August 2026

ESA JUICE probe targets dark Jovian moon Kallichore in 2031

Jupiter hosts more than 100 moons, with most attention focused on the four Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede…

A new era dawns for astronomy

Pascal Fouquet, taken from Titusville, Florida The Falcon Heavy booster carrying NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope aloft…

Looking for Earth 2.0 in binary systems

While astronomers have found thousands of exoplanets over the last few decades, the true prize continues to elude…

NASA Welcomes Türkiye as Newest Artemis Accords Signatory

During a ceremony hosted by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman at the agency’s headquarters in Washington on Monday, the…

Launch Preview: Array of international launches planned this week

Six missions are scheduled to launch from launch sites across the globe this week.

Space Math at NASA: Astrobiology Math

This problem set and educator’s guide from Space Math at NASA features 75 math problems for students grades…

Space Math at NASA: Image Scale Math

This problem set and educator’s guide from Space Math at NASA features 11 math problems where students, grades…

Space Math at NASA: Exploring Aerosols

This problem set and educator’s guide from Space Math at NASA features 18 math problems exploring atmospheric aerosols…

September 2026 Satellite Puzzler

Here’s the August 2026 puzzler. Quick, where is this? And what makes this place interesting or unique?

Space Math at NASA: Stars- Their Properties and Evolution

This math problem set and educator’s guide from Space Math at NASA for grades K-5 applies scientific notation…

NASA’s Roman Completes First Mid-Course Correction Burn

At 12:02 p.m. EDT, Roman began an approximately 3-minute mid-course correction burn to adjust its trajectory toward its…

Eric Vermote, Landsat Science Team Member, Wins Pecora Award

In May, Landsat Science Team member and atmospheric correction expert Eric Vermote won the William T.

Four 'Little Red Dot' pairs hint at black hole mergers in early universe

After analyzing infrared images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an international team of researchers has…

Peptides can form well-defined structures in harsh, Venus-like conditions

When exploring solar system bodies for signs of past or present life, scientists have mainly focused on planets…

Norway, India, and New Zealand target launches as Starlink continues

Rocket launches this week On Monday, Aug. 31, Chinese commercial launch company Galactic Energy is targeting 10:00 p.m.

Martian Astronomy: Percy Sees a ‘Phobos Eclipse’ From Mars

Sure. It’s just another image of Phobos crossing the disk of the Sun, as seen from the surface…

Deep Space Exploration IMM Runs

Service Requests for 181-400 Day Missions Service Requests for 400+ Day Missions

Manganese's emission lines shine a light on galactic evolution

In a new study, a team of astronomers has identified wavelengths of light that could be useful for…

Solar orbiter detects ion sorting at the solar wind's magnetic boundary

A Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) study of data from the European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar Orbiter gives the…

Space Math at NASA: Exploring the Lunar Surface

This educational guide provides 10 math problems from Space Math at NASA exploring the lunar surface using scales…

JWST-TST High Contrast: First Direct Spectroscopy of GJ 504 b Reveals Clouds and Possible Metal Enrichment

Aneesh Baburaj et al 2026 AJ 172 28 New observations of the coldest directly imaged planetary-mass companion of…

Featured Image: A Pulsar in a Nebula in a Supernova Remnant

Researchers have discovered a comet-shaped nebula surrounding a pulsar speeding through the remains of its progenitor star.

Martian Orbit and Surface IMM Runs

Service Requests for 30-180 Day Missions Service Requests for 181-400 Day Missions Service Requests for 400+ Day Missions

Expedition 75 is Go for Tuesday’s Navigation and Science Maintenance Spacewalk

Astronauts Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) and Jessica Meir of NASA will exit the International Space…

Interstellar travel V: Warp drives, wormholes, and halo drives

Welcome back to our series on Interstellar Travel, where we look at the many proposals made for sending…

Commercial Space Federation (CSF) Welcomes Two New Associate Members

August 31, 2026— Washington, D.C.—The Commercial Space Federation (CSF) is pleased to welcome Outlier and Rendezvous Robotics as…

Roman Space Telescope Headed to Deep Space

The observatory will shed new light on the mystery of dark energy, observe distant exoplanets, and explore the…

JWST reveals likely Type II supernova from when universe was only 2 billion years old

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have identified one of the most distant exploding stars ever confirmed.

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Launches

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, transits the Sun during launch from…

Media briefing: BepiColombo's next milestone towards Mercury

Video: 01:09:40 Rewatch the European Space Agency's 31 August 2026 online press briefing on the latest developments of…

What Can Happen When a Rapidly Spinning Star Meets a Black Hole?

Astrophysicists at Syracuse University in New York think they've found a hitherto-hidden explanation for strange activity during so-called…

Looking for Earth 2.0 in Binary Systems

While astronomers have found thousands of exoplanets over the last few decades, the true prize continues to elude…

Speed to Field Starts Below the Prime

I have spent much of my career looking at the defense industrial base from different vantage points: as…

What happened this month at the European Space Agency? (August 2026)

August was a busy month for ESA, between spectacular views, historic milestones and exciting new discoveries.

Why do astronauts get constipated?

Try and try and try as they may, scientists have yet to explain one of spaceflight’s most painfully…

Diffraqtion Adds to Pre-Seed Round for Quantum Camera Tech

The investments from Lockheed Martin Ventures and Sumitomo Corporation’s Presidio Ventures bring the startup’s total funding to $10M+.

Aug. 31, 1913: Birth of Bernard Lovell

On Aug. 31, 1913, Alfred Charles Bernard Lovell was born in England.

Roman Commissioning

Where is Roman? Roman is making its three-month journey from Earth to Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 2, or L2.

NASA Small Business Subcontracting Program

Explore Subcontracting Opportunities Click on a prime contractor below to learn more about their small business programs, contact…

Giant trees break a decades-old science theory

Giant trees have evolved remarkable adaptations that allow them to reach extreme heights while maintaining efficient water transport.

High-Orbit Laser Satellites Could Guide Future Lunar Travelers

Cislunar space is already getting crowded. And with that crowding comes infrastructure complications.

Nepal flash flood imaged by satellites

With thousands of emergency responders conducting search-and-rescue operations following the catastrophic flash flood that struck northern Nepal on…

JWST may solve a 20-year mystery behind a rule-breaking gamma-ray burst

Astronomers may have finally solved the mystery behind a nearly two-decade-old cosmic explosion that seemed to break the…

SES Awards OHB €1 billion for IRIS2 MEO Satellites

European satellite operator SES has awarded OHB a contract worth almost €1 billion to develop and build satellite…

Star Feels Spin of Milky Way’s Black Hole

The fastest known star in our galaxy comes so close to Sgr A* that the black hole’s rotation…

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope launches to reveal the Universe’s darkest secrets

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope has launched on a million mile journey to L2, where it will scan huge…

The Sky Today on Monday, August 31: Venus and Spica gather close

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.

Roman lifts off on a mission to survey the infrared sky

Image: NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy…

Rocky planets may have formed just 100 million years after the Big Bang

Rocky planets may have been able to start forming just 100 million years after the Big Bang, thanks…

ESA JUICE probe targets dark Jovian moon Kallichore in 2031

The planet Jupiter hosts more than 100 moons with the majority of attention going to the four Galilean…

APOD: 2026 August 31 – Launch of the Roman Space Telescope

APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 August 31 –… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About…

Pasterze Hangs on as Austria’s Largest Glacier

One narrowing icefall remains the linchpin for the Alpine glacier—and it may not be long for this world.

The SKA project: A model for dialogue between historical astronomical archives, local memory and modern science

Humans have been observing the sky for thousands of years. Our ancestors were undoubtedly fascinated by it, but…

7-stage journey reveals how falling space rocks survive air

At least once in our lives, we’ve all seen a bright streak of light briefly blaze across the…

SLS picks up the pace, four vehicles in production

The NASA and contractor workforce continues to make progress ahead of next year’s Artemis III… The post SLS…

Gardening the Moon's Cosmic Archives

When a meteoroid hits the Moon's surface, it does more than just dig up a little dirt.

What’s Happening in Space Policy August 30-September 5, 2026

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of August 30-September 5, 2026 and any…

Roman Space Telescope Begins Its Journey to L2

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched at 7:26 am ET on Sunday from KSC aboard a SpaceX…

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Lifts Off to Open New Insights Into the Universe

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off this morning on a mission to find more planets around…

Roman Rises! Five Things to Know About NASA's New Space Telescope

NASA's newest eye on the sky, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, has begun its journey to unravel…

Why it matters that President Trump just dialed into a NASA news conference

With just one more major mission upcoming, NASA's science programs need a boost.

NASA's newest space telescope launches on a quest to explore the hidden universe

NASA's newest crown jewel blasted off Sunday to hunt for planets around other stars, explore secret dark energy…

New method tests magnet-powered braking for safer, more reusable spacecraft reentry

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have created a new system to test magnetohydrodynamic aerobraking for spacecraft reentering the…

This strange “spacetime crystal” can suddenly become a black hole

Physicists have mathematically captured a bizarre “spacetime crystal” that can either dissolve or collapse into a microscopic black…

Ribbon-Cutting Event for NASA Deep Space Network’s Deep Space Station 23

Description Leadership from NASA Headquarters, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Deep Space Network (DSN) stand in front…

NASA Deep Space Network’s New Goldstone Antenna Goes Online

Description Long shadows are cast by the recently completed Deep Space Station 23 at the Deep Space Network’s…

Panorama Showcasing the 34-Meter Antennas of the DSN’s Goldstone Complex

Description Five antennas soak in the summer sun at the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone complex near Barstow, California…

A Tool for Measuring the Mass of the Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe Gets a Tweak

How do scientists know the mass of the Universe? Measuring it has traditionally relied on knowing how many…

NASA’s Dark Universe-Seeking Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Launches

Now on a three-month, million-mile journey to its final orbit, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will soon…

Aug. 30, 1984: Space Shuttle Discovery launches

The third member of NASA’s space shuttle program, Discovery had a fraught journey to its launch.

Scientists discover a massive heat anomaly deep inside Mars

Mars has a hidden temperature divide, with its southern interior potentially hundreds of degrees hotter than the north…

Roman Space Telescope launches on mission to survey the Universe

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has begun its journey into space, starting a mission that will survey…

NASA Concludes Roman Space Telescope Launch Coverage

NASA is concluding live launch coverage after the agency's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope successfully launched aboard a…

EVA-98: suiting up!

Video: 00:01:50 This timelapse was published by ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot on social media with the following caption…

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope: Final Upper-Stage Burn Complete

The SpaceX Falcon Heavy second stage has completed its second and final planned burn for NASA's Nancy Grace…

NASA Roman Space Telescope: SpaceX Second Stage Burn Begins

The Merlin Vacuum engine on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy's second stage has restarted for its second burn, known…

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has launched

NASA’s next flagship orbital observatory will reshape what we know about planets throughout the galaxy.

Do the planets revolve around the sun? Not exactly

Do the planets revolve around the sun? Not exactly. The sun and planets orbit a common center of…

Ancient Dust Grains Hold Magnetic Clues to the Sun's Birth

Those little dust grains that fall to Earth during meteor showers or end up as part of larger…

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope: Falcon Heavy Upper Stage Takes Over

The SpaceX Falcon Heavy carrying NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has completed a rapid series of ascent…

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope: Falcon Heavy Side Boosters Begin Return

The two side boosters on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy carrying NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope have separated…

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope: Engine Chill Begins as Launch Nears

SpaceX confirms Falcon Heavy has begun engine chill, flowing a small amount of supercold propellant through its engines…

NASA Roman Space Telescope: Second Stage LOX Loading at 7:07 a.m. EDT

SpaceX confirms that liquid oxygen, or LOX, loading is now underway for Falcon Heavy’s second stage.

Do you love twilight? The 3 stages explained

Twilight is that magical time between sunlight and darkness. Astronomers, experts on nighttime, recognize 3 stages of twilight.

NASA's Roman telescope set to launch on cosmic mapping mission

NASA is preparing to launch its new flagship space telescope on Sunday, embarking on a multiyear mission to…

The Sky Today on Sunday, August 30: The Moon, Neptune, and Saturn

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.

Telescopium the Telescope is below the Teapot

Telescopium the Telescope is a constellation that appears best in southern skies, south of the Teapot.

