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.
NASA has released a video showing the locations and motions of 29,375 asteroids and comets discovered by the agency’s Near-Earth Object Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) since the start of its mission in December 2013.
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A team of mechanical engineers at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute is working on a new electrical cooling system that has no moving parts. Already being tested aboard the International Space Station, the electrohydrodynamic cooler uses electrically charged fluids to carry away heat.
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When NASA's InSight mission to Mars lifts off on May 5, it won't be alone. Nestled inside the Atlas V launcher on the aft bulkhead carrier of the Centaur upper stage will be two CubeSats that will make up the Mars Cube One mission, or MarCO.
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The Martian moons Phobos and Deimos may have been created in the aftermath of a cataclysmic collision between early Mars and an object with a mass somewhere between that of the dwarf planet Ceres, and the asteroid Vesta.
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The hunt for planets beyond the solar system went up a gear today, as NASA launched its Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
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An international team of astronomers has released survey data detailing the chemical fingerprints of over 340,000 stars. The observations could be used to identify stellar bodies that formed alongside our Sun billions of years ago.
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As leftovers from the formation of the solar system, meteorites can act as time capsules. Scientists at the EPFL have now examined a piece of an asteroid known as 2008 TC3 and found diamonds that could only have come from a large, long-lost planet that roamed our neighborhood billions of years ago.
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Described as the world’s largest and most advanced superconducting camera, a new instrument dubbed DARKNESS is designed to filter out the blinding light of stars to see orbiting exoplanets in more detail than ever before.
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As if they don't already have enough on their plate, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are turning storm chasers. On April 13, a remote controlled robotic arm installed the Space Storm Hunter instrument package that will make an extensive survey of terrestrial thunderstorms.
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Almost three years after NASA's New Horizons deep space probe made its historic flyby of Pluto, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has released the first list of official names for features on the face of the dwarf planet's largest moon, Charon.
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