Astronomy

Space weather forecasters are watching for faint CMEs that could reach Earth later this week.

Differences in the skulls of carnivorous dinosaurs suggest some dinosaurs ripped flesh while others crushed bones

Differences in the skulls of carnivorous dinosaurs suggest some dinosaurs ripped flesh while others crushed bones

Mathematicians who call themselves ultrafinitists think that extremely large numbers are holding back science, from logic to cosmology, and they have a radical plan to do something about it

Mathematicians who call themselves ultrafinitists think that extremely large numbers are holding back science, from logic to cosmology, and they have a radical plan to do something about it

Kids crave approval from their peers. Chatbots offer an alternative to IRL relationships, but they can come at a price  

Explore the space between the stars from the safety of a virtual cockpit with the best space flight simulation games.

Measuring binary star systems' basic properties has proved exceedingly difficult.

The Krasheninnikov volcano, located less than 150 miles away from the epicenter of Russia’s July 29 earthquake, began erupting on August 3

The day seemed particularly promising on July 31, 2025.

Space hurricanes can shake Earth's magnetic field and scramble satellites without a solar storm in sight.

A new detection tool can accurately spot deepfake videos featuring any AI manipulation, from face swaps to completely synthetic AI-generated content

A new detection tool can accurately spot deepfake videos featuring any AI manipulation, from face swaps to completely synthetic AI-generated content

Can “finitism” possibly describe the real world?

Rocket Lab launched its fifth mission for the Japanese Earth-imaging company iQPS early Tuesday morning (Aug. 5), sending a synthetic aperture radar satellite to orbit.

JWST observations of light sources before the first galaxies should have formed are raising new questions about our galactic origins

The lowdown on the Environmental Protection Agency’s move to repeal of the “endangerment” finding. Also, how did a juicy ketchup ingredient help create a starchy tuber?

A strange shift in Earth's rotation is making our days milliseconds shorter — and scientists are racing to understand why.

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This summer, a team of robots explored a simulated martian landscape in Germany, remotely guided by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station. This marked the fourth and final session of the Surface Avatar experiment, a collaboration between ESA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to develop how astronauts can control robotic teams to perform complex tasks on the Moon and Mars.

The session introduced new levels of autonomy and complexity. NASA astronaut Jonny Kim operated two robots – ESA’s four-legged Spot and DLR’s humanoid Rollin’ Justin – to retrieve scattered sample containers and deliver them to a lander. Spot navigated the terrain autonomously, while Justin was guided through a mix of direct control and pre-set commands. This setup allowed Jonny to delegate tasks and focus on higher-level decisions, building on other sessions where robots required full teleoperation.

In a second scenario, ESA’s Interact rover transported DLR’s robot dog Bert to a cave entrance. After removing a boulder, Jonny deployed Bert, which then simulated a malfunction in one of its legs. Jonny had to retrain Bert’s walking algorithm in real time before it continued into the cave and detected signs of martian ice. This tested how operators respond to unexpected challenges and adapt robotic systems on the fly.

The robots are controlled from the International Space Station using a custom-built interface developed by ESA and DLR, combining a joystick and a haptic-feedback device. The interface allows switching between first-person view for immersive teleoperation and a top-down map for broader mission oversight. This flexibility lets the astronaut manage multiple robots efficiently, balancing direct control with strategic delegation.

Over four sessions, the Surface Avatar team has refined its approach to human-robot interaction, improving both teleoperation and task delegation to autonomous systems. The experiment has also helped to identify which tasks astronauts prefer to control directly and which can be safely handed over to robotic systems, offering valuable insight for future mission planning.

Read our blog to find out more.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 28 Starlink satellites from Florida's Space Coast early Monday morning (Aug. 4), then came back to Earth for a landing on a ship at sea.