APOD: 2026 August 30 – M74: A Grand Design Spiral

Some signs of quantum gravity may be an illusion

Quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of gravity explain almost everything we see in nature, yet physicists still do…

NASA, SpaceX Adjust Crew-13 Launch Date

NASA and SpaceX are adjusting the launch date for the agency’s Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station…

Scientists melted a diamond and cracked a secret of ice giants

Some of the strangest weather in the solar system doesn't happen on Earth or even in Jupiter's Great…

NASA Announces Next Steps for Swift Rescue Mission

Due to an ongoing commercial spacecraft attitude control issue, NASA and Katalyst Space announced Wednesday the LINK spacecraft…

Roman Space Telescope, NASA’s next ‘great observatory,’ launched

Using a donated Hubble-class mirror originally built for a spy satellite, NASA's Roman Space Telescope launched Sunday on…

NASA, SpaceX successfully launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope from Florida

NASA and SpaceX have launched NASA’s next great space observatory — the Nancy Grace Roman… The post NASA…

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Go for Launch, Five Years of Discovery

NASA’s new flagship space observatory, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, is now attached to its Falcon Heavy…

Aug. 29, 1990: Hubble sees Supernova 1987A clearly

The first light from the explosion that was the death of a massive star in the nearby Large…

The universe is still speeding up, but nobody knows why

A major new analysis challenges recent claims that the universe's expansion is slowing, finding that the evidence for…

NASA Roman Arrives at Launch Pad, Mission Briefings Scheduled

On Saturday, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope rolled out from the…

ESA awards first European Launcher Challenge contracts

The European Space Agency has signed the first contracts under its European Launcher Challenge, committing… The post ESA…

‘Jellyfish’ on Mars: Image from Curiosity rover goes viral

What is this odd 'jellyfish' on Mars? Possibilities include a cosmic ray artifact, an electronic artifact and what…

The Sky Today on Saturday, August 29: Double star Zeta Lyrae

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.

APOD: 2026 August 29 – Eclipse Pair

Interstellar Travel V: Warp Drives, Wormholes, and Halo Drives

In our fifth installment, we explore the most exotic proposals for interstellar travel, including the Alcubierre Warp Metric…

Spaceflight Leaves Heart Muscle Cell Strength Intact

Since the dawn of human space exploration, astronauts, scientists, and engineers have examined the short- and long-term effects…

NASA’s Artemis II Crew Receives Congressional Space Medal of Honor

From left to right: NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen…

Publications

This website is currently under construction. Please see the full NASA Common Research Model website for current information.

U.S. President Speaks to Expedition 75 Crew after Awarding Artemis II Crew

U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to the Expedition 75 crew today from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston…

Ad ASTRA Onsite Workshop Logistics & Information

We have several important items to share in advance of the Ad ASTRA Community Workshop next week.

NASA Awards First Prize in Phase 2 of Agency’s LunaRecycle Challenge

NASA named a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as the first prize winner for Phase…

Trump Honors Artemis II Crew, Signs Executive Order to Establish a U.S. Space Academy

President Trump signed an Executive Order today during a ceremony honoring the Artemis II crew that will create…

NASA’s Swift Restarts Science Observations

NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has resumed operating two of its three science instruments, following the scaling back…

The progress of a Blood Moon

Philippe Moussette from Saint-Agapit, Quebec During the night of Aug. 27/28, 2026, the Moon passed nearly fully through…

Cast your vote to name Virgin Galactic’s next spaceplane

Virgin Galactic on Friday extended the deadline for the public to name one of its next-generation spaceplanes, giving…

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope ‘Go’ for Launch

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is “go” for launch following completion of the agency and SpaceX’s Launch…

President Honors NASA’s Artemis II Crew with Highest US Space Award

President Donald J. Trump awarded NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space…

Trump calls for creation of a "space academy" to train future NASA leaders

"It's called the US Space Academy. That's a big deal."

SpaceX recovers Starship from the Indian Ocean a month after launch and is shipping it back to Texas

SpaceX has pulled off its biggest salvage operation yet, recovering its most recently launched Starship from the Indian…

President Trump Signs Executive Order to Create US Space Academy

To strengthen the nation’s space workforce and develop the next generation of space leaders, President Donald J.

Mercury's crust points to deeper, hotter volcanic origins than expected

The evolutionary histories of Earth and Mercury differ fundamentally. The smallest planet, closest to the sun, likely began…

Stellafane or Bust

The legendary Stellafane Convention has been blowing away expectations for a century, and plans are in place to…

Grants

*Notice* The Payment Management System (PMS) is currently experiencing issues affecting Federal Financial Report (FFR) generation.

Space Math at NASA: Math Problems Related to Black Holes

This educational math problem set from Space Math at NASA provides 20 engaging activities for students K-12+ exploring…

This Week's Sky at a Glance, August 28 – September 6

Venus and Spica finally have their conjunction just as they sink way down in twilight.

Size is in the eye of the beholder

From Mars’ tiny Phobos to NASA’s mammoth Vehicle Assembly Building, apparent size depends on where you’re looking from.

Orbex’s Sutherland Spaceport Assets Sold to Scottish Development Agency

Scotland’s Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has acquired the assets of Sutherland Spaceport Ltd, an Orbex subsidiary that…

Sophie Adenot's third spacewalk (U.S. Spacewalk 99)

Video: 00:00:50 ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot will take part in her third spacewalk during U.S.

NASA’s Roman telescope will see 100 times more sky than Hubble

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope will combine Hubble-like detail with a field of view 100 times larger, giving astronomers…

What could the Artemis IV astronauts discover on the Moon?

NASA is already planning what the crew will do on their lunar landing mission.

Week in images: 24-28 August 2026

Week in images: 24-28 August 2026

Fuelling Sentinel-3C

Image: Fuelling Sentinel-3C

NASA telescope honors Nancy Grace Roman, architect of space-based astronomy

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to launch this weekend aboard a SpaceX rocket from Kennedy…

Aug. 28, 1993: An asteroid harbors a surprise

The space probe Galileo was launched in 1989 with the goal of studying Jupiter and its moons.

Launch Concerns Cast a Shadow Over SmallSat 2026

Unless something changes in the launch market—and soon—the space industry might be running 100mph into a brick wall.

Ariane 6 launch with MTG-I2 – highlights

Video: 00:04:28 The Meteosat Third Generation -Imager2 (MTG-I2) satellite, has been launched on board an Ariane 6 launcher…

Best eclipse photos! Nearly total, August 27-28

EarthSky community photos of the lunar eclipse of August 27-28, 2026.

Meet a Saturn-sized exoplanet with Earth-like temperatures

TOI-199b is a warm Saturn-sized exoplanet 330 light-years away. New observations by the Webb space telescope show there…

Will new telescope Roman help reveal long-kept secrets of the universe? Q&A with an expert

On Sunday, Aug. 30, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is expected to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space…

Huge rift valleys on Venus hint at a still-living planet

A new study of huge rift valleys on Venus shows that they are likely younger than previously thought…

Rocket Report: Europe splashes some cash on launch startups; Pallas-1 nears debut

"From here on, Starlink missions out of Florida will fly on Starship."

The Wild Duck cluster, M11, a lovely open cluster in Scutum

The Wild Duck cluster, also known as M11, is an open star cluster in the constellation Scutum that…

With e-MERLIN facing the axe, what next for Jodrell Bank and UK astronomy?

Exploring the fallout from STFC funding cuts that have left one of the UK’s most iconic scientific facilities…

Observing Samba and Tango’s reentries

The final two of ESA's pioneering Cluster spacecraft, Samba and Tango, will end their journeys as they burn…

A navigation odyssey

Homer’s The Odyssey chronicles Odysseus’s journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War.

Media invitation: FLEX and Copernicus Sentinel-3C online media briefings

Press Release N° 44–2026 Media representatives are invited to join online media briefings in several languages ahead of…

The Sky Today on Friday, August 28: Vesta stands still

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.

ICEYE Opens Three International Offices in a Single Week

Think you had a busy week? ICEYE has you beat.

APOD: 2026 August 28 – The Sky Turns Above Paranal

APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 August 28 – The… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education…

The Forested Floodplains of Congaree National Park

The meandering Congaree River sustains towering forest ecosystems and fashions oxbow lakes as it shifts across its floodplain.

Astronaut Microbes Might Survive at Moon's Pole, NASA Warns

One of the primary objectives of space exploration that often gets overlooked is the intense effort that goes…

Sentinel-6B Stories

Canadian Companies Partner on SDA Sat Solution

This announcement comes as SpaceX opens its SSA catalog gratis to smallsat operators, and LeoLabs readies to demo…

Some Comets are Naked, and One Just Got Caught Photo-Bombing

Japanese researchers got lucky when a comet they wanted to study was found photo-bombing archival images from Japan's…

Discovery reveals rapid pathways to complex aromatic molecules in space

A team of researchers led by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Department of Chemistry has uncovered a…

Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 (ATD-2)

Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) The Airspace Operations Laboratory (AOL) participated in a multi-lab effort and a field…

Why Astronauts' Lower Eyelids "Let Go" in Space

A new study identifies possible mechanisms behind changes in astronauts' lower eyelids, a symptom associated with long periods…

STARMUS Festival cofounders Sir Brian May and Garik Israelian presented Sir Ridley Scott with the 2026 Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication

Following the global premiere of Dog Stars, filmmaker Sir Ridley Scott has been awarded the prestigious Stephen Hawking…

ASTRID traces 13.5 billion years of black hole and galaxy evolution

In dark skies at night, distant starlight twinkles and speaks to vast cosmic histories almost as old as…

Milky Way's own gravity can mimic dark matter clues, stellar stream simulations suggest

Most of the stars in our Milky Way galaxy sit neatly on a flat plane.

MTG-I2 completes Europe’s latest weather trio

The second Meteosat Third Generation Imager satellite (MTG-I2) has been launched on board Ariane 6 , flight VA270…

Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration 1 (ATD1)

Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration 1 (ATD1) Crowded Skies At any given moment, up to 5,000 aircraft crowd…

Adopt a Pixel Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Your email address is your pixel identifier, so each email address can only be assigned one pixel.

Space Math at NASA: Math Problems Related to Space Weather

This problem set from Space Math at NASA provides 12 math exercises for estimating space weather storm frequencies…

Theory-Defying Exoplanet Atmospheres Force a Rethink of Theories

The discovery of lava worlds with atmospheres is challenging our theories of how atmospheres escape, and calling into…

Spacewalk Preps, Biomedical Science as Station Boosts Orbit on Thursday

Preparations are ongoing for a spacewalk next week to continue external maintenance on the International Space Station.

NASA Invites Media to Turkey Artemis Accords Signing Ceremony

Turkey will sign the Artemis Accords during a ceremony at 2:30 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug.

Civil Servants Sworn in at NASA Ames

New civil servants and guests pose for a group photo with NASA and center leadership in the National…

9 Things to Know About NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to launch at 7:26 a.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 30.

NASA Starts Artemis III Engine Install; Boosters, Crew Training Advance

Technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida began the installation of the four RS-25 engines in the…

NASA, Northrop Grumman Complete Cygnus XL Space Station Reboost

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL spacecraft today fired its thrusters for 20 mins, 43 seconds boosting the International Space…

Hubble Solves a Mystery About the Milky Way's Early Years

New data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows definitive evidence of a dwarf galaxy merging with the young…

Planets Hurry To Form Before the Protoplanetary Disk Dissipates

Planets form in protoplanetary disks, reservoirs of gas and dust around young stars.

NASA Johnson pilots chase moon's shadow for eclipse science

During the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse over Europe, scientists aimed to study a long-standing mystery: why the…

ESA Awards €544 Million in European Launcher Challenge Contracts

The European Space Agency has signed the first contracts under its European Launcher Challenge, committing a combined €543.

NASA Astronaut Jonny Kim Departs Agency to Continue Military Service

After nearly a decade of service to NASA, including an eight-month science expedition aboard the International Space Station…

The electronics ‘under the hood’ of space networking

In this episode, SpaceNews’ Mike Gruss interviews Jeff Janicik, founder and chairman of Innoflight.

Mars rovers give scientists a ground‑level view of the red planet—peek inside their NASA control room

Lights blink on as I enter the Rover Operations Center at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California…

Next Up! A Deep Partial Lunar Eclipse on Aug. 27–28

A near-total lunar eclipse wraps up August's trifecta of two major eclipses and the Perseids.

Space Math at NASA: Math Problems Related to Climate Change

This problem set from Space Math at NASA includes a total of 14 exercises for students grades K-12+.

NASA's Webb telescope rules out two new Dyson sphere candidates

The latest Swedish-led search for technosignatures in the form of Dyson spheres has again come up empty-handed.

Roman Series: Why NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Will Make Unexpected Discoveries

Take a deep dive into the science of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope with Julie McEnery, Roman's…

Venus's mysterious clouds may hide an exceptionally strong light absorber

Venus appears pale yellow in visible light, but ultraviolet images reveal dramatic dark and bright patterns moving with…

How Roman will unlock the universe

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope — the first space observatory named for a woman — is poised…

Aug. 27, 2003: Mars zooms in

When the Sun, Earth, and Mars all align so that from an earthly perspective, Mars is opposite the…

Space Weather Losses to Double by 2035, Report Finds

A new report from Mission Space estimates that solar storms will cost $20.65B in 2026, rocketing to $44.

“I jumped from my chair” – Astronomers spot Betelgeuse’s hidden companion

Astronomers have captured their clearest image yet of Betelgeuse’s long-suspected companion, potentially ending a search that lasted about…

New clues about how space travel may affect women's health

As space missions become longer and ambitions for deep-space travel grow, scientists are working to understand how life…

LeoLabs Wins $20.68M Space Force Award for Scout

LeoLabs is applying its radar tech to national security missions under a new contract with the Space Force…

Deep partial lunar eclipse overnight tonight!

