space science

As the Blue Origin capsule arced past the Kármán line this week, carrying a group of well-known, immaculately styled women on a brief jaunt into space, headlines burst with delight and derision. Was this a triumph of female empowerment or a cosmic publicity stunt dressed in designer shapewear?

An Australian company is set to make history by attempting the first-ever cultivation of a mushroom crop in orbit. FOODiQ Global, an innovative firm specializing in sustainable food solutions, will launch its experiment aboard SpaceX’s Fram2 mission, scheduled to lift off from Kennedy Space Center in early April. The experiment will focus on growing nutrient-rich oyster mushrooms in microgravity, aiming to determine whether these versatile fungi can thrive in space conditions.

In the quest to understand life beyond Earth, Venus has long been an enigma. Despite its inhospitable surface conditions, this “sister planet” of Earth may have once enjoyed a more temperate climate—and perhaps even harboured life. Now, a team of researchers has developed a groundbreaking equation that could help us determine the probability that life ever arose on Venus, and what that might reveal about the potential for life on other rocky exoplanets.

After spending 270 days in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station (ISS), veteran astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have safely returned to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule. The splashdown off the coast of Florida marked the end of a challenging, yet groundbreaking, nine-month mission that has provided valuable insights into how prolonged exposure to space affects the human body. While both astronauts emerged from the capsule smiling and waving, experts warn that the readaptation process to Earth’s gravity will be far from smooth.

A groundbreaking new 3D map of the universe is challenging our current understanding of cosmic forces. Developed from data collected by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) at the Mayall Telescope in Arizona, this map—detailing information on more than 14 million galaxies—offers scientists an unprecedented view of the cosmos. The latest observations suggest that dark energy, the mysterious force believed to drive the accelerated expansion of the universe, may be weakening over time, a finding that could upend the long-held Lambda-CDM model of cosmology.

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid mission is delivering on its promise to revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos. In a groundbreaking first major release of observations, the telescope has captured images of 26 million galaxies spanning over 10 billion years of cosmic history. This treasure trove of data has allowed researchers to compile a detailed catalogue of 380,000 galaxies, unveiling an astonishing array of galactic structures and interactions. From galaxies caught in the act of merging to those distorted by gravitational forces, the images present an unparalleled window into the evolution and composition of the universe.

In an exciting breakthrough for the field of astronomy, a team of researchers has managed to track down the source of a mysterious type of radio pulse emanating from deep space, and the discovery is far from what astronomers had anticipated. For the past three years, astronomers have been grappling with the enigmatic phenomenon of long period transients – objects that emit bright radio signals at intervals ranging from a few minutes to several hours. These objects were puzzling, as they did not align with known sources like pulsars or white dwarfs, leaving the scientific community to wonder what exactly could be producing these peculiar emissions.

Another attempt at launching the world’s most powerful rocket ends in failure, as debris rains down over Florida.