Artist’s concept depicting astronauts, habitats, rovers, power systems, and cargo operations supporting sustained human activities at the Moon Base near the lunar South Pole. Credit: NASA On Sunday, NASA announced the opening of its $1 million Moon Base Student Challenge during a MAX POWER event at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. As part of a Golden Age of Science, the competition invites student teams at U.S. high schools and post-secondary schools to contribute designs for the Moon Base. “We’re looking for students ready to think creatively, work as…
Read MoreOn this day in space! Nov. 8, 2005: Europe launches Venus Express, its first mission to Venus
Share this article Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter On Nov. 8, 2005, Europe launched its first mission to Venus. The spacecraft was called Venus Express. Venus is a hothouse planet, one where the atmospheric pressure can easily crush an unprotected spacecraft. Even from orbit, Venus Express had to survive harsh radiation. But the spacecraft lasted for more than nine years. During that time, Venus Express saw a weird vortex swirling around Venus’s south pole. It also saw…
Read MoreWho is King Ghidorah? The cosmic connections of Godzilla Minus Zero’s foe
Share this article Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Godzilla goes toe-to-toe with long-time foe King Ghidorah in Godzilla Minus Zero, which opened in theaters on Friday (Nov. 6). Though the three-headed golden Kaiju might seem like a natural native of Monster Island, King Ghidorah actually emerged from the depths of space. However, it isn’t just the origins of King Ghidorah — also known as Monster Zero in the Godzilla movie Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) — that are…
Read MoreScientists simulate an Earth without life to help hunt for aliens and inhabited worlds
Share this article Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter A new computer simulation that depicts Earth, or a rocky planet in general, without life is the latest tool in the quest to discover whether or not we are alone in the universe. Life leaves its mark on a planet, particularly its atmosphere, in the form of a mixture of biochemically created gases. Some are obvious, while others can be produced by both biology and geology, meaning that distinguishing…
Read MoreAPOD: 2026 November 8 – Major Fireball Meteor
APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 November 8 –… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Major Fireball Meteor Explanation: The sky glows with soft pinkish colors of fading twilight in this serendipitous mountaintop vista. Taken in subfreezing temperatures, the thoughtfully composed photo shows snowy, rugged peaks seen from a mountain pass on 2017…
Read MoreNASA Awards Moon Base Transportation, Technology, Science Projects
Artist’s concept of living and working at Moon Base. Credit: NASA NASA announced a suite of awards and mission updates on Saturday to expand the agency’s Moon Base exploration, science, and infrastructure capabilities. The investments will advance commercial robotic deliveries, a nuclear-powered rover named PROMISE, launch and orbital transfer services, and surface infrastructure as the agency works with American industry to establish a sustained presence on the Moon’s South Pole. The agency shared the news at the MAX POWER aerospace expo and air show at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in…
Read MoreNASA Seeks Next Generation of Explorers to Join Astronaut Corps
NASA announced its 2025 Astronaut Candidate Class on Sept. 22, 2025, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Credit: NASA/Helen Arase Vargas NASA is looking for the explorers who will help write the next chapter of human spaceflight. Applications are now open for the agency’s next class of astronauts, who will join NASA as America returns to the Moon, builds the Moon Base, and lays the groundwork for the first crewed missions to Mars. The next generation of astronauts will train to operate on the lunar surface, live and…
Read MoreSend your name to Saturn’s moon Titan with NASA’s upcoming Dragonfly mission
Share this article Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter We still may be some time away from sending humans to distant reaches of the solar system, but you can send your name to Saturn’s moon Titan, which has the ingredients of life on its surface thanks to NASA’s Dragonfly mission. Dragonfly is an SUV-sized nuclear-powered rotorcraft that NASA aims to launch towards Titan in 2028. The agency opened a special events page in late October to allow members…
Read MoreStar Wars is experiencing a golden age of video games
Share this article Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter After a tumultuous start to EA’s rebooted Star Wars Battlefront series, in 2021 Lucasfilm and Disney decided to open up the development of new Star Wars games by bringing in different publishers and studios under the Lucasfilm Games banner. Now, over five years on, we can confidently say we’re entering a new golden era of amazing Star Wars games. With LucasArts’ successor calling the shots and coordinating a multitude…
Read MoreAPOD: 2026 November 7 – De Gerlache-Kocher Massif
APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 November 7 –… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. De Gerlache-Kocher Massif Explanation: De Gerlache-Kocher massif looms on the visible horizon in this close-up of the edge of the Moon. The mountainous formation rises about 4 kilometers above its surroundings and is located very close to the…
Read More