Top Stories of the Week

Photo Credit: Ben K.D. Pearce/McMaster University

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The Week's Top Space Stories

Satellites detect hidden Antarctic ice is melting, astronomers spot a star-nursery on the other side of the Milky Way galaxy, tiny explosions could be the reason the sun’s corona is so hot, and a harmless yet fascinating asteroid flies over the South Pole in just some of this week’s top stories at Space.com.

SpaceX now has done 18 successful rocket touchdowns

Photo Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX now has done 18 successful rocket touchdowns

A SpaceX two-stage Falcon 9 booster rocket -- with a pre-flown first stage -- landed safely after launching a communications satellite into orbit on Oct 11. It landed on a SpaceX robotic ship, named, “Of Course I Still Love You,” marking its second successful return landing. [Full Story: That Makes Three: SpaceX Launches Another Satellite with a Used Rocket, Then Lands]

Mars-mission technology breaks records

Photo Credit: NASA

Mars-mission technology breaks records

The X3 thruster, a system designed to accelerate ions for a future mission to Mars, achieved the highest level of thrust that plasma can achieve to date. The University of Michigan team behind the project has been working on this technology with the Air Force since 2009. [Full Story: Ion Thruster Prototype Breaks Records in Tests, Could Send Humans to Mars]

Satellites find underbelly Antarctic canyon where ice is melting

Photo Credit: Copernicus Sentinel data (2017), processed by A. Hogg/CPOM

Satellites find underbelly Antarctic canyon where ice is melting

Two European Space Agency satellites used radar techniques to detect the thickness and movement of Antarctic ice. They found the Dotson ice shelf was mostly melting around a channel on the underside of the ice, about 5 kilometers wide. (3 miles) and 60 km long (37 mi). [Full Story: Satellite Finds Hidden Upside-Down Canyon on Underside of Antarctic Ice]

Star-making region seen on other side of Milky Way

Photo Credit: Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF; Robert Hurt, NASA

The Most Amazing Space Stories of the Week!

The Week's Top Space Stories

SpaceX now has done 18 successful rocket touchdowns

SpaceX now has done 18 successful rocket touchdowns

Mars-mission technology breaks records

Mars-mission technology breaks records

Satellites find underbelly Antarctic canyon where ice is melting

Satellites find underbelly Antarctic canyon where ice is melting

Star-making region seen on other side of Milky Way