NASA’s newly announced Artemis III crew is gearing up for one of the most challenging missions ever undertaken in the effort to return to the Moon. NASA has announced the crew for Artemis III and released new information about what may become one of the most demanding human spaceflight missions ever planned. Set for 2027, […]
Astronomers could potentially detect Dyson swarms by searching for unusually cool, smooth infrared emissions surrounding long-lived stars. Since physicist Freeman Dyson first proposed the concept in 1960, the “Dyson sphere” has become one of the most prominent hypothetical technosignatures in the search for advanced extraterrestrial intelligence. A highly advanced civilization might surround its star with
The galaxy’s coldest “stars” could actually be enormous structures built by aliens Read More »
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft used Mars as a gravity slingshot while traveling toward a metal-rich world that may help uncover what lies inside planets like Earth. On May 15, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft flew just 2,864 miles (4,609 kilometers) above Mars in a successful close pass. The spacecraft used Mars’ gravity to gain speed and adjust its
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft used Mars’s gravity for a slingshot maneuver to adjust its path Read More »
Mercury is a small, rocky world that scientists still understand only in limited detail. Data from two flyby missions show that its surface is made up of a crust low in iron but rich in sulfur. The planet is also in a reduced chemical state, meaning its materials have gained electrons—making it the most reduced
Sulfur-rich magmas on Mercury act differently from those on Earth Read More »
Planets such as those in our solar system develop through a bottom-up process, where tiny fragments of rock and ice gradually stick together and grow. However, the more massive a planet becomes, the more difficult it is to account for its formation through this mechanism. Astronomers analyzed 29 Cygni b using NASA’s James Webb Space
Webb reshapes the boundary between planets and stars Read More »
A new study suggests that particles from Earth’s atmosphere have been swept into space by solar wind and deposited on the Moon for billions of years, becoming mixed into its soil. This finding helps explain a long-standing mystery dating back to the Apollo missions, which returned lunar samples containing traces of water, carbon dioxide, helium,
Astronomers say the Moon is absorbing Earth’s atmospheric molecules Read More »
A detailed examination of Bennu’s rocks uncovered a surprising hint that altered the narrative. One of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission’s most surprising discoveries was Bennu’s actual surface. Contrary to earlier Earth-based predictions of many smooth regions, the asteroid revealed itself as a rugged, uneven terrain strewn with massive boulders. “When OSIRIS-REx arrived at Bennu in 2018,
Scientists Crack the Mystery Behind Asteroid Bennu’s Baffling Surface Read More »
Astonished astronomers reported Thursday the discovery of a star whose planets are arranged in an unusual sequence that challenges established scientific understanding, indicating these distant worlds may have formed in a way never observed before. In our Solar System, the four planets nearest the Sun are small and rocky, while the four outer planets are
Astronomers Stunned by the Unusual “Inside-Out” Structure of a Solar System Read More »
NASA’s Perseverance rover has been exploring Mars for almost five years, yet the agency continues to push its capabilities. Recently, NASA announced that Perseverance completed its first drive planned entirely by artificial intelligence. For the demo, NASA used vision-language models (VLMs) to set rover waypoints, a task normally done by humans. The demo ran from
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Finishes its First Autonomous, AI-Directed Drive Read More »
An international team, including Cornell’s Jake Turner, developed a method to uncover hidden stellar and exoplanetary signals in archival radio data. Using this technique, scientists have identified new radio bursts from dwarf stars and potentially from exoplanets. The method, Multiplexed Interferometric Radio Spectroscopy (RIMS), reveals some signals linked to star–planet interactions. The findings appeared in
New Radio Method Detects Hidden Dwarf Star Bursts, Hints at Exoplanets Read More »