Space Exploration

Ancient Mars May Have Had 2 Distinct Water Reservoirs We used to think of Mars as a bone dry husk of a world. While there is some evidence of occasional flowing water on the surface, most of the planet’s water is long gone. We can still reconstruct some of Mars’ …

NASA Conducts Final Test on Mars Helicopter Before Launch NASA’s Mars 2020 mission is finally taking shape. The rover finally has a name — Perseverance, and engineers have wrapped up testing on the rover’s flying companion. The Mars Helicopter just spun its blades on Earth for the last time. When …

Early Mars Had Multiple Water Sources, New Study Shows An analysis of two Martian meteorites — Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034 and Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 — shows that Mars likely received water from at least two vastly different sources early in its history; the variability implies that Mars, unlike Earth …

Astronomers Go Hunting for Dark Matter in the Nearby Cosmos Scientists around the world have been speculating on dark matter for decades, but we still don’t know what the mysterious substance is. It doesn’t look like that’s changing any time soon, either. A new study from University of Michigan, Lawrence …

NASA Selects SpaceX for Lunar Gateway Cargo Missions NASA’s eventual goal to send crewed missions to Mars will be easier to accomplish if we can return to the moon, but it won’t just be to visit this time. NASA intends to construct a space station in orbit of the moon …

Researchers Find Extraterrestrial Protein in Meteorite Acfer 086 A research team led by Harvard University scientist Julie McGeoch has found a never-before-seen protein inside a meteorite called Acfer 086. A sample of Acfer 086. Image credit: McGeoch McGeoch, arXiv: 1707.09080. Acfer 086 is one of a large collection of meteorites …

Mars Rover Snaps New Selfie Before Record Climb NASA is still aiming to get the Perseverance rover on its way to Mars this summer in spite of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but the Curiosity rover is still setting records and doing science on the red planet even if it has …

NASA Pauses Work on James Webb Space Telescope Due to COVID-19 Pandemic The chronically delayed James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is looking at another setback, but this time it’s completely out of NASA’s control. The agency has announced it will pause work on the telescope immediately due to the ongoing …

NASA Uses InSight’s Robotic Arm to Push Heat Probe Into Mars NASA’s InSight lander is part of NASA’s budget-minded Discovery program, but it’s accomplishing a surprising number of “firsts” on Mars in spite of the smaller budget. It was the first mission to take seismic readings on another planet and …

SpaceX Launches New Batch of Starlink Satellites, Loses Falcon 9 During Landing Attempt Things on Earth are getting a bit treacherous with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but SpaceX is still working on its plans for outer space. The company just completed its latest Starlink satellite deployment, bringing it tantalizingly close …