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Tech

An image of one of Accion's small electric-propulsion systems.

Accion raises $11 million to refine its dime-size spacecraft thrusters

By Sarah Wells

Ion propulsion company Accion Systems has raised $11 million in its latest funding round and has launches and contracts planned this year with NASA, the DoD and academic institutions.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has successfully deployed its giant primary mirror in an important pre-launch test.

Watch NASA's James Webb Space Telescope unfold its golden mirror for the 1st time (video)

By Chelsea Gohd

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has fully deployed its primary mirror for the first time, marking another milestone on its journey to space.

Spaceflight

Accion raises $11 million to refine its dime-size spacecraft thrusters

By Sarah Wells

Ion propulsion company Accion Systems has raised $11 million in its latest funding round and has launches and contracts planned this year with NASA, the DoD and academic institutions.

NASA's Apollo 6 mission launched the last uncrewed test flight of a Saturn V rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on April 4, 1968.

On This Day in Space: April 4, 1968: Apollo 6 launches final uncrewed Saturn V rocket test flight

By Hanneke Weitering

On April 4, 1968, NASA launched the final uncrewed test flight of its Saturn V rocket. See how it happened in our On This Day in Space video series!

Science & Astronomy

A new Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the peculiar structure of a spiral galaxy with only one starry arm rotating about its center. While most barred spiral galaxies are characterized by a distinct bar-shaped structure of stars centered on a galactic core, this barred spiral isn't like most others. Located 21 million light-years from Earth, this strange galaxy, known as NGC 4618, was first thought to be a star cluster after the astronomer William Herschel discovered it in 1787. Astronomers now think that gravitational interactions with a neighboring galaxy may have influenced this galaxy's shape.

Pictures from space! Our image of the day

By Space.com Staff

A new Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the peculiar structure of a spiral galaxy with only one starry arm rotating about its center.

The crew of Expedition 62 to the International Space Station is pictured inside a SpaceX Dragon resupply craft, on March 9, 2020. They are wearing portable breathing gear while entering the spacecraft just in case there are any particles or irritants in the air that could have come loose while launching to space. (From top to bottom: NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and NASA astronaut Jessica Meir)

NASA asks its employees for new ideas to combat coronavirus

By Hanneke Weitering

NASA is calling on its workforce to come up with creative ways that the agency can help fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Search For Life

NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured this view of Saturn's hazy moon Titan in January 2013, when it was about 895,000 miles (1.44 million kilometers) from the big moon.

Future space telescopes may probe Titan-like exoplanets

By Nola Taylor Redd

Planets like Saturn's moon Titan, one of the most potentially habitable places in the solar system, could reveal their secrets to future telescopes.

The upcoming National Academies of Sciences decadal survey will cover planetary science, astrobiology and planetary defense.

Planetary defense against asteroids joins NASA's menu for next decadal survey focus

By Meghan Bartels

Planetary scientists and astrobiologists are gearing up for a major survey process that will dictate NASA's priorities throughout the 2020s.

Artist's illustration of the three planets and two stars in the Kepler-47 system, which lies 3,340 light-years from Earth.

How common are Tatooine worlds?

By Paul Sutter

Double sunsets may be just as common in our galaxy as the solitary kind that we know on Earth, and this has big implications for our search for life outside the solar system.

Skywatching

Venus and the Pleiades star cluster, photographed on April 1, 2020, by the Virtual Telescope Project.

Look up! Venus and Pleiades star cluster are putting on a rare evening show

By Mike Wall

The coronavirus pandemic may have restricted our movements, but our eyes and minds can still roam the heavens. And there's a great reason to look up over the next few evenings.

Earth and the moon as seen by BepiColombo on March 5, 2020, as the mission began preparing for its flyby of Earth.

Europe's Mercury-bound BepiColombo will swing past Earth soon! Here's what you need to know.

By Meghan Bartels

A mission dubbed BepiColombo is bound for Mercury, but in order to reach its destination, it needs to take the scenic route, beginning with a flyby of Earth later this month.

Zodiacal light glows in the sky at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Paranal Observatory in Chile. Image released Dec. 2, 2013.

Zodiacal light: How to spot the rare celestial glow in the night sky

By Joe Rao

How to see the rare zodiacal light, the faint ghostly glow that appears when sunlight reflects off interplanetary debris likely left over from the formation of our solar system.

Entertainment

A scene from the spaceship crash survival game "Symmetry."

The spaceship crash survival game 'Symmetry' is free right now on GOG

By Tariq Malik

"Symmetry," a spaceship crash survival game from 2018, is free on the GOG website through April 5 at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT).

Capt. Picard and an amphibious Counselor Troi in "Genesis" (S07ep19).

What would Picard do? Investigating disease outbreaks in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation'

By Chelsea Gohd

We turn to examples in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," to remember how Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise dealt with the issue of outbreak.

An Earth-like world created by the Twitterbot. This planet is mainly covered with snow, with small pockets of ocean exposed.

You can build your own Earth 2.0 with the awesome website 'Earth-like'

By Nola Taylor Redd

You can now build your own "Earth-like" planet to see just how different it is from our own world.

Watch live: See the Northeast Astronomy Forum Virtual Experience!

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