NASA has carried out some notable rescue missions over the past few years, including bringing home the astronauts stranded on the International Space Station last year. More recently, the agency sent up a probe in hopes of saving the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a satellite first launched in 2004 that began falling out of our
Last November, NASA and its European partners launched the Sentinel-6B satellite to improve hurricane forecasts, help protect infrastructure, and benefit commercial industries, including shipping. The satellite now is flying 30 seconds behind its predecessor, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich. Both satellites are providing precise sea level height measurements during what oceanographers expect to be a historic El
When a rocket launches a payload into orbit, the overwhelming majority of its weight at launch is just fuel. After decades of space travel, a company called Longshot Space hopes to unlock a more efficient way to launch satellites into orbit. The plan: Shoot satellites into space with the world’s biggest gun. To accomplish this,
High above the Earth, a new generation of robots designed to keep satellites working longer is replacing its predecessor — quite literally. This week, a spacecraft built and operated by Northrop Grumman called a Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) unplugged from a communications satellite operated by the Australian firm Optus. For more than a year, the
In June, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned that there is a 63% chance of a very strong El Niño developing before the end of 2026, potentially rivaling the most severe episodes since records began in 1950. The 1997-98 El Niño, one of the strongest on record, triggered severe floods and droughts across
SpaceX successfully deployed the first third-generation Starlink satellites on Friday using an upgraded version of its Starship prototype, the 13th test flight of its megarocket to date. But the company suffered another failure with its Super Heavy booster during a planned simulated landing in the Gulf of Mexico. This is the second time the company