A deep partial lunar eclipse of the full Sturgeon Moon takes place on August 27-28, 2026.

DGCE SIG Seminar, 27 Aug 2026

Open Questions in Galactic Wind Physics and Phenomenology. Speaker: Todd Thompson, Professor and Department Chair, Ohio State University

A mysterious cosmic hum may come from 13-billion-year-old dark stars

Today’s mysterious gravitational-wave background may preserve clues about how the Universe’s first supermassive black holes formed.

Nepal flash flood nightmare: What caused it?

On August 26, 2026, a glacier collapse and landslide triggered a huge release of water.

Fastest star in the galaxy could unlock black hole secrets

Astronomers have discovered the fastest star in the galaxy. It orbits the supermassive black hole at the center…

Delphinus the Dolphin has a graceful kite shape

Delphinus the Dolphin is a tiny dolphin-shaped constellation that leaps out of dark skies near the iconic Summer…

The Winter Circle: Catch in the morning before dawn

The majestic Winter Circle isn't a constellation. This giant circle - or hexagon - is an asterism, or…

The Sky Today on Thursday, August 27: A deep partial lunar eclipse

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.

Expedition Sound podcast series

Expedition Sound is a podcast series by the European Space Agency (ESA) in which you’re invited to explore…

First contracts kick off European Launcher Challenge

MTG-I2 ready for launch on Ariane 6

The Meteosat Third Generation Imager2 satellite (MTG-I2) has been encapsulated inside the Ariane 6 fairing and is in…

Watch live: BepiColombo begins its arrival at Mercury

After eight years, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission is about to enter its Mercury Arrival Phase.

APOD: 2026 August 27 – Colorful Aurora over an Icelandic Waterfall

APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 August 27 –… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About…

Rare, Widespread Snow in the Atacama Desert

Back-to-back winter storms in August 2026 brought snowfall to northern Chile, from the Andes to near the Pacific…

Scientists may have finally caught “empty” space changing light

A magnetar with an astonishingly powerful magnetic field may have revealed a quantum effect predicted by Werner Heisenberg…

LatConnect 60 and Phi Earth Partner to Connect Space and Soil

Nature-based projects are generating more environmental data than ever before. Satellites observe landscapes from orbit, while field teams…

AI Spots Hidden Solar Storm Signs 9 Hours Early

When we think of weather forecasts, we instinctively think of weather on Earth like rain or shine.

The crisis in cosmology continues: Critical problems in a recent defense of cosmic acceleration

Doubts about the standard model of cosmology are deepening after a new study identified fundamental problems in a…

NASA just used satellites and debris to navigate without GPS

NASA has successfully tested a system that allows satellites to navigate without GPS by using other spacecraft and…

XMM-Newton AO-26 is Open

Effective 19 August 2026, XMM-Newton observing proposals are solicited in response to the Twenty-sixth Announcement of Opportunity, AO-26.

JSI Fall Conference on NICER Legacy

The UMD/GSFC Joint Space Science Institute (JSI) is happy to announce that this year’s JSI Fall Conference will…

AI/ML STIG Weekly Talks Starting 14 Sept 2026

On behalf of the Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Science and Technology Interest Group (AI/ML STIG) organizers, we're…

Ad ASTRA Community Workshop: Virtual Registration Available

Ad ASTRA Community Workshop: Virtual Registration Available Until 31 August 2026.

Soyuz MS-28 departs the ISS, three spacewalks install upgrades to solar arrays and antennae

Following the departure of the Soyuz MS-28 crewed spacecraft from the International Space Station on… The post Soyuz…

Thermal anomaly discovered below Mars' south pole

Researchers have discovered a thermal asymmetry deep beneath the surface across Mars' southern hemisphere.

Polish Institute Reports Continued GNSS Disruption Along Country’s North Coast

Poland’s state-run National Institute of Telecommunications has noted a sharp increase in deliberate satellite navigation signal interference around…

Space Math at NASA: Math Problems Related to the Atmosphere

These problem sets from Space Math at NASA include a total of 35 math problems for students K-12.

Scientists Melted A Diamond and Cracked a Secret of Ice Giants

Some of the strangest weather in the solar system doesn’t happen on Earth, or even Jupiter’s Great Red…

Building Foresight for Earth Science, featuring Lindsey Jacobson

NASA’s Earth-observing satellite missions track dozens of features of a changing planet — aerosols, sea levels, land cover…

Roman telescope aims to directly image exoplanets 1,000 times fainter than current limits

The Roman Space Telescope is designed to directly image exoplanets using complex optomechanical systems developed by the Max…

Space Weather Living History: Dr. Donald Fairfield

Show | Grades 6-12+ | In this interview, Dr. Don Fairfield recounts his pioneering career in magnetospheric physics…

Roman Space Telescope Travels to SpaceX Hangar

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, encapsulated in its payload fairing, travels from the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility…

Liquid gallium experiment confirms key flow regime inside rapidly rotating stars and planets

Since we cannot look into the interiors of stars and planets, we rely on lab experiments to replicate…

A Greenland Glacier Loses Another Chunk of Ice

The ESA's Sentinel satellites captured a 76 sq. km. chunk of ice breaking off from Greenland's Petermann Glacier.

Curiosity Reaches 1-Kilometer Elevation Gain

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover reached the pinnacle — so far — of its 14-year-old mission on Aug.

NASA Johnson Pilots Chase Moon’s Shadow for Eclipse Science

During the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse over Europe, scientists aimed to study a long-standing mystery: why the…

Planetary Exploration Science Technology Office (PESTO)

NASA’s Planetary Exploration Science Technology Office (PESTO) was created by the Planetary Science Division to recommend non-mission specific…

Did ocean motion carve Enceladus's tiger stripes?

Saturn's moon Enceladus sports a thick shell of ice surrounding a liquid water ocean.

How to Apply

NASA Small Business Supplier Development Program How to Apply Applying to the NASA Small Business Supplier Development Program…

Expedition 75 Wraps Up Third August Spacewalk, Preps for September Spacewalk

The Expedition 75 crew members spent Wednesday cleaning up and relaxing the day after a spacewalk to install…

10X Credit Pilot Program

NASA Small Business Supplier Development Program 10X Credit Pilot Program For new Mentor‑Protégé Agreements beginning on or after…

Revitalization Initiative

NASA Small Business Supplier Development Program Revitalization Initiative As part of our revitalization initiative, we transformed the Mentor‑Protégé…

RTX’s Blue Canyon Technologies introduces new spacecraft mission enabler

LAFAYETTE, Colo. (August 26, 2026) — Small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies, part of…

Space Weather Living History: Dr. Karel Schrijver

Show | Grades 6-12+ | This audio resource features a fascinating conversation with Dr. Carolus J.

Why some lava-covered exoplanets retain atmospheres for billions of years

Stanford researchers have offered an explanation for why some sizzling, lava-covered worlds nestled tightly around their stars can…

Analysis: Narrowing In – Artemis III, HLS and NASA’s Journey to Today

How did the Human Landing System come to simultaneously occupy the core of NASA’s ambitions, while slipping significantly…

SpaceX Announces New Starbase, Louisiana Spaceport

Gwynne Shotwell joined Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry on Tuesday to announce a high-cadence launch site for future Starship…

Meet Altair, the Eagle’s Eye

Altair, centerpiece of Aqulia, the Eagle, is the twelfth-brightest star in the night sky and one of the…

The threat environment and processing at the edge

In this episode, SpaceNews’ Mike Gruss interviews FrontGrade CTO Lorne Graves.

Comet 220P McNaught puts on an encore performance

It has been a busy month for astronomy. In the midst of an eclipse season bookended by the…

NASA Sets Spacewalk for Station Maintenance, Live Coverage Planned

NASA will provide coverage as two astronauts step outside the International Space Station on Tuesday, Sept.

15,000 years of solar wind in four hours? A Seattle company gives it a go.

"We're living in this world of scarcity with the Moon."

NASA Begins Moon Mission Plume-Surface Interaction Tests

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story, originally published in December, was revised Aug.

Contractor to Civil Servant: NASA Welcomes Jeret Howard

At 17, Jeret Howard raised his right hand to serve his country as a United States Army combat…

ZWO unveils the Seestar S50 Pro

ZWO has introduced the Seestar S50 Pro, the latest entry in its line of all-in-one smart telescopes.

Aug. 26, 1918: The birth of Katherine Johnson

Born on Aug. 26, 1918, in West Virginia, Katherine Goble Johnson showed exceptional aptitude for mathematics from an…

Exclusive: City Labs Plans Second Nuclear Demo

Following the success of City Labs’ first nuclear-powered betavoltaic demo, City Labs is planning a demo of its…

Could there be life in helium atmospheres on exoplanets?

Is life in helium atmospheres on exoplanets possible? A new study says that there are no barriers to…

National parks from space: How many can you name?

Take the quiz to see how many national parks from space you can name.

The 12 August 2026 partial solar eclipse as seen from the Isle of Wight

Sean G Ryan snaps an astronomical spectacle that captured the public imagination

MTG-I2 ready for launch

The Meteosat Third Generation-Imager2 (MTG-I2) satellite, is ready for launch on board an Ariane 6 launcher from Europe’s…

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope is ready to hunt thousands of alien worlds

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope is now enclosed inside its Falcon Heavy fairing and nearly ready for launch.

One asteroid strike may explain two mysteries of Mars’ moon Deimos

A single asteroid impact may explain two of Deimos’s most puzzling features: its huge southern depression and unusually…

Second spacewalk completed for Sophie Adenot

ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot and NASA astronaut Anil Menon successfully completed US EVA-98 at 20:57 CEST on Tuesday…

The return of Sirius in the morning signals seasonal change

A sign of the changing season is the return of Sirius before sunup.

Radiation shielding vest could reduce cancer risk for astronauts on deep space missions

A new personal radiation shielding vest tested during the Artemis I flight could significantly reduce the radiation dose…

The Sky Today on Wednesday, August 26: Catch Barnard’s star

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.

APOD: 2026 August 26 – JWST Images The Lion’s Head Nebula

APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 August 26 – JWST… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education…

A Changing World for Emperor Penguins

Experts are analyzing decades of images from Landsat satellites for clues about how the iconic birds have responded…

Starbase, Louisiana: The Largest Private Spaceport in the World

SpaceX has unveiled plans for “Starbase, Louisiana,” described as the largest private spaceport in the… The post Starbase…

New Simulations Show How Galactic Centers Grow Together

Using a state-of-the-art galaxy simulation, a team led by scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP)…

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Project’s National Campaign Testing Series

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Project’s National Campaign Testing Series What is National Campaign? From air taxiing passengers and…

New Next-Gen Dish Adds Muscle to NASA’s Deep Space Network

NASA’s Deep Space Network facility in California is marking the addition of a brand new 34-meter-wide (114-foot-wide) radio…

SpaceX launches 27 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg

The Falcon 9 rocket flew on a south-easterly trajectory upon launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

SpaceX Introduces New Louisiana Starbase

SpaceX announced plans today to build a second Starbase, this one on the coast of Louisiana.

JWST reveals a race against time for forming planets

Planets form from disks of gas and dust around young stars, but the gas needed for growth does…

Eclipse Participatory Science Film

Film | Grades 6-12+ | This educational film explores eclipse participatory science, helping intermediate and advanced students understand…

Journey to the Stars Planetarium Show

Multimedia | Grades 6-12+ | This multimedia film and interactive visualization explores the Sun's life cycle, activity, and…

Cosmic Collisions Planetarium Show

Film/Documentary | Grades 6-12+ | Cosmic Collisions is an educational film and educator's guide exploring solar activity, energy…

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Arrives at Hangar

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arrived Tuesday to the SpaceX hangar at Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy’s…

SolArt Activity

Activity/Guide | Grades K-5 | This hands-on activity and educator guide introduces elementary students to solar physics through…

NASA Invites Media to LunaRecycle Challenge Finale Event in Alabama

NASA will announce the winners of the final phase of its LunaRecycle Challenge on Friday, Aug.

Propulsion is having a moment

In this episode, SpaceNews Mike Gruss interviews Kevin Lausten, CEO of Morpheus Space, at the 2026 Small Satellite…

NASA Ames’ Contributions to Roman’s Mission

Set to launch on Sunday, Aug. 30, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will empower astronomers to explore…

Surface Chemistry Shows Which Massive Stars Have Gained Mass from Binary Companions

Most stars, including massive ones, are in binary pairs. Astronomers think that about 70% of them have gained…

SpaceX announces plans for $100 billion 'spaceport' in Louisiana

Elon Musk's SpaceX announced plans Tuesday to build a $100 billion facility in the southern U.S.

