Articles

The Downlink

Your picks for the Best of 2023, our favorite space pics, a mind-boggling peak speed, and more.

The Downlink

Space exploration bestows us with many gifts, from scientific insights and beautiful images to technological marvels and inspiring achievements. Now it’s your turn to bestow some cosmic gifts.

The Downlink

On the one-year anniversary of LightSail 2’s end of flight, we look back at the mission that united so many.

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Who needs candid celebrity snapshots? We’ve got all the best pics of your favorite planetary bodies.

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Space superlatives abound this week. We’ve made a couple of awards, but the rest are up to you to decide.

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Space can be a scary place! But fear not — it’s all still fascinating.

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With International Observe the Moon Night coming up, there are many moons worth checking out.

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An annular solar eclipse is about to wow the world, and there’s plenty more to get excited about in space science and exploration this week.

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Jupiter looks fit for a martini, and Carl Sagan pairs well with a cosmopolitan. Find out why, and learn about the latest in space science and exploration.

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Mars Sample Return’s future depends on what we do now. NIAC’s projects are very future-forward. And in many ways, the future is already here.

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Celebrate today’s equinox, but be sure to check when your location’s equilux takes place. And there’s lots to celebrate about this year’s Day of Action.

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Some things are lost — Moon rocks, Io’s water, even (briefly) the Sun’s light — but what we find in space is so much greater.

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Discover what causes a comet’s color and what it might be like to listen to one whiz by.

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See the month’s coolest space pictures, see planets in the night sky, and create the future in space that you want to see.

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From asteroid impacts to spacecraft landings (whether successful or not), the Moon is no stranger to being struck.

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Mars has storms of dust, while Saturn pours down ammonia rain. Here on Earth, we passed through a debris tail to get a special kind of shower.

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Terminators abound this week in space, and we’ll be back to Mars if NASA gets the budget it needs.

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Faraway spacecraft, distant objects, the lunar farside, and a pretty out-there art project.

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From searching for life to training for spaceflight, water is an essential part of space exploration.

The Downlink

An unusual lunar feature, Saturn’s shining rings, and Mars’ complex gullies.