The Moon Is Useless, So Let's Preserve It

I don’t think space or lunar tourism is going to be the big draw that transforms the moon into something unrecognizable.

Why Land Detection Is Critical for Confirming Exoplanetary Life

How can identifying land on exoplanets help scientists better understand whether an exoplanet could harbor life? This is what a recently submitted study hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how identifying land on exoplanets could help dispel waterworld false positives, which occur when the data indicates an exoplanet contains deep oceans (approximately 50 Earth oceans), hence the name “waterworld”. This study has the potential to help scientists develop more efficient methods for classifying exoplanets and their compositions, specifically regarding whether they contain life as we know it, or even as we don’t know it.

How Satellites Are Silencing the Universe

Imagine if every time you turned on your phone, it accidentally jammed radio telescopes trying to detect alien signals. That's essentially what's happening as thousands of internet satellites flood Earth's orbit, creating electronic noise that's drowning out the whispers from black holes, distant galaxies, and the Big Bang itself. A massive new study reveals that our quest to connect every region of the planet is accidentally sabotaging our ability to answer the biggest questions in science and the problem is getting worse with every satellite launch.

How Space Construction Will Transform Life on Our Planet.

Imagine 3D printing an entire building from Moon dust, or having robots construct disaster relief shelters while humans stay safely away from danger. Imagine construction sites where materials never run out because they're literally made from the dirt beneath your feet, and where every structure is built with manufacturing level precision. What sounds like science fiction is becoming reality as engineers solve the ultimate construction puzzle, building on other planets. The innovations being pioneered for lunar bases and Martian colonies are about to transform every construction site on our home planet.

Tracking Deep Space Probes With GEO Satellites Improves Uptime

In astronomy, larger distances are both a blessing and a curse. They can cause issues like longer communication times, which also requires more powerful equipment, and positioning uncertainty that can affect the outcomes of measurements, especially in the outer reaches of the solar system. However, they can also be useful for a specific type of measurement called interferometry, where two systems a far distance apart can provide accurate location measurements to a third system - the same principle that GPS uses. A new paper looks at potentially using the same technique to track deep space probes rather than cars on a freeway and finds that, while it is around the same accuracy level, it is able to provide that same location data for more than double the amount of time.

AI Uncovers Subsurface Entrances on the Moon

How can artificial intelligence (AI) be used to locate lunar pits and skylights, which are surface depressions and openings, respectively, that serve as entrances to lava caves and lava tubes? This is what a recent study published in Icarus hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated using machine learning algorithms to more efficiently identify pits and skylights on lunar volcanic regions (lunar maria) of the Moon. This study has the potential to help researchers develop new methods in identifying key surface features on planetary bodies that could aid in both robotic and human exploration.

Lava Existed in the Moon's Subsurface Longer than Previously Thought

New research on the samples collected by China's Chang'e-5 mission is revolutionizing our understanding of how the Moon cooled. A team led by Stephen M. Elardo, an Assistant Professor from the University of Florida, found that lava on the near side of the Moon likely came from a much shallower depth than previously thought, contradicting previous theories on how the Moon formed and evolved.

A New Lunar Far Side Radio Telescope Is Ready For Testing

We’ve been talking about sending a radio telescope to the far side of the Moon for awhile now. Now that reality is one step closer with the completion of the design and construction phase of the Lunar Surface Electromagnetics Experiment-Night (LuSEE-Night) radio telescope project. This milestone marks a major step in the development of the system, which is planned to launch on a lunar lander in 2026.

JWST Reveals Four Distinct CO₂ Types on Saturn’s Moons

What can carbon dioxide (CO₂) on Saturn’s moons teach scientists about their formation and evolution? This is what a recent study submitted to The Planetary Science Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated the different types of CO₂ that exist on several of Saturn’s mid-sized moons. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the existence of CO₂ on planetary bodies and what this could mean for their formation and evolution, and potentially whether they could possess life as we know it.

