Orbit

Solar wind – charged particles from the Sun – pervades our solar system, but the exact mechanism behind it remains murky. Now ESA’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft has observed previously unknown tiny flares on the Sun’s surface spewing plasma into space.

Rockets are expensive, so a number of kinetic launch startups are working on ways to simply yeet payloads into orbit and bring costs down. This one's very fun – a six-mile-long concrete cannon that'll squeeze launch vehicles to Mach 30 in one second.

Astronomers using an array of 66 radio telescopes have discovered what may be the first example of a star with two exoplanets circling it that share the same orbit, something that was thought to be theoretically possible but never seen until now.

A Caltech team is celebrating the world's first space-based wireless power transmission, and the first time detectable levels of power have been beamed down to Earth. The Space Solar Power Project aims to unlock huge orbital clean energy resources.

While two thirds of exoplanets may be a fiery, boiling wasteland, scientists believe the other third occupy a "just right" goldilocks orbit around their star, and this, much like Earth's orbit, could provide the right environmental support for life.

Ahead of the start of the Atlantic hurricane season next month, two storm-monitoring NASA CubeSats have successfully launched into space atop a Rocket Lab Electron booster from the Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula.

This space oddity has long puzzled scientists for its peculiar non-asteroid-like behaviors. Researchers have now uncovered another curious characteristic of 3200 Phaethon, this time with its dazzling tail, rewriting 14 years of science knowledge.

Texan startup Firefly Aerospace has joined the growing group of orbit-capable space startups, with the successful launch of its Alpha rocket over the weekend, which saw a set of satellites deployed into low-Earth orbit.

NASA took its first step today in establishing its Gateway orbital lunar outpost with the launch of its CAPSTONE CubeSat that will be used to test a new lunar orbit slated for the future space station.

In many ways, space is the perfect place for a solar energy array. In other ways, it poses massive technical challenges. China's Xidian University has begun testing the full range of space solar functions with a purpose-built 75-meter tower facility.

Orbex has publicly unveiled the full-scale prototype of its reusable Prime rocket on its pad at Space Hub Sutherland in northern Scotland, where the first-ever vertical launch of a satellite from UK soil is set to be carried out in the coming months.

A new player has joined the ranks of private spacefaring outfits with the ability to reach orbit, following the successful lift-off for startup Astra's launch vehicle just five years after the company was established.