Digestive gas gets the best of everyone sooner or later, often in the form of a burp. Burping is how the body clears excess gas from the upper digestive tract, which would otherwise result in extremely uncomfortable pressure in your stomach and esophagus. Or at least that’s how it works on Earth. In space, everything … Read more
A California-based startup plans to launch hundreds of flattened “microsatellites” into low-Earth orbit at once, by firing rockets out of a giant centrifugal cannon. The first batch of pancake-like spacecraft could be shot into space as soon as next year — and could set a new record. SpinLaunch is a private company that aims to … Read more
Mercury’s mysterious makeup may be the result of a grazing “hit and run” collision between two similar-sized protoplanets in the early solar system, a new study suggests. Mercury, the smallest and innermost planet in our solar system, has a number of unusual characteristics that have long puzzled scientists. Despite being only slightly larger than Earth’s … Read more
A U.K. start-up has shocked the space exploration community after unveiling plans to use a novel nuclear fusion propulsion system to power an orbital fleet of reusable “alien-like” rockets, known as Sunbirds, which the company says could revolutionize how we explore the solar system — and beyond. The technology behind this ambitious project will begin … Read more
A quartet of Earth-like worlds, each about 20% to 30% the size of our planet, circle one of our closest stellar neighbors, a new study reveals. The rocky alien worlds are close enough that future generations of humans may be able to visit them with futuristic rocket propulsion technology. However, it is unlikely that we … Read more
Astronomers have discovered an enormous black hole the size of 36 billion suns lurking within the “Cosmic Horseshoe.” The behemoth object is one of the largest black holes ever detected. First discovered in 2007, the Cosmic Horseshoe is a system of two galaxies located in the constellation Leo. Images of the system show a halo … Read more
We may have been wrong about how Mars got its characteristic red hue, a new study reveals. The Red Planet owes its ruddy complexion to rusted iron minerals, dispersed across billions of years by winds, throughout the planet’s dust. Past spacecraft observations of Martian dust led scientists to believe that this rust emerged in dry … Read more
A planet-size object that possibly once visited the solar system may have permanently changed our cosmic neighborhood by warping the orbits of the four outer planets, a new study suggests. The findings may shed light on why these planets’ paths have certain peculiar features. For decades, astronomers have debated how the solar system’s planets formed. … Read more
Chinese scientists have announced a plan to build an enormous, 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) wide solar power station in space that will beam continuous energy back to Earth via microwaves. The project, which will see its components lofted to a geostationary orbit above Earth using super-heavy rockets, has been dubbed “another Three Gorges Dam project … Read more
On Earth, you can look up at night and see the Moon shining bright from hundreds of thousands of miles away. But if you went to Venus, that wouldn’t be the case. Not every planet has a moon — so why do some planets have several moons, while others have none? I’m a physics instructor … Read more
