RocketSTEM
Inspiring Earth's Next Generation of Explorers Since 2012
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Latest posts
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Why do people look into space with telescopes but not binoculars?
“Why do people use telescopes to look into space but not binoculars?” — Niraj, age 6, Arlington, Massachusetts Go outside right now. What’s the farthest thing you can see? A tree? A bird? What about the Moon? It’s 250,000 miles away. The Sun is 400 times farther than that, at…
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Starship’s first orbital flight put heat shield to the test – how it fares may determine if SpaceX’s vision is possible
SpaceX’s Starship, the most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, reached Earth orbit for the first time on Sept. 28, 2026. This mission, the rocket’s 14th test flight, also marked the first time that Starship deployed Starlink internet satellites into the existing larger…
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50 years ago, the Viking missions began our search for life on Mars
Finding life beyond the Earth would be a major scientific discovery with significant implications for all areas of science and human thought. Yet, only one direct search for extraterrestrial life has ever been conducted. The NASA Viking spacecraft, which landed on Mars,…
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NASA’s Roman Space Telescope will use gravity as a magnifying glass to find exoplanets
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched on Aug. 30, 2026, beginning a journey that will take it about a million miles from the Earth. Once there, Roman will study some of the biggest mysteries in astronomy, from dark energy to the formation of galaxies. It will also…
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Do we need to worry about the Sun becoming a black hole?
“Do I need to worry about the sun turning into a black hole?” — Anonymous, age 7, Chicago, Illinois At the end of their lifespans, some massive stars collapse under their own weight until they turn into a black hole that sucks up everything around it. It’s a dramatic conclusion…
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Why is Venus hotter than Mercury, when Mercury is closer to the Sun?
“Why is Venus the hottest planets, whereas Mercury is closer to the Sun?” — Sejal M., age 7, Bangalore, India When the solar system had just formed, 4.5 billion years ago, Venus was probably a tropical paradise. Oceans of water likely covered its surface, and puffy clouds dotted…
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Star Trek used wormholes to traverse space – what’s the science behind them?
Since Star Trek began sending its crews out to explore strange new worlds 60 years ago on September 8, 1966, the franchise has both imagined and inspired new concepts for travel across the vast distances of space. Among the most intriguing are “wormholes”: mysterious tunnels…
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Nancy Grace Roman’s legacy lives on in NASA’s newest space telescope
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope successfully launched August 30, 2026 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. When it becomes operational early next year, it will transform our view of the universe. With a mirror the same size as the…
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NASA is gearing up to launch its next flagship space telescope
NASA plans to soon launch a new space telescope that will survey a billion galaxies to trace how the universe evolved over time, all courtesy of America’s spy program and decades of research into detector technology. The telescope, known as the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope,…
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Do you want to be an astronaut? Career routes that can take you to space
In 2024, I flew on a microgravity, or zero G, parabolic flight with the European Space Agency (ESA). The aeroplane flew big arcs up and down in the sky. At the top of the arc I experienced 22 seconds of weightlessness, just like an astronaut. On the flight were some of ESA’s…
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Are there thunderstorms on Mars?
“Are there thunderstorms on Mars?” — Cade, age 7, Houston, Texas Mars is a very dry planet with very little water in its atmosphere and hardly any clouds, so you might not expect it to have storms. Yet, there is lightning and thunder on Mars – although not with rain, nor with…