Launch Preview: Pegasus XL to launch amongst Falcon 9 and Chinese missions

Science & Exploration 22/06/2026 4016 views 50 likes The third identified interstellar comet in human history has a surprising chemical makeup, raising questions as to how common, or unusual, conditions in our own Solar System may be. Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS (NIRSpec IFU) As interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS began moving away from the Sun in December 2025,…

GUAREÑO, SPAIN—According to an article in The Greek Reporter, the wheels and parts of a 2,500-year-old miniature bronze chariot have been discovered in a monumental building at the Tartessian site known as Casas del Turuñuelo in southwestern Spain. In the area where the chariot parts were found, archaeologists had previously uncovered an altar shaped like…

Researchers from the University of Vienna and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have turned to machine learning to take a fresh look at one of astrophysics’ most debated mysteries. Their focus was the Galactic Center Excess (GCE), a faint, roughly spherical glow of gamma rays surrounding the center of the Milky Way. For more than a…

A ship sails smoothly into harbour. Inside, an eager Inspector. Chapter 3 of the ‘Inspector Smile’ comic strip shows the European-Chinese Smile mission arriving at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, after two weeks at sea. Once there, the teams start preparing her for her journey to space. After a health check that goes well, she is…

Looking for extraterrestrial life in the form of biosignatures will involve peering into the constituents of a planetary atmosphere and identifying out of equilibrium gases that tell us something biological is going on. But here’s the problem, as demonstrated recently in work on the exoplanet K2-18b. We’ve identified dimethyl sulfide at this world, which might…

As July begins, three planets adorn the early evening sky. Look toward the northwest and you’ll see Venus. The planet shines brilliantly at magnitude –4.1 and shows up easily 30 minutes after sunset. It creeps slowly away from the Sun and into a darker sky as July progresses. Venus also becomes more attractive through a…