America’s Spaceport Boom Is Outpacing the Need to Go to Space
Cities are building spaceports to try to attract aerospace companies, even if no one's launching much these days.
China Built the World’s Largest Telescope. Then Came the Tourists
Thousands of people moved to let China build and protect the world’s largest telescope. And then the government drew in orders of magnitude more tourists, potentially undercutting its own science in an attempt to promote it.
How NASA Built a *Shark Tank* for Space Inventions
At an event in Denver, companies faced off in a battle to win NASA mentorship—and maybe the chance to put their tech in space.
The Rebirth of Radio Astronomy
The National Science Foundation has backed away from three of its headlining radio telescopes in the last decade. What comes next?
This Bomb-Simulating US Supercomputer Broke a World Record
A trillion-particle simulation? No sweat for the Trinity supercomputer at Los Alamos National Lab.
How a Team of Experts Quelled Colorado’s Enormous Spring Fire
The state's third-largest wildfire ever burned more than 100,000 acres and destroyed more than 200 homes.
How Does NASA Test For Spacecraft Safety? Brutalize a Replica
In Denver, engineers have built an architecturally identical twin for Orion, NASA’s next launch vehicle—and they're putting it through its paces.
Never Prebook Your Return Flight From a Rocket Launch
Rocket Lab has scrubbed or delayed each of its first three launch attempts. That’s standard.
The Floating Robot With an IBM Brain Is Headed to Space
The IBM robot bound for the International Space Station doesn't have a body, but it has cameras for eyes, microphones for ears, and a speaker for a mouth.
It’s Business Time for Rocket Lab, Launcher of Small Satellites
The question now is: Can it loft its rockets inside the newly opened launch window, or will it stay on the launch pad for ever and ever and ever?