Mike Wall, Space.com

Read the latest articles by Mike Wall, Space.com at Seeker

Contributor

Chris Gunn/NASA

Space & Innovation

NASA has delayed the launch of its huge, highly anticipated James Webb Space Telescope by another 10 months.

NASA Delays Launch of James Webb Space Telescope to 2021

NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

At its heart, Pluto may be a gigantic comet.

Pluto May Have Formed From a Billion Comets

NASA/JPL-Caltech

There's a lot of really smelly stuff wafting around Uranus.

If the Rotten Egg Smell Doesn’t Kill You, the Negative 200°C Temperature of Uranus Will

Ken Crawford

Astrophysics

Our Milky Way galaxy is growing faster than the speed of sound as new stars pop up in its hinterlands, a new study suggests.

The Milky Way Is Expanding Faster Than the Speed of Sound

José A. Peñas/SINC

Some distant objects in our solar system bear the gravitational imprint of a small star's close flyby 70,000 years ago, when modern humans were already walking the Earth, a new study suggests.

A Star Grazed Our Solar System When Neanderthals and Modern Humans Shared the Earth

Elena Khavina, MIPT

Humanity now has a better idea of just how powerful a nuke you'd need to take out an incoming asteroid.

Here’s How Powerful of a Nuke Is Needed to Destroy an Incoming Asteroid

NASA

In the not-too-distant future, NASA astronauts might conduct their video interviews from the International Space Station (ISS) while wearing Nike-supplied T-shirts, with a giant Toyota logo visible on the module wall behind them.

NASA Explores Ways to Commercialize the International Space Station

Some hardy Earth microbes could likely survive in the Saturn moon Enceladus' buried ocean, gobbling up hydrogen produced by interactions between seawater and rock, a new study suggests.

Methane on Saturn’s Moon Enceladus Could Be Sign of Life

Bigelow Aerospace

Exploration

A company that builds big, inflatable space habitats has launched a new venture that will market and operate these structures in Earth orbit and beyond.

Aerospace Company to Launch Private, Inflatable Space Stations

NASA's 2019 budget request formalizes the agency's handover of human-spaceflight activities in low-Earth orbit to private industry, in favor of a shift toward the moon.

Trump’s 2019 Budget Emphasizes Moon Mission, Defunds ISS

SpaceX

The two-stage Falcon 9 booster lifted off January 31 at 4:25pm EST (2125 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, hauling the GovSat-1 spacecraft aloft.

SpaceX Launches Used Falcon 9 Rocket Into Orbit

The Trump administration is committed to sending astronauts to the moon as part of a broader push to prioritize human spaceflight and firm up US dominance in the final frontier, Vice President Mike Pence said.

Mike Wall, Space.com

Latest Posts From Mike

NASA Delays Launch of James Webb Space Telescope to 2021

The telescope will allow astronomers to study some of the earliest stars and galaxies in the universe, as well as hunt for alien life.

Pluto May Have Formed From a Billion Comets

The planet’s chemical makeup appears to have been formed from comets and other Kuiper Belt objects, according to research on its vast nitrogen-ice glacier Sputnik Planitia.

If the Rotten Egg Smell Doesn’t Kill You, the Negative 200°C Temperature of Uranus Will

New research suggests the atmosphere of Uranus is largely comprised of hydrogen sulfide, which gives rotten eggs their repulsive smell.

The Milky Way Is Expanding Faster Than the Speed of Sound

Optical-light data from other galaxies allowed astrophysicists to estimate that our galaxy is growing at a rate of 1,100 mph, or 1.4 times the speed of sound.

A Star Grazed Our Solar System When Neanderthals and Modern Humans Shared the Earth

The red dwarf star came closer than 1 light-year to the sun 70,000 years ago.

Here’s How Powerful of a Nuke Is Needed to Destroy an Incoming Asteroid

Researchers in Russia conducted laboratory simulations of nuclear strikes on asteroids traveling along a collision course with Earth.

NASA Explores Ways to Commercialize the International Space Station

Advertising and marketing aboard the space station is currently prohibited, but that may change in the wake of the Trump administration's 2019 budget proposal.

Methane on Saturn’s Moon Enceladus Could Be Sign of Life

Laboratory experiments show the methane detected on Enceladus by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft could be of biological origin.

Aerospace Company to Launch Private, Inflatable Space Stations

Bigelow Aerospace announced plans for sending soft-bodied modules that are compressed during launch but expand once they reach space.

Trump’s 2019 Budget Emphasizes Moon Mission, Defunds ISS

The President’s annual budget proposal, which requires Congressional approval, also axes NASA’s Office of Education, a telescope, and five Earth science programs.

SpaceX Launches Used Falcon 9 Rocket Into Orbit

The company has landed 21 Falcon 9 first stages, and it has now reflown boosters six times, all successfully.

Vice President Mike Pence Says NASA's Going Back to the Moon

The pledge of returning US astronauts to the Moon marks a change in focus from the Obama administration, which emphasized exploration of Mars.