NASA, ESA Spacewalkers Finish Installing High-Speed Antenna

NASA astronaut Anil Menon and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot concluded their spacewalk outside the International…

A Distant Stream of Stars May Offer New Clues to Dark Matter

Dark matter continues to challenge astronomers as they work to solve the mystery of this so-far-unseen material that…

NASA Ames Experts Available for Roman Space Telescope Interviews

NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley invites media to learn more about NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman…

Gamma-ray signal could be long awaited evidence for WIMPs

Dark matter is known to make up roughly 85% of all mass in the universe, as evidenced by…

NASA’s Pandora Mission Begins Study of Exoplanets, Host Stars

Pandora, NASA’s newest exoplanet mission and the first satellite to launch through the agency’s Astrophysics Pioneers program, is…

White House Wants 1,000 Annual Launches and Reentries by 2030

The new National Space Transportation Policy, signed Aug. 20, which replaces the 2013 edition, asks what it would…

Lunar soil reads as a cosmic time capsule for exploding stars

When a star reaches its final stages of life, it ends in a bright, powerful explosion called a…

Science with Astrophotography

Your pretty pictures can contain valuable information.

Comet 220P McNaught Puts On An Encore Performance

It has been a busy month for astronomy. In the midst of an eclipse season bookended by the…

SpaceX intends to invest up to $100 billion in massive Louisiana spaceport

"This will be a project like no other."

Naked photobombing comet found in public image

Sometimes images are released before anyone realizes they have been photobombed, meaning something unexpected showed up in the…

Ukraine Strikes Soyuz Assembly Line, Raising Questions for Russian Spaceflight

On August 15, 2026, the Ukrainian military attacked the factory used for manufacturing Russia’s Soyuz-2 launch vehicle, causing…

New gallery of galaxies from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory released

Galaxies are like cosmic gems, each with characteristics including size and shape that make them distinct.

Galactic Gems Glisten in New Gallery From NASA’s Chandra

Galaxies are like cosmic gems, each with characteristics including size and shape that make them distinct.

How to see Thursday’s lunar eclipse

Eclipses frequently come in pairs, and this month is no exception. Following the stunning total solar eclipse on…

Amendment 69: New Opportunity: D.9 Habitable Worlds Observatory Instrument Concept Assessments

Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) Instrument Concept Assessments (HWO-ICA) program element D.

JWST shows astronomers how to make a comet

Astronomers have a problem. The comets in our solar system formed some 4.

Astronauts Anil Menon and Sophie Adenot on Spacewalk

From left, Expedition 75 flight engineers Anil Menon of NASA (partially obscured and wearing the spacesuit with a…

Starbase’s future production capacity ramping up

A flurry of activity has been underway at the Starbase production site over the past… The post Starbase’s…

Space Angel secures $1.75m WA Government backing to advance Western Australian spaceport plans

Space Angel has welcomed its selection by the Western Australian Government as the recipient of the $1.

Ten supernovae and counting

Tony Hallas from Foresthill, California The Fireworks Galaxy (NGC 6946), a face-on spiral about 25 million light-years away…

'Now boarding' … 240,000 miles from Earth, at the moon's first airport

The moon's getting its first airport, and it's about to get busy.

Tendeg Launches NewTEN Steerable Compact Antenna at SmallSat

SALT LAKE CITY – Aug. 25, 2026 – Tendeg has released NewTEN, a two-axis steerable reflector antenna that…

Integrating Model-Based Systems Engineering and Fault Management to Enable Autonomous Space Missions

Fully autonomous space mission operations require the ability to detect faults and compensate for them without human intervention.

Cutting-edge infrared space telescope Roman set to launch

The NASA-led Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to launch on 30 August 2026 at 07:26 EDT…

Aug. 25, 2003: The Spitzer Space Telescope launches

NASA’s Great Observatories were intended to peer at the universe in different wavelengths: the Hubble Space Telescope in…

Roman in a nutshell

Image: Roman will scan a large patch of the sky in visible to near-infrared light, with its wide…

Roman Series: The Technology Inside NASA’s Newest Space Telescope

What makes NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope a powerful tool with an unprecedented wide view of the…

NASA, ESA Astronauts Begin Spacewalk to Install Antenna

NASA astronaut Anil Menon and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot began a spacewalk at 8:27 a.m.

How earthly microbes on the moon might survive in the shade

Microbes on the moon that hitch a ride on human astronauts could survive by using little nooks and…

The little red dots of our cosmos might hide something big

Little red dots may reside in small, dense galaxies with total masses equivalent to around 1 billion times…

The Aerospace Corp’s Disksat Gains Commercial Traction

Thinking outside the box is paying off—at least for The Aerospace Corporation, which is starting to gain commercial…

NASA, ESA Astronauts Suiting Up for Antenna Installation Spacewalk

NASA is streaming live coverage as two astronauts prepare for a spacewalk outside the International Space Station.

Setting limits on phase transitions in the dark energy era

The universe is known to be expanding at an accelerating rate. Physicists typically attribute this acceleration to dark…

ESA’s Draco Reentry Mission Clears Its Critical Design Review

The European Space Agency has announced that its Draco mission has passed its Critical Design Review, clearing it…

Voyager 2: Our 1st and only visit to Neptune

On this day, August 25, 1989, Voyager 2 visited Neptune. To this day, no other spacecraft from Earth…

The Sky Today on Tuesday, August 25: Messier 73

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.

No signal left behind: new ways to detect jamming and spoofing

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are an invisible backbone for everyday life.

NASA finds Earth microbes could survive on the Moon

NASA scientists found that microbes brought by astronauts could survive in cold, shadowed niches around the Moon’s South…

Exclusive: OrbitAID to Launch RPO Demo in 2027

“Most RPO demonstrations to date have qualified a single piece of the sequence, either far-range inspection or close-approach…

APOD: 2026 August 25 – Earth’s Shadow Visualized with Lunar Eclipses

Michigan’s Les Cheneaux Islands

These glacial landforms jut into northern Lake Huron, surrounded by sheltered channels and coves frequented by fish and…

Integrated Medical Model Documentation

All Documentation Per Condition Condition IMM Runs Clinical Finding Forms Abdominal Injury Cis Lunar Orbiter Docked PRA Abdominal…

Newton’s 300-year-old law just passed its biggest test yet

A massive test of gravity across the cosmos found that it behaves almost exactly as Newton and Einstein…

NASA starshade would enable astronomers to directly image rocky exoworlds

A NASA-led team hopes to take a shortcut to direct imaging of extrasolar Earth-like planets.

Call for ExoGuide Nominations

Welcome | Organizers | Events | Presentations | Meet the ExoGuides | Meet the ExoExplorers | Call for…

Meteorite dust holds records of magnetism that may have helped form the sun

Around 4.6 billion years ago, the solar system was little more than a giant ball of gas and…

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope takes flight and Starlink endures

Rocket launches this week On Monday, Aug. 24, state-owned firm, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), is…

Robotics and the future of on-orbit labor

In this episode, SpaceNews’ Mike Gruss interviews Icarus Robotics CEO and co-founder Ethan Barajas at the 2026 Small…

Jewelry Making

Ring Making Workshop In this class, you will learn forming and sizing a ring, basic wire-wrapping techniques, how…

Voyager Heliophysics Resources

Multimedia | Grades 6-12+ | These four resources from the Heliophysics Resource Database offer learners and educators a…

AI finds six ways to print rocket-grade alloy on commercial 3D printers

Washington State University researchers used artificial intelligence to find a more efficient, less expensive way to 3D-print a…

New study reveals how space rocks become meteorites

What happens to a space rock as it falls through Earth's atmosphere and becomes a meteorite? By studying…

Math Problem: Where is Voyager 1?

Problem Set | Grades 6-12+ | In this engaging series of math problems, students are invited to break…

Launch Preview: Falcon Heavy to launch Roman telescope, Falcon 9 to launch Starlink satellites

This week will see five orbital launches from China, the United States, and French Guiana.

NASA Sets Coverage for Roman Space Telescope Launch from Florida

Coverage plans are ready for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope prelaunch and launch activities.

NASA-Supported Study Tracks Carbon Cost of Coastal Erosion

From Texas to Maine, coastal wetlands and marshes are releasing more than 1.

Call for ExoExplorer Applications

Welcome | Organizers | Events | Presentations | Meet the ExoGuides | Meet the ExoExplorers

Second NASA Balloon Mission Launches from Fort Sumner

The CLIC 2 mission was hand launched on a scientific balloon from NASA’s launch facility in Fort Sumner…

Advancing Lunar Technologies Through Suborbital Flight Tests – DRAFT

FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE WEBINAR Advancing Lunar Technologies Through Suborbital Flight Tests Wednesday, Sept.

SpaceX launches Starlink mission on a Falcon booster’s record-breaking 37th flight

The Starlink 10-49 mission is set to be the 100th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket in 2026.

NASA’s Roman Telescope Enclosed in SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket Fairing

Teams finished preparing NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope for launch. On Aug.

Bringing STEM to Life: Explore NRAO’s New Educational Resource Catalog

What if your next science lesson could take students from their classroom to the far reaches of the…

Mission Fails to Rescue Swift Observatory (Updated)

A daring mission tried but failed to save a key astrophysics observatory in low Earth orbit.

Perseverance Captures Another Phobos Transit

Description NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z camera to capture the silhouette of Phobos, one of the…

Starstruck: NASA Research Shows How Sun’s Ancient History Shaped Earth

At the center of our solar system, the Sun influences every planet that orbits it.

Expedition 75 is Go for Tuesday Spacewalk to Install High-Speed Antenna

Two astronauts will exit the International Space Station on Tuesday and conduct a spacewalk to finish installing a…

NASA Astronaut Reid Wiseman at Freedom 250 Grand Prix

NASA astronaut and Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman is seen in the two-seat IndyCar as he prepares for…

Walk Run Event

Safety & Health Day – Walk Run Event September 16, 2026 7:00am to 8:30am Please note the Walk…

Aerospace demonstrates DiskSats in low-Earth orbit

SALT LAKE CITY – The Aerospace Corp. is continuing to demonstrate the viability of pancake-shaped DiskSats in the…

MAIA Air Sensor at Work in Addis Ababa

Description This roof-mounted air sensor in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, is one of 10 used by…

Mapping Air Pollution With MAIA Sensors in Addis Ababa

Description This map of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, shows the locations of 10 air sensors that…

Mars Exploration Program Activities and Opportunities

Europe’s Next Weather Satellite Ready To Fly

In only a few days, Europe will complete their next-generation weather observation system, Meteosat Third Generation.

Mars Imager Replacement Team

Recognizing the continued need for high-resolution surface imaging as well as the finite lifespan of the existing HiRISE…

LINK to meet with Swift, but won’t boost

NASA announced Aug. 19 that the Katalyst Space LINK spacecraft built to boost the aging Neil Gehrels Swift…

NASA, Caltech Partner on Two Earth Science Missions

NASA and Caltech have signed non-reimbursable Space Act Agreements for two Earth science missions on Aug.

Voyager Signal Strength Math Problems

Problem Set | Grades 9-12+ | A series of math problems related to the Voyager mission, originally posted…

Spirit Electronics Adds Texas Instruments and Microchip Technology Space Grade Components to Online Store Ahead of SmallSat 2026

PHOENIX, AZ — August 24, 2026 — Spirit Electronics, a value‑added distributor of high‑reliability electronics focused on performance‑driven…

LST-1 and MAGIC telescopes shatter distance record for the very high-energy blazar OP 313

On Aug. 15, the CTAO LST Collaboration and the MAGIC Collaboration released findings from observations of OP 313…

ESA to Adapt Ariane 6 for Nuclear-Powered Argonaut Missions

The European Space Agency expects to make specific safety adaptations to the Ariane 6 rocket for future launches…

Celestron’s NexImage 20 makes planetary imaging affordable and fun

Since their debut nearly two decades ago, Celestron’s NexImage cameras have introduced many amateurs to solar-system astrophotography.

The Fuel for the Next Generation of Cislunar Exploration? Technology and Talent.

After NASA astronauts landed on the moon in 1969, their achievement bore decades’ worth of fruit, including scientific…

A 4-star system caught eclipsing itself in a way never seen before

Astronomers have found a four-star system doing something that has never been confirmed before.

Aug. 24, 2006: Pluto is demoted

After much discussion and debate, an International Astronomical Union (IAU) vote on Aug.

Beyond Reach Labs Unveils Flarewing Deployable Solar Arrays

Beyond Reach Labs has been developing a patent-pending solar-array-deployment system designed to fold flat during launch.

Starcloud Announces $250M Series A Extension

Starcloud has raised a $250M extension to its March $170M Series A funding round, bringing it to a…

A ghostly ribbon of stars reveals hidden dark matter

A faint ribbon of stars around a distant galaxy has become the first globular cluster stellar stream ever…

Tory Bruno Named Honorary Chair Of World Space Week 2027

Houston — World Space Week Association announced today that Tory Bruno, President of National Security at Blue Origin…

JWST’s ‘impossible’ early galaxies may be even more massive than we thought

Faint, low-mass stars could be hiding much of the mass in distant galaxies, making the surprisingly large galaxies…

Can We Steal Energy from Black Holes? Part 1: Leveling Up Spacetime

Roger Penrose found a way to extract energy from a spinning black hole without breaking any laws of…

Pluto demoted to dwarf planet 20 years ago today

Pluto is the largest of many small bodies in the outer solar system.

