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Georgina Torbet

Georgina Torbet

Space Writer

Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She specializes in current and future exploration of Mars. She has previously written about science, technology, and security topics for websites like SlashGear, Engadget, and Futurism. She has a master's degree in neuroscience and a PhD in psychology.

spacex starship third test flight screenshot 2024 03 14 143605

SpaceX’s Starship reaches orbit on third test flight

SpaceX's mighty Starship rocket has made it into space on its third test flight. The rocket launched at 9:25 a.m. ET today, March 14.
This colorful web of wispy gas filaments is the Vela Supernova Remnant, an expanding nebula of cosmic debris left over from a massive star that exploded about 11,000 years ago. This image was taken with the Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), mounted on the US National Science Foundation's Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. The striking reds, yellows, and blues in this image were achieved through the use of three DECam filters that each collect a specific color of light. Separate images were taken in each filter and then stacked on top of each other to produce this high-resolution image that contains 1.3 gigapixels and showcases the intricate web-like filaments snaking throughout the expanding cloud of gas.

See the stunning Vela supernova remnant in exquisite detail in expansive image

An enormous new image of the ghostly Vela supernova remnant shows off the fascinating and elaborate structure of this striking cosmic object.
Starship stacked

How to watch SpaceX launch the third flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday

SpaceX has announced the time of its next test of its Starship rocket, which will be the third test flight of the vehicle to date. Here's how to watch.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov, left, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa are seen inside the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery ship MEGAN shortly after having landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, Tuesday, March 12, 2024. Moghbeli, Mogensen, Furukawa, and Borisov are returning after nearly six-months in space as part of Expedition 70 aboard the International Space Station.

NASA’s Crew-7 astronauts splash down safely off the coast of Florida

NASA's Crew-7 mission has splashed down off the coast of Florida, with the four astronauts on board returning safely from the International Space Station.
This image of NGC 5468, a galaxy located about 130 million light-years from Earth, combines data from the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. This is the most distant galaxy in which Hubble has identified Cepheid variable stars. These are important milepost markers for measuring the expansion rate of the Universe. The distance calculated from Cepheids has been cross-correlated with a Type Ia supernova in the galaxy. Type Ia supernovae are so bright they are used to measure cosmic distances far beyond the range of the Cepheids, extending measurements of the Universe’s expansion rate deeper into space.

The expansion rate of the universe still has scientists baffled

The question of how fast the universe is expanding confounds scientists, and new research using James Webb and Hubble doesn't make the answer any clearer.
Simplified diagram of space solar power concept..

Asimov’s vision of harvesting solar power from space could become a reality

Isaac Asimov's idea of harvesting solar power from space may not be a thing of fiction much longer as space agencies explore the concept.
This composite image shows the MWC 758 planet-forming disc, located about 500 light-years away in the Taurus region, as seen with two different facilities. The yellow colour represents infrared observations obtained with the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). The blue regions on the other hand correspond to observations performed with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).

See planets being born in new images from the Very Large Telescope

Astronomers have peered into the disks of matter from which exoplanets form, looking at more than 80 young stars to see which have planets forming around them.
Part of NASA’s CADRE technology demonstration, three small rovers that will explore the Moon together show off their ability to drive as a team autonomously – without explicit commands from engineers – during a test in a clean room at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in December 2023.

Meet NASA’s trio of mini moon rovers set to launch next year

NASA introduces a trio of mini rovers which will work together as a team to map the lunar surface, testing out the possibilities of using rovers in groups.
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See what James Webb and Hubble are observing right now with this tool

If you're looking for a relaxing way to observe the fascinating sights of space on your lunch break, then a newly updated tool from NASA has you covered.
This view of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa was captured by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during the mission’s close flyby on Sept. 29, 2022.

Jupiter’s icy moon Europa may be light on oxygen, lowering habitability hopes

New research pours cold water on the likelihood of Europa being habitable, as it seems that the moon produces less oxygen than previously thought.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission launches from Kennedy Space Center at 10:53 p.m. EST on Sunday, March 3, 2024.

