Stratolaunch ascends to new heights with successful test of world’s biggest airplane
Stratolaunch’s Roc airplane flies over California’s Mojave Desert. (Stratolaunch via Twitter) Stratolaunch says its mammoth carrier airplane rose to its highest altitude yet during its seventh flight…
How ‘Big Data’ could help SETI researchers intensify the search for alien civilizations
Artwork shows the Gaia spacecraft against the background of the Milky Way. (ESA Illustration / D. Ducros) Could far-off aliens be sending out signals telling us they…
Microsoft and Xplore team up with NOAA to demonstrate cloud-based satellite operations
An artist’s rendition shows the NOAA-18 satellite in orbit. (NOAA Illustration) What do you do with an aging weather satellite? If you’re the National Oceanic and Atmospheric…
Virgin Galactic announces deal with Boeing subsidiary to build next-gen motherships
An artist’s conception shows a Virgin Galactic mothership in flight. (Virgin Galactic Illustration) Virgin Galactic says it will partner with Aurora Flight Sciences, a Virginia-based Boeing subsidiary,…
Biden unveils first image from Webb Space Telescope, expanding the space frontier
The first full-color image from the James Webb Space Telescope reveals faraway galaxies. Click on the image for a larger view. (NASA / ESA / CSA /…
Feast your eyes on the first course of a celestial smorgasbord from NASA’s Webb Space Telescope
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope provided this view of a galactic grouping known as Stephan’s Quintet. Click on the image for a larger version. (NASA / ESA…
Liftoff! Pacific Northwest National Lab’s microbe study could blaze a trail for future farmers on Mars
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket rises from its Florida launch pad. (SpaceX via YouTube) An experiment that’s on its way to the International Space Station focuses on a…
After flying with SpaceX, citizen astronaut Chris Sembroski joins Blue Origin as engineer
Chris Sembroski went into orbit during the Inspiration4 mission in 2021. (SpaceX / Inspiration4 Photo) Seattle-area data engineer Chris Sembroski got his first taste of space last…
Microsoft’s Azure Space strengthens its partnerships with final-frontier pioneers
Azure Space’s partners make use of space-based as well as ground-based assets. (Microsoft Graphic) Microsoft doesn’t build rockets. It doesn’t build satellites, and it doesn’t have a…
NASA announces a challenging schedule for inaugural launch of its SLS moon rocket
A full moon shines above NASA’s Space Launch System rocket during pad testing on June 14. (NASA Photo) If all goes according to plan, NASA could launch…