Research Rocket Fired Into The Northern Lights
On Saturday, a team of U.S. researchers launched a two-stage rocket containing some 500 pounds worth of instruments through an aurora, with the hopes that they will be able to learn more about how...
Latest Space Stories
Astronomers Clock Record Wind In Stellar-Mass Black Hole
Astronomers have clocked the fastest wind yet ever discovered blowing off a disk around a stellar-mass black hole.
Astronomers Discover 'Waterworld' Planet
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a new class of planet, completely enveloped by water.
Rare Earth Element Discovered In Ancient Stars
A team of researchers say they have discovered that a rare Earth element known as tellurium exists in three ancient stars that are nearly 12 billion years old.
LRO Reveals Moon Is Still Being Pulled Apart
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has revealed that the surface of the moon is actually being stretched.
Space Cooks Needed For Simulated Mission To Mars
Researchers from Cornell University and University of Hawaii-Manoa are looking for six volunteers to spend four months next year living in a simulated Mars base on a Hawaiian lava flow.
February Facebook Giveaway - Shoot for the Moon!
It's time to "Shoot for the Moon" with RedOrbit.com! That's right, folks, it's time for another Facebook giveaway contest. This time, we'll change it up just a bit.
Preps Continue For Launching Engine Icing Research
NASA scientists are making progress in their preparations to mount a detailed research campaign aimed at solving a modern-day aviation mystery involving the unlikely combination of fire and ice inside a running jet engine.
THEMIS Celebrates Five Years Of Service
People still talk about the launch. It was the first – and so far, only – time NASA has launched five satellites at one time. Carefully balanced inside a Delta II rocket, the five THEMIS (short for Timed History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) spacecraft were launched into space from Cape Canaveral at 6:01 p.m. ET on February 17, 2007.
Dutch Scientists Analyze Lack Of Lunar Volcanoes
A team of Dutch scientists believe that they have discovered why there are no active volcanoes on the Moon, even though recent seismic activity suggests that there is a good amount of magma below the surface.
Pulsars: The Universe's Gift To Physics
Pulsars, superdense neutron stars, are perhaps the most extraordinary physics laboratories in the Universe. Research on these extreme and exotic objects already has produced two Nobel Prizes.
Swarm Constellation Heads North
The three satellites that make up ESA’s Swarm magnetic field mission were presented to the media on Feb 17. Following a demanding testing program, the satellites were displayed in the cleanroom before they are shipped to Russia for their July launch.
The Star Factory: Observing Arp 220
The galaxy Arp 220 is home to several giant star clusters—about 10 million solar masses—that are twice as massive as any comparable star cluster in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Fermi Reveals Gamma-ray Bursts' Highest Power Side
Detectable for only a few seconds but possessing enormous energy, gamma-ray bursts are difficult to capture because their energy does not penetrate the Earth's atmosphere.
50th Anniversary Of First American To Orbit Earth
On February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth aboard Friendship 7. Now, 50 years later, we look back at that moment with admiration at what roads that mission was able to pave for our nation.
Building Blocks Of Early Earth Survived Collision That Created Moon
Unexpected new findings by a University of Maryland team of geochemists show that some portions of the Earth's mantle (the rocky layer between Earth's metallic core and crust) formed when the planet was much smaller than it is now, and that some of this early-formed mantle survived Earth's turbulent formation, including a collision with another planet-sized body that many scientists believe led to the creation of the Moon.
'Honeycombs' And Hexacopters Help Tell Story Of Mars
In a rough-and-tumble wonderland of plunging canyons and towering buttes, some of the still-raw bluffs are lined with soaring, six-sided stone columns so orderly and trim, they could almost pass as relics of a colossal temple.
China Planning To Launch New Manned Space Mission
China news agency Xinhua reported on Friday that the country's space agency will be launching its next manned space mission sometime between June and August.
Station Cosmonauts Complete Spacewalk
Two Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) completed a six-hour and 15-minute spacewalk Thursday afternoon to ready for the removal of a docking module due to be flown back into Earth’s atmosphere for incineration sometime next year.
Microbial Oasis Found Beneath Atacama Desert, Lessons For Mars
Two meters below the surface of the Atacama Desert there is an 'oasis' of microorganisms. Researchers found it in hypersaline substrates thanks to SOLID, a detector for signs of life which could be used in environments similar to subsoil on Mars.
Human And Humanoid Perform First Handshake In Space
Daniel Burbank, current commander of the International Space Station crew, has taken a new step in orbit by becoming the first human to shake hands with a humanoid robot in space.
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Word of the Day
Quote of the Day
The goal of science is to build better mousetraps. The goal of nature is to build better mice. 
- unknown