Primordial Black Holes Could Act As Seeds For Quasars

Plenty of groups have been theorizing about Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) recently. That is in part because of their candidacy as a potential source of dark matter. But, if they existed, they also had other roles to play in the early universe. According to a recent draft paper released on arXiv by Jeremy Mould and Adam Batten of Swinburne University, one of those roles could be as the seeds that eventually form both quasars and radio galaxies.

Lunar Dust Mitigation Requires Collaboration And Lots of Tests

Collaboration has always been a hallmark of space research. Experts in different disciplines come together to work towards a common goal, and many times achieve that. One of the current goals of space exploration is long-term settlement of the Moon, and in order to achieve that goal, engineers and astronauts will have to deal with one of the thorniest problems on that otherworldly body - dust. Lunar dust is much harder to deal with that Earth’s equivalent, as it is sharp, charged, and sticks to everything, including biological tissue such as lungs, and even relatively smooth surfaces like glass. Several research groups are working on mitigation techniques that can deal with lunar dust, but a new cross-collaborative group from the University of Central Florida is developing a coating, testing it, and simulating all in one project, with the hopes that someday their solution will make it easier for astronauts to explore our nearest neighbor.

New Findings Indicate that the Origin of Life Started in Space

In the young V883 Orionis system, ALMA observations have revealed signatures of complex organic compounds such as ethylene glycol and glycolonitrile – potential precursors to amino acids, DNA, and RNA. These findings indicate that the building blocks of life may not be limited to local conditions but could form widely throughout the Universe under suitable circumstances.

Mars' Seasonal Frost Could Briefly Host Liquid Water

What can brine (extra salty) water teach scientists about finding past, or even present, life on Mars? This is what a recent study published in Communications Earth & Environment hopes to address as a researcher from the University of Arkansas investigated the formation of brines using 50-year-old data. This study has the potential to help researchers better understand how past data can be used to gain greater insights on the formation and evolution of surface brines on the surface of Mars.

Seasonal Frosts Could Lead to Patches of Briny Water on Mars' Surface

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 22, 2025 Recent research led by Vincent Chevrier of the University of Arkansas offers new evidence that brines-salt-rich liquid water-could form on the Martian surface under specific seasonal conditions. Drawing on decades of research, Chevrier used atmospheric data from NASA's Viking 2 lander alongside advanced computer simulations to demonstrate that seasonal frost could briefly melt, creating small qu

Astronauts' Hearts Stay Healthy Years After Space Missions

A new five year study of 13 NASA astronauts shows that their arteries remain healthy and disease free long after returning from the International Space Station, offering reassuring news for future long duration space missions and suggesting the human cardiovascular system is more resilient to spaceflight than previously thought.

Ice in Space Isn't the Same as Ice on Earth

Next time you're drinking a frosty iced beverage, think about the structure of the frozen chunks chilling it down. Here on Earth, we generally see it in many forms: cubes form, sleet, snow, icicles, slabs covering lakes and rivers, and glaciers. Water ice takes all these fascinating forms, thanks to its hexagonal crystal lattice. That makes it less dense than nonfrozen water, which allows it to float in a drink, in a lake, and on the ocean.

Is An Elusive Intermediate Mass Black Hole Eating a Star in This Distant Galaxy?

NASA'S Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have detected evidence of what could be an Intermediate Mass Black Hole eating a star. It's in a galaxy 450 million light-years away, and unusual x-ray emissions highlight its location.

NASA’s Artemis Albatross

While all the technology of the Apollo program still exists in the form of blueprints and designs, all the human expertise that went into crafting those rockets and spaceships is now either retired or passed away.

This Trans-Neptunian Object Moves in Sync With Neptune. Was it Captured by Neptune?

Astronomers have detected a Trans-Neptunian Object (TNO) that's moving in rhythm with Neptune. It's called 2020 VN40 and is the first confirmed object that orbits the Sun once for every ten Neptune orbits. It could be an example of an object caught by Neptune's gravity.

What Surprises Will The Star-Studying CHARA Array Reveal In Its Third Decade?