NASA addresses the crack in the hatch of the Crew-8 spacecraft

NASA and SpaceX launched the Crew-8 mission late last night, but a crack was discovered in the hatch seal of the spacecraft around 30 minutes before liftoff.
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Listen to the sounds of a space nebula with NASA sonifications

A NASA project called sonifications gives a new way to experience beautiful images of space: via sound.
The International Space Station.

Air is leaking from Russian module of the International Space Station

The International Space Station is experiencing a leak from a Russian module, but NASA assures the public that it is no threat to the crew on board.
Taken on February 27th, flight controllers commanded Odysseus to capture a new image using its narrow-field-of-view camera. Previous attempts to send photos from landing and the days following returned unusable imagery. After successfully transmitting the image to Earth, flight controllers received additional insight into Odysseus’ position on the lunar surface

See images of the tilted Odysseus lander on the moon

New images released by Intuitive Machines show it sitting tilted on the moon's surface and the damage that the Odysseus lander incurred during landing.
An illustration shows a spacecraft from NASA's DART mission approaching the asteroid it was intended to redirect.

Asteroid impacted by spacecraft is reshaped like an M&M ‘with a bite taken out’

In 2022, NASA deliberately crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid. Now astronomers have found that the impact may have reshaped the asteroid significantly.
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Odysseus lander mission expected to end early due to power issue

Intuitive Machines has announced that it expects its lander to stop communications on the morning of Tuesday, February 27, cutting the mission short.
Neptune

Three tiny new moons spotted orbiting Uranus and Neptune

Astronomers have discovered three new tiny moons orbiting the far-off planets Neptune and Uranus of the outer solar system.
On Feb. 22, 2024, Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lunar lander captures a wide field of view image of Schomberger crater on the Moon approximately 125 miles (200 km) uprange from the intended landing site, at approximately about 6 miles (10 km) altitude.

Lunar lander is on its side on the moon’s surface

Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lander is stable and functioning, but it appears to have landed on the moon's surface on its side.
Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) captured this detailed image of SN 1987A (Supernova 1987A). At the center, material ejected from the supernova forms a keyhole shape. Just to its left and right are faint crescents newly discovered by Webb. Beyond them an equatorial ring, formed from material ejected tens of thousands of years before the supernova explosion, contains bright hot spots. Exterior to that is diffuse emission and two faint outer rings. In this image blue represents light at 1.5 microns (F150W), cyan 1.64 and 2.0 microns (F164N, F200W), yellow 3.23 microns (F323N), orange 4.05 microns (F405N), and red 4.44 microns (F444W).

This famous supernova remnant is hiding a secret

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have peered into the famous SN 1987A supernova remnant and found something special inside.
Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lander heads to the moon.

U.S. spacecraft lands on the moon for the first time in over 50 years

NASA and the company Intuitive Machines have made a historic landing on the moon, the first landing there by a commercial entity.
Members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 from right to left, NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps, mission specialist; Matthew Dominick, commander; Michael Barratt, pilot; and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, mission specialist; participate in the Crew Equipment Interface Test at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024.

Crew-8 astronauts head into quarantine ahead of Space Station launch

The next set of astronauts due to visit the International Space Station, Crew-8, have entered quarantine ahead of their launch scheduled for early March.
Artist’s impression showing the record-breaking quasar J059-4351.

Nightmare black hole is the brightest object in the universe

A monster black hole has been discovered, and it devours the equivalent mass of our sun every single day.
In an ejection that would have caused its rotation to slow, a magnetar is depicted losing material into space in this artist’s concept. The magnetar’s strong, twisted magnetic field lines (shown in green) can influence the flow of electrically charged material from the object, which is a type of neutron star.

