April 23rd, 2026
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Signaling other intelligences beyond our solar system without elaborate and expensive electronic gear may be underway – but unknowingly. Kunyu City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is located in northwest China. On that site, huge pointer sprinklers are irrigating over 533 hectares of winter wheat fields located on the southern edge of the Taklimakan Desert. Then […]
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NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has been dutifully probing Gale crater and Mount Sharp since the robot plopped down on the Red Planet on August 6, 2012. But there’s new news from the car-sized Mars machinery now wheeling about in the Glen Torridon region of Gale crater, a place that scientists believe was a locale where […]
BOULDER, Colorado – To better gauge our sun’s conniptions there is need to sharpen space weather forecasting skills, honed to better monitor the space environment and provide solar-terrestrial information. The requirement to do so is driven by solar outbursts that can impact satellite communications, GPS systems, and even electric power transmission here on Earth. Gathering […]
The Shenzhou-21 crew aboard China’s orbiting Tiangong space station completed their mission’s third series of extravehicular activities (EVAs) on April 17. According to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), Zhang Lu, the commander of the Shenzhou-21 mission, and Wu Fei conducted the five and a half hour spacewalk, then returned to the space station’s Wentian […]
Blue Origin’s projected launch date for New Glenn’s third mission is slated for liftoff no earlier than Sunday, April 19, 2026, from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch window will be open from 6:45 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time / 10:45 – 12:45 UTC. The […]
NASA’s Artemis II crew and Orion spacecraft splashed down at 5:07 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time following a near 10-day trek from the Earth to the vicinity of the Moon and back. Returning from the flight, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy […]
The U.S. is once again trying to beat another nation to landing astronauts on the moon, and NASA officials and U.S. lawmakers say the stakes are even higher than they were in the 1960s. AIAA Aerospace America story by Leonard David and Cat Hofacker explore the implications of this 21st century space race. Go to: […]
China’s next robotic explorer of the Moon – Chang’e-7 – is now at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern island province of Hainan. To be launched in the second half of this year, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) added that pre-launch tests will begin shortly. According to China Central Television (CCTV), […]
As the four-person Artemis II crew heads back to Earth, there’s a heavy breathing, nail-bitter ahead. It is a wait-a-minute moment regarding the Orion spacecraft heat shield. The high-speed, safe return to Earth from lunar distance of the Artemis II crew depends on the thermal protection system of Orion’s crew module. It must endure […]
The Artemis 2 quartet will be the first humans to get an up-close look at the Moon in more than 50 years. That eye-full view has not been possible since the Apollo 17 astronauts departed the Moon back in 1972, now over 50 years ago! A lunar observations campaign for the Artemis II crew has […]