After 20 years of observations, Georgia State University's CHARA (Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy) has proven its worth. In 2005, The Astrophysical Journal published the first results based on its observations. Since then, more than 275 papers based on CHARA observations have been published, and the facility is still going strong heading into its third decade of operations.

Before These Clouds Form Stars, They Form A Complex Network of Filaments

Researchers working with China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) have revealed some of the complexity in a type of cloud in the ISM. They've detected a network of filaments in one Very High Velocity Cloud (VHVC). The observations hint at the complexity that can evolve in these clouds, all without the influence of gravity.

A New Fuel for Nuclear Power Systems Could Enable Missions to Mars and Beyond

To explore the unknown in deep space, millions of miles away from Earth, it’s crucial for spacecraft to have ample power. NASA’s radioisotope power systems (RPS) that rely on are a viable option for these missions and have been used for over 60 years. Now, NASA is testing a new type of RPS fuel that could become an additional option for future long-duration journeys to extreme environments.

JWST Finds Plenty Of Low Mass Black Holes In The Early Universe

Black holes played a critical role in the formation of the early universe. However, astronomers have been debating for a long time just how critical, as the information we had about early black holes, which exist at high red-shifts, was relatively limited. A new paper from a group of researchers led by Sophia Geris at the University of Cambridge combined several spectra from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to add some context to the formation of black holes early in the universe, and found that there are plenty of smaller ones lurking around, and lending credence to the idea that black holes of all sizes contributed to the formation of our modern universe.

Astronaut Fitness Gets a Boost with Adaptive Harness Design

What new exercise methods can be devised for astronauts in space under microgravity conditions? This is what a recent study conducted submitted to the 2025 Technology Collaboration Center’s (TCC) Wearables Workshop and University Challenge hopes to address as a team of Rice University engineering students developed a new type of space exercise harness that could make exercising under microgravity easier and more comfortable.

The JWST Might Have Found the First Direct-Collapse Black Hole

Stellar mass black holes are created by core-collapse supernovae. These occur when massive stars near the end of their lives collapse in on themselves and form a black hole. Supermassive black holes form through mergers with other massive black holes. But their could be a third kind, called direct-collapse black holes, and the JWST found evidence of one.

Do Supermassive Black Holes Play With Their Food?

Lightning might not strike twice, but black holes apparently do. An international group of researchers led by Tel Aviv University astronomers observed a flare caused when a star falls onto a black hole and is destroyed.

Astronomers Identify an Object that Defies Astrophysics

Betelgeuse Isn't Alone. It Has A Very Dim Companion

Astronomers have discovered a companion star in an incredibly tight orbit around Betelgeuse using the NASA and U.S. National Science Foundation-funded ‘Alopeke' instrument on Gemini North, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, partly funded by the NSF and operated by NSF NOIRLab. This discovery answers the longstanding mystery of the star’s varying brightness and provides insight into the physical mechanisms behind other variable red supergiants.

New Horizons Could Find Its Way to Proxima Centauri if it Wanted

The New Horizons spacecraft is humanity's fastest-moving spacecraft and headed to interstellar space. Since its exploration of Pluto 10 years ago and subsequent flyby of Arrokoth in 2019, it's been traversing and studying the Kuiper Belt while looking for other flyby objects. That's not all it's been doing, however. New Horizons also has an extended program of making heliophysics observations. The mission science team has also planned astrophysical studies with the spacecraft's instruments. Those include measuring the intensity of the cosmic optical background and taking images of stars such as Proxima Centauri. As the spacecraft moves, the apparent positions of its stellar navigation targets have changed, but that hasn't bothered New Horizons one bit. It knows exactly where it is thanks to 3D observations of those nearby stars.

Are the JWST's Little Red Dots Actually Supermassive Black Hole Seeds?

What are the JWST's Little Red Dots? While they appear to be galaxies, there's no observational certainty. New research examines the idea that they're actually stars, suggesting that they're actually the progenitors for supermassive black holes.

