Earth
Why on Earth is the planet’s day getting shorter?
Earth completed a rotation 1.33 milliseconds earlier than usual on Tuesday, August 5. That makes it one of the shortest days of 2025 at 86,399.99867 seconds long. How that happens, and how we can even measure it with such precision, might make your head spin faster too. On average, Earth physically rotates in 23 hours, …
Will the Earth last forever?
“Will the Earth last forever?” — Solomon, age 5, California Everything that has a beginning has an end. But the Earth will last for a very long time, and its end will come billions of years after anyone who is alive here now is gone. Before we talk about the future of our planet, let’s …
How has the inside of the Earth stayed hot for billions of years?
“How does the inside of the Earth stay boiling hot for billions of years?” — Henry, age 11, Somerville, Massachusetts Our Earth is structured sort of like an onion – it’s one layer after another. Starting from the top down, there’s the crust, which includes the surface you walk on; then farther down, the mantle, …
Earth’s magnetic field moves, flips, and protects us from radiation
The Earth’s magnetic field plays a big role in protecting people from hazardous radiation and geomagnetic activity that could affect satellite communication and the operation of power grids. And it moves. Scientists have studied and tracked the motion of the magnetic poles for centuries. The historical movement of these poles indicates a change in the …
Axiom-4 commercial astronaut mission to ISS scrubs due to LOX leak
Everything had been looking good for a liftoff of the Axiom Mission 4 carrying a quartet of astronauts to the International Space Station last Wednesday, June 11, until SpaceX engineers discovered a liquid oxygen (LOX) fuel leak in the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket upon further review of data from a static fire …
S.S. Ellison Onizuka on way to ISS after successful launch
Northrop Grumman successfully launched its 16th resupply mission to the International Space Station from Pad 0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) in Wallops Island, Virginia on August 10, 2021, at 6:01:05 p.m. EDT. The NG16 mission will deliver approximately 8,200 pounds of cargo to the station including crew supplies, hardware, and scientific research once …
Northrop Grumman to launch its 16th resupply mission to the ISS
The 16th resupply mission by Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft is currently targeted to lift off on August 10th at 5:56 p.m. from Pad-0A of the Mid-Atlantic Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia. On top of the Antares booster, the Cygnus spacecraft will carry more than 8,200 pounds of science and research, …
Without gravity, what happens to our cells in space?
There’s one force whose effects are so deeply entrenched in our everyday lives that we probably don’t think much about it at all: gravity. Gravity is the force that causes attraction between masses. It’s why when you drop a pen, it falls to the ground. But because gravitational force is proportional to the mass of …
Final SLS Green Run test goes the distance
NASA successfully completed the critical and long-awaited hot fire test of the core stage engines for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) human-rated mega Moon rocket Thursday afternoon, March 18, on a test stand in Mississippi. The rocket stage will now be shipped to the Kennedy Space Center, paving the path for the launch of the …
Boeing slates Starliner test flight to ISS; SpaceX readies Crew-2 mission
Boeing’s next uncrewed Starliner test flight set for April 2 CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Following a military mission delay for the U.S. Space Force, winter storms blanketed Texas, and a need for spacecraft and hardware processing time, NASA and Boeing are now targeting NET April 2, for the launch of Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test …