A reckless experiment in Earth’s atmosphere resulted in the flooding of a desert metropolis. This was the story last week when more than a year’s worth of rain fell in one day in the Arabian Peninsula, one of the driest regions in the world. Desert cities such as Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)… Read More »
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. A piece of debris launched from the International Space Station unexpectedly survived a fiery re-entry from orbit last month and punctured the roof of a Florida home, according to NASA. When the federal agency disposed… Read More »
A total solar eclipse will be visible in the United States in April 2024 – this was an image of the 2017 eclipse in Oregon (ROB KERR) When a rare total solar eclipse sweeps across North America on Monday, scientists will be able to collect invaluable data on everything from the Sun’s atmosphere to strange… Read More »
A total solar eclipse will be visible in the United States in April 2024 – this was an image of the 2017 eclipse in Oregon (ROB KERR) When a rare total solar eclipse sweeps across North America on April 8, scientists will be able to collect invaluable data on everything from the Sun’s atmosphere to… Read More »
Salvaged ceramic heat shield pieces designed to keep SpaceX’s giant Starship cool during re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere are selling for thousands of dollars on eBay, a lucrative secondary market for unique souvenirs once attached to some of the largest man-made objects. never fly. The company led by Elon Musk has so far attempted to launch… Read More »
The environmental impacts of spaceflight are becoming increasingly clear as more and more spacecraft are launched into Earth’s orbit. The increasing number of satellites burning up in Earth’s atmosphere has worried scientists for years, and now a new paper explores how the resulting crust of “conductive dust” around the planet resulting from the re-entry of… Read More »
There’s some interesting fallout from the recent dive of the European Remote Sensing satellite, or ERS-2, to Earth. ERS-2 studied our planet for nearly 16 years after its launch in April 1995. Later in 2011 European Space Agency (ESA) decided to end the mission of the radar-carrying spacecraft. The agency commandeered a series of deorbiting… Read More »
NASA’s newest Earth observation satellite has managed to reach orbit. The nearly $1 billion PACE mission, which the Trump administration has tried to cancel four separate times, launched early this morning (Feb. 8) on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Once operational, PACE will make important observations about Earth’s… Read More »
Earth, our rocky, watery oasis in the universe, is an ideal place for life to develop for several reasons. We sit at just the right distance from our parent star for liquid water to exist on the planet’s surface. The gravitational pull of other large planets helps protect us from apocalyptic collisions with stray asteroids.… Read More »
Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. To get it in your inbox, Sign up for free here. The Moon is hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from Earth, but humanity has played a significant role in shaping it for more than sixty years. In fact, human discoveries… Read More »