Space News & Blog Articles

Science is driven by our desire to understand things. In some cases, where it requires significant effort and investment to develop systems that can understand new things, science benefits from a game plan that the community of researchers focused on a particular niche can rally around, even if they don’t necessarily agree on the details. In astronomy and space science, those game plans typically take the form of Decadal Surveys, produced by the National Academies to define the path forward in a specialization or sub-field.

If you've ever dreamed of exploring space, you know there'll be some serious dangers. One of them is posed by cosmic rays. These high-speed particles slam through anything, including our bodies, damaging DNA and ripping molecules apart. As dangerous as they sound to unprotected spacefarers, they could actually help microscopic life survive hiding under the icy surfaces of places like Europa or Enceladus.

But wait, before you go out to build a moon casino we need to talk about a couple things. One, you really have to figure out how the roulette wheel is going to work in a low gravity environment. Second, we’re going to need you to keep the noise down.

Picture trying to listen to a whispered conversation while standing next to a construction site. That's essentially what radio astronomers face today as thousands of internet satellites flood Earth's orbit, accidentally jamming the faint signals used to unlock the secrets of the universe. A groundbreaking study from Curtin University reveals that the quest for global connectivity is creating an unexpected obstacle to our greatest scientific discoveries, from understanding dark matter to testing Einstein's theories.

As NASA prepares for lunar bases by 2030 and Mars missions by 2039 we face an extraordinary challenge, how do you build a house when shipping materials costs up to $1 million per kilogram? The answer lies in revolutionary construction techniques that could transform how we build right here on Earth.

Imagine one of the crew discovering they're pregnant halfway to Mars, with no chance of returning to Earth for over a year. As space agencies plan multi year missions to the Red Planet, this scenario isn't just science fiction, it’s a genuine possibility that scientists are now seriously studying. A new research paper explores what might happen if humans conceive, carry, and deliver babies during interplanetary travel, revealing both surprising challenges and unexpected opportunities.

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.

While Mars may be a dessicated place where water no longer flows, the planet still has glaciers slowly moving across its surface. Previously, it was thought that Martian glaciers were pure ice with a thin cover of rock and dust. But after 20 years of exhaustive research, scientists have concluded that glaciers all over the planet contain more than 80% water ice, meaning they are nearly pure. These findings could alter our understanding of Mars' climate history and have significant implications for future crewed missions dependent on in-situ resource utilization (ISRU).

A new study published in July 2025 tackles one of science's most profound mysteries - how did life first emerge from non living matter on early Earth? Using cutting edge mathematical approaches, researcher Robert G. Endres from Imperial College London has developed a framework that suggests the spontaneous origin of life faces far greater challenges than previously understood.

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.

According to the prevailing theory of how the Moon formed, it all began roughly 4.5 billion years ago when a Mars-sized object (Theia) collided with a primordial Earth. This caused both bodies to become a molten mass that eventually coalesced to form the Earth-Moon System (aka. The Giant Impact Hypothesis. This theory also states that the Moon gradually cooled from the top down, with the crust solidifying and arresting lava flows early in its history. However, recent findings from samples obtained by China's Chiang'e-5 probe indicate that lava existed at shallower depths longer than previously thought.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that our studies of the Moon have unlocked the mysteries of the universe.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In January of 2024, the company Astrobiotic was set to make history with the first privately-developed lander, named Peregrine, to reach the Lunar surface, sent aboard a United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket. The lander carried the usual sorts of scientific instruments, many of them developed by NASA and its research partners. But tucked away among all those instruments was a small payload, with spots in that cargo sold by the companies Celestis and Elysium Space.

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.

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.

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international team of astronomers announced the detection of 17 complex organic molecules (COMs) in a protoplanetary disk surrounding a distant star. This includes the first tentative detection of ethylene glycol (CH₂OH)₂ and glycolonitrile (HOCH₂CN), which are believed to be building blocks of amino acids and their precursors. While these molecules have been detected in space before, this is the first time scientists have observed them in a planet-forming disk around a protostar, which offers tantalizing clues about the origin of life in the Universe.

In October 2022, space telescopes detected the most powerful gamma ray burst ever recorded. Known as GRB 221009A and dubbed the "BOAT" (Brightest Of All Time), this explosion was so intense it overwhelmed multiple instruments designed to study such events. Now, new observations from this burst are helping us to understand one of the universe's most mysterious phenomena.