Space Research News | Research News Center

China’s Shenzhou-20 spacecraft – shown here hitching a ride on a Long March-2F carrier rocket – was hit by a piece of space debris. Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images

November 13, 2025

Space Debris Struck a Chinese Spacecraft – How the Incident Could Be a Wake-up Call for International Collaboration

6 min read

China’s Shenzhou-20 spacecraft took a hit from a piece of space debris floating through orbit, causing Chinese officials to delay the spacecraft’s return from its Tiangong space station in early November 2025.

Paul Sell of the School of Physics (Photo: Benjamin Zhao/Georgia Tech)

October 29, 2025

New Leadership at the Georgia Tech Observatory

4 min read

The College of Sciences has named Paul Sell as the new director of the Georgia Tech Observatory. Sell joined the Institute in Fall 2025 as a senior academic professional in the School of Physics.

Illustration of NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft with Jupiter and its icy moon Europa in the background (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

October 27, 2025

Preparing for Europa: Deciphering Plasma Flows and Magnetic Fields Near Jupiter’s Icy Moon

3 min read

Professor Sven Simon is working to uncover critical information to support the rapid analysis of measurements from NASA's Europa Clipper mission.

October 22, 2025

Four Scholars Named 2025–26 Georgia Tech Astrobiology Fellows

5 min read

Four Georgia Tech researchers have been selected as 2025–26 Astrobiology Fellows. Lea Adepoju, Juliana DiGiacomo, Ziyu Huang, and Lauren Paulson will explore questions about the origins of life and the search for it beyond Earth.

October 14, 2025

Low Frequency Radio Lab Trio Go to Alaska for Atmospheric Research

1 min read

Ph.D. students Gus Richter, Malhar Tamhane, and Felipe Sandoval took part in the Polar Aeronomy and Radio Science program, taking advantage of the unique geography and equipment to work on their Ph.D. research.

October 9, 2025

A Buried Solar Reciever to Melt Lunar Ice

1 min read

A NASA-funded team at Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a method to use heliostats to redirect sunlight into the Moon’s shadowed craters, extracting water from icy regolith.

Executive Director Jud Ready presenting inside a room at the Marcus Nanotechnology Building for SRI's inaugural meeting.

October 1, 2025

Georgia Tech’s Space Research Institute Holds Inaugural Meeting

3 min read

Georgia Tech’s Space Research Institute (SRI) hosted its inaugural meeting on September 5, drawing more than 130 researchers from across campus to outline its vision, foster collaboration, and highlight the breadth of space research underway.

School of Physics Professor Sven Simon greeted some of the new astrophysics majors.

September 29, 2025

Astrophysics Major and Minor Launched at Georgia Tech

3 min read

The undergraduate astrophysics program introduces students to the fundamental physical processes and laws that govern the cosmos. This foundational curriculum is complemented by training in computational and data analysis techniques.

September 19, 2025

Mathematics Meets Rocket Science: Jaden Wang Awarded NASA Research Opportunity

3 min read

Wang has been awarded a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunity to develop mathematically grounded solutions for landing spacecraft.

September 15, 2025

CreationsVC Gift to Quadrant-i to Accelerate Space-Related Startups

2 min read

Gift to accelerate development of space-related and space-adjacent startup companies based on Georgia Tech IP

J. Cole Faggert, Ph.D. student in the School of Physics

August 27, 2025

Physics Student Wins NASA FINESST Grant for Black Hole Research

3 min read

J. Cole Faggert, a Ph.D. student in the School of Physics, will use multi-wavelength imaging to study supermassive black holes and the physics of their plasma flows.

August 4, 2025

Two Georgia Tech Students Named 2025 Astronaut Scholars

2 min read

They are among 74 students selected from 51 universities nationwide to receive this prestigious honor.

Powered by 27 Merlin engines, generating more than five million pounds of combined thrust, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from Launch Complex (LC)-39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Dec. 28, 2023 at 8:07 p.m. EST, carrying the U.S. Space Force (USSF)-52 mission into Earth orbit. The Falcon Heavy carried the seventh mission of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, which is an experimental test program to demonstrate technologies for a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform for the USSF.

July 30, 2025

The United States Should Act Now to Mitigate Conflict Escalation on the Moon

11 min read

Georgia Tech experts explore the growing geopolitical risks of lunar activity and call for clearer international norms to prevent conflict on the moon.

NASA's Lunar Trailblazer in Orbit Around the Moon (Artist's Concept)

July 18, 2025

Georgia Tech Study Hopes to Prevent Cislunar Collisions as Moon Missions Increase

8 min read

A Georgia Tech study warns that rising lunar traffic could lead to costly collision avoidance maneuvers, urging better coordination to manage growing risks in cislunar space.

An illustration of the binary black hole merger. (Image credit: Raul Perez and Davis Newell)

July 15, 2025

LIGO Detects Most Massive Binary Black Hole to Date

5 min read

Before merging, both black holes were spinning exceptionally fast, and their masses fell into a range that should be very rare — or impossible.

July 11, 2025

Space: The Current Frontier

2 min read

Georgia Tech engineers have the solar system covered, with projects hundreds — or millions — of miles from home.

July 9, 2025

GTRI Will be Prominent Partner With New Space Research Institute, Says Executive Director Jud Ready

5 min read

SRI will become the center of all things space-related at the Institute. It will work in partnership with academics, business partners, philanthropists, students, and governments.

July 1, 2025

Georgia Tech Launches Two New Interdisciplinary Research Institutes

5 min read

By uniting experts across disciplines, Georgia Tech is positioning itself at the forefront of neuroscience and space research.

June 30, 2025

Ready Named Inaugural Executive Director of the Georgia Tech Space Research Institute

3 min read

Effective July 1, Ready will serve as the inaugural executive director of Georgia Tech’s new Space Research Institute, which will officially launch on the same date.

June 25, 2025

How Do Scientists Calculate the Probability That an Asteroid Could Hit Earth?

4 min read

When scientists spot an asteroid whose trajectory might take it close to Earth, they monitor it frequently and calculate the probability that it might collide with our planet.