This Month
Extreme solar storm hits Earth, could bring auroras but disrupt power
An unusually strong solar storm hitting Earth could produce southern lights across Australia, including as far north as Queensland.
- Marcia Dunn
America’s new moon race is billionaire v billionaire
Today’s space race looks in some ways like that of the 1960s; instead of the US v the Soviet Union, it’s Bezos’ Blue Origin v Musk’s SpaceX.
- Loren Grush
April
China set to launch high-stakes mission to moon’s ‘hidden’ side
China has made leaps forward in its lunar exploration, narrowing the technological chasm with the United States and Russia.
- Albee Zhang and Ryan Woo
Millions watch total solar eclipse across Americas
Experts called the eclipse “the most viewed astronomical event in history” as the moon blocked out the sun across North America.
- Updated
- Marcia Dunn
March
A sun in our galaxy is about to explode
There hasn’t been a supernova in this vicinity since German astronomer Johannes Kepler saw one in 1604.
- Jeff Allan
‘The ship has been lost’: SpaceX rocket breaks up on re-entry
Starship soared higher and farther than ever before in a near hour-long test flight that bolstered the spirits of both Elon Musk and NASA.
- Marcia Dunn
February
- Opinion
- Russia-Ukraine war
Putin’s space nuke is so crazy, it’s an opportunity
The spectre of Russian nuclear escalation in space could offer Joe Biden and Xi Jinping a reason to make common cause in restraining and deterring the Russian autocrat.
- Andreas Kluth
First private spacecraft lands on the moon
A successful touchdown by Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander heralds a more commercial era for space exploration.
- Updated
- Peggy Hollinger and Clive Cookson
- Exclusive
- Funding
The Gold Coast’s answer to SpaceX is now worth $605m
Gold Coast-based rocket company Gilmour Space has closed a $55m funding round, which will give it enough cash to make its first four launch attempts.
- Tess Bennett
January
First US lunar lander in more than 50 years rockets towards moon
The Vulcan streaked through the Florida sky, putting the spacecraft on a roundabout route to the moon that should culminate with an attempted landing on February 23.
- Marcia Dunn
December 2023
Aussie company Quasar joins the global satellite space race
Defence forces and commercial companies are seeking way to improve the tracking of space traffic.
- Matthew Cranston
November 2023
This moonshot tech firm is Australia’s fastest growing company
Fleet Space Technologies, with a compound annual growth rate of 582 per cent over three years, is top of the Fast 100 class for 2023.
- Michael Bailey
October 2023
Big ideas trump commercialisation for new CSIRO boss
Doug Hilton has laid out plans for it to help answer the big questions facing society, while also making some money along the way.
- Updated
- Tess Bennett
- Exclusive
- Funding
Big money is back as space tech start-up raises $120m
Skykraft, which is building satellites to communicate with aircraft in flight anywhere in the world, has closed one of the year’s biggest investments.
- Paul Smith
Australian scientists shine new light on dark matter
It might not yet be the answer to life, the universe and everything, but an analysis of international experiments suggests the existence of an unknown particle.
- Jeff Allan
September 2023
NASA asteroid sample parachutes safely onto Utah desert
The gumdrop-shaped capsule was released from the robotic spacecraft OSIRIS-REx as the mothership passed within 107,826 kilometres of Earth hours earlier.
- Steve Gorman and Maria Caspani
Japan launches rocket on mission to probe origins of universe
The heavy payload rocket was launched carrying an advanced imaging satellite and a lightweight lander that was scheduled to reach the moon as early as January.
- Nicholas Takahashi
Fresh from moon landing, India launches spacecraft to study the sun
The Aditya-L1 spacecraft took off on board a satellite launch vehicle from the Sriharikota space centre in southern India on a quest to study the sun.
- Ashok Sharma and Aijaz Hussain
How humans will colonise the moon – and when it will happen
While the world was distracted by Putin and Trump, India pulled off a lunar landing. But with six nations and two billionaires eyeing up the opportunities, what will our first off-world settlement look like?
- Boris Starling
August 2023
Russia’s moon failure a blow to space partnership with China
The ill-fated spacecraft was aiming for the intended location of a joint base that space agencies in China and Russia had agreed to build together.
- Bruce Einhorn
