Space Exploration

A 17-kg chondrite meteorite that landed on Earth less than 1,000 years ago has been discovered by chance in the Australian state of Victoria. The Maryborough meteorite. Image credit: Rodney Start / Museums Victoria. In May 2015, gold prospector David Hole discovered a 17 kg single mass of a stony meteorite …

While quantum physics continues to raise new questions concerning Einstein’s theory of general relativity, a recent analysis of a giant black hole at the center of the Milky Way demonstrates that general relativity continues to prove itself under more extreme conditions than initially expected. Space.com spoke with Andrea Ghez, an …

  To get somewhere in space, you’ll need engines and fuel, but maybe that won’t be the case for much longer. The Planetary Society has just reached a critical milestone in the development of its solar sail technology. The LightSail 2 spacecraft has just deployed its mylar sail in orbit, …

  Most spaceflight firms would never hang around on Twitter and randomly tweet information on upcoming rocket designs. But most companies aren’t SpaceX, and most CEOs aren’t Elon Musk. During his daily Twitter ramblings, Musk revealed that the Starship launch platform is now up to a total of 41 Raptor …

Fossil clams found in southwestern Florida contain ancient microtektites, tiny (about 200 μm in diameter) glass beads that form when the explosive impact of an extraterrestrial object sends molten debris hurtling into the atmosphere where it cools and recrystallizes before falling back to Earth. A microtektite from the shell bed …

  If you’ve ever wondered how different marsquakes are from earthquakes, we now have the answer thanks to NASA and Swiss research university ETH Zurich. NASA delivered the first-ever seismometer to the red planet aboard the InSight lander last year, and it’s now deployed and sending back data. Researchers from …

BioRock, a new investigation on the International Space Station (ISS), is expected to help gain insight into the physical interactions of liquid, rocks, and microorganisms under microgravity conditions for biomining in space. In addition, data from this investigation can be used to inform the development of life support systems involving …

Lunar orbiters recently detected water frost on the floor of some of the south polar craters, regions that are known to be very cold and can trap water. The floor of these craters are also exposed to the space environment including incoming meteors and solar wind particles. In a paper …

In a study done in rats, a moderate daily dose of resveratrol — a natural antioxidant found in more than 70 species of plants such as grapes, cranberries, blueberries, and peanuts — preserved muscle function and mitigated muscle atrophy in the animals exposed to a ground-based partial gravity analog that …

  Buzz Aldrin descends onto the moon’s surface. Credit: Neil Armstrong/NASA Update (7/20/2019): Today’s the big day. NASA TV will live-stream the original moon landing and then, six hours later, the moon walk. Broadcast times on the YouTube channel linked below are 4 PM EST (for the Moon landing) and …