Space industry aficionados have big plans. They talk about the not so distant future when hundreds of thousands or even millions of satellites orbit planet Earth, beaming the internet to the unconnected, processing data in orbital computer centers, generating solar power and more. But this ambitious vision, which many in the sector think will become reality sooner or later, worries atmospheric…
With the evening moon appearing as a crescent phase for much of this upcoming week, we now have an opportunity to view some of the fainter sky objects that now occupy our spring evening sky. Looking high overhead and toward the south just after nightfall, there is a broad…
The most mysterious and yet ubiquitous stuff in the cosmos, dark matter is effectively invisible. This is simply because it doesn’t interact with light. But what if instead of trying to see dark matter, scientists attempted to hear it instead?
New research suggests…
“What’s that bright light in the sky?” a friend messaged me the other evening. “Venus,” I replied, without thinking about it. There was a pause, then: “How can you tell? And why is it suddenly so bright?”
People always notice Venus by accident. When it’s low on the horizon after dark, but just high enough and bright enough, it suddenly becomes…
That bright light after sunset? Venus is starting a summer show that's impossible to miss
May 15, 2026
“What’s that bright light in the sky?” a friend messaged me the other evening. “Venus,” I replied, without thinking about it. There was a pause, then: “How can you tell? And why is it suddenly so bright?”
People always notice Venus…
We just learned a little more about NASA’s next Artemis mission.
The agency dropped a few details on Wednesday (May 13) about Artemis 3, a crewed mission that will test rendezvous and docking operations with one or more lunar landers close to home.
“While this…
Scientists propose new way to find aliens — and we may already have a spacecraft that can help
May 15, 2026
Researchers may have just revealed a new way of looking for alien life — it’s based on the idea that it isn’t just the type of biosignatures that are important, but also how they are organized.
“Our approach could help make the search for life more efficient. If a molecular assemblage shows no life-like organization, that may make it a lower priority target,” Fabian…
30-mile-high clouds of acid on Venus are made by the largest 'hydraulic jump' in the solar system
May 14, 2026
A monstrous bank of cloud 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) long that sweeps around Venus every few days is being generated by rising sulfuric acid vapor pushed high into the atmosphere by what is essentially the same phenomenon that describes how water from a running tap…
The world’s first space-based neutrino detector launched to space last week to study elusive neutrino particles that constantly bombard Earth. The mission will test technology that could help researchers in the future to unravel hidden processes taking place deep…
President Trump’s Golden Dome may end up being quite a bit more expensive than originally thought.
A new report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates it will cost about $1.2 trillion to deploy the Golden Dome missile defense system and operate it for 20 years.
That’s more than double the CBO estimate from last year, which was $542 billion, and about seven…
