Being the space nerd that I am, I often imagine a museum filled with the most important objects ever sent to space. We couldn’t possibly build a place like this, but we can speculate as to which human artifacts deserve a place in our imaginary spaceflight museum.
Grinding coffee beans with a spritz of water can reduce static electricity, creating less mess and improving the taste of espresso, according to Oregon-based researchers who borrowed from the physics of volcanoes to design the experiment. The team of chemists and volcanologists found that the inside of a coffee…
For centuries, astronomers were limited to ground-based observations of the planets, but now we use spacecraft to capture close-up views of our neighboring worlds. Excitingly, our views of solar system planets have been getting progressively better over the decades, as these images attest.
How hard is it to check whether an image is an AI deepfake or not? Well, Amazon claims it has some sort of answer with its own watermarking system for Amazon Titan Image Generator, the new AI art creator it announced today. Of course, it’s not that easy. Each business that makes use of the model will have to outline…
NASA has announced a delay in its ambitious Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan, moving the launch date to July 2028. This decision, driven by budget uncertainties, comes despite the mission successfully passing key design reviews. Worryingly, the space agency is delaying formal confirmation of the mission until…
It boggles the mind to think of all the wondrous things that NASA has achieved since its inception in 1958, but it’s equally astounding to think about all the projects that could’ve been. Here are seven impressive concepts that died on the vine, whether because of huge cost, technological intractability, or just being…
NASA has produced thousands of images over its illustrious 65-year history, but some images have had a far greater impact than others. Among this vast portfolio, certain images stand out for having reshaped our understanding of space and our place within it, capturing moments that have both ignited the collective…
As 2023 stumbles towards its close, it’s clear we’re preparing to enter a world that will soon be filled to the brim with robots. Science fiction tells us that AI will soon gain sentience and inevitably crush humanity in its never-ending quest for power. I’ll believe it when I see it. For now, the robots that surround…
A car-sized rotorcraft is getting ready to soar through the thick atmosphere of Saturn’s largest moon. Before it’s ready to explore the possible habitability of the bizarre methane-soaked world, Dragonfly was put to the test here on Earth, flying through intense wind tunnels that simulate the alien conditions on…
To all the space probes we’ve loved before: sorry! You fell into Saturn, drifted into deep space, suffocated in Martian dust—all for the greater good of science. Today, we’re memorializing the space explorers that met dramatic endings far, far from Earth.