How To Detect Magnetic Fields Around Exoplanets

Magnetic fields play an important, if sometimes underappreciated, part in planetary systems. Without a strong magnetic field, planets can end up as a barren wasteland like Mars, or they could indirectly affect massive storms as can be seen on Jupiter. However, our understanding of planetary magnetic fields are limited to the eight planets in our solar system, as we haven’t yet accrued much data on the magnetic fields of exoplanets. That could be about to change, according to a new preprint paper by a group of research scientists from Europe, the US, India and the UAE.

Scientists are Planning for Life After Finding Aliens

Just imagine it, the news stories are all over your phone when you wake! The day will surely come that we will discover that we are not alone in the Universe! What happens the day after though? A new research paper from the SETI Post Detection Hub at the University of St Andrews tackles this question, outlining how NASA and the global scientific community should prepare for the moment humanity detects signs of extraterrestrial intelligence.

Cold Weather Alloy Opens New Possibilities for Space Technology

Scientists have achieved a breakthrough that could revolutionise space exploration with a "smart" metal alloy that remembers its shape even in the bone chilling cold of outer space. This remarkable copper based material can be twisted and deformed when cold, then automatically snap back to its original form when heated, maintaining this mechanical "memory" at temperatures as extreme as -200°C. The discovery solves a critical challenge that has limited spacecraft design for decades, opening the door to more reliable satellites, space telescopes, and future missions to the frozen reaches of our Solar System and beyond.

Seeing the Exact Moment When New Planets Started Forming

Astronomers have seen exoplanetary systems at almost every stage, from extremely young to older than the Solar System. But now, they've spotted the exact moment when planet formation is initiated around a young star. Meteorites store a history of when the first minerals formed in the Solar System, and the ALMA telescope has seen the signal of these minerals forming in a protostellar system, about 1,300 light-years from Earth.

How Star Clusters Age: The Pleiades, the Hyades, and the Orion Nebula Cluster

Astronomers found evolutionary links that connect three well-known star clusters. The Orion Nebular Cluster, the Pleiades, and the Hyades are located roughly in the same region in space, but have different ages. New research shows that they're connected and have similar origins.

Lunar Regolith is a Surprisingly Good Resource for Supporting a Lunar Station

Lunar regolith is the crushed up volcanic rock that buries the surface of the Moon. Remote observations and sample analysis have shown there are trace amounts of water ice mixed in with the regolith, which can be extracted. By mixing this water with CO2 exhaled by astronauts, scientists have demonstrated this can be turned into hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide. This can then be turned into fuels and oxygen to support the astronauts. Everything we need is there on the Moon. We just need to learn how to use it.

Deepening stirling engine analysis: optimized model offers more accurate performance predictions

A Chinese team presents a new model for accurately predicting the performance of Sterling engines, which are being investigated as a possible means of powering

Astronomers Spot Unusual Magnetic Field Around A Massive Young Protostar

This Ancient Pristine Galaxy Validates the Big Bang

If astronomers can find ancient, pristine galaxies with no metals, they will confirm our understanding of the Big Bang. Those galaxies have proven elusive, but a team of astronomers think they've found one. It may be the first Population 3 galaxy.

Gemini North Sees Brightening Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS in Detail

We’re getting better views of interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS, as it makes its speedy passage through the inner solar system. This week, astronomers at the Gemini North observatory located on Mauna Kea in Hawai’i turned the facility’s enormous 8.1-meter telescope on the object, with amazing results.

Watch the Moon Occult the Pleiades for North America on the Morning of July 20th

There’s a good reason for sky watchers to set their alarms this coming Sunday morning. If skies are clear, viewers across most of North America will have a rare chance to see the waning crescent Moon occult (pass in front of) the Pleiades open star cluster.

What has Webb Taught Us About Rocky Exoplanets So Far?

The JWST has pushed the boundaries of exoplanet characterization. But one thing it hasn't done yet is to determine if rocky exoplanets close to our Solar System can retain their atmospheres. The authors of a new study propose a new "five-scale height challenge" that will help astronomers obtain more precise atmospheric information on rocky exoplanets using Webb.