Watch live: MTG-I2 set for liftoff

The next Meteosat Third Generation Imager satellite (MTG-I2) is set for liftoff on flight VA270 on an Ariane…

The Sky Today on Monday, August 24: Iapetus at eastern elongation

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.

NASA Starshade Would Enable Astronomers To Directly Image Rocky Exoworlds

Innovative NASA-funded orbital starshade could help capture first direct images from extrasolar earths.

China says unmanned moon mission delayed over 'launch conditions'

China's manned space agency said Sunday it is delaying a research moon mission that is part of Beijing's…

Laboratory Astrophysics Newsletter Recent Publications List

Broadband spectroscopy of astrophysical ice analogues – V. Optical constants of Ih, Ic, and amorphous H2O ices in…

NASA is about to launch a powerful new eye on the universe

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope has been cleared for final launch preparations ahead of a targeted August 30 liftoff…

Trump to award Congressional Space Medal of Honor to Artemis II astronauts

The Artemis II crew will receive the Congressional Space Medal of Honor after becoming the first humans in…

APOD: 2026 August 24 – Comet 220P in Outburst

APOD: 2026 August 24 – Comet 220P in Outburst

APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 August 24 – Comet… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education…

What Lake Bonneville Left Behind

The drying of the massive lake exposed playas that became the setting for feats of engineering and technological…

Outboard Model Test Campaign

This website is currently under construction. Please see the full NASA Common Research Model website for current information.

Inboard Model Test Campaign

This website is currently under construction. Please see the full NASA Common Research Model website for current information.

Astronomers Use Rare Ultra-Magnetic Star to Crack a Quantum Mystery

An international team observed a magnetar known as 1E 1547.0–5408 using NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), leading…

Swept-Wing Icing Research

This website is currently under construction. Please see the full NASA Common Research Model website for current information.

Computational Results

This website is currently under construction. Please see the full NASA Common Research Model website for current information.

NASA’s Roman telescope nears launch, reaches final integration and rehearsal milestones

With a scheduled launch date of Aug. 30, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is… The post NASA’s…

What’s Happening in Space Policy August 23-30, 2026

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week plus a day of August 23-30, 2026…

LandSpace’s Zhuque-3 topples following milestone landing

LandSpace achieved a major milestone for Chinese commercial rocketry this week when the first stage… The post LandSpace’s…

JWST peeks at Callisto's ancient scars

Of Jupiter's four Galilean moons, Callisto is the one that gets the least attention.

China abruptly postpones ambitious Chang'e-7 lunar mission launch

China said on Sunday it was postponing its planned ambitious Chang'e-7 lunar mission, which was set to carry…

Due to need for 'absolute success,' China delays critical Moon launch to 2027

"The Chang’e 7 mission does not meet the conditions for launch."

Physicists create a tiny “Big Bang” with surprisingly small atomic nuclei

Researchers at CERN have created microscopic versions of the early Universe by colliding surprisingly small atomic nuclei at…

NASA Highlights Next-Gen Cargo Landers Paving the Way for a Moon Base

NASA and its commercial partners are making progress on their way to a permanent human presence on the…

Aug. 23, 1991: Water on Mercury

On Aug. 8 and Aug. 23, 1991, scientists from CalTech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory turned the 70-meter…

Pluto’s atmosphere is thinning toward a collapse

Scientists detected that Pluto's atmosphere is thinning as it moves farther away from the sun in its orbit.

1st photo of Earth from the moon 60 years ago

As NASA plans to land astronauts on the moon with the Artemis IV mission in 2028, it's fun…

Sagittarius the Archer is home to deep-sky wonders

The zodiacal constellation Sagittarius the Archer contains the center of the Milky Way and a famous asterism known…

The Sky Today on Sunday, August 23: Double star Zeta Coronae Borealis

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.

Curiosity Blog, Sols 4982–4987: Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

By Allison Dries-Padilla, Missions Operations Specialist at Malin Space Science Systems Earth planning date: Friday, Aug.

Black holes keep tearing these stars apart, but they survive

Astronomers have found stars that repeatedly skim past supermassive black holes, surviving each encounter while producing a new…

APOD: 2026 August 23 – Cassini Approaches Saturn

CRM-HL

This website is currently under construction. Please see the full NASA Common Research Model website for current information.

NTF Test Data

The 2018 CRM‑NLF semispan test at NASA’s NTF evaluated laminar flow across Reynolds and Mach ranges, advancing cryogenic…

CRM-NLF Geometry

This website is currently under construction. Please see the full NASA Common Research Model website for current information.

White Dwarf-Red Dwarf Binaries Power Cosmic Lasers

Researchers have helped unravel the mystery of why certain pairs of stars pulse with regular, long-period bursts of…

Experimental Approach

This website is currently under construction. Please see the full NASA Common Research Model website for current information.

Computational Approach

This website is currently under construction. Please see the full NASA Common Research Model website for current information.

NASA Launches First Scientific Balloon of Fort Sumner Campaign

The Salter Test Flight launched at 8:31 a.m. MDT (10:31 a.m. EDT) Saturday, Aug.

Mars Curiosity rover discovers massive field of polygons

The surface of Mars is home to some of the most breathtaking and awe-inspiring landscapes in the solar…

Near-total lunar eclipse is coming up with the Americas in prime position

Now it's the moon's turn to pull a disappearing act. After being shut out of this month's total…

Aug. 22, 1989: Voyager 2 reveals Neptune

On Aug. 20, 1977, Voyager 2 launched from Cape Canaveral and began its epic journey to the outer…

JWST finds early galaxies may be 4 times more massive than thought

Astronomers using JWST have discovered that massive early galaxies contain far more small, faint stars than expected.

Earth's magnetosphere might not protect us from superstorms after all

Science seems like a straightforward endeavor. You come up with a hypothesis, collect data to prove or disprove…

CNES Seeks Partners to Mass-Produce Compact Optical Telescopes

The French space agency CNES is looking for an industrial partner to develop and qualify a compact optical…

The Sky Today on Saturday, August 22: Titan northwest of Saturn

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.

Dry Martian Meteorite Reveals Early Water in Mars's Crust

Billions of years ago, Mars was hypothesized to have been a habitable world with flowing liquid water and…

APOD: 2026 August 22 – Mostly Perseids

APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 August 22… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss…

The CosmoCube Satellite Will Listen to the Early Universe From the Far Side of the Moon

A tiny UK-developed satellite, roughly the size of a small carry-on suitcase, could help answer one of the…

Lunar Orbit and Surface IMM Runs

Integrated Medical Model Runs for ≤30 Day Missions Integrated Medical Model Runs for 31-180 Day Missions Integrated Medical…

Low Earth Orbit IMM Runs

Integrated Medical Model for 31-180 Day Missions Integrated Medical Model for 31-400+ Day Missions

NASA Integrated Medical Model (IMM) Overview

What is the IMM? The Integrated Medical Model (IMM) is a sophisticated, stochastic (probabilistic) risk assessment tool used…

Chinese radio-frequency intelligence startup StarRF closes new funding round

HELSINKI — A Chinese startup building a constellation to detect and geolocate radio-frequency emissions from orbit has closed…

Strange Signals Called Long-period Radio Transits Come From Cataclysmic Variables

Long-period Radio Transients are sources that emit repeating radio and x-ray signals.

Our favorite reader images of the 2026 total eclipse

On Aug. 12, a total solar eclipse crossed Iceland and Spain — the first time totality has touched…

New Novaspace forecast: 6,500+ EO satellites to launch by 2035

Paris, France | August 2026– More than 6,500 Earth observation (EO) satellites are expected to launch by 2035…

SpaceX launches 100th orbital mission of 2026

The Starlink 15-20 mission represented the 99th Falcon 9 rocket launch of the year.

Ship 41 Completes Engine Testing Ahead of Flight 14

While Ship 40 is preparing to be transported back to Starbase from Christmas Island, Ship… The post Ship…

Geminid melodies

The Geminid meteor shower in mid-December is one of the highlights of the observing year, with as many…

NASA Shares Views of August Solar Eclipse from Ground, Air, Space

On Aug. 12, a total solar eclipse darkened skies over Greenland, Iceland, and Spain.

Week Ends With Spacewalk Preps and Space Exercise Research

The Expedition 75 crew wrapped up the work week getting ready for a spacewalk to finish installing a…

KOI-884 e

KOI-884 e is a gas giant exoplanet that orbits a K-type star. Its mass is 2.

Gl 725 B c

Gl 725 B c is a super Earth exoplanet that orbits a M-type star. Its mass is 3.

TB 26-04 Updates and Modernization of NASA’s Chemical Equilibrium with Applications (CEA) Code

For more information, contact Mark K. Leader, Glenn Research Center, mark.leader@nasa.gov Download the PDF version NASA’s Chemical Equilibrium…

Webb Opens Treasure Chest

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured this Aug. 6, 2026, infrared image of part of the Carina Nebula…

NASA’s Artemis II Crew Set to Receive Congressional Space Medal of Honor

President Donald J. Trump will award each of NASA’s Artemis II crew members the Congressional Space Medal of…

Stellar eruptions in the laboratory: First experimental evidence for their suppression in strong magnetic fields

An international team of astrophysicists and plasma physicists has provided the first experimental evidence that strong magnetic fields…

An Interstellar Comet’s Coma Composition

JWST observations of the most recent interstellar visitor reveal a coma dominated not by water, as expected for…

A 14-Yr-Old Mystery: The Peculiar Case of the Engine-Driven SN 2012ap

Itai Sfaradi et al 2026 ApJL 1005 L19 Recent radio rebrightening of a supernova observed in 2012 suggests…

Stellar spin may explain why repeated black hole flares grow dimmer

At the center of most galaxies lies a supermassive black hole, with a mass millions to billions of…

KOI-319

TOI-6158

TOI-7394 B

TOI-5811 B

TOI-7265 B

TOI-7393

MOA-2020-BLG-108L

HIP 81991

Gl 725 B

TOI-5806

Cosmic neighborhood watch

Observing our celestial neighbor (and something much farther away).

Watch Sophie Adenot’s second spacewalk live

After a successful EVA-97 on Tuesday 18 August, watch ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot venture into the vacuum of…

New solar system models show Earth is no fluke

Over the past three decades, computer models of planetary system formation have gone from fairly crude representations to…

Week in images: 17-21 August 2026

Week in images: 17-21 August 2026

The COSMOSIS framework can ensure that Washington governs space with its complexity in mind.

Policy documents from both the White House and the Office of Space Commerce this summer acknowledge that space…

Aug. 21, 1914: Total solar eclipse tensions

On Aug. 21, 1914, a total solar eclipse over Europe on the eve of World War I drew…

Interplanetary spacecraft capture a coronal mass ejection component hidden from Earth

During a coronal mass ejection (CME), the sun hurls billions of tons of magnetized plasma into space.

Letara Raises ¥2.6B to Build its Hybrid Rocket Engine Tech

Japanese propulsion startup Letara closed a ¥2.6B ($16M) pre-Series A round to fund the development of its low-cost…

SpaceWERX Announces 2026 STRATFI Awardees

The Space Force announced the newest awardees of the SpaceWERX Strategic Funding Increase program during the Fed Supernova…

A first! 3 supermassive black holes discovered in 1 galaxy

For the first time, astronomers have discovered 3 supermassive black holes in a single galaxy in the early…

China is launching a moon mission to find water ice

We've known for nearly two decades that some form of water exists on the moon.

Betelgeuse is not alone

Orion constellation's red supergiant has a companion star, say astronomers

Voyager 2 confirms Neptune’s rings on August 22 in 1989

NASA's Voyager 2 confirmed the discovery of Neptune's rings on August 22, 1989, when it took images of…

This Week's Sky at a Glance, August 21 – 30

The waxing Moon is on its way to a not-quite-total lunar eclipse Thursday the 27th.

Landspace aims to refly recovered Zhuque-3 booster within six months

HELSINKI — Chinese commercial launch firm Landspace is targeting a reflight of its Zhuque-3 first stage in months…

Sentinel-1 captures major ice loss from Greenland glacier

Europe’s Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission has captured a dramatic change at Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland, where a 76…

Teapot of Sagittarius points to the Milky Way’s center

As you gaze toward the famous Teapot asterism in the constellation Sagittarius, you are looking toward the center…

The Sky Today on Friday, August 21: Titan nears Saturn as Dione skims past

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.

New Solar System Models Show Earth Is No Fluke

Astrobiologists use new starting points to produce ‘organic’ models of our solar system’s formation.

Op-ed: The Technologies That Could Define the Future of Space

Daniel Biedermann, a partner at NewSpace Capital, gives his insights on what technologies are driving the future of…

The Sky This Week from August 21 to 28: Eclipsed Sturgeon Moon

Friday, August 21The Moon passes 0.6° south of Antares in Scorpius at 1 A.M. EDT.

Hidden magnetism inside atoms may explain mysterious gamma rays

For decades, scientists have puzzled over why certain atomic nuclei unexpectedly produce large numbers of low-energy gamma rays.

APOD: 2026 August 21 – Time-Lapse of the Star S301 Orbiting the Black Hole in the Center of the Galaxy

Europe’s Scorching Summer

A series of heat waves in 2026 is breaking records and taking a toll in Europe.

