China has successfully launched the world's first quantum communication satellite – Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS) – from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gobi Desert at 17:40 UTC on August 16, 2016 (01:40 local time on August 17)….
Did you get an accurate weather report today? Watch television? Use a GPS? If so, give credit where credit is due: thank a satellite. These orbiting objects actually do even more, too. A few of their other jobs include creating maps, taking photos, providing global…
A flotilla of 50 CubeSats, miniaturized satellites weighing an average of 2 kg (4.4 lb) each, will be launched from the ground and the International Space Station in the European-led QB50 mission to explore the little-understood region above Earth known as the…
NASA's Solar Probe Plus mission has moved one step closer to its launch, scheduled for summer 2018, after passing a design review. After the successful review, the mission will transition to final assembly and implementation. It is the first mission into the…
New research, led by scientists from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, suggests Venus and Earth closely resembled each other during the early days of the Solar System, between one and two billion years ago. Venus, now the hottest planet in our Solar…
The Perseid meteor shower is one of the most prolific annual meteor showers and this year it is expected to peak in outburst mode on the night of August 11 and the morning of August 12 (UTC). This means the shower has a great potential to be spectacular, with up to…
A new Kreutz family sungrazing comet appeared in SOHO's LASCO C3 coronagraph imagery around 00:40 UTC on August 2, 2016. The comet made its closest approach to the Sun around 05:15 UTC on August 4, becoming one of SOHO's top 10 brightest sungrazers. Its…
A recent research conducted by the scientists from the Florida State University (FSU) suggests a possible link between cardiovascular disease mortality and deep space radiation effects. The study is based on members of the Apollo space program who are experiencing…
The peak of this year's Perseid meteor shower, one of the most prolific annual showers, will be in "outburst" mode on August 11 and 12, the first since 2009. This means that instead of the usual 80 Perseids per hour, the rate could top 150 or 200…
New research, based on data from ESA's Venus Express satellite, for the first time reveals how the weather patterns on Venus are directly connected to the surface topography of the planet. Results suggest the Venus' thick cloud cover could offer further…
