Designing In Situ Power Stations for Future Mars Missions

You’re in the lab analyzing Martian regolith samples within your cozy Mars habitat serving on fifth human mission to Mars. The power within the habitat has been flowing flawlessly thanks to the MARS-MES (Mars Atmospheric Resource & Multimodal Energy System), including the general habitat lighting, science lab, sleeping quarters, exercise equipment, the virtual reality headsets the crew use for rest & relaxation, oxygen and fuel generation, and water. All this from converting the Martian atmosphere into workable electricity.

The Sun's Impossible Floating Mountains

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research have produced the most detailed simulations ever of solar prominences. These vast clouds of cooler plasma suspended in the Sun's scorching outer atmosphere have often perplexed solar astronomers. Their research reveals that two separate processes work together to keep these structures alive, and could one day help us predict the violent eruptions that drive dangerous space weather here on Earth.

Our Galaxy Has a Hot Side and Now We Know Why

Our Galaxy's halo of hot gas is measurably warmer on one side than the other and a team of scientists have found the culprit. The gravitational pull of the Large Magellanic Cloud is drawing the Milky Way slowly southward, compressing the gas in its path and heating it up, much like a piston in an engine. The discovery solves a puzzle that has intrigued astronomers since the temperature difference was first detected in 2024.

Could Light Alone Get Us to Another Star?

Using nothing but a laser beam, scientists at Texas A&M University have demonstrated that tiny engineered devices can be lifted and steered in three dimensions without any physical contact. This breakthrough could one day form the basis of a propulsion system capable of reaching our nearest neighbouring stars in decades rather than centuries.

The Ancient Art That Could Transform Space Communication

Researchers at the Institute of Science Tokyo have developed an origami inspired foldable antenna for CubeSat satellites that weighs just 64 grams yet in orbit, it deploys to two and a half times its stowed size. The antenna folds away neatly for launch and deploys automatically in space, achieving high gain communications performance from a package small enough to fit in your pocket and could one day support missions as far away as the Moon.

Space Travel May Impact Human Fertility and Fertilization

Space travel has taught us valuable lessons for living and working in outer space, specifically regarding how microgravity (often mistakenly called zero-gravity) impacts the human body during short- and long-term spaceflight. This includes decreased muscle and bone mass, fluid shifts, reduced heart rate, psychological health, compromised immune system, and radiation exposure. But with agencies like NASA aspiring to build a lunar base and establish a long-term presence on the Moon, and eventually Mars, how could space travel impact potentially having babies in space?

Tiny Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxies Reflect The Conditions In The Early Universe

The Milky Way has a sizable retinue of dwarf galaxies, and they may hold important clues about conditions in the early Universe. However, they're difficult to observe because many of them are so faint. The tiniest ones are called Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies, and a new simulation aimed at how they form is showing how these faint collections of stars and gas mirror the conditions of the early Universe.