Space Junk Just Fell on Your Home, Now What?
On March 8, a small, cylinder-shaped object fell from the skies and crashed through the roof of a family home in Naples, Florida. Alejandro Otero, the homeowner, suspected it came…
Seeing Too Much Light at Night May Raise Your Stroke Risk
Too much light at night may be bad for our brains, research out this week suggests. In a population of city residents in China, researchers found a link between increased…
‘Too Close for Comfort’: Two Satellites Nearly Collide Above Earth
In a tense moment for space safety, two satellites—NASA’s TIMED spacecraft and the defunct Russian Cosmos 2221—came alarmingly close to smashing into each other above Earth, prompting concerns about the…
SpaceX to Deorbit 100 Starlink Satellites Due to Detected Flaw
An unspecified defect in early model Starlink satellites has prompted SpaceX to preemptively deorbit the units before they potentially fail and become hazards in low Earth orbit. While the company…
Giant Satellite Set for Fiery Reentry After 13 Years of Orbital Creep
After 13 years of slow orbital decay, a legacy satellite will finally be put out of its misery by plunging through Earth’s atmosphere where it will burn up into tiny…
Democrats Release ‘Most Comprehensive Plan Ever’ to Address Plastics Problem
This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. The HP Spectre Fold: One Device, Three Modes, All Meh Off English As plastic litter builds…
Dusting and Mopping Better Than Air Purifiers for Cleaning Indoor Air After a Wildfire
Even after smoke from a wildfire has visibly cleared, lingering toxins indoors can tank air quality and threaten our health. Harmful chemicals stick around on surfaces and release into the…
The Microplastics Are in the Clouds Now
Nowhere is safe from microplastics. Tiny plastic pieces are in waterways, in our bodies, and now researchers have found microplastics in clouds on top of Mount Fuji and Mount Oyama.…
FAA Proposes Stricter Rocket Disposal Rules to Tackle Space Junk
As more rockets liftoff into the skies, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is trying to control how long those launch vehicles stay in orbit as floating space junk. Taking out…
Wind Satellite’s Final Moments Captured Before Intentional Destruction
In late July, the Aeolus Earth Explorer satellite plunged through Earth’s atmosphere to burn up as scraps. Its unprecedented controlled reentry was captured through a series of images that show…