White House Releases New Space Transportation Policy

The White House released a new space transportation policy today, the first since 2013.

A leaning tower with a view

Marco Meniero, taken from Pisa, Italy A total solar eclipse crossed Greenland, Iceland, and Spain on Aug.

Space Weather Living History: Dr. Richard Fisher

This educational podcast package featuring heliophysicist Dr. Richard Fisher explores active solar phenomena, magnetic fields, and space weather.

Space Weather Living History: Dr. James L. Green

This educational podcast features former NASA Chief Scientist Dr. James L. Green discussing space weather history.

Space Weather Living History: Dr. Mauricio Peredo

This educational podcast episode featuring Dr. Mauricio Peredo explores space weather, coronal mass ejections, and the Earth's magnetosphere.

Space Weather Living History: Professor Christopher T. Russell

This educational podcast and transcript featuring Professor Christopher T. Russell explores space weather, the Sun, and electromagnetism.

New space transportation policy focuses on increased launch rates

The White House released a new space transportation policy Aug.

AstroNav

Small Spacecraft & Distributed Systems (SSDS)HomeAboutTechnology DemonstrationsPartnershipsWork with UsResourcesS3VI AstroNav Future Mission Enabling real-time, autonomous navigation for self-reliant…

What’s the Difference Between Weather and Climate?

This informative article from NOAA clearly explains the fundamental differences between weather and climate for classroom instruction.

What Is the Sun’s Role in Climate Change?

This informative NASA article explains the solar cycle's impact on Earth's climate, offering teachers a ready-to-use reading assignment…

Elve qualifies millimeter-wave amplifiers for spaceflight

SAN FRANCISCO – California startup Elve has qualified its 100-watt millimeter-wave Traveling Wave Tube Amplifier platform for spaceflight.

SpaceWERX selects 11 firms to scale technologies for military space

The new round of STRATFIs were awarded to Agile Space Industries, Antares Nuclear, EO Solutions, Hydrosat, Kall Morris…

Europe cancels planned upgrades for Ariane 6 rocket

Arianespace hasn’t publicly disclosed the cost for an Ariane 6 launch.

Launch Dress Rehearsal Complete Ahead of NASA Roman Space Telescope Liftoff

The team preparing to launch NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope completed a mission dress rehearsal on Thursday…

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Images Falcon 9 Crater on Moon, With Some Help From a Korean Spacecraft

A SpaceX Falcon upper stage crashed into the Moon on August 5th. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured images…

Japan to launch probe for Mars moons in October: Space agency

Japan's ambitious mission to collect and bring back samples from one of Mars' moons will lift off Oct.

SmallSat 2026

SmallSat 2026 Join NASA in the Exhibit Hall (Booth # 635, 835, 641, and 940) for Storytelling by…

Mars's Funky Moon Deimos was Shaped by an Impact

Mars' moon Deimos has a large crater on its southern pole.

Spacewalk Preps Continue to Finish Antenna Installation Job Next Week

On Tuesday, Aug. 25, NASA flight engineer Anil Menon and ESA (European Space Agency) flight engineer Sophie Adenot…

2025 ISSM Workshop

The 2025 ISSM Workshop took place at Dartmouth, in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA, March 19th to 21st, 2025.

2018 ISSM Workshop

The University of Hawaii Sea Level Center, in collaboration with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and University of…

2016 ISSM Workshop

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in collaboration with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and University of California at…

2014 ISSM Workshop

The ISSM 2014 workshop was a great success! Many thanks to the participants and to our hosts at…

2012 ISSM Workshop

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory and University of California at Irvine hosted the second ISSM workshop on December 10-12th…

2011 ISSM Workshop

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory and University of California at Irvine organized a workshop to coincide with the Open…

About ISSM

Science PIs Active Developers Previous Developers Active Collaborations Users UCI Undergrad Research Projects Outreach CL#26-2815

ISSM Collaborations

UCI-Ice Sheet Modeling Group The Ice Sheet Modeling Group at the University of California Irvine focuses on better…

Reference ISSM

To reference ISSM Larour, E., Seroussi, H., Morlighem, M., & Rignot, E. (2012).

XR SIG Seminar Canceled

The X-Ray Science Interest Group (XR SIG) seminar scheduled for Friday 21 August has been canceled.

What’s next for ISR in space

In this episode, SpaceNews correspondent Debra Werner leads a panel of experts to discuss the role of ISR…

How Gas Filaments and Interfilaments Feed Star Formation in Monoceros R2

Researchers studied gas flows in the Monoceros R2 star forming region to understand how gas is channeled into…

Rocket Lab launches 9th satellite for iQPS

Rocket Lab launched another satellite for Japanese radar-imaging company iQPS on Aug. 20.

Gaia21bja: Pre-Main-Sequence Star with Quasiperiodic Bursts

Ádám Mátéfy et al 2026 ApJ 1004 142 Gaia21bja is a young stellar object that brightens by up…

Moog Highlights Huntsville Expansion and New Hardware-in-the-Loop Lab During Space and Missile Defense Symposium

Huntsville, AL — Moog Inc. (NYSE: MOG.A and MOG.B) announces a significant expansion at its Huntsville, AL facility…

Pyrocumulonimbus clouds are fire-generated thunderstorms

This summer, NASA has been studying pyrocumulonimbus clouds, or fire-driven thunderstorms.

Catching An 'Almost Total' Lunar Eclipse on August 28th

So, did you miss the August 12th total solar eclipse? Like lots of humanity, we sat out the…

Artemis Mission Patches

A jacket decorated with Artemis I and II mission patches, along with other NASA patches hangs on the…

ESA Confirms Ariane 6 Block 3 Upgrades Have Been Shelved

The European Space Agency has confirmed to European Spaceflight that it is no longer considering the Ariane 6…

NASA Selects University Teams to Help Advance Aviation Research

NASA has selected four university teams to help the agency transform the future of aviation through projects ranging…

The View from Above: The Gemini Visual Acuity Experiments

NASA astronaut L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. took 29 color photographs of the Earth with a 70mm camera as…

‘Little red dots’ could herald the birth of supermassive black holes

Did cocoons of dense gas shine brightly in the early universe?

Interstellar travel IV: Solar, magnetic, & directed-energy sails

Welcome back to our series on interstellar travel! In our first installment, we examined attempts to realize nuclear…

Global sand dunes map reveals clues to distant worlds, including Mars

A new study from Monash University has delivered the most complete and accurate digital map of Earth's windblown…

NASA Data Feeds River Forecasts as Snow Drought Effects Linger

NASA Earth science data is supporting machine-learning forecasts that inform decisions about water, power, and public safety in…

Muon Space Raises $250M Series C

Muon Space closed a $250M Series C to expand its satellite production capacity and broaden the types of…

ALMA uncovers sulfur for the first time around a rare class of supergiant star

Astronomers have discovered a chemically rich collection of sulfur-bearing molecules surrounding the rare massive star HD 87643.

Portal Space Systems to include rideshare payloads on Falcon 9 launch of Supernova

Portal Space Systems has acquired a Falcon 9 to launch its first Supernova spacecraft and will offer excess…

Rock West Composites® Is Premiering Its New STRATOPultrusion™ Product Line at the 2026 Small Satellite Conference

San Diego, CA – Rock West Composites (RWC) is premiering its recently launched space-grade STRATOPultrusion™ product line at…

Portal Books Dedicated Falcon 9 Amid Constrained Launch Market

While Thornburg said Portal is expected to take up about half of the fairing with its own spacecraft…

Aug. 20, 2001: Cosmologist Fred Hoyle dies

Born in 1915 in England, cosmologist Fred Hoyle attend Cambridge University, where he would later become a professor.

China’s Chang’e-7 lunar ice-hunting mission set for Sunday launch

HELSINKI — China will launch a complex, multi-spacecraft mission late Sunday to study and land near the lunar…

Astronomers discover a black hole star, a new type of object

Astronomers believe the little red dots we see in the early universe are a newly discovered type of…

Map of Europe's Spaceport

Image: Map of Europe's Spaceport

Muon Space raises $250 million to ramp up satellite production

Muon Space has raised $250 million to fuel the small satellite specialist’s push into larger, more powerful spacecraft…

SpaceX’s Mobile Ambitions: Build, Partner, or Buy?

There has been a lot of speculation about how SpaceX is going to achieve its goal of moving…

Detecting whispers from the early universe … from the moon

A tiny UK satellite called CosmoCube is to listen for signals from the early universe.

What Can We Actually Find on an Exoplanet? Part 4: Looking For Us

Some signs of an alien civilization are easier to spot than signs of life itself.

LatConnect 60 selects Transcelestial’s Space Optical Network for SWIRSAT imaging constellation

SAN FRANCISCO / PERTH, 20 AUGUST 2026: LatConnect 60 (LC60) has signed a commercial contract with Transcelestial for…

Draper Selects Proteus Space for Advanced On-Orbit Mission

LOS ANGELES, CA, September 8th, 2026. Proteus Space, a dual-use aerospace company delivering rapid, end-to-end access to space…

SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral following last-minute scrub

The Starlink 10-39 mission includes the 2,000th Starlink satellite to fly this year.

Scientists crushed diamond beyond Neptune-like pressures—and solved a 20-year mystery

Extreme experiments have revealed how diamond behaves at crushing pressures beyond those inside Neptune and Uranus, resolving a…

Rescue mission is called off for NASA's aging Swift space telescope

The mission to save NASA's sinking Swift Observatory was called off Wednesday, dooming the telescope to a fiery…

What beats seeing eclipses from space? Try the northern and southern lights

Eclipses may be wondrous, but nothing beats seeing the northern and southern lights from space.

Careers at the frontier of space technology

The European Space Agency recruits from all over Europe (and beyond) to further its mission of peacefully exploring…

The Sky Today on Thursday, August 20: Dark, flat Plato

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.

Voyager 2 spacecraft launched 49 years ago today

Voyager 2 realized the vision of what was originally called a Grand Tour of the outer solar system.

A SpaceX rocket smashed into the Moon — NASA just revealed the crater

A discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 stage crashed into the Moon on Aug.

Sagitta the Arrow lies inside the Summer Triangle

Sagitta the Arrow is a dim constellation that lies inside the Summer Triangle.

ESA’s photosynthesis satellite fuelled

Europe’s newest eye on the health of Earth’s vegetation has taken another crucial step towards orbit – the…

This total solar eclipse looked strangely golden — here’s why

Spain’s total solar eclipse delivered an unexpected sight: a corona glowing gold instead of its usual pearly white.

APOD: 2026 August 20 – The Elephant’s Trunk in Cepheus

APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 August 20 – The… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education…

An Uncommon Drifter in the Denmark Strait

A large iceberg, observed in summer 2026, had drifted more than 1,000 kilometers south from the northeastern Greenland…

Racing to build a radio telescope on the moon

Remember the "Wow!" signal? That high-energy radio signature occurred in 1977, when Earth was much "quieter" in the…

Voyager 1: What Is a Light-Day

The milestone Voyager 1 is closing in on — one light-day away from Earth — is about distance…

Hypersonic missile startup Castelion raises $1 billion

Company founded by former SpaceX executives aims to produce a low-cost hypersonic weapon and a broader portfolio of…

Eartheye Space forges strategic partnership with IN2

SAN FRANCISCO – Risk-management firm IN2 will have access to Eartheye Space multi-sensor satellite tasking and analytics through…

Space Force Funding Could Be Record High, If Congress Agrees

The Administration is requesting $71 billion for the U.S. Space Force in FY2027, more than twice what it…

Dark Stars may have left gravitational-wave echoes across the universe

A mysterious background of extremely low-frequency gravitational waves detected by networks of pulsars may carry information about events…

Webb Captures the Treasure Chest at the Heart of the Carina Nebula

This NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month takes us to a fantastical realm within our…

Human-related microbes may survive moon's South Pole

Some of Earth's microbes likely to hitch a ride to space with human explorers could survive in the…

Stoke Space conducts second stage fit checks, completes first stage engines ahead of Nova debut

While Starship is grabbing headlines, another fully reusable vehicle is advancing towards a potential 2026… The post Stoke…

LandSpace becomes first commercial Chinese company to land an orbital-class booster

The August 19 landing of its ZhuQue-3 rocket marked the first landing of a Chinese-made rocket using landing…

Interworld Slingshot: Exploring a new way to find resources in space

Before people can mine resources on the moon, asteroids or Mars, they need to answer a few key…

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…

No-Go for Katalyst’s Reboost of NASA’s Swift Observatory

Katalyst Space and NASA concluded today that reboosting the Swift Observatory with Katalyst’s LINK spacecraft will not be…

Mission to save Swift spacecraft fails, will crash back to Earth

NASA said on August 19, 2026, the mission to save the Swift spacecraft will not work after attitude…

NASA TechLeap Prize: Orbital Clarity Challenge

The Orbital Clarity Challenge — the sixth in the NASA TechLeap Prize series — is a collaborative effort…

Weather Climate Poster

This downloadable educational poster provides a clear visual breakdown of weather and climate concepts for students.

