Tag Archives: Spacecraft

50 years ago, NASA sent 2 spacecraft to search for life on Mars – the Viking missions’ findings are still discussed today

50 years ago, NASA sent 2 spacecraft to search for life on Mars – the Viking missions’ findings are still discussed today

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Finding life beyond the Earth would be a major scientific discovery with significant implications for all areas of science and human thought. Yet, only one direct search for extraterrestrial life has ever been conducted. The NASA Viking spacecraft, which landed …

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Dragon Spacecraft Equipped With Revolutionary Thruster System to Boost International Space Station Using Draco Engines

Dragon Spacecraft Equipped With Revolutionary Thruster System to Boost International Space Station Using Draco Engines

IN A NUTSHELL 🚀 SpaceX introduces a new propulsion system to help maintain the International Space Station’s orbit. 🔧 The Dragon spacecraft’s trunk now features additional Draco thrusters for efficient reboost operations. 🌐 This mission marks a collaborative effort between NASA and commercial partners like SpaceX and Northrop Grumman. 📈 Future Dragon missions will further enhance the flexibility and capabilities …

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Northrop Grumman’s new spacecraft is a real chonker

Northrop Grumman’s new spacecraft is a real chonker

What happens when you use a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to launch Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus supply ship? A record-setting resupply mission to the International Space Station. The first flight of Northrop’s upgraded Cygnus spacecraft, called Cygnus XL, is on its way to the international research lab after launching Sunday evening from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. This mission, known …

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NASA Scientist Debunks Claims That Interstellar Object Comet 3I/Atlas Is An Advanced Alien Spacecraft

NASA Scientist Debunks Claims That Interstellar Object Comet 3I/Atlas Is An Advanced Alien Spacecraft

NASA has responded to claims – popularized by Harvard professor Avi Loeb – that the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS is a spacecraft sent to the Solar System by an advanced alien civilization. On July 1, 2025, astronomers spotted an object moving through the Solar System at nearly twice the velocity of previous interstellar visitors ‘Oumuamua and Comet Borisov. The object, which …

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Russian Progress spacecraft arrives at the ISS with 2.8 tons of cargo

Russian Progress spacecraft arrives at the ISS with 2.8 tons of cargo

The astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) just got a fresh shipment of supplies. Russia’s robotic Progress 93 spacecraft docked with the orbiting lab’s Zvezda module at 1:23 p.m. EDT (1723 GMT) today (Sept. 13), two days after launching atop a Soyuz rocket from the Russia-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The meetup occurred today as the two spacecraft …

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NASA Tests Americium-241 Nuclear Batteries That Could Run Spacecraft for Multiple Centuries

NASA Tests Americium-241 Nuclear Batteries That Could Run Spacecraft for Multiple Centuries

IN A NUTSHELL 🌌 NASA explores americium-241 for its potential to power spacecraft over centuries. 🚀 The new isotope could extend the reach of missions beyond current limitations. 🔋 Nuclear batteries convert heat from radioactive decay into electricity for deep space exploration. 🔍 Ongoing research focuses on reliable conversion systems like the Stirling engine for effective energy use. NASA’s pursuit …

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NASA Invites Media to View Artemis Moon Rocket, Spacecraft at Kennedy

NASA Invites Media to View Artemis Moon Rocket, Spacecraft at Kennedy

Media are invited to see NASA’s fully assembled Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft in mid-October before its crewed test flight around the Moon next year.   The event at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida will showcase hardware for the Artemis II lunar mission, which will test capabilities needed for deep space exploration. NASA and …

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Small black holes are surprisingly messy eaters, Japanese spacecraft discovers: ‘Being surprised is good’

Small black holes are surprisingly messy eaters, Japanese spacecraft discovers: ‘Being surprised is good’

Small black holes making a meal out of companion stars are surprisingly messy eaters, astronomers using a Japanese space telescope have discovered. Scientists have known for some time that when supermassive black holes — those with masses millions or billions of times that of the sun — devour matter, such as surrounding gas and dust or even an unfortunate passing …

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Juno spacecraft finds auroral ‘footprints’ of Jupiter’s moon Callisto for 1st time

Juno spacecraft finds auroral ‘footprints’ of Jupiter’s moon Callisto for 1st time

In a landmark observation by a team of international researchers, NASA’s Juno spacecraft has, for the first time, clearly detected the auroras of Jupiter’s moon Callisto. This discovery completes the set of auroral signatures we have from all four Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Like Earth, Jupiter experiences brilliant auroras around its poles — but something funky happens …

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How to Distinguish a Population of Interstellar Rocks from a Fleet of Spacecraft? | by Avi Loeb | Sep, 2025

How to Distinguish a Population of Interstellar Rocks from a Fleet of Spacecraft? | by Avi Loeb | Sep, 2025

(Credit: shutterstock) How can we distinguish between the population statistics of interstellar rocks and a fleet of spacecraft that target that inner Solar system? The answer is obvious: by the spatial distribution of their trajectories relative to the Sun. Whereas rocks arrive on random trajectories initiated near their parent stars, spacecraft aiming to probe the habitable zone around the Sun …

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