Rick Tumlinson founded SpaceFund, a venture capital firm investing in space startups, the Earthlight Foundation, and New Worlds. He also co-founded the Space Frontier Foundation, and is a founding board member of the X Prize Foundation. He contributed the following piece — an edited essay from his upcoming book “Why Space: The Purpose of People,” to be published in October 2025 —…
These 2 galaxies are falling into the Virgo Cluster at a staggering rate of 547 miles per second
September 26, 2025
A vast river of neutral hydrogen bridges two galaxies that are beginning to enter the monstrous Virgo Cluster, and this structure is helping astronomers better understand our Milky Way’s relationship with the nearby Magellanic Clouds.
The two galaxies, named NGC 4532…
Boosting timber harvesting in national forests while cutting public oversight won't solve America's wildfire problem
September 25, 2025
This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
The western United States is facing another destructive wildfire season, with more acres burned in Colorado alone in…
Rare satellite footage shows the moon eclipsing the sun on a strangely crooked path
September 25, 2025
Coronagraph imagery of the partial solar eclipse on Sept. 21, 2025. (Image credit: NOAA, GOES-19 CCOR-1)
On Sept. 21, while skywatchers on Earth were eagerly watching a partial solar eclipse unfold, NOAA’s space weather sentinel GOES-19 was also keeping watch from orbit.
From its vantage point high above Earth, the satellite’s Compact Coronagraph-1 (CCOR-1) recorded something unusual…
Could astronauts travel to Mars on nuclear-powered rockets? These scientists want to make it happen
September 25, 2025
Space missions in the future could travel to Mars, asteroids and the outer solar system by riding on nuclear-powered rockets, thanks to a new design that utilizes energy from the nuclear fission of liquid uranium to heat propellant.
The exciting potential of the new…
How do particle colliders work?
September 24, 2025
Particle accelerators, also known as particle colliders or atom smashers, have been responsible for some of the most exciting physics findings over the past century, including the discovery of the elusive Higgs boson, the fundamental force-carrying particle of the Higgs…
On Feb. 17, 2026, an annular solar eclipse will be visible from a remote part of Antarctica, forming a “ring of fire” for up to 2 minutes, 20 seconds as 96% of the sun’s center is eclipsed by the moon.
Few will witness that moment, but observers in the rest of Antarctica — including those on cruise ships on late-season tours — will see a partial solar eclipse, as will people…
This new NASA astronaut candidate has already been to space
September 24, 2025
One of NASA’s newly announced astronaut candidates already has a spaceflight under her belt.
On Monday (Sept. 22), the space agency announced the 10 members of its newest astronaut class — five men and five women who will train for potential missions to commercial…
'If it's possible, it must be done': Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck has his eyes on missions to Mars and Venus
September 23, 2025
Rocket Lab wants to bring NASA’s Perseverance rover samples back from Mars.
As interest in Mars Sample Return (MSR) resurfaces, Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck says his company already has experience with the spacecraft and hardware needed to get the…
Could new comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN) become visible to the naked eye in October? Here's what we know
September 23, 2025
A newly discovered comet will soon be gracing our evening sky.
On Sept. 10, Vladimir Bezugly of Dnipro, Ukraine was examining online images of a low-resolution public website showing images obtained during Sept. 5-9 with the Solar Wind Anisotropies (SWAN) camera on the Solar and Heliospheric Observer (SOHO) spacecraft. That’s when he discovered a moving object, resembling a bright blob…
