Category Science

Spain’s military communications satellite, SpainSat NG-2, was struck by a space particle while moving toward geostationary orbit. The incident occurred at an unusually high altitude, and the damage remains unknown. Operators have activated contingency plans as engineers assess whether the €2 billion mission can still be completed.

Experiments show RNA, a crucial molecule for life, could form naturally on early Earth with borates stabilising ribose and aiding phosphate production. Protoplanet impacts may have delivered RNA ingredients, supporting the RNA world hypothesis and suggesting life’s building blocks could emerge efficiently on Earth and potentially Mars.

A study shows self-driving cars could prevent more than 1 million U.S. road injuries by 2035, cutting traffic-related accidents by 3.6%. Researchers modelled multiple adoption and safety scenarios, highlighting the potential of AVs to reduce human-error crashes. Future studies on highways are needed to fully assess the public health benefits of autonomous vehicles.

Astronomers have measured the mass and distance of a rogue planet for the first time. Using observations from Earth and the Gaia space telescope, the planet was found to be just under Saturn’s mass and about 10,000 light-years away. The study highlights how free-floating planets are ejected from star systems and improves understanding of planetary dynamics.

As low Earth orbit becomes crowded, very low Earth orbit satellites are emerging as a promising alternative. Operating closer to Earth, they offer faster communication, sharper imaging, and better weather data. Advances in propulsion are helping overcome atmospheric drag, opening the door to wider use of this challenging but valuable orbital region.

SpaceX has launched its first Starlink mission of 2026, sending 29 satellites into low Earth orbit aboard a new Falcon 9 rocket. The booster completed a successful landing at sea, while the mission further expanded the company’s global broadband network, which now serves remote regions with limited internet access.

Astronomers have precisely measured the mass of a rogue planet wandering through the Milky Way using a rare gravitational microlensing event. By combining observations from ground-based telescopes across three continents with data from ESA’s Gaia spacecraft, researchers determined the planet’s distance and found it to be about the mass of Saturn. The discovery pro...

Gravitational waves, first directly detected in 2015, have opened a new way of observing the universe. Now, physicist Ralf Schützhold of HZDR proposes going a step further—actively interacting with these ripples in spacetime using powerful lasers. His theoretical scheme builds on LIGO-style interferometers, where intense laser pulses bounce repeatedly along kilomet...

The elliptical galaxy NGC 4388, situated in the Virgo Cluster approximately 60 million light-years from Earth, features an intriguing long tail of glowing gas, as shown in a recent image uploaded to the Hubble site in late 2025. This galaxy, viewed edge-on from Earth’s perspective, displays a bright spur of ionized gas spilling out from its core. There is significan...

For a brief moment last year, northern Italy's night sky offered a spectacle rarely seen in a lifetime. From his home in Possagno, nestled in the Alps, photographer Valter Binotto captured an image showing two of Earth's rarest lightning phenomena occurring at the same time. Elves and sprites are forms of Transient Luminous Events (TLEs), which flash high above thunde...