Space Exploration

Researchers Find Evidence of Ancient Molecular Fluids in Meteorite A team of researchers from the United States and Canada has found evidence for 4.55-billion-year-old sodium-rich alkaline fluids in the Tagish Lake meteorite, a unique piece of the Solar System’s main asteroid belt. A fragment of the Tagish Lake meteorite. Image …

Astronomers Discover Closest Black Hole to Earth Yet Black holes have a reputation for being voracious monsters that tear apart stars and wreak easily recognizable havoc across the universe. However, most of them are pretty quiet and hard to spot. As such, astronomers haven’t found many of these objects near …

Deep, Perennial or Semi-Perennial Rivers Flowed on Early Mars While the present-day Martian surface is generally dry and cold, its sedimentary rocks contain compelling evidence for the former presence of liquid water. According to a new analysis of orbital images of 3.7-billion-year-old sedimentary layers at Izola mensa, an outcrop in …

Active Tectonic System Spotted on Moon’s Nearside A system of wrinkle ridges on the nearside maria of the Moon is evidence of seismic activity set in motion 4.3 billion years ago that could be ongoing today, according to new research. Global map of the albedo from the 750 nm filter …

NASA Awards Lunar Lander Contracts to SpaceX, Blue Origin, Dynetics NASA hasn’t landed humans on the moon in decades, but the agency is pursuing an ambitious timeline for the Artemis program. Currently, NASA hopes to have crewed lunar missions ready to launch in 2024, and to further that goal, it …

Researchers Find Nitrogen-Bearing Organics in Ancient Martian Meteorite Four-billion-year-old carbonates in a Martian meteorite called Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 contain nitrogen-bearing organic molecules, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Communications. A fragment of the ALH 84001 meteorite. The whole size is 1.5 cm. Image credit: Koike …

SpaceX Starship Prototype Finally Aces Pressure Test SpaceX is gearing up for its first crewed flight for NASA with the Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft, but Elon Musk’s spaceflight firm is also planning for the future with the Starship. This vessel, previously known as the BFR, is an extremely ambitious …

Some Asteroids May Be Fragments of a Long-Lost Alien Solar System A new paper suggests that there may be 19 asteroids — all part of the Centaur family — that didn’t come from our own solar system at all. If this were proven true, it would mean we have ancient …

A team of researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, the Lunar and Planetary Institute and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology has released a seamless, globally consistent, 1:5,000,000-scale geologic map of the Moon. Orthographic projections of the Unified Geologic Map of the Moon showing the geology of the …

MESSENGER Finds Chemically Distinct Regions in Atmosphere of Venus A new analysis of archival data from NASA’s Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft reveals a sudden rise in nitrogen concentrations at about 50 km (31 miles) above the surface of Venus, demonstrating the planet’s atmosphere isn’t uniformly …