Space

The northern lights can be seen from the Cameron River viewpoint off the Ramparts Falls trail on the Ingraham Trail near Yellowknife, Canada.

Science

Here's why you might see the northern lights this Halloween weekend

4:28pm October 30, 2021

by Wynne Davis

A solar flare eruption from earlier this week is expected to reach Earth on Saturday and Sunday, creating the potential for the aurora borealis to be visible across large parts of the U.S.

In 2019, the Parkes radio telescope in Parkes, Australia, detected a strange signal that has since been explained.

Science

Scientists tracked a mysterious signal in space. Its source was closer to Australia

12:04pm October 30, 2021

by Scott Neuman

A mysterious signal that appeared to be emanating from Proxima Centauri put scientists on a hunt to track down its source. What they found was that it had a decidedly earthbound origin.

Before each mission with NASA astronauts, the Shelton family sends a bouquet of roses to the Mission Control Center at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

National

Astronaut launches are returning to the U.S. For each, this family sends NASA roses

4:56pm October 29, 2021

by Brendan Byrne

For every U.S. mission with NASA astronauts, a family from Texas has sent a bouquet of roses to NASA's Mission Control Center to show support to those who keep the astronauts safe.

Science

Erika Hamden: What does it take to send a telescope into the stratosphere?

11:16am October 29, 2021

Astrophysicist Erika Hamden spent 10 years building FIREBall, a telescope that reaches the stratosphere and looks for clues to how stars form. Launching it was more challenging than she ever imagined.

Queue Listen Now

The Voyager spacecraft have ventured far outside our solar system. Now a team of scientists is hoping to take the next interstellar mission even farther.

Science

If NASA greenlights this interstellar mission, it could last 100 years

10:48am October 26, 2021

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Scientists who want to understand what's beyond our solar system have designed an interstellar spacecraft that could go out farther and faster than the famous Voyager probes.

NASA's Perseverance Rover shared the sights of Mars when it took this picture in June. Now it is sharing the sounds of the Red Planet.

Science

Listen to the otherworldly sound of Martian wind

2:58pm October 23, 2021

by Nell Clark

Two microphones aboard the Perseverance Rover make it possible to listen in on the Red Planet. They've captured nearly five hours of sounds, including the Martian wind.

China's DF-17 missile is a medium-range hypersonic weapon capable of traveling over five times the speed of sound.

Behind murky claim of a new hypersonic missile test, there lies a very real arms race

4:10pm October 21, 2021

by Geoff Brumfiel

The U.S. and China are rushing to develop hypersonic weapons. Critics worry it's turning into a race without end.

California's farmers are pumping billions of tons of extra water from underground aquifers this year, because of the drought. But new restrictions on such pumping are coming into force.

Satellites reveal the secrets of water-guzzling farms in California

3:40pm October 18, 2021

by Dan Charles

California wants to limit the water that farmers can pump from depleted aquifers. To enforce those limits, regulators are turning to remote sensing satellites.

NASA's Lucy mission aims to travel billions of miles on the hunt for cosmic fossils

5:13pm October 15, 2021

by Brendan Byrne

A NASA spacecraft is set to explore ancient asteroids clumped around Jupiter. The Lucy mission will travel billions of miles in hopes of uncovering the secret beginnings of the giant outer planets

Wang Yaping is one of three astronauts aboard the Shenzhou 13 spaceflight mission. She will be the first female astronaut to visit the latest Chinese space station, but she has the most space experience of the three.

World News

China has sent a female astronaut for a 6-month stay on its new space station

1:54pm October 15, 2021

by Scott Neuman

Wang Yaping, 41, will become China's first female spacewalker. She and two male colleagues successfully launched aboard Shenzhou 13 to spend six months aboard the Tiangong station.