Secret Projects, Revealed (part 1)
Remember those secret projects I hinted about? We’ve crossed those magical thresholds of silence for me to tell you about a few of them!
Chris Hadfield is Heading North, Wants Artists
Former-astronaut and io9 dreamguy Chris Hadfield is going on a cruise into the Arctic circle. He’s bringing an entire menagerie with him of scientists and entertainers, but now he’s looking for people to embed and report out on the experience. You know where this is going.
Tiny Updates: Unions! Dennis on WeatherBrains! Mika at the Movies!
Good news, everybody! Your favourite writers who survived the Great Culling are finally part of a union and will be treated like real-live humans. Fantastic!
iomodo Science Alumni -- Where They're Writing Now
After the Great Rearranging following the iomodo merger and new Editor-in-Chief, our science subsites scattered to websites unknown. Here’s an update on where we’re publishing now.
What Would a Gravitational Wave Sound Like?
Physicists and physics fans imitating gravitational waves is my new favourite thing.
To Space, and Beyond!
Just under two years ago, I stumbled onto Kinja and muddled through my first, poorly-structured, nearly-unreadable story. Hundreds of stories and millions of clicks later, it’s time to move on. Thank you, and I’ll miss you.
The Sun's Magnetic Field Is a Beautifully Complicated Riddle
It’s taken half a century, but we’re finally getting a handle on our Sun’s complex magnetic field. A new model from NASA captures the strange surface interactions that create dramatic swirls of plasma and coronal mass ejections .If we can better understand the Sun’s magnetic field, we might one day be able to predict…
Sherlock Dumps Father, Honey in Latest Elementary
Parent-child relationships are challenging. They just get more complicated when the pair is father Morland Holmes, a universally-feared manipulator of global markets, and his renowned detective of a son, Sherlock.
This Two-in-One Satellite Will Bring Us One Step Closer to Asteroid Mining
Astronauts fired this small, rectangular hunk from the International Space Station today. The payload will separate into two autonomous satellites as part of a research program to take us one tiny step closer towards making asteroid mining a reality.
Savor the Snow from Far, Far Away
It’s hard to remember the beauty of winter when constantly shovelling walkways, scraping ice off cars, and tromping through freezing slush. That’s why it’s nice to get a view from above, far away from the chilly realities of the season.
Wanted: Reusable Rockets for NASA Research
Reusable rockets just went from a party trick to a research necessity. Have a rocket you can launch, land safely, and launch again? NASA wants you, now.
Curiosity Is Using Sweet New Tools to Explore Martian Sand Dunes
Curiosity is busy poking and prodding the Bagnold Dunes, learning some new tricks in the first-ever interplanetary fieldwork on a sand dune. And of course it looks absolutely stunning while doing it in this latest sand dune selfie.
A Timeline of the Tragic Shuttle Launch That Changed NASA Forever
Thirty years ago, the space shuttle Challenger exploded. The tragedy shocked a nation caught in launch fever, and reshaped how NASA thought about risk.
Cygnus Is the Cutest of the Space Station Cargo Craft
The new Cygnus spacecraft is the cheeriest of the cargo tugs hauling gear to the International Space Station. Those new round solar panels are effective, efficient, and adorable!
This Robotic Arm Slips James Webb's Mirrors Exactly Where They Need to Be
We’re openly obsessed with the assembly of the segmented origami mirror for the James Webb Space Telescope. A gorgeous photo released today reveals the secret of an enormous robotic arm used to place the mirror segments to within a paper’s width of perfection.
This Might Be the Prettiest Mine We've Ever Seen
All these rich greens usually mean vegetation, but this is an arid, salty land almost totally inhospitable to plants. Instead, those are the markers of a brine rich in minerals, concentrated as the water evaporates.
The Tragedy of Apollo 1 Reshaped the Future of NASA
Today was supposed to mark a step forward in human flights for the Apollo program. Instead, flames exploded inside the capsule during a pre-flight test. The fatal accident changed the nature of America’s space program.
Sink Into the Beauty of This Frozen Mountain Lake
Our planet can be too beautiful to be plausible some days. This frozen lake in the Himalayas is shockingly deep blue set against the slightly-oxidized rusty landscape. And it’s completely real, photographed from the International Space Station.
Astronaut Scott Kelly on Liquid Salt, a Stinky Station, and Sleeping in Freefall
There are lots of things most of us never contemplate when we fantasize about living in space: What happens to your arms when they don’t naturally fall at your sides? Do you keep your callouses when you aren’t walking? What’s it like to sleep in free fall?
Blue Origin Relaunched the Rocket it Landed in November
On Friday, Blue Origin launched their same New Shepard rocket booster that it launched into space two months ago. Looks like the commercial space race for reusable rockets is on—SpaceX is flashier with bigger trajectories, but Blue Origin keeps winning the race to first.