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Georgina Torbet

Georgina Torbet

Space Writer

Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She specializes in current and future exploration of Mars. She has previously written about science, technology, and security topics for websites like SlashGear, Engadget, and Futurism. She has a master's degree in neuroscience and a PhD in psychology.

A stool constructed out of mycelia after two weeks of growth. The next step is a baking process process that leads to a clean and functional piece of furniture.

Mushroom houses: NASA wants to grow its own Mars habitats from fungi

You might imagine cities on other planets being made of steel or glass, but NASA has other ideas: growing habitats out of fungi.
Space News
The International Space Station.

Astronauts on the ISS forced to shelter from dangerous space junk

Astronauts on board the International Space Station were roused from sleep last night and had to shelter in their spacecraft due to a threat from space debris.
Space News
This image is a mosaic of visible-light and infrared-light views of the same frame from the Pillars of Creation visualization. The three-dimensional model of the pillars created for the visualization sequence is alternately shown in the Hubble Space Telescope version (visible light) and the Webb Space Telescope version (infrared light).

See a stunning 3D visualization of astronomy’s most beautiful object

NASA has created a 3D visualization of the beautiful Pillars of Creation, using data from the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes.
Space News
This photo taken on June 25, 2024 shows the retrieval site of the return capsule of the Chang'e-6 probe in Siziwang Banner, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

China makes history by returning the first sample from far side of the moon

The Chang'e-6 mission landed on the moon's far side earlier this month, where it collected a sample that was returned to Earth on Tuesday, June 25.
Space News
NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps (center) is pictured assisting NASA astronauts Mike Barratt (left) and Tracy C. Dyson (right) inside the Quest airlock.

NASA spacewalk called off due to dramatic water leak from astronaut’s spacesuit

Today's spacewalk by two NASA astronauts had to be called off early when one astronaut's spacesuit experienced a water leak shortly after opening the hatch.
Space News
Boeing's Starliner capsule docked at the ISS.

Starliner’s return to Earth delayed again, until next month

The Boeing Starliner, which is currently docked at the International Space Station, will not be returning to Earth with its crew this week as planned.
Space News
Rocket Lab's 50th Electron launch.

Rocket Lab blasts into the record books with 50th Electron launch

New Zealand-based company Rocket Lab has hit an impressive milestone with the 50th launch of its Electron rocket.
Space News
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope features the galaxy NGC 1546.

Hubble takes first image since switching to new pointing mode

The Hubble Space Telescope has been through some troubles of late, but it recently took a beautiful image of a nearby galaxy.
Space News
An artist's impression of an asteroid approaching Earth

What happened when NASA simulated an asteroid hitting Earth

NASA ran the world's most dramatic roleplay, simulating what would happen if a dangerous asteroid were spotted on a collision course with the planet.
Space News
This image shows the centre of the Serpens Nebula as seen by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam).

Gorgeous Webb image of Serpens Nebula shows a strange alignment

A stunning new image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows the famous Serpens Nebula, a dense star-forming region.
Space News
An artist’s concept of the Voyager spacecraft.

Voyager 1 probe has nine lives, is operating its four instruments once again

Having suffered through a tricky glitch, the incredible Voyager 1 spacecraft is now back to operations, with data coming in from all four of its instruments.
Space News
This artist’s concept shows two young stars nearing the end of their formation. Encircling the stars are disks of leftover gas and dust from which planets may form. Jets of gas shoot away from the stars’ north and south poles.

Well-known star turns out to be not one star, but twins

Observations from the James Webb Space Telescope revealed that a particular star turned out not to be a single star at all, but actually a pair.
Space News
A red giant star and white dwarf orbit each other in this animation of a nova similar to T Coronae Borealis. The red giant is a large sphere in shades of red, orange, and white, with the side facing the white dwarf the lightest shades. The white dwarf is hidden in a bright glow of white and yellows, which represent an accretion disk around the star. A stream of material, shown as a diffuse cloud of red, flows from the red giant to the white dwarf. When the red giant moves behind the white dwarf, a nova explosion on the white dwarf ignites, creating a ball of ejected nova material shown in pale orange. After the fog of material clears, a small white spot remains, indicating that the white dwarf has survived the explosion.

A cosmic explosion will create a bright new star in the sky

A cosmic explosion expected this summer will be visible from Earth even with the naked eye and will result in a new star.
Space News
The specks in this scene were caused by charged particles from a solar storm hitting a camera aboard NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover. Curiosity uses its navigation cameras to try and capture images of dust devils and wind gusts, like the one seen here.

Auroras and radiation from solar storms spotted on Mars

If we ever want to send people to visit the red planet, we're going to need to learn more about radiation and how it's affected by events like solar storms.
Space News
SpaceX's Inspiration4 crew in orbit.

Data from Inspiration4 astronauts suggests short space trips aren’t harmful to health

New research that was conducted on the four civilian astronauts of the Inspiration4 mission shows the effects of short-duration spaceflight on the human body.
Space News
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard, approaches the International Space Station for an autonomous docking as it orbited 257 miles above the South Pacific Ocean.

Boeing Starliner arrives safely at the ISS, but it sprung more leaks along the way

Boeing's Starliner made it safely to the International Space Station carrying two NASA astronauts, but had some problems on its journey.
Space News
starship fourth test flight screenshot 2024 06 145159

SpaceX Starship rocket survives reentry mostly intact in fourth test flight

The mighty Starship rocket that SpaceX intends to use to transport astronauts to the moon and beyond has made another largely successful test flight.
Space News
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying a Boeing Starliner spacecraft launches NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday, June 5, 2024.

