Rocket Lab is Going to try to Re-use its First Stage Booster, Catching it in Mid-air With a Helicopter
CEO Peter Beck of Rocket Lab recently announced that his company will begin retrieving the first stage of its Electron…
Milky Way’s Black Hole Just Flared, Growing 75 Times as Bright for a Few Hours
Even though the black hole at the center of the Milky Way is a monster, it's still rather quiet. Called…
Spacecraft Gyroscopes And Reaction Wheels. You Can Never Have Enough
It’s amazing to think there are telescopes up in space, right now, directing their gaze at distant objects for hours,…
Hardy Tardigrades on Board Israel’s Beresheet Lander Probably Survived the Crash
When SpaceIL's Beresheet lander crashed into the Moon, it was a bitter-sweet moment for Israel's space exploration aspirations. The privately-built…
Astronomers Uncover Dozens of Previously Unknown Ancient and Massive Galaxies
An international team of astronomers led by the University of Tokyo used ALMA to view 39 previously-undiscovered ancient galaxies.
Carnival of Space #624
It's that time again! This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Pamela Hoffman at the Everyday Spacer blog. Click…
A Monster Black Hole has been Found with 40 Billion Times the Mass of the Sun
If contemplating the vast size of astronomical objects makes you feel rather puny and insignificant, then this new discovery will…
NASA Tests Water Powered Spacecraft in Orbit
Picture two tissue box-sized spacecraft orbiting Earth. Then picture them communicating, and using a water-powered thruster to approach each other.…
A Bunch of New Names for Pluto’s Surface Features Were Just Approved
Pluto is getting some new names. In the past, prior to the New Horizons mission, there wasn't much to name.…
Traces of One of the Oldest Stars in the Universe Found Inside Another Star
Despite all we know about the formation and evolution of the Universe, the very early days are still kind of…