The Most Massive Black Hole Merger Ever

Astronomers using the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA gravitational wave detectors announced the most massive black hole merger ever seen. Two black holes crashed together, producing a final black hole with approximately 225 times the mass of the Sun. Designated GW231123, it was detected during the 2023 observing run, and appears to be from the collision of 100- and 140-stellar-mass black holes. Black holes this massive are hard to get through standard stellar evolution, but could be the results of previous mergers.

Supernova Cinematography: How NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Will Create a Movie of Exploding Stars

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope isn't due to launch until May 2027, but astronomers are preparing for its science operations by running simulated operations. One of those involves supernovae, massive stars the end their lives in gargantuan explosions. Research shows that the Roman could find 100,000 supernovae in one of its surveys.

This Planet's Death Spiral Could Teach Us A Lesson About Rocky Exoplanets

Macquarie University astronomers have tracked an extreme planet's orbital decay, confirming it is spiraling toward its star in a cosmic death dance that could end in three possible ways. It could cross the Roche line and be torn apart, it could plunge to destruction in its star, or it could be stripped all the way down to a rocky core.

To Find Another Earth, We Need to Understand Atmospheric Escape

Atmospheric escape shapes an exoplanet's future. Earth's exosphere is extended and detectable due to ocean-related atmospheric escape. If we can detect the same features on an exoplanet, it could suggest oceans and habitability. But we need to build the Habitable Worlds Observatory first.

Newly-Discovered Interstellar Comet is Billions of Years Older Than the Solar System

All eyes are on the newly discovered interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, currently inbound to the inner solar system. Initial observations have revealed that it's rich in water ice, and it's believed that it originated from the Milky Way's thick disk, ancient stars that orbit above and below the galactic plane. This could mean that 3I/ATLAS is billions of years older than the Solar System, the oldest comet ever discovered. It should reveal more as it heats up and outgasses as it gets closer to the Sun.

A Lunar Base Could Start with a Dome over a Crater Made of Regolith

When astronauts live on the Moon permanently, they're going to need a safe habitat, ideally made out of local construction material. A new paper suggests that lunar astronauts could cover a 17-meter crater with a dome made from a lunar regolith-based geopolymer. A 3D printer would extrude a paste made of lunar regolith that would be sintered together into the shape of the dome. This would provide protection from radiation and could even maintain a pressurized habitat.

This Earth-sized Exoplanet is On a Death Spiral

An international team of astronomers have discovered an Earth-size exoplanet on a very tight orbit around its star. It completes an orbit in only 5 hours and 22 minutes. Unfortunately, the planet will either be torn to pieces or crash into its star in about 31 million years.

The Milky Way Could be Surrounded by 100 Satellite Galaxies

The Milky Way is surrounded by about 60 satellite galaxies. The famous ones are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. But according to a new simulation, the Milky Way could have 80 and even 100 satellite galaxies that we haven't detected so far. These galaxies will be hard to find. They've had most of their mass stripped by the gravity of the Milky Way's halo. But new telescopes like Vera Rubin should be able to spot them.

A Solar Gravitational Lens Telescope Is The Only Feasible Way To Get High Resolution Pictures Of A Habitable Exoplanet

Sometimes in order to support an idea, you first have to discredit alternative, competing ideas that could take resources away from the one you care about. In the scientific community, one of the most devastating ways you can do that is by making the other methods appear to be too expensive to be feasible, or, better yep, prove they wouldn’t work at all due to some fundamental limitation. That is what a recent paper by Dr. Slava Turyshev, the world’s most prominent proponent of a Solar Gravitational Lens (SGL) telescope mission, does. He examines how effective alternative telescope technologies would be at creating a 10x10 pixel map of an exoplanet about 32 light years away. Unsurprisingly, there’s only one that is able to do so without giant leaps and bounds in technology development - the SGL telescope.