Space missions have long exemplified humankind's indomitable spirit and boundless ambition. Once the reserve of nations, space is fact opening up to commercial enterprises and could soon be the must-go destination for tourists – provided the accumulation of debris doesn't turn Earth's orbit into a no-go zone. All this comes as missions beyond the Moon provide greater insights into our solar system and more powerful telescopes give us a glimpse at exoplanets light years away.
New Atlas keeps you up to date with the latest space news and fantastic images from all corners of the Universe.
When the Orbital OTK OA-9 resupply mission lifted off on Monday from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, its 7,385 lb (3,350 kg) of cargo included centuries-old technology alongside cutting-edge physics experiments.
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A big challenge humanity faces in venturing off Earth and into deep space is how to tackle the dangers of cosmic radiation. A team has now discovered a drug treatment that could not only prevent cognitive deficits caused by this radiation, but actually repair damage in the brain after exposure.
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An international team of astronomers has discovered an asteroid sharing Jupiter's orbit, that appears to have originated from another solar system. The imaginatively named asteroid 2015 BZ509 could have immigrated to our system at a time when our Sun was still embedded in a colossal star cluster.
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When the latest Cygnus cargo mission to the SS lifts off, its manifest will include three CubeSats, including the first equipped with radar. The size of three cereal boxes and weighing only 26 lb (11.8 kg) each, the miniature satellites will be used to demonstrate new technologies in orbit.
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The TESS mission took its first image as it completed a dramatic lunar flyby this week. On May 17, 2018, the next-generation planet hunter passed within 5,000 mi (8,000 km) of the Moon to execute a slingshot maneuver that hurled it towards its final orbit.x
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An international team of astronomers has completed the most comprehensive ultraviolet survey of the local universe to date, with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope. The survey could help scientists better understand how stars come to form, and how galaxies like our own evolve over time.
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Elements like oxygen, carbon and nitrogen weren’t very common until the first stars had fired up, burnt out and exploded. Now, astronomers using ALMA have detected the most distant – and hence, earliest – signature of oxygen, in a galaxy 13.28 billion light-years away.
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A team of astronomers has identified a rare laser phenomenon shining from the heart of the planetary nebula Menzel 3, otherwise known as the Ant Nebula. The discovery suggests the presence of an as yet unseen companion star, hiding at the core of the chaotic cosmic structure.
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The Earth just had a close encounter with an asteroid about 200 to 400 ft (50 to 120 m) across that missed us by a cosmic whisker. On May 15 at 3:04 pm PDT, asteroid 2010 WC9 came within 120,000 miles of the Earth's surface while clocking a speed of 29,000 mph.
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In a nod to the famous Pale Blue Dot image sent back by Voyager 1, the MarCO-B CubeSat has beamed back its own image of the Earth and the Moon. It's the first image from the two MarCO CubeSats and was transmitted a day after they reached a distance of 1 million km (621.371 mi) from the Earth.
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