ScientistPankaj: 'We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars.' President Trump wants astronauts to raise the American flag on Mars

'We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars' | Space Quiz! With a mass between 10-100x that of our sun, what type of black holes are born when stars run out of fuel needed for nuclear fusion in their cores, collapsing under the influence of their own gravity? | NASA's Genesis mission is still teaching us about solar wind

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January 21, 2025

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The Launchpad

'We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars'

(Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images))

President Donald Trump wants to lead the United States to Mars. After taking the oath of office to be sworn in as the 47th U.S. president on Monday (Dec. 20), Trump laid out his vision for the next four years in an inauguration speech that called for a return to American expansionism and exploration.

Full Story: Space (1/20)

Space Quiz! With a mass between 10-100x that of our sun, what type of black holes are born when stars run out of fuel needed for nuclear fusion in their cores, collapsing under the influence of their own gravity?

Learn the answer here!

Supermassive black holes

Stellar-mass black holes

Primordial black holes

Intermediate-mass black holes

NASA's Genesis mission is still teaching us about solar wind

(USAF 388th Range Squadron)

In the beginning … there was a thud. It was an unwanted sound, and one that resonated around the world. Think back over 20 years ago to Sept. 8, 2004. That's when NASA's Genesis sample return capsule slammed into an isolated part of the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. It was an unintended, full-stop, smashing occasion. Now, over two decades later, call it "late breaking" news as scientists studying Genesis samples recovered from the crash continue to make new discoveries.

Full Story: Space (1/19)

Skywatching

Night sky for tonight: Visible planets, stars and more

(Starry Night/Jamie Carter)

The moon regularly appears to pass near several bright stars each month, including Aldebaran, Pollux, Regulus, Antares and Spica. However, rarely are the apparent passes as close as tonight's conjunction of a waning gibbous moon and Spica. Look to the east from the early hours until sunrise, and you'll see an almost half-lit moon just 0.1 of a degree from the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo. During 2025, the moon will pass very close to it every month.

Full Story: Space (8/7)

Spaceflight

UK OKs first vertical rocket launch from Saxavord Spaceport

(RFA)

Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) is working towards a first launch of its RFA ONE rocket from SaxaVord Spaceport on the Shetland Islands off the coast of Scotland. Being issued a spaceflight operator license by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is a major administrative step towards reaching orbit. It is also a major first for the European mainland, as the continent's launch sector enters a new era of commercialization.

Full Story: Space (1/21)

Science & Astronomy

Gravitational waves offer a 'cosmic DNA test' for black holes

(Robert Lea (created with Canva))

Black holes have few defining characteristics -- as theoretical physicist John Wheeler put it, "black holes have no hair" (much like your humble author). Of course, though, testing a child's parentage based on physical features is far too subjective -- that's typically where DNA tests come in. Such tests can offer a far more scientific way of checking a person's lineage, and new research suggests an analogous ancestry test for black holes.

Full Story: Space (1/20)

SpaceX

FAA requiring investigation into SpaceX Starship's Flight 7

(SpaceX)

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is requiring an investigation into what went wrong during the seventh test flight of SpaceX's Starship megarocket. The launch, from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas, went well at first. Starship got off the pad successfully, and its two stages -- the Super Heavy booster and Ship spacecraft -- separated on time. And the giant booster came back to Starbase, where it was caught by the launch tower's "chopstick" arms. Ship was less successful, however. The flight plan called for the upper stage to deploy 10 dummy satellites about 17.5 minutes after liftoff and splash down in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia 50 minutes later. But that didn't happen; the 171-foot-tall (52 meters) craft exploded about 8.5 minutes after launch, raining debris over the Atlantic Ocean near the Turks and Caicos islands.

Full Story: Space (1/17)

Search for Life

NASA wants a 'Super-Hubble' to search for alien life

(NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab)

Called the Habitable Worlds Observatory, the telescope is so massive it may even need to ride a next-gen megarocket like SpaceX's Starship to reach space.

Full Story: Space (1/16)

Entertainment

'Silo' Season 2's explosive finale teases season 3

(Apple TV+)

Juliette Lives! Well, we as audience members knew that, but the rebellious citizens of Silo 18 didn't have an inkling until the very end of the "Silo" Season 2 finale, "Into the Fire." And not so coincidentally, that's exactly where we leave Juliette and Bernard at the episode's conclusion.

Full Story: Space (1/20)