Parse.ly Test

NASA commercial cargo provider SpaceX is targeting 11:39 a.m. EST Saturday, Dec.

Activity: Watercolor Aurora Sky

This hands-on watercolor activity helps students explore the science of the northern lights and related space weather NASA…

ATMOS Moves Forward with Phoenix 3 as Phoenix 2 Launch Slips

German space logistics company ATMOS Space Cargo has completed an early-stage design study for its reusable Phoenix 3…

Lesson Plan: Water for Wheaties?

This structured lesson plan teaches learners how NASA satellites monitor freshwater resources to assist with agriculture, connecting space…

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…

Warm Up Experiment (Albedo)

This hands-on activity provides lesson plans that introduce students to albedo and how Earth reflects the Sun's heat…

Webpage: Types of Stars

This educational NASA article provides visual descriptions and images of different types of stars, making it an excellent…

Expedition 75 Cleans Up After Spacewalk, Keeps Up Microgravity Research

The Expedition 75 crew members cleaned up on Wednesday after a spacewalk that saw two astronauts uninstall an…

Activity: Tracing Constellations

This hands-on activity provides elementary students with a guided experience in tracing constellations, making it an excellent tool…

The Sun is the Primary Source of Energy for Earth’s Climate System

This diverse collection provides educational lesson plans, informative articles, and hands-on activities to integrate leveled climate science into…

Article: The Sun and Us

This informative NASA article provides advanced students with deep insights into the lifecycle of the Sun and its…

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.

Survivor Earth: Lesson Plan Series

This comprehensive series of lesson plans provides educators with hands-on activities, educator guides, and student sheets designed to…

NASA Updates Next Steps for Commercial Swift Boost Mission

Due to an ongoing commercial spacecraft attitude control issue, NASA and Katalyst Space announced Wednesday the LINK spacecraft…

Human-Related Microbes May Survive Moon’s South Pole, NASA Finds

Lee esta historia en español aquí. Some of Earth’s microbes likely to hitch a ride to space with…

AirSHARP Home Page

Overview The AirSHARP project (Airborne asSessment of Hyperspectral Aerosol optical depth and water-leaving Reflectance Product Performance for PACE)…

NASA Study Reveals Hidden Stage of Arctic Freeze

As autumn gives way to winter across the Arctic, the ground doesn’t immediately freeze solid.

Interstellar Travel IV: Solar, Magnetic, & Directed-Energy Sails

In our fourth installment in the Interstellar Travel series, we'll examine solar sails, magnetosails, and directed-energy propulsion (DEP)…

Are Mega-Constellations Sleepwalking Low Earth Orbit into Runaway Chaos?

It seems the overwhelming majority of the time when we write about satellite megaconstellations, it’s as a warning.

Ancient Milky Way Merger

This artist’s concept, released on Aug. 17, 2026, depicts a collision between our Milky Way galaxy and a…

Automatic Detection and Segmentation of Coronal Mass Ejections in LASCO C3 Images

Yunshi Zeng et al 2026 ApJS 284 63 Using more than 50,000 images of coronal mass ejections, researchers…

Probing Dust in the Disk of a Growing Giant Planet

PDS 70c is the first exoplanet known to host a circumplanetary disk, where moons are potentially forming.

NASA Establishes State Hubs to Grow Technical Aerospace Workforce

NASA has awarded approximately $10.5 million to seven institutions to help strengthen and streamline state-based pathways for students…

Racing to Build a Radio Telescope on the Moon

Remember the “Wow!” signal? That high energy radio signature happened in 1977, when the Earth was much “quieter”…

Moog Inc. Expands METEORITE Satellite Bus Capacity for High-Maneuverability Missions

East Aurora, NY — Moog Inc. (NYSE: MOG.A and MOG.B), a worldwide designer, manufacturer and systems integrator of…

Whoa! The JWST's Ancient Galaxies Are Much More Massive Than Thought

When the JWST peered into the ancient Universe, it found surprisingly massive galaxies.

Milky Way's fastest star orbits our supermassive black hole so closely it feels its spin

Astronomers have discovered the fastest known star in our galaxy, the Milky Way, orbiting the black hole at…

Replay: MTG-I2 pre-launch media briefing

Video: 00:51:38 On Wednesday 19 August, media representatives were invited to a media briefing ahead of the launch…

VR supports research into spaceflight-related mental health

As humanity gets closer to the possibility of long-term interplanetary travel, psychologists have started raising concerns about astronauts'…

LandSpace Scores First Booster Landing

The commercial company LandSpace safely landed the first stage booster of their Zhuque-3 rocket on August 19th.

NASA State Hubs for Skilled Technical Workforce

Advancing NASA’s Skilled Technical Workforce Through Partnership and Innovation The rapid expansion of the space economy and renewed…

Career Spotlight: Mechanic (Ages 14-18)

What does a mechanic do? Machines and engines are all around us.

The space industry’s next challenge: supply chain resilience

America’s space economy is scaling faster than its industrial base can support. Commercial constellations are proliferating, national security…

Aug. 19, 1646: The birth of John Flamsteed

On Aug. 19, 1646, John Flamsteed was born in Derbyshire, England.

White House Publishes S&T Strategy for National Security

The Office of Science and Technology Policy released its National Security Science & Technology Strategy.

Vantor names new head of U.S. government business

Will Cocos succeeds Susanne Hake as executive vice president and general manager of the the Earth intelligence company’s…

Astronomers catch hot birth of galaxy cluster more than 11 billion light-years away

Astronomers have detected an enormous cloud of gas tens of millions of degrees hot surrounding one of the…

Firefly Aerospace to fly Zeno Power radioisotope heating unit on lunar lander mission

Firefly Aerospace will fly a payload from Zeno Power on an upcoming lunar lander mission to test a…

Zeno Power Books its First Nuclear Mission to the Moon

Zeno Power is ready to pull its first all-nighter. On Wednesday, the nuclear-energy startup announced a commercial payload…

See the August 12 solar eclipse from the moon’s perspective

Korean's lunar orbiter, Danuri, captured a view of the solar eclipse on August 12, 2026.

XR SIG Seminar, 21 Aug 2026

Broad Band X-ray Observatory Science Analysis Group

Upcoming SIG and SAG Activities, 20 Aug – 26 Aug 2026

Upcoming Science Interest Group & Science Analysis Group Activities, 20 Aug - 26 Aug 2026

ROSES-25: New Opportunity: D.9 HWO

The new ROSES-25 program element D.9 Habitable Worlds Observatory Instrument Concept Assessments (HWO-ICA), solicits proposals to support maturation…

NASA IRTF Semester 2027A Call for Proposals

NASA IRTF Semester 2027A Call for Proposals; Open 1 September to 1 October 2026

2026 Joint HELIOTECH and Orbital Flight Symposium

NASA’s 2026 Joint HELIOTECH and Orbital Flight Symposium will be held 31 August – 4 September at the…

What Can We Actually Find on an Exoplanet? Part 3: Reading the Face of a Planet

A single pixel of light holds astonishing detail. How ocean glint, rotational mapping, and the vegetation red edge…

ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot during EVA-97

Image: ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot during EVA-97

Fly around Schiaparelli Crater with Mars Express

Video: 00:04:10 ESA’s Mars Express takes us on another mesmerising flight, this time around one of the biggest…

Ariane 6 blueprint

Image: Ariane 6 blueprint

Super-Earths might be solid deep on the inside

Super-Earths might be solid in their deep insides, a new study says.

Fast radio bursts reveal that the universe’s ‘missing matter’ is found far from galaxies

Counterintuitive finding could help us better understand how highly energetic galactic activities impact the formation of cosmological structures

The Great Rift is a dark swath in the Milky Way

The Great Rift or Dark Rift is a darkened swath of the Milky Way where new stars are…

China successfully recovers rocket stage on land for the first time

China has successfully recaptured the first stage of a rocket on land for the first time, state media…

Is Ophiuchus the 13th constellation of the zodiac?

The sun passes through Ophiuchus for about 2 weeks every year, so why isn’t this constellation considered the…

The Sky Today on Wednesday, August 19: The Helix Nebula

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.

Behind the Lens: Meet NASA Johnson’s Photographers

Photographers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston have documented some of the most defining moments in human…

APOD: 2026 August 19 – The Case of the Mysterious Maybe Meteor

APODScienceAPODAPOD: 2026 August 19 – The…Today’s APODArchiveSubmissionsIndexSearchCalendarRSSEducationAboutDiscuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day…

Elephant Butte Reservoir Runs Low

Drought in the Rio Grande basin contributed to New Mexico’s largest reservoir dwindling to its lowest level in…

Zhuque-3 Completes Second Flight with Successful First-Stage Landing

Zhuque-3’s second flight marked a major milestone for LandSpace as the methalox rocket lifted off… The post Zhuque-3…

Space nuclear programs face near- and long-term challenges

While space nuclear programs are “having a moment,” industry officials say they face near-term challenges as well as…

Life On Earth May Have Had A Cold Start

Nitrous oxide (otherwise known as laughing gas) is likely a key atmospheric component of life in the cosmos.

China’s Landspace recovers booster with second orbital launch of Zhuque-3 rocket

HELSINKI — Landspace successfully landed the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket Tuesday following the second launch of…

How do the Sun’s variations affect humanity? (Solar Cycle)

This informative presentation slide deck and hands-on activity helps educators introduce space weather concepts through investigations into solar…

Mars attacks: How much dust from the red planet is safe to breathe?

NASA has released a report recommending an initial health standard for the Martian dust that astronauts could inhale…

Rocket Lab to test Space Force data network connection in orbit in 2027

The company will use a Photon spacecraft to test interoperability with the Space Data Network's core infrastructure built…

Dying radio galaxies suggest a shorter, more dynamic afterlife for black hole jets

Astronomers have uncovered a previously underexplored population of faint, rapidly fading remnant radio galaxies, offering new insights into…

Spitzer Space Telescope – The Universe

This interactive website features a collection of Spitzer Space Telescope images, animations, and detailed information.

Spinning Around the Sun Role Play

This kinesthetic lesson plan engages elementary students in space science units by having them role-play the rotation and…

Lucy Mission Overview

What Will Lucy Do? Lucy is the first mission to explore a group of asteroids known as the…

Sense of Place Series: Indigenous Perspectives on Earth and Sky: Chad Kālepa Baybayan

This educational webinar features Pwo navigator Kālepa Baybayan discussing the indigenous art of non-instrument Oceanic Wayfinding.

Real World: Solar power on Earth

This educational video resource explores NASA-inspired solar technologies and the "Solar Decathlon" competition, helping educators introduce renewable energy…

NASA's LRO images Falcon 9 crater on moon, learns new details

Between Aug. 11–12, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured a series of images of a new crater on…

Precipitation Education: Weather & Climate

This comprehensive website collection provides educator-developed activities and informational articles focusing on Earth science, weather, and climate concepts.

A single asteroid impact may explain the appearance of Mars' moon Deimos

Deimos, the smaller and outermost of Mars' two moons, is roughly oval in shape and has a deep…

Paint the Aurora with Ice Cubes

This hands-on activity uses food coloring and ice to help elementary learners model space weather and northern lights…

Dragonfly 3D Model

Dragonfly, the first-of-its-kind rotorcraft to explore another world, will fly to various locations on Saturn’s moon Titan and…

Lucy Multimedia

'Hidden stars' suggest that distant galaxies are much more massive than they appear

Astronomers have discovered that the most massive galaxies in the early universe contain far more small stars than…

Venous Haemostasis

Venous Haemostasis

Astronauts remove failed antenna; run out of time to install a spare

It was the 282nd EVA devoted to station assembly and maintenance, the fifth so far this year, the…

Even Near a Supermassive Black Hole, Stars Enrich the Interstellar Medium

Astronomers know that evolved AGB stars shed their outer layers, contributing to the makeup of the interstellar medium.

NASA, ESA Astronauts Wrap Up Station Spacewalk

NASA astronaut Anil Menon and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot concluded their spacewalk outside the International…

NASA’s LRO Images Falcon 9 Crater on Moon, Learns New Details

Between Aug. 11 and 12, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured a series of images of a new…

NASA Student Aviation Challenge Focuses on Nation’s Infrastructure

NASA’s next Gateways to Blue Skies competition invites collegiate teams to imagine innovative new ways aircraft could inspect…

Deep Dive: FY27 Defense Space Budget

The Space Force's FY27 budget request made headlines earlier this year at a record-breaking $71.3B.

Astronomers Finally See the Twisted Magnetic Fields That Drive Protostar Jets

For decades, scientists have theorized that young protostar jets are shaped and driven by complex, twisted magnetic fields.

NASA's SkyFall Mars helicopters will feature a revolutionary antenna design

From 2021 to 2024, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter became the first vehicle of its kind to explore the Martian…

The United States is about to wake up to the threat from China's space program

One big question, will China assert territorial rights where its rover explores?

Source Surface Height Optimization for Improved Solar Wind Velocity Forecasting Across Solar Cycles 23, 24, and 25

Sandeep Kumar et al 2026 ApJ 1006 26 By combining ground-based and space-based solar observations, researchers found that…

Galaxies of Many Colors

Astrobites reports on whether our methods for weighing galaxies can help save cosmology from JWST’s universe-breaking galaxies.

