https://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/outer-space/RSS feed for Outer SpaceenThu, 05 Nov 2026 19:32:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/china-announces-a-plan-to-put-astronauts-on-the-moon-by-2030-revealing-details-of-four-upcoming-missions-180989810/The country intends to launch three uncrewed test missions followed by a human lunar landing within the next few years. NASA hopes to send humans to the moon in 2028, though some experts have expressed doubt about that timelineThu, 05 Nov 2026 19:32:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/china-announces-a-plan-to-put-astronauts-on-the-moon-by-2030-revealing-details-of-four-upcoming-missions-180989810/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/after-observing-the-sky-for-22-years-a-beloved-nasa-space-telescope-is-expected-to-meet-a-fiery-death-this-week-180989796/The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory launched in 2004 and detected thousands of astrophysical phenomena, leading to some huge discoveries. Earlier this year, experts attempted a first-of-its-kind rescue mission to save the falling telescope, but it failedTue, 03 Nov 2026 15:46:18 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/after-observing-the-sky-for-22-years-a-beloved-nasa-space-telescope-is-expected-to-meet-a-fiery-death-this-week-180989796/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-rosy-stone-spotted-in-the-sahara-turned-out-to-be-a-4-1-billion-year-old-meteorite-from-mars-one-of-the-oldest-ever-found-180989786/Martian samples this old are extremely rare and offer clues about the Red Planet's youth. This meteorite further hints that our celestial neighbor was once a watery world, suggesting it could've had the conditions to host lifeFri, 30 Oct 2026 18:42:39 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-rosy-stone-spotted-in-the-sahara-turned-out-to-be-a-4-1-billion-year-old-meteorite-from-mars-one-of-the-oldest-ever-found-180989786/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/what-can-space-offer-humanity-in-pursuit-of-the-answer-astronauts-have-been-making-a-home-in-microgravity-for-decades-180989790/In a new gallery called "At Home in Space," the National Air and Space Museum shows how humans have tackled risky and arduous missions to push the boundaries of scientific discovery and explorationFri, 30 Oct 2026 18:05:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/what-can-space-offer-humanity-in-pursuit-of-the-answer-astronauts-have-been-making-a-home-in-microgravity-for-decades-180989790/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/how-astronomers-art-historians-working-together-identify-inspiration-behind-famous-works-art-180989649/Researchers study paintings and literature to uncover untold history of the works, sometimes finding themselves trying to discern celestial bodies from dustWed, 28 Oct 2026 11:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/how-astronomers-art-historians-working-together-identify-inspiration-behind-famous-works-art-180989649/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-11-foot-wide-bowl-shaped-object-was-found-in-a-minnesota-cornfield-experts-suspect-its-a-stray-rocket-part-180989754/The mysterious, shiny object has not been conclusively identified, but it might be space junk from a rocket built by the Chinese company LandSpace and launched on September 15. Metal pieces were also recently found in Borneo, believed to be shed by a different LandSpace rocketTue, 27 Oct 2026 17:42:13 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-11-foot-wide-bowl-shaped-object-was-found-in-a-minnesota-cornfield-experts-suspect-its-a-stray-rocket-part-180989754/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-united-kingdom-is-launching-giant-claws-into-orbit-to-clean-up-space-junk-you-can-help-name-the-first-of-its-kind-mission-180989755/The spacecraft is designed to drag two dead satellites into Earth's atmosphere, where they are expected to disintegrate. The mission is slated to launch in 2029 and be completed by 2032Tue, 27 Oct 2026 15:26:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-united-kingdom-is-launching-giant-claws-into-orbit-to-clean-up-space-junk-you-can-help-name-the-first-of-its-kind-mission-180989755/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/astronomers-detect-the-oldest-fast-radio-burst-spewed-from-an-ancient-galaxy-just-three-billion-years-after-the-big-bang-180989730/The universe formed 13.8 billion years ago, so this far-traveled burst of radio waves can help scientists learn more about the early cosmos. However, researchers still aren't sure what produces these strange flashesFri, 23 Oct 2026 17:17:35 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/astronomers-detect-the-oldest-fast-radio-burst-spewed-from-an-ancient-galaxy-just-three-billion-years-after-the-big-bang-180989730/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/in-a-first-astronomers-identify-a-star-that-might-glow-green-new-research-highlights-the-strange-hues-white-dwarfs-can-take-on-180989719/White dwarf stars are too far from Earth to be observed directly. So, scientists reconstructed how they'd look to human eyes based on the wavelengths of light they emit and found a colorful array of objects that might appear yellow, purple or pinkWed, 21 Oct 2026 14:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/in-a-first-astronomers-identify-a-star-that-might-glow-green-new-research-highlights-the-strange-hues-white-dwarfs-can-take-on-180989719/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-dont-know-how-mars-acquired-its-two-moons-japan-just-launched-a-historic-space-mission-that-will-fetch-samples-to-find-out-180989713/The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's spacecraft is expected to reach the Martian system in August 2027 and return samples from the moon Phobos to Earth in 2031Mon, 19 Oct 2026 19:41:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-dont-know-how-mars-acquired-its-two-moons-japan-just-launched-a-historic-space-mission-that-will-fetch-samples-to-find-out-180989713/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/stanley-kubricks-personal-archive-is-going-up-for-auction-including-the-ax-from-the-shining-and-the-star-child-from-2001-a-space-odyssey-180989632/The legendary director’s on-set chair, annotated scripts and props give a glimpse into the meticulous moviemaking process behind films like "Full Metal Jacket" and "Eyes Wide Shut"Wed, 07 Oct 2026 17:48:09 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/stanley-kubricks-personal-archive-is-going-up-for-auction-including-the-ax-from-the-shining-and-the-star-child-from-2001-a-space-odyssey-180989632/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-may-have-directly-glimpsed-an-exoplanets-magnetic-field-for-the-first-time-building-hope-of-peering-deeper-into-faraway-worlds-180989633/Radio signals emanating from Beta Pictoris b suggest that this young and massive exoplanet has a strong magnetic field and intense auroral showWed, 07 Oct 2026 16:07:13 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-may-have-directly-glimpsed-an-exoplanets-magnetic-field-for-the-first-time-building-hope-of-peering-deeper-into-faraway-worlds-180989633/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/like-a-mythical-phoenix-this-planet-may-have-risen-from-the-ashes-of-a-dead-star-180989628/The “second-generation” world, predicted from telescope data, could be the first known planet of its kind, and it may shed light on the future of our own solar systemWed, 07 Oct 2026 12:22:19 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/like-a-mythical-phoenix-this-planet-may-have-risen-from-the-ashes-of-a-dead-star-180989628/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/physicist-wins-nobel-prize-for-developing-a-massive-ice-embedded-observatory-that-detects-ghostly-cosmic-particles-180989627/Francis Halzen of the University of Wisconsin-Madison led the effort to build the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica. His work birthed the field of neutrino astronomyTue, 06 Oct 2026 19:51:28 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/physicist-wins-nobel-prize-for-developing-a-massive-ice-embedded-observatory-that-detects-ghostly-cosmic-particles-180989627/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/google-wants-to-send-data-centers-to-space-and-just-launched-a-satellite-to-test-whether-its-ambitious-plan-will-work-180989613/The tech giant aims to use the near-constant sunlight available in low-Earth orbit to power data centers. The experimental satellite, launched October 1, holds four computer chips that can run Google’s Gemini A.I. for 15 minutes at a timeFri, 02 Oct 2026 20:01:40 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/google-wants-to-send-data-centers-to-space-and-just-launched-a-satellite-to-test-whether-its-ambitious-plan-will-work-180989613/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/spacexs-giant-starship-rocket-reached-earth-orbit-on-its-first-try-but-engine-problems-forced-it-to-return-to-the-planet-early-180989596/Two aerospace companies are competing to create the lunar lander NASA uses when it returns humans to the moon's surface. But to reach our lunar companion, a spacecraft will first have to get to Earth orbitWed, 30 Sep 2026 20:30:34 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/spacexs-giant-starship-rocket-reached-earth-orbit-on-its-first-try-but-engine-problems-forced-it-to-return-to-the-planet-early-180989596/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/could-saturns-moon-enceladus-host-alien-life-earth-microbes-can-live-in-its-simulated-environment-boosting-its-potential-habitability-180989589/Enceladus is covered in ice, but that layer might hide a subsurface ocean. Researchers have long wondered if the salty body of water has the right conditions to host life, and now, a team suggests that an Earthly, heat-loving organism could thrive thereWed, 30 Sep 2026 18:00:14 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/could-saturns-moon-enceladus-host-alien-life-earth-microbes-can-live-in-its-simulated-environment-boosting-its-potential-habitability-180989589/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/active-supermassive-black-holes-may-be-engines-of-star-formation-not-just-destruction-study-suggests-180989517/Scientists mapped out the structure of nine bright cores of galaxies located near the Milky Way and revealed common patterns that could shed light on how the universe evolvedMon, 21 Sep 2026 17:26:26 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/active-supermassive-black-holes-may-be-engines-of-star-formation-not-just-destruction-study-suggests-180989517/