Launches, discoveries, missions, and the people pushing humanity into space. Accurate, interesting, no jargon without explanation.
Congressional hearings on UAP have become increasingly prominent since 2023. Some testimony has been credible and specific. Some has not. Separating the two requires knowing what to look for.
The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office has released two annual reports to Congress. They are worth reading carefully. They are not what either believers or skeptics want them to be.
NASA's Europa Clipper launched in October 2024, beginning a six-year journey to Jupiter's ice moon Europa. The mission is the most direct search for conditions suitable for extraterrestrial life ever sent to the outer solar system.
SpaceX's fourth integrated flight test of Starship marked the first time both stages returned and survived reentry. It was not a complete success, but it was the most important one yet.
The James Webb Space Telescope completed its first full year of science operations with results that genuinely surprised the astronomers who built it. Some findings revised existing models. Others created new puzzles.
Starlink passed 4 million subscribers in 2024 and is generating over $6 billion in annualized revenue. After years of being described as a moon shot, it is beginning to look like a business.
In May 2024, astronomers confirmed the most distant galaxy ever observed, dating to just 290 million years after the Big Bang. It is unexpectedly large and bright, adding to a growing puzzle about early galaxy formation.
NASA's Perseverance rover has spent four years in what was once a lake. The sedimentary rocks it has found tell a story about Mars that is increasingly specific, and increasingly hopeful.
Rocket Lab is building a reusable medium-lift rocket called Neutron, targeting the gap between small satellites and Falcon 9's heavy-haul capability. The market it is aiming at is larger than it looks.
Planet Labs and a wave of new entrants have democratized access to Earth observation data. What used to be a government monopoly is now a competitive market. The implications are bigger than they first appear.
In September 2024, Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis became the first civilians to conduct a spacewalk. The mission also reached the highest Earth orbit since the Apollo era. Here is what the mission actually demonstrated.
SpaceX has announced contracts and letters of intent for Starship from NASA, commercial satellite operators, and others. The list reveals what serious customers think Starship will deliver and when.
The European Space Agency's Euclid telescope released its first major data set in 2024, including the most detailed map of dark matter distribution ever produced. The map raises as many questions as it answers.
Fast radio bursts are millisecond flashes of radio energy that release as much power in a blink as the Sun does in three days. Scientists have been detecting them for almost two decades and still do not fully understand what produces them.
In August 2023, India's Chandrayaan-3 mission became the first spacecraft to land near the lunar south pole. It was a significant technical achievement and a milestone for ISRO. Here is what the mission accomplished and why the location matters.
In late 2019 and early 2020, Betelgeuse, one of the brightest stars in the night sky, faded dramatically. Speculation about an imminent supernova ran wild. The actual explanation was more mundane, and more interesting.
NASA's Dragonfly mission will fly a rotorcraft through the thick atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, sampling the organic chemistry of a world that may resemble early Earth. It is one of the most ambitious planetary missions ever designed.
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