwen-2 spacecraft has arrived at its target: the near-Earth asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa, also known as 2016 HO3. And the mission’s first photo of the rock has already had scientific impact, reopening an ongoing investigation over whether Kamoʻoalewa began as a chunk of the Moon.Continue reading "Tianwen-2 arrives at target asteroid Kamoʻoalewa"

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Let the science begin: The world’s first commercial space telescope is up and running. On July 6, Blue Skies Space delivered data from its Mauve satellite to the international roster of universities enrolled in the Mauve Science Program, shifting the mission into full scientific operations. It’s the next step for a mission that reached orbitContinue reading "The first commercial space telescope delivers"

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New Horizons launched in January 2006, and by July 14, 2015, it had reached its primary goal: Pluto. The first spacecraft to study Pluto up close, it conducted measurements of Pluto’s atmosphere, mapped the surface geology, observed Pluto’s moons. New Horizons also investigated the dwarf planet’s interior structure, adding support to the theory that PlutoContinue reading "July 14, 2015: New Horizon arrives at Pluto"

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NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft completed its 60,000th orbit of the Red Planet on June 23, 2015. When Odyssey launched in April 2001 with a goal of better understanding Mars’ environment, the Red Planet was generally thought to be dry, barren world; the mission transformed our understanding, discovering widespread subsurface water ice. Its continuous observations haveContinue reading "June 23, 2015: 60,000 orbits for Mars Odyssey"

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Rocket launches this week Tonight, Monday, June 22, according to tracking from Next Spaceflight, The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) plans to launch a Long March 7A rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Site located in the South China Sea on the island of Hainan at 10:10 p.m. EDT. The payload has notContinue reading "SpaceX tests new vehicle, Swift gets a lift"

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Pioneer 10 holds the titles for many “firsts”: It was NASA’s first mission to the outer planets, the first spacecraft to fly beyond Mars, the first to traverse the asteroid belt, and the first to fly past Jupiter. It was also the first spacecraft placed on a trajectory to escape the solar system into interstellarContinue reading "June 13, 1983: Pioneer 10 leaves solar system"

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