Astronomers are figuring out what causes incredibly bright flashes in space

Some of the oddest cosmic phenomena are short but powerful flashes called fast radio bursts. Now astronomers have observed one before and after it occurred,
The CHAPEA mission 1 crew (from left: Nathan Jones, Ross Brockwell, Kelly Haston, Anca Selariu) exit a prototype of a pressurized rover and make their way to the CHAPEA facility ahead of their entry into the habitat on June 25, 2023.

NASA is looking for volunteers for yearlong simulated Mars mission

If you've ever wanted to visit Mars, then NASA has an offer for you. The agency is running a simulated mission to Mars, and it's looking for volunteers.
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is a relatively close star-forming region known as IRAS 16562-3959.

Hubble spots a massive star forming amid clouds of dust and gas

A stunning new image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the birth of a new, massive star at around 30 times the mass of our sun.
A view of eight sample trays containing the final material from asteroid Bennu. The dust and rocks were poured into the trays from the top plate of the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) head. 51.2 grams were collected from this pour, bringing the final mass of asteroid sample to 121.6 grams.

NASA has collected a whopping 121 grams of sample from asteroid Bennu

NASA has revealed that its OSIRIS-REx mission delivered 121 grams of material from asteroid Bennu, which is more than twice the mission's goal of 60 grams.
Illustration of a cloudy exoplanet and a disk of debris orbiting a white dwarf star.

James Webb photographs two potential exoplanets orbiting white dwarfs

The James Webb Space Telescope recently imaged two potential exoplanets orbiting around small, cold cores of dead stars called white dwarfs.
The Nova-C lunar lander is encapsulated within the fairing of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in preparation for launch, as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign.

How to watch NASA and SpaceX launch a private lunar lander mission this week

This week, Intuitive Machines will launch its first lunar lander to deliver science payloads to the surface of the moon.
An artist's rendition of the NEOWISE spacecraft shows it in orbit above the earth.

One last orbit: how and why NASA kills its own spacecraft

Every mission has an ending, and when NASA spacecraft meet theirs, many will go out in a carefully choreographed blaze of glory.
Galaxy AM 1054-325 has been distorted into an S-shape from a normal pancake-like spiral shape by the gravitational pull of a neighboring galaxy, seen in this Hubble Space Telescope image. A consequence of this is that newborn clusters of stars form along a stretched-out tidal tail for thousands of light-years, resembling a string of pearls. They form when knots of gas gravitationally collapse to create about 1 million newborn stars per cluster.

Hubble spies baby stars being born amid chaos of interacting galaxies

Amid swirling gas and dust pulled by gravitational forces of interacting galaxies, there can be bursts of star formation, creating new generations of stars.
An illustration of Mimas orbiting Saturn.

Saturn’s tiny moon, Mimas, hosts an unexpected ocean beneath an icy shell

Researchers have found evidence of an ocean beneath the icy shell of Saturn's small moon Mimas, making it a prime candidate for habitability research.
Now that Goldstone’s experimental hybrid antenna has proved that both radio and laser signals can be received synchronously by the same antenna, purpose-built hybrid antennas (like the one depicted here in an artist’s concept) could one day become a reality.

NASA talks to spacecraft using both radio and laser communications on one dish

NASA's Deep Space Network, which receives signals from deep space, is experimenting with a hybrid antenna that can receive both radio and laser signals.
NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Climate, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 1:33 a.m. EST, Feb. 8, 2024, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. From its orbit hundreds of miles above Earth, PACE will study microscopic life in the oceans and microscopic particles in the atmosphere to investigate key mysteries of our planet’s interconnected systems.

NASA launches PACE satellite to observe Earth’s oceans and atmosphere

NASA has launched its latest Earth-monitoring mission, a satellite that studies the atmosphere and the oceans, as well as their relationship to climate change.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft encapsulated atop is raised to a vertical position at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. Liftoff of the PACE mission is set for no earlier than 1:33 a.m. EST on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024.

How to watch NASA launch its newest ocean and atmosphere observation satellite tonight

NASA's newest mission to observe Earth's atmosphere and oceans, and how these interact with the changing climate, is launching tonight. Here's how to watch.