How to Mourn a Space Robot
NASA’s Cassini probe will soon plunge into Saturn, ending its 13-year mission to the ringed planet and triggering a wave of grief among scientists, engineers, and an adoring public.
-
![]()
Gary Cameron / Reuters The Surprising Space Ambitions in Colonial America
Long before NASA, private individuals and communities banded together for the pursuit of geopolitical power and scientific discovery.
-
![]()
NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona A Needle in a Haystack on Mars
The extreme isolation of the Curiosity rover, as seen from above
-
![]()
Ye Aung Thu / Getty Would You Go to an Astronomy-Themed Resort?
A vacation spot in northwestern India bills itself as one of the best places in the country to see the Milky Way.
-
![]()
NASA / JPL-Caltech The Mars Robot Making Decisions on Its Own
Thanks to artificial-intelligence software, the Curiosity rover can target rocks without human input.
-
![]()
NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope The Eerie Alignment of Ancient Giant Galaxies
New research using Hubble shows these massive, bright objects aligned with their surroundings as far back as 10 billion years ago.
-
![]()
NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Ariz. Where Is Our Sun's Twin?
New research suggests sun-like stars are born in pairs, resurrecting the idea of a solar sibling from billions of years ago.
-
![]()
Bill Ingalls / NASA The Millennial Astronaut Who Wants to Go to Mars
Jessica Watkins, one of NASA’s newest recruits, says she’s ready—but only if there’s a ride back.
-
![]()
Joe Penney / Reuters The Silent Power of Live-Streaming Politics
Unfiltered feeds, like the one that carried James Comey’s testimony, can provide a rare moment of transparency in a noisy and divided political climate.
-
![]()
JPL / NASA Are We Living in a Giant Cosmic Void?
A team of researchers says the Milky Way resides in one of the observable universe’s darkest regions, but some experts aren't so sure.
-
![]()
Mike Blake / Reuters Why Are So Many People Applying to Be Astronauts?
NASA received more than 18,300 applications for its newest class, three times more than its last round of hiring.
-
![]()
Amr Dalsh / Reuters People Are Turning to Outer Space for Relief From Trump News
When headline fatigue gets you down, why not stare at pictures of cosmic explosions?
-
![]()
Kevin Lamarque / Reuters Elon Musk Quits Donald Trump
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said Thursday he would leave the president’s advisory boards over the Paris agreement withdrawal.
-
![]()
LIGO / Caltech / MIT / Sonoma State ... Gravitational Waves From Black Holes Are Detected for Third Time
The ripples in spacetime reached Earth from a cosmic collision about 3 billion light-years away.
-
![]()
Carlo Allegri / Reuters NASA Is Launching a Probe to a Star
They decided to go with the closest one.
-
![]()
Jeff Mitchell / Reuters The Hidden Women in Astronomy Research
An analysis of thousands of scientific papers dating back to 1950 shows female researchers are cited less frequently.
-
![]()
NASA / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt ... Jupiter Is Much Stranger Than Scientists Thought
The Juno spacecraft has made several close flybys of the gas giant, revealing massive cyclones—and other weird features beneath its surface.
-
![]()
NASA Trump's Fiscal Plans for NASA
While the space agency would see cuts across most of its programs, it has been spared the worst compared to the government’s other research agencies.
-
![]()
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences The Making of Space Mice
Researchers used freeze-dried sperm that spent nine months on the International Space Station to produce healthy pups on Earth.
-
![]()
NASA The ‘Alien Megastructure’ Star Is Dimming Again
Astronomers all over the world are rushing to train their telescopes on it.
-
![]()
Thomas Pesquet / AP How to Sequence DNA in Space
“I didn’t want to screw it up,” thought Kate Rubins, the first person to carry out this experiment in microgravity.
