NASA is asking its various research centers as well as private industry for new ideas about how to get Mars samples back to Earth relatively quickly and cost-effectively.
Space News & Blog Articles
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NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara missed the total solar eclipse, but saw Earth 'moving' below her during spacewalk (photos)
NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara missed watching an eclipse from the ISS by days. But she did participate in the 4th all-woman spacewalk, and has a unique story about a baby octopus.
NASA Struggles to Find Way Forward for Mars Sample Return
NASA's Perseverance mission has been collecting samples for later retrieval and return to Earth. Now, it's unclear how we'll get those samples home.
You Can't Know the True Size of an Exoplanet Without Knowing its Star's Magnetic Field
In 2011, astronomers with the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) consortium detected a gas giant orbiting very close to a Sun-like (G-type) star about 700 light-years away. This planet is known as WASP-39b (aka. “Bocaprins”), one of many “hot Jupiters” discovered in recent decades that orbits its star at a distance of less than 5% the distance between the Earth and the Sun (0.05 AU). In 2022, shortly after the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) it became the first exoplanet to have carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide detected in its atmosphere.
These 3 stars are losing weight fast — thanks to stellar winds way stronger than the sun's
Astronomers have measured the stellar winds of three sun-like stars for the first time, finding that the objects are losing mass at a rate as great as 67 times the speed at which our star sheds matter.
Do black holes hide the secrets of their ancestors?
Some black holes are so massive they were likely created as smaller black holes that merged. Maybe we can use such black hole "children" to learn about the black hole "ancestors."
See What Happens When Stars Collide
A star in the constellation Norma appears to have been created when two stars merged.
Planetary defenders assemble!
Image: Planetary defenders assemble!
ESA accelerates the race towards clean energy from space
ESA accelerates the race towards clean energy from space
The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission – The Missing Puzzle Piece
Video: 00:02:35
Meet Hera, our very own asteroid detective. Together with two CubeSats – Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary – Hera is off on an adventure to explore Didymos, a double asteroid system that is typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to planet Earth.
Nuclear fusion reactor in South Korea runs at 100 million degrees C for a record-breaking 48 seconds
The experimental fusion reactor sustained temperatures of 180 million degrees Fahrenheit for a record-breaking 48 seconds.
1st female ISS program manager looks ahead to new spaceships, space stations (exclusive)
NASA's Dana Weigel has held leadership positions at the agency for 20 years. Now leading the ISS program, she highlighted the outpost's increasingly commercial focus.
This little robot can hop in zero-gravity to explore asteroids
A three-legged robot named SpaceHopper could help combat challenges of exploring low-gravity environments, such as asteroids or moons.
Stellar Winds Coming From Other Stars Measured for the First Time
An international research team led by the University of Vienna has made a major breakthrough. In a study recently published in Nature Astronomy, they describe how they conducted the first direct measurements of stellar wind in three Sun-like star systems. Using X-ray emission data obtained by the ESA’s X-ray Multi-Mirror-Newton (XMM-Newton) of these stars’ “astrospheres,” they measured the mass loss rate of these stars via stellar winds. The study of how stars and planets co-evolve could assist in the search for life while also helping astronomers predict the future evolution of our Solar System.
Neutron Stars Could be Heating Up From Dark Matter Annihilation
One of the big mysteries about dark matter particles is whether they interact with each other. We still don’t know the exact nature of what dark matter is. Some models argue that dark matter only interacts gravitationally, but many more posit that dark matter particles can collide with each other, clump together, and even decay into particles we can see. If that’s the case, then objects with particularly strong gravitational fields such as black holes, neutron stars, and white dwarfs might capture and concentrate dark matter. This could in turn affect how these objects appear. As a case in point, a recent study looks at the interplay between dark matter and neutron stars.
This Week In Space podcast: Episode 106 — Space Potpourri!
On Episode 106 of This Week In Space, Rod and Tariq take you on a tour of the coolest space places on Earth.
Tiny black holes left over from the Big Bang may be prime dark matter suspects
Don't rule out primordial black holes as dark matter suspects just yet! Particle-sized black holes may resist evaporation, surviving long enough to account for the universe's most mysterious stuff.
'You could feel the energy and wonder': Despite clouds, totality wows crowds during solar eclipse in Syracuse
The total solar eclipse on April 8 plunged Syracuse, New York's Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology into darkness for 90 seconds, creating a wondrous and memorable totality.
Artemis 2 Orion spacecraft starts testing ahead of moon mission with astronauts in 2025 (video)
The Artemis 2 Orion spacecraft began testing on April 10 in an altitude chamber at NASA. The spacecraft will bring four astronauts around the moon no earlier than 2025.
In a virtual reality universe, upcoming 'JUICE' mission flies by Jupiter's moon Callisto
To test its autonomous software, the JUICE mission team pretended to fly the spacecraft past Jupiter's fourth moon, and passed the exam with flying colors.
SpaceX Starship will be 500 feet tall to prepare for Mars missions, Elon Musk says (video)
Just weeks after Starship first reached orbital speed during a spaceflight in March, SpaceX founder Elon Musk outlined what the company wants to do with future spacecraft for Mars missions.
