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.