NASA
NASA Astronaut Photographs Utah River That Can't Stop Looping Back on Itself
The San Juan River meanders so aggressively through Utah that it covers 5.5 miles to get 1.3 miles down the road - as the goose flies.
2026-11-06
NASA
2026-11-04
NASA
NASA Astronaut Photographs Midwest from Space, Confirms Cities Are Indeed Bright
NASA astronaut captures a stunning predawn photo of the Midwest from space, proving that Chicago is still very bright and airglow is still a thing.
2026-11-02
NASA
Mars Has Been Growing a 1,500-Kilometer Cloud Since 1977 and Honestly, Same
A water-ice cloud near Mars's Arsia Mons has been stretching 1,500 kilometers since 1977, forms only in spring and summer mornings, and may require no dust at all - because of course it doesn't.
2026-10-30
NASA
NASA Finds Antarctic Island That Looks Exactly Like a Skull, Because Of Course It Does
An Antarctic island that looks like a smirking skull is melting, and scientists are quite literally watching its face fall off.
2026-10-29
NASA
First Named Storm of 2026 Cyclone Season Arrives Fashionably Late, Ruins Everything Anyway
Arnab, the first named storm of the 2026 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, showed up late, packed 140 km/h winds, and still managed to ruin everything in Andhra Pradesh.
2026-10-28
NASA
NASA Program Accidentally Teaches Engineering Students How to Read a Budget, Entrepreneurial Empire Ensues
A NASA grant program taught an engineering student how to budget, and five years later he's building thousands of military training drones a month. Apparently, the scariest part of drone innovation is the spreadsheet.
2026-10-27
NASA
NASA Inspects Giant Sunshade That Will Stare Directly at the Sun So We Don't Have To
NASA's NEO Surveyor sunshade - 20 feet tall, 864 solar cells, 2 kilowatts - is ready to stare at the Sun so ground telescopes don't have to.
2026-10-26
NASA
NASA Invites Journalists to Pretend They're Landing on the Moon, No Actual Spaceflight Required
NASA invites media to tour a lunar landing simulator at Ames Research Center on Oct. 29 - 30 - because practicing Moon landings on Earth is still cheaper than the real thing, and the real thing isn't until 2028 anyway.
NASA
NASA Reminds Us the Orion Nebula Exists, Still 1,500 Light-Years Away
NASA's APOD features M42, the Orion Nebula, again - because some cosmic wonders are worth repeating, especially when they're 1,500 light-years away and visible to the naked eye.
2026-10-24
NASA
NASA Reschedules Moon Landing to 2028, Promises 'Super Bowl-Caliber Team' Because Apollo Was Apparently Just a Warm-Up
NASA realigns its lunar lander contracts, swaps out orbits, and promises a 2028 Moon landing with a 'Super Bowl-caliber team' - because nothing says cosmic ambition like a sports analogy.
2026-10-22
NASA
NASA's Hubble Does the Prep Work So the Roman Telescope Can Show Up and Take Credit
Hubble snaps a gravitational lens to prep for the Roman Space Telescope, proving that even aging space telescopes have to do homework for the new kid.
NASA
New Guinea Burns, Sets Carbon Record, As El Niño Turns Rainforest Into Kindling
El Niño-driven drought turns New Guinea's rainforests into a carbon-emitting bonfire, with Papua New Guinea on track for its highest fire emissions year on record - because apparently the bar was already on the floor.
2026-10-20
NASA
NASA's New Mars Helicopter Blades Promise Flights So Long You'll Forget It's a Desert Planet
NASA's new roamx-0201 airfoil could let Mars helicopters fly up to 18.7 km in one go - 26 times farther than Ingenuity - because apparently, 0.7 km just wasn't showing off enough.
The Guardian Europe
Japan Launches Mission to Bring Back Rocks From Mars's Moon, Because Mars Itself Is Apparently Too Mainstream
Japan launches a $578m mission to collect 10g of rock from Phobos, because apparently Mars itself is too mainstream.
2026-10-16
NASA
NASA Manager Watches Rocket She Helped Build, Feels Things
Allison Mjoen, NASA's operations manager, watched the SLS rocket launch she helped make possible, proving that 20 years of paperwork and integration plans can lead to a brief, glorious rumble.
NASA
NASA Joins Japan's Mission to Finally Figure Out Where Mars' Weird Little Moons Came From
NASA is helping Japan's JAXA send a spacecraft to Mars' moons, because after decades of looking at Phobos and Deimos we still can't agree on what they actually are.
2026-10-08
NASA
NASA to Launch 6,300 Pounds of Science, Solar Panels, and Possibly the Future of Medicine
NASA and SpaceX are launching 6,300 pounds of supplies, solar panels, and experiments to cure Alzheimer's, because multitasking is a thing.
2026-10-07
SpaceNews
SpaceNews Announces 2026 Icon Awards Finalists, Because Even Space Needs a Red Carpet
SpaceNews rolls out the red carpet for its 2026 Icon Awards finalists, because nothing says 'cosmic achievement' like a Dec. 1 gala in D.C. - and an Oct. 31 early bird deadline.
NASA
Arctic Sea Ice Hits 2026 Minimum, Ties Three Other Years for 10th-Lowest, Because of Course It Does
Arctic sea ice hit its 2026 minimum on September 12 at 4.6 million square kilometers, tying 2008, 2010, and 2025 for 10th-lowest - because the Arctic loves a group project.
2026-10-06
NASA
NASA Rover Photographs Mars Cliffs, Immediately Raises More Questions Than It Answers
NASA's Curiosity rover captured a stunning Martian dawn panorama, climbed more elevation than anything else on Mars, and still can't explain the weird cliffs it's driving toward.
The Good Times
News in your inbox.
One sardonic roundup, delivered on your schedule. Free. Unsubscribe whenever your tolerance for wit runs out.
Already subscribed but we never reach your inbox? Check your spam folder and hit 'Not spam' (or 'Remove from spam') to bust us out of junk-mail purgatory. You'll be helping everyone else too.