Boeing Starliner successfully launches carrying two NASA astronauts

The Boeing Starliner spacecraft has finally launched, taking off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Space News
This image shows China's Chang'e 6 lander on the surface of the moon.

China’s Chang’e 6 mission blasts off from lunar surface carrying moon rocks

China's Chang'e 6 mission has scooped up samples from the moon and has now taken off from the lunar surface, headed back to Earth.
Space News
An STS-125 crew member aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis captured this image of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope on May 19, 2009.

Hubble will switch to a new mode to preserve its troublesome gyros

The beloved Hubble Space Telescope will soon be changing the way it operates to deal with a dodgy gyroscope.
Space News
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is seen on the launch pad of Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Saturday, June 1, 2024

First crewed flight of the Boeing Starliner scrubbed once again

The planned crewed launch of the Boeing Starliner was scrubbed at 3 minutes and 50 seconds before liftoff due to a problem with the ground system.
Space News
Fly across Nili Fossae with Mars Express.

Fly over the trenches of Mars in stunning video of Nili Fossae

A new video from the European Space Agency (ESA) was constructed using data from the Mars Express mission and shows a flyover of Mars's Nili Fossae trenches.
Space News
The first of two CubeSats for the PREFIRE mission sits on a launch pad in Māhia, New Zealand, shortly before launching on May 25, 2024 at 7:41 p.m. NZST (3:41 a.m. EDT).

Two tiny NASA satellites are launching to study Earth’s poles

NASA has launched the first part of a two-satellite mission called PREFIRE to study Earth's poles, with the second satellite set to launch this Saturday.
Space News
JADES (NIRCam Image with Pullout). The NIRCam data was used to determine which galaxies to study further with spectroscopic observations. One such galaxy, JADES-GS-z14-0 (shown in the pullout), was determined to be at a redshift of 14.32 (+0.08/-0.20), making it the current record-holder for the most distant known galaxy. This corresponds to a time less than 300 million years after the big bang.

James Webb discovers the most distant galaxy ever observed

Researchers using James Webb have discovered the most distant known galaxy to date. It existed just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
Space News
Artist's view of EarthCARE on board a Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Equipped with four instruments, the Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) satellite mission has been designed to make a range of different measurements that together will shed new light on the role that clouds and aerosols play in regulating Earth’s climate.

How to watch Europe launch a new Earth observation satellite tonight

The European Space Agency will launch a satellite called EarthCARE to observe clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere tonight. Here's how to watch the launch.
Space News
This image is released as part of the Early Release Observations from ESA’s Euclid space mission. All data from these initial observations are made public on 23 May 2024 – including a handful of unprecedented new views of the nearby Universe, this being one. This breathtaking image features Messier 78 (the central and brightest region), a vibrant nursery of star formation enveloped in a shroud of interstellar dust. This image is unprecedented – it is the first shot of this young star-forming region at this width and depth.

Euclid space telescope captures stunning images of far-off galaxies

New images from the European Space Agency's Euclid telescope show a range of cosmic objects, from bustling stellar nurseries to enormous galaxy clusters.
Space News
TOI-1798, a system that is home to two planets. The inner planet is a strange Super-Earth so close to its star, one year on this alien world lasts only half an Earth day.

Exoplanet catalog details over 100 worlds beyond our solar system

A new catalog of exoplanets from two telescopes shows the incredible variety of planets that exist beyond our solar system.
Space News
This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Psyche spacecraft headed to the metal-rich asteroid Psyche in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The spacecraft launched in October 2023 and will arrive at its destination in 2029.

Why the Psyche spacecraft’s futuristic electric thrusters glow blue

NASA's Psyche mission is on its way to visit a metal asteroid between Mars and Jupiter, and it recently kicked on its new blue-glowing electric thrusters.
Space News
Gliese 12 b, which orbits a cool, red dwarf star located just 40 light-years away, promises to tell astronomers more about how planets close to their stars retain or lose their atmospheres. In this artist’s concept, Gliese 12 b is shown retaining a thin atmosphere.

Astronomers discover rare ‘exo-Venus’ just 40 light-years away

Astronomers have discovered a rare type of planet called an exo-Venus with a similar temperature to Earth, located in our cosmic back yard.
Space News
Boeing's Starliner spacecraft at the space station during an uncrewed test flight.

First crewed test flight of Boeing Starliner delayed again, with no new launch date set

NASA had been hoping to perform the first crewed launch of the troubled Boeing Starliner capsule this weekend, but now the launch has once again been delayed.
Space News
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image captures a triple-star star system.

Hubble catches a baby star pulsating in a triple star system

A gorgeous new image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a triple star system, including HP Tau, that's less than 10 million years old.
Space News
NS-25 astronauts during training at Launch Site One. (May 18, 2024)

First Black astronaut candidate finally reaches space at age 90

NASA's first Black astronaut candidate, Ed Dwight, was selected for training in 1961 but never got the chance to travel to space -- until now.
Space News
Jupiter’s moon Europa was captured by the JunoCam instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during the mission’s close flyby on Sept. 29, 2022. The images show the fractures, ridges, and bands that crisscross the moon’s surface.

Stunning images of Jupiter’s moon Europa show it has a floating icy shell

NASA's Juno mission has imaged Jupiter's intriguing moon Europa, a top target of habitability research due to its liquid water ocean beneath a thick icy crust.
Space News
An artist's impression of the Rosalind Franklin rover on Mars.

NASA to help with the launch of Europe’s unlucky Mars rover

Europe's unlucky Mars rover, known as Rosalind Franklin, has gotten a boost thanks to a new cooperation agreement with NASA.
Space News
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