The final resting place of Russia’s failed Luna-25 lunar lander has apparently been found. Luna-25, Russia’s first moon probe in 47 years, smashed into the lunar surface on Aug. 19, during a maneuver designed to set up its touchdown try a few days later. The crash blasted out a crater, which NASA’s sharp-eyed Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) likely found last week, agency officials said. Related: Russia’s Luna-25 lunar lander crashes into the moon This GIF alternates between Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter views from June 27, 2020, and Aug. 24, 2023 –…
Read MoreMonth: August 2023
SpaceX launches 22 Starlink satellites toward orbit
SpaceX will launch 22 of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit tonight (Aug. 31), and you can watch the action live. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station tonight at 10:21 p.m. EDT (0221 GMT on Sept. 1). Watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly via the company. Coverage is expected to begin about five minutes before launch. Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky A…
Read MoreJames Webb Space Telescope snaps stunning view of supernova’s expanding remains (photos)
The remains of a star that exploded 36 years ago have fallen under the gaze of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) — and this observatory’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) captured the expanding stellar debris in unprecedented resolution, revealing brand new details about this burgeoning supernova remnant. The closest observed supernova since Kepler’s Supernova lit up the Milky Way in 1604, this star explosion was first identified in 1987 and is aptly known as Supernova 1987A. It sits about 168,000 light-years away from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud and…
Read MoreNASA’s Lunabotics 2024 Challenge is Open
The Milwaukee School of Engineering’s robotic miner is ready for its turn to dig in the mining arena during NASA’s LUNABOTICS competition on May 24, 2022, at the Center for Space Education near the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. NASA/Kim Shiflett Across the country, teams comprising hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students – members of the Artemis generation – will vie to be one of the select few competing in the Lunabotics 2024 on-site challenge at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. For teams designing, building,…
Read MoreNASA conducts crucial drop test ahead of Sept. 24 arrival of OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample
NASA is wrapping up its preparations for the landing on Earth of a precious asteroid sample next month. Teams with the agency’s OSIRIS-REx mission performed a crucial test on Wednesday (Aug. 30), retrieving a dummy capsule that fell to Earth in the U.S. Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range, in the desert west of Salt Lake City. That’s where OSIRIS-REx’s real sample capsule, containing about 8.8 ounces (250 grams) of material from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, will touch down on Sept. 24. “We are now mere weeks away…
Read MoreHurricane Idalia in the Gulf of Mexico
Hurricane Idalia is pictured in the Gulf of Mexico from the International Space Station.
Read MoreNASA Completes Last OSIRIS-REx Test Before Asteroid Sample Delivery
A team led by NASA in Utah’s West Desert is in the final stages of preparing for the arrival of the first U.S. asteroid sample – slated to land on Earth in September.
Read MoreSee more gorgeous photos of SpaceX’s Starship engine test
SpaceX has given us a few more dramatic looks at last week’s Starship engine test. SpaceX fired up Booster 9 — the latest prototype of its Starship first stage, known as Super Heavy — on Friday (Aug. 25) at its Starbase facility in South Texas. All 33 of Booster 9’s Raptor engines engaged during the static fire test, which lasted for about six seconds. SpaceX livestreamed the trial, so we got to follow the action in real time. And on Monday (Aug. 28), the company posted two beauty shots on X (formerly…
Read MoreNASA Awards Contracts for NOAA Sounder for Microwave-Based Applications Study
NASA, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has awarded four contracts to conduct NOAA’s Sounder for Microwave-Based Applications (SMBA) Phase-A study.
Read MoreHurricane Idalia slams into Florida as astronauts and satellites track it from space (video, photos)
Satellites and astronauts alike watched a hurricane make its destructive landfall in Florida on Wednesday (Aug. 30). Idalia began to hit Florida hours ago as a powerful Category 3 hurricane, bringing with it destructive storm surges, according to numerous local reports. Satellites have been monitoring the storm’s progress to help protect local populations. Despite all efforts, injuries and possible deaths have already been reported, although precise numbers are hard to come by as the storm is ongoing. Forecasters continue to keep a close watch.The hurricane was visible from the International…
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