Aerospace138 articles archived since 1845

A “Starshade” Could Help NASA Find Other Earths Decades Ahead of Schedule

A next-generation space telescope is in the works—but if it is to see potentially habitable planets, it will need to block out their suns

Airplanes, Zeppelins and Balloons: Aviation Research in 1916

Fragile Sentinels, 1916

Reported in Scientific American, this Week in World War I: June 10, 1916

Silicon Valley and "Disruptive" War Research

The Pentagon hopes to generate more "disruptive" weapons technologies by pursuing closer ties with researchers in Silicon Valley and elsewhere

Is Commercial Aviation as Safe and Secure as We're Told?

A criminologist who studies the issues weighs in on the latest risks

Flying Mini Robots Can Cling to Your Window [Video]

A new type of micro aerial vehicle saves precious power by perching on leaves or walls instead of hovering

Flying Boats Soar over the Hudson

Hydrofoiling boats competing in the America's Cup World Series came to New York City to show off the cutting edge of sailing technology.  

The Bowling Ball That Invaded Earth

Former Scientific American editor Mark Alpert talks about his latest science fiction thriller, The Orion Plan, featuring the method whereby aliens most likely really would colonize our planet...

SpaceX Sticks a Rocket Landing at Sea in Historic First

Following a smooth cargo launch, a reusable Falcon 9 rocket booster touches down successfully on a drone ship

Blue Origin Launches and Lands Rocket for the Third Time

Jeff Bezos's private spaceflight company sticks another vertical landing in unmanned test

NASA Announces the Science Experiments That Will Ride on the Most Powerful Rocket Ever

In 2018 the Space Launch System will carry 13 shoebox-size CubeSats into deep space

Rogue Nuclear Tests Could Be Spotted with New Method

Today's Nuclear Security Summit tackles proliferation, and scientists try a way to trace gases from secret bombs

Are Drone Strikes Really Making Us Safer?

Former CIA chief Michael Hayden defends drone attacks, but critics fear they may do more harm than good.

Liftoff! European Mission to Mars Launches to Seek Signs of Life

The two robotic spacecraft are the first part of the two-phase European–Russian ExoMars program to hunt for signs of life on the Red Planet

A Quiet Revolution in Weather Forecasting

Small, relatively cheap and quickly upgradable microsatellites could soon make weather prediction far more reliable

The Demographics of Space Travel

This interactive data visualization shows the birth year of every human who has been to space

The Serious Work of Balloons, 1916

Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: February 12, 1916. The cover of the February 12, 1916, issue of Scientific American has an image of a military balloon: “Hauling a French observation balloon to a new signalling post.” The balloon in question is a Parseval-Sigsfeld kite balloon, first introduced in Germany in 1896, but used by all armies involved in the First World War...

GPS and the World's First "Space War"

Satellite-based navigation proved its mettle during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, leading to what some say is an overdependence on “jammable” GPS technology

Death in Cerulean Blue

This simple painting by Christine Rueter will mean volumes for those who remember the Challenger disaster. 

Making Art with Drones

What can you create with 100 drones flying in formation? Intel and Electronica FutureLab partnered to answer that question, with spectacular results