CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The moon, asteroids and brand new rockets topped the world’s space news in 2023. Elon Musk’s monster rocket made it to space on the second test flight before exploding again. India landed successfully on the moon, outdoing Russia, which crashed. And NASA brought back its […]
asteroids
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NASA has among its ranks countless asteroids listed as potential threats to Earth. Space rocks across our Solar System and the Universe at large are currently whizzing through space at breakneck speed, some on a collision course with our home. Luckily for us, the space agency has been working on […]
The Earth has had its fair share of asteroid collisions, the biggest coming some 66 million years ago when a city-sized space rock smashed into the planet. It released an amount of energy equivalent to the detonation of 72 trillion tons (65 metric tons) of TNT, scooping a 100-mile-wide (180 […]
It is understandable why a comet dubbed the ‘devil’ might strike fear into you. Especially when this particular space rock is three times the size of Mount Everest and is currently exploding like a volcano on its way towards Earth. Thankfully there’s no chance of 12P/Pons-Brooks actually hitting us, but […]
For centuries, the quest for new elements was a driving force in many scientific disciplines. Understanding an atom’s structure and the development of nuclear science allowed scientists to accomplish the old goal of alchemists – turning one element into another. Over the past few decades, scientists in the United States, […]
The upcoming fourth season of “For All Mankind” proves that an alternate space history series needn’t be all about the Apollo-era of the past. In fact, it can be as current as this week’s headlines. On Thursday (Oct. 12) — just a day after NASA revealed its first sample returned […]
Artist’s illustration of the dust and gas surrounding a newly formed planetary system NASA The following is an extract from our monthly Launchpad newsletter, in which resident space expert Leah Crane journeys through the solar system and beyond. You can sign up for Launchpad for free here. It seems like once […]
Protecting Earth from any huge asteroid that might come our way is complicated. If you break the space rock into pieces, that could create a hellish rain of shrapnel. However, smashing something into an asteroid without breaking it well before it nears Earth could change its trajectory, as could the […]