spacecraft
Astronomy Cast Ep. 413: Navigating Near
It's hard enough finding your way around planet Earth, but what do you do when you're trying to find your…
Incredible Hand-Drawn Animations Explain How Spacecraft Work
Freelance animator and storyboard artist Stanley VonMedvey has started using his remarkable talents to create short videos to explain a…
Will We Contaminate Europa?
Europa is probably the best place in the Solar System to go searching for life. But before they're launched, any…
Is Jupiter Our Friend Or Enemy?
Like me, you’re probably a little ego-geocentric about the importance of Earth. It’s where you were born, it’s where you…
Could We Make Artificial Gravity?
It's a staple of scifi, and a requirement if we're going to travel long-term in space. Will we ever develop…
Cassini to Perform Its Final Flyby of Hyperion
On Sunday, May 31, the Cassini spacecraft will perform its last close pass of Hyperion, Saturn's curiously spongelike moon. At approximately 9:36…
The End is Near: NASA’s MESSENGER Now Running on Fumes
For more than four years NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft has been orbiting our solar system's innermost planet Mercury, mapping its surface and…
How Do Gravitational Slingshots Work?
Have you ever heard that spacecraft can speed themselves up by performing gravitational slingshot maneuvers? What's involved to get yourself…
A New Image of Europa Emerges
Eureka – it's Europa! And a brand-new image of it, too! (Well, kinda sorta.) The picture above, showing the icy moon's…
Astronomy Cast 350: SpaceShipOne
SpaceShipOne is the spacecraft created by Scaled Composites to win the $10 million Ansari X-Prize in 2003. It was the…