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.
With the heavens poised to open up to tourists, a beer is likely to be requested. In anticipation of that day, 4 Pines Brewing Company and Saber Astronautics have spent eight years developing a beer suitable for drinking in zero gravity. Now they need a bottle to put it in.
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One of the most promising places in the solar system to search for life is Jupiter’s moon, Europa, an icy world with a slushy, salty, subsurface ocean. Old data has turned up new evidence of water plumes spraying through the icy shell into space.
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When NASA's Mars 2020 rover touches down on the Red Planet in February 2021, it will carry something never seen before off Earth – a helicopter. The Mars Helicopter is a small, autonomous rotorcraft that has the potential to revolutionize the study of other planets
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The latest version of SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster lifted off today at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At 4:14 pm EDT (20:14 GMT), the first Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) carrying the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 into a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO).
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When NASA's GRACE-FO mission launches, it will be able to map the Earth's gravitational field with unprecedented accuracy thanks to a new laser ranging interferometry technique to chart gravitational anomalies with a ten-fold greater precision than the previous GRACE mission.
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Astronomers have discovered what may be a "toddler" exoplanet. Orbiting a young binary star system called CS Cha about 538 light years from Earth in the constellation of Chameleon, the object may be less than two million years old and is still growing thanks to the dust disc that it inhabits.
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Our Sun is too small to explode in a supernova, but new findings suggest that our nearby star is in for a dramatic demise, creating a vast ring of gas and dust called a planetary nebula. Though that was always a leading theory, there’s some small consolation for those that thought differently…
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An important arm of exoplanet research involves the study of the atmospheres that surround these distant worlds. The molecules they hold can reveal valuable insights into what kind conditions can be found there – along with ones that cannot.
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ESA is examining three space mission concepts to fill the fifth medium class mission slot in its Cosmic Vision science program. The missions under consideration include a next-generation infrared space telescope, a surveyor craft that seeks out transient high-energy events, and a new Venus orbiter.
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Prolonged exposure to lunar dust could make staying on the Moon a risky business. In tests, exposure to dust particles of simulated lunar soil resulted in up to 90 percent of human lung cells and mouse neurons being killed, with the potential for increased cancer risk also evident.
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