Tech

The bulbous blue orb of Earth hangs from above. On its face, on the left, a giant white swirl of this cloud, a hurricane. On the bottom right, within the sliver of black space beneath the Earth, a white spacecraft is partially seen.

Near Space Labs launches fleet of AI-powered balloon robots to track Earth climate risks

By Sharmila Kuthunur published

New York-based Near Space Labs has launched a new fleet of balloon-borne zero-emission robots to keep a supersharp eye on Earth.

Tech
A white passenger jet is seen from above, flying to the right through a blue sky a white puffy clouds.

NASA awards $11.5 million to help design the aircraft of tomorrow

By Samantha Mathewson published

NASA has awarded $11.5 million to five organizations that will contribute to the study of new design concepts for more sustainable aircraft.

Tech
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Spaceflight

Two astronauts float in the busy white interior of a space station, holding equipment, wearing ppo masks.

Fruit flies in space! Chinese astronauts show off experiment on Tiangong space station (video)

By Andrew Jones published

China's Shenzhou 19 astronauts have some winged companions to oversee aboard the country's Tiangong space station — fruit flies, which arrived on a cargo ship on Nov. 15.

Human Spaceflight

Project Mercury: America's 1st crewed space program

By Elizabeth Howell last updated

Project Mercury was NASA's program that launched the first American astronauts into space, completing a total of six crewed spaceflights.

Human Spaceflight
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Science & Astronomy

a grey crater-marked planet on an empty black background

BepiColombo probe captures haunting Mercury image on 5th of 6 gravity assist flybys (photo)

By Brett Tingley published

The European-Japanese BepiColombo probe made a close flyby of Mercury on Dec. 1, 2024 and captured an image of the planet.

Mercury
An illustration of a pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star that sweeps beams of radiation through space like a cosmic lighthouse

Destroyed observatory helped SETI unlock the secrets of 'cosmic lighthouses' powered by dead stars

By Robert Lea published

Years after the collapse of the Arecebo telescope data from the radio observatory has helped SETI scientists probe the characteristics of pulsars, cosmic lighthouses powered by dead stars.

Stars
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Meet the team

Search For Life

green letters in an asian language fall vertically down a black screen.

Communicating with aliens one day could be much easier if we study the way AI agents speak with each other

By Olaf Lipinski published

Decoding emergent languages in AI can have many benefits.

Search for Life
An alien megastructure like a Dyson sphere doesn’t seem to be causing the weird dimming of one of the weirdest stars in our galaxy, Tabby's star.

The fastest-moving stars in the galaxy may be piloted by intelligent aliens, new paper suggests

By Paul Sutter published

To explore the galaxy and hunt for resources, intelligent aliens might need to turn their home stars into natural spaceships, a new paper suggests. A few known star systems might fit the bill.

Search for Life
A square shaped grey rock with a rough surface next to a silver pair of tweezers lifting a circular ring above a green square filled with irregular shapes

Japan's priceless asteroid Ryugu sample got 'rapidly colonized' by Earth bacteria

By Robert Lea published

A sample of the asteroid Ryugu returned to Earth by the Hayabusa2 mission was rapidly colonized by terrestrial microorganisms, new research has revealed.

Search for Life
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Skywatching

Orzorz galaxy lite star projector on a multi-colored, stripey background with the space.com cyber monday logo in the top left corner

Call me crazy but I'd fall for this Cyber Monday star projector deal, even if it's fake

By Jase Parnell-Brookes last updated

Deals Still live! We gave this star projector five stars in our glowing review and it's currently on offer for Cyber Monday, except it's not a genuine deal, but I'd buy it anyway.

Deals

The skywatching butler I always wanted — Get $500 off this Unistellar smart telescope

By Chris McMullen published

Deals This Unistellar Odyssey telescope is loaded with features that take the work out of observing the cosmos and it's $460 off for Cyber Monday, but you'll have to be fast!

Deals
a silhouette of a person looking up through a telescope under a starry night sky

The brightest planets in December's night sky: How to see them (and when)

By Joe Rao last updated

Reference December is certainly a great month for planet watchers. Venus finally becomes the preeminent evening star, by climbing well up into the southwest evening sky during this month.

Reference
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Entertainment

U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) Star Trek The Next Generation (1987)_Paramount Pictures

'Star Trek:' History & effect on space technology

By Ian Stokes last updated

Ever since we were invited to explore the "final frontier" on the USS Enterprise, "Star Trek" technologies have also made their way into our everyday lives.

Space Movies & Shows
A soldier in green armor holding two submachine guns, with a yellow-tinted cityscape behind him.

'Halo 2' 20 years later: The sequel that changed gaming forever

By Fran Ruiz published

Two decades on, Halo 2 remains one of the best video game sequels of all time. Here's how it became a monument to Xbox and sci-fi shooters.

Space Games & Toys
Image shows three cameras against a blue background and a rosette that reads Space.com Black Friday deals.

The best camera deals we've spotted so far: Cyber Monday 2024

By Alexander Cox last updated

Deals Here's our roundup of the biggest savings and discounts on cameras as we approach Cyber Monday 2024.

Deals
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References

U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) Star Trek The Next Generation (1987)_Paramount Pictures

'Star Trek:' History & effect on space technology

By Ian Stokes last updated

Ever since we were invited to explore the "final frontier" on the USS Enterprise, "Star Trek" technologies have also made their way into our everyday lives.

Space Movies & Shows
a silhouette of a person looking up through a telescope under a starry night sky

The brightest planets in December's night sky: How to see them (and when)

By Joe Rao last updated

Reference December is certainly a great month for planet watchers. Venus finally becomes the preeminent evening star, by climbing well up into the southwest evening sky during this month.

Reference
a graphic of the night sky with a starry sky background. A black circle is in the center with Night Sky written in white. There is a white telescope beneath the text. In the top left corner it says Space.com in cooperation with Starry Night.

Night sky, December 2024: What you can see tonight [maps]

By Chris Vaughan last updated

Reference Find out what's up in your night sky during December 2024 and how to see it in this Space.com stargazing guide.

Reference
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