NASA astronaut Jessica Meir inspects optical fibers while installing hardware updates to the agency’s Cold Atom Lab, or CAL, aboard the International Space Station on May 8, 2026. About the size of a minifridge and operated from Earth, CAL chills atoms to temperatures below minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.15 degrees Celsius), so close to…
This video was published by ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot on social media with the following caption: Day 133, orbit 2063 — In this timelapse, I’m retrieving the fourth sample printed with the first 3D metal printer ever sent to space, ESA’s Metal 3D printer… and getting everything ready for the next printing session!…
WASHINGTON — Isar Aerospace won a contract from Planet’s German subsidiary to launch an imaging satellite, demonstrating an end-to-end space capability for the country. Isar Aerospace announced July 2 it signed a contract with Planet Labs Germany for the launch of a Pelican high-resolution imaging satellite on a Spectrum rocket. The launch will take place…
Weird and dangerous flotsam washes up in The End of Everything Dan Kitwood/Getty Images The best science-fiction book of the year so far has only just been published. The End of Everything, by M. John Harrison, is about half the length of a regular novel, but it’s so powerful and complete that there is nothing…
Less than a week after its last test, SpaceX’s latest Starship spacecraft went back to the stand for engine checkouts ahead of a coming test flight. The upper stage for SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket, referred to simply as “Ship” — Ship 40, in this case — underwent a static-fire test of all six of its…
Scientists at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) have taken a new look at Earth’s violent beginnings and found that ancient asteroid impacts may have played a key role in making the planet habitable. Their computer models suggest that repeated collisions did far more than reshape the young Earth’s surface. They also created extensive hydrothermal systems, hot…
Soldiers and civilians alike enjoyed strategy game Ludus Latrunculorum in the Roman Empire, especially in Roman Britain Christian Thorsberg | Daily Correspondent July 2, 2026 3:45 p.m. The 3D printed board based on scans of the original game board discovered in Vindolanda Newcastle University Researchers in England, equipped with a 3D printer, created a playable…
Image: Blue Origin Blue Origin is set to launch its third New Glenn rocket tomorrow, April 19, in the early morning hours. The mission will carry with it a satellite for AST SpaceMobile, but it will also fly something that has already flown before: the booster. Blue Origin is looking to become the second company…
SpaceX grew its Starlink network by 24 more satellites on Wednesday evening (July 1) with a launch from California. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the two dozen new relay spacecraft (Group 17-46) lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 10:58 p.m. EDT (0258 GMT on July 2 or…
The two satellites involved in the US Space Force’s Victus Haze mission have completed their initial orbital maneuvers and rendezvous operations significantly sooner than required, according to the companies operating them. The Space Force launched the Victus Haze mission on 19 June from Rocket Lab’s spaceport in New Zealand, using an Electron launch vehicle. The…