NASA expands Deep Space Network with giant new dish in California desert

Antennas at the Deep Space Network's Goldstone complex near Barstow, California. The recently completed Deep Space Station 23 is in the foreground to the right. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) By Elizabeth Howell, Published by Space.com, 6 September 2026 The new antenna will boost capacity on NASA's increasingly strained deep-space communications network

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Every patch of human skin the size of a pencil eraser carries roughly a million bacteria, and NASA now warns those microbes vent from spacesuits and could survive in the shaded craters near the Moon’s South Pole for days after the astronauts leave

By The Artful Age Editorial Team, 2 September 2026 A patch of human skin the size of a pencil eraser carries roughly a million bacteria. That number holds whether the skin belongs to a toddler, a grandmother, or an astronaut sealed inside a spacesuit on the way to the Moon.

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A rocket crashed into the moon. It was harmless, but the next one might not be.

A concept for a later phase of NASA's proposed lunar base. Credit: NASA By Therese Jones, Published by Space News, 17 August 2026 Earlier this month, a discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage crashed into the lunar surface at 8,700 kilometers per hour. This was not a controlled landing. The

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Building a long‑term base on the Moon will require extensive planning – a planetary geologist describes the considerations that go into it

NASA plans to build a semi-permanent base on the Moon in the 2030s, as shown in this illustration. NASA By Clive Neal, Published by The Conversation, 14 July 2026 Lots of excitement for space bubbled up in spring 2026. The Artemis II mission took a crew of four on a

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World’s first commercial nuclear-powered satellite set for launch aboard SpaceX rocket

Nano Tritium battery: Citi Labs By Mrigakshi Dixit, Published by Interesting Engineering, 7 July 2026 Miami-based City Labs is all set to launch the world’s first commercial nuclear-powered satellite into orbit.  Solar panels have some challenges. When a satellite slips into the shadow of the Earth, hits a permanently dark

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NASA makes moves to dodge costly delays on its path to build a $30 billion moon base

A concept for a later phase of NASA's proposed lunar base. Credit: NASA By Jackie Wattles, Published by CNN, 30 June 2026 NASA’s moon base plans, conceptualized just a few months ago, are rolling out in earnest as the space agency maps out a strategy to deliver landers, rovers, buggies

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Rocket goes boom, satellite cameras zoom: Explosive Blue Origin damage is visible from space

By Josh Dinner, Published by Space.com, 1 June 2026 New Glenn's launchpad is so cooked, satellites can see the char from orbit. The dust has settled in the aftermath of last week's giant New Glenn rocket explosion, which shook Florida's Space Coast and the space industry itself. Blue Origin was

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