ISS hosts first spacewalk by a Frenchwoman

Sophie Adenot became the first French woman astronaut to venture outside the International Space Station (ISS) for a…

JWST Peeks at Callisto’s Ancient Scars

Of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons, Callisto is the one that gets the least attention.

NASA’s B777 Gets New Coat of Paint

NASA’s Boeing 777 shows off a new paint job in this Aug. 11, 2026, photo.

Helio and You: July 2026

Heliophysics is an important cornerstone of the history of astronomy, and many of the pioneers in this field…

A Quantum Trick for Spotting Gravitational Waves

Gravitational wave astronomy has seen plenty of improvements since the original signal was captured in 2015.

NASA Glenn’s Legacy Forged Through Decades of Flight Research

Many of NASA’s most important aerospace breakthroughs that began in the laboratory were ultimately proven in the sky.

Webb captures clearest image yet of the Lion Nebula

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope recently imaged NGC 2392 (also known as the Lion Nebula), named for…

The corona from Spain

Alessandro Carrozzi, taken near Palencia, Spain The Sun’s corona glows in all its glory in this high-dynamic range…

SpaceX exceeds 11,000 satellites in low Earth orbit

The Starlink 17-50 mission added another 24 broadband satellites to the company’s megaconstellation.

Roman Series: Jupiters Around Other Suns

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is on a quest to discover planets outside our solar system.

Wildfires, drought and extreme heat, 2026

Earth observation satellites help us monitor phenomena such as wildfires, drought and heatwaves from space.

Aug. 18, 1868: Helium is discovered

During the total solar eclipse of Aug. 18, 1868, two astronomers, Pierre Jules César Janssen of France and…

Ship 40 arrives at Christmas Island, Plans Return to Starbase

SpaceX has successfully guided Starship Ship 40 to a location just off the coast of… The post Ship…

Slingshot’s Portal Adds New AI-Powered Missions

Slingshot Aerospace announced it is adding new capabilities to its Portal platform to help operators better monitor that…

NASA, ESA Astronauts Begin Spacewalk to Swap High-Speed Antenna

NASA astronaut Anil Menon and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot began a spacewalk at 8:29 a.m.

Ruby-forming mineral found by Mars rover hints at violent impacts

So far, most of the minerals found on Mars tell a story of lava poured out by ancient…

Nuking an asteroid on short notice could save us

Readers of a certain age will remember a golden era of asteroid films, capped by two with very…

New report takes closer look at the Space Force spending surge

Aerospace Corp. analysis finds most growth concentrated in classified programs, target tracking, missile warning and command and control

Eoptic, Inc. Selected to Supply DeepScan™ Imaging Payloads Scheduled for Launch in 2027

Rochester, NY – August 18, 2026 – Eoptic, Inc., a developer of advanced multi-spectral and multi-modal imaging systems…

Spying on a Split Comet

Traversing through the solar system, a comet split in two, and a recent study used six months of…

1st ultra-faint Milky Way satellite galaxy found by Rubin

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has only just begun its survey, yet it has already discovered its first…

AGN SIG Spotlight Series, 18 Aug 2026

AGN SIG Spotlight Series. Speakers: Dr. Xiaojing Lin (Tsinghua University) and Dr. Pallavi Patil (National Radio Astronomy Observatory)

Give me 5 minutes and I’ll give you Saturn

We're now in the best months for viewing Saturn in 2026. It'll be at it's best around October…

NASA, ESA Astronauts Suit Up for Spacewalk to Replace High-Speed Antenna

NASA is streaming live coverage as two astronauts prepare for a spacewalk outside the International Space Station.

What Can We Actually Find on an Exoplanet? Part 2: A Machine to Find Another Earth

The Habitable Worlds Observatory is being built for one purpose: to directly image another living Earth.

Hera's Mars flyby guided impact study of Deimos moon

From the ESA Blogs.

Sentinel-3 provides faster data for Europe fires

Satellite data from the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission is reaching emergency services up to three times faster, enabling a…

NRO to expand use of HawkEye 360’s satellite intelligence

NRO contract increases U.S. government access to satellite data used to locate radars, ships and other electronic emitters

Phoenix 3: concept study for a reusable European spacecraft

Engineers from the European Space Agency (ESA) and industry partners have completed an intensive concept study for Phoenix…

SpaceX Reverses Starlink Roaming Decision for Polish Customers

SpaceX has agreed to keep Poland within Starlink’s European roaming region after the country’s foreign minister threatened to…

The Sky Today on Tuesday, August 18: Stars and sparklers

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.

Scientists may have finally proved that “empty” space isn’t really empty

A magnetar’s colossal magnetic field may have revealed a quantum effect predicted by Werner Heisenberg nearly 90 years…

Einstein’s biggest “mistake” came back — and changed cosmology forever

Einstein’s abandoned cosmological constant made a spectacular comeback when astronomers discovered that the universe’s expansion is accelerating.

APOD: 2026 August 18 – Perseids from Perseus

APODScienceAPODAPOD: 2026 August 18 –…Today’s APODArchiveSubmissionsIndexSearchCalendarRSSEducationAboutDiscuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a…

Lala Batters Hawaii

The powerful storm delivered extreme rainfall and damaging winds to the state, passing the Island of Hawaiʻi as…

Mars Curiosity Rover Discovers Massive Field of Polygons

The surface of Mars is home to some of the most breathtaking and awe-inspiring landscapes in the solar…

MOTHRA Shows Us A Star Being Recycled in the Helix Nebula

Astronomers used new MOTHRA telescope in Chile to image the famous Helix Nebula.

HEO Taps Planet Labs to Expand its NEI Network

The deal expands HEO’s NEI network to 50+ in-space sensors, allowing customers to capture more frequent, high-resolution images…

Curiosity Blog, Sols 4975-4981: Happy 14th Landing Anniversary

By Susanne P. Schwenzer, Professor of Planetary Mineralogy at The Open University, UK Earth planning date: Friday, Aug.

Webb Captures Clearest Image Yet of the Lion Nebula

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has captured images of NGC 2392 (also known as the Lion Nebula)…

Pack a Northern Lights Backpack

This hands-on activity provides a template for elementary students to pack a virtual backpack for an aurora viewing…

Launch Preview: Chang’e 7 headlines week of Chinese and Starlink launches

After last week’s Chang Zheng 7A launch failure, China returns to action with the high-profile… The post Launch…

Northern Lights Storybook

This hands-on activity lesson plan integrates literacy and science by guiding introductory-level students to read cultural aurora stories…

HEO to use Planet satellites for non-Earth imaging

HEO, the Australian company that uses Earth observation satellites to take images of other spacecraft, has signed an…

NASA Model Describes Nearby Star which Resembles Ours in its Youth

This informative NASA article and animation explores our Sun's solar twin to understand the early development of Earth.

Massive Exoplanets Could Form Around Supermassive Black Holes

Black holes aren't just engines of inexorable destruction. They're complex regions of space and time, and under the…

NASA Heliosphere Animation

This conceptual animation shows the heliosphere — the vast bubble that is generated by the Sun’s magnetic field…

Moon Shadow Play Activity

This hands-on activity provides a guided craft to simulate lunar phases and eclipses, helping students visualize Earth-Sun-Moon relationships.

New EU sanctions target leaders of Russia’s space industry

JOHANNESBURG — The European Union has sanctioned the head of a Roscosmos subsidiary developing a synthetic aperture radar…

Modeling Planetary Magnetism Lab

This interactive lab activity engages advanced students in investigating planetary magnetic fields using physical models and smartphone sensors…

NASA's SkyFall Mars Helicopters Will Feature a Revolutionary Antenna Design

Engineers developed a unique fabric-based design for a ground-penetrating radar that will be a key instrument on NASA’s…

Make an Aurora Bracelet Activity

This activity guides learners in how to make a bracelet with the different colors of the auroras, which…

Make an Astrolabe Activity

This hands-on activity guides learners through constructing their own astrolabe to practice angle measurements for determining height, effectively…

Make a Sun Out of Leaves Activity

This hands-on activity provides introductory learners with a creative ways to build physical models of the Sun using…

Make a Starry Sky Projector Activity

This activity shows learners how to create a projector to simulate viewing stars using a cardboard box and…

Make a Model Solar System Activity

This hands-on activity helps students calculate scale distances to build a relative-size solar system model using everyday household…

NASA Selects Companies to Provide Payload Processing Services

NASA has selected four companies to provide payload processing facilities under the Spacecraft Processing Operations Contract on‑ramp provision.

The JWST Little Red Dots Could Be 'Black Hole Stars'

Little red dots have puzzled astronomers since their discovery in JWST data from the Universe’s deep past.

NASA Mission Studies Air Pollution Over Ethiopia

A NASA-funded air pollution monitoring network has provided one of the most detailed long-term views yet of the…

More Starlink satellites and two big launches for China

Rocket launches this week On Tuesday, Aug. 18, Chinese aerospace firm LandSpace is targeting 7:35 p.m.

Hubble captures a corner of M20

Life in space is hard. Most orbiting observatories retire well before their 20th birthday.

Hubble captures a corner of M20

Life in space is hard. Most orbiting observatories retire well before their 20th birthday.

How ancient trees are warning us about the next enormous solar storm

Our sun is capable of storms far bigger than we've ever recorded. Studying the world's oldest trees suggests…

Next Generation of Planetary Scientists Learn Public Engagement Skills

FORCE is a world-class laboratory that uses high-pressure experimental equipment to recreate the extreme conditions found deep within…

Nuking An Asteroid on Short Notice Could Save Us

Readers of a certain age will remember a golden area of asteroid films, capstoned by two with very…

Stellar explosions come into focus with new nuclear reaction measurements

In two separate papers published in Physical Review Letters, researchers investigated the nuclear reactions that take place inside…

ULA names Peller as new CEO

United Launch Alliance has named Mark Peller, a longtime manager and executive at the company, as its new…

Mega-Earth GJ 523b is 23 times as massive as our planet—but only 2.5 times as wide

It's nearly 170 million years old. It's more than 2.5 times the size of Earth.

Featured Image: The Microquasar and the Manatee

An accreting stellar-mass black hole embedded in a supernova remnant is potentially a powerful cosmic particle accelerator.

A Falsifiable Timing Test for the Double-White-Dwarf Model of Long-Period Transients

Yejing Zhan et al 2026 ApJL 1004 L46 The combination of gravitational wave emission, magnetic dissipation, and tidal…

Colorful Collage of Tarantula Nebula

Data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope combine to…

NASA’s Starling Mission Opens New Frontiers in Space Navigation

NASA’s Starling mission has marked another milestone in spacecraft autonomy by using a new system that determines a…

First pair of feeding supermassive black holes found in a Green Pea galaxy

Astronomers have discovered the first confirmed dual active galactic nucleus in a Green Pea galaxy, revealing two supermassive…

NASA Challenge Tests Wheel Designs for Moon Base Mobility

As NASA prepares to establish the Moon Base, advancing surface mobility will be key to helping crews and…

Hubble solves merger mystery from Milky Way’s early years

Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, grew to its current size in part by consuming smaller galaxies.

Hubble & Gaia solve our galaxy's merger mystery

Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, grew to its current size in part by consuming smaller galaxies.

NASA, ESA Astronauts Ready for Tuesday’s Antenna Swap Spacewalk

The Expedition 75 crew has completed preparations and mission managers are go for a spacewalk to swap out…

Total solar eclipse 2026 (Official ESA broadcast)

Video: 01:10:42 We broadcast live from the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre in Spain as a total solar eclipse…

How do slingshot maneuvers work to propel spacecraft?

If a satellite’s velocity increases as it approaches a planet during a slingshot maneuver, why does it not…

World’s largest solar telescope reveals the Sun’s hidden texture

The sharpest images ever taken of the Sun’s surface reveal ribbons of solar plasma curling into tight, wave-like…

DIU, SDA Select Winners for Deorbit-as-a-Service Designs

Last week, the SDA and DIU selected three companies to develop designs for scalable satellite capabilities including rendezvous…

SEOPS Doubles Down on Waymaker Dedicated Rideshare Program

The end of SpaceX’s Transporter program could leave a giant hole for space startups looking for cost effective…

Aug. 17, 1877: Asaph Hall discovers Phobos

Astronomer Asaph Hall met Angeline Stickney at New York Central College in 1855.

Webb’s mysterious little red dots may be hiding entire galaxies

Astronomers may finally have a clue to what happens to the mysterious “little red dots” that crowded the…

Dark matter may be gravitationally lensing a likely source of cosmic neutrinos

Astronomers have discovered that the jet of a distant blazar has been gravitationally lensed by an unseen source…

L3Harris names space sector leader Sam Mehta CEO after Kubasik steps down

Christopher Kubasik exits after board investigation into unspecified conduct

The 77th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2026) is the One Space Event You Cannot Miss

For more than 75 years, the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) has been the annual moment when the global…

SEOPS adds second Waymaker rideshare mission