Space News & Blog Articles

Searching for life on Mars has been an explicit goal of the astrobiological community for decades. However, they have not really had the resources to effectively do so, and they might be running out of time. Crewed missions to Mars are planned for as little as 15 years from now (though those timelines might be changing…again), and by the time that happens it may be too late to separate Martian life from unintentionally transplanted Earth-life. According to a group of researchers from the Agnostic Life Finding Association, there is one final chance to detect Martian life before it is irreversibly contaminated - the Mars Life Explorer (MLE). But to do its job properly, it’s going to need an upgrade.

When low-mass stars approach the end of their main-sequence phase, they expel clouds of gas that expand to form planetary nebulae. Since they were first identified in the late 1700s, astronomers have identified nebulae of all shapes and sizes, with most appearing circular, elliptical, or bipolar. However, some nebulae stray from this pattern, including the NGC 6072 nebula located about 3,060 light-years away in the southern constellation Scorpius. In a new series of high-resolution images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have noted some peculiar patterns that could provide insight into the lifecycle of stars.

Young stars are known for their instability and unpredictability. Their brightness can vary dramatically, they have stronger and more chaotic magnetic fields, and they can produce powerful stellar winds and jets. All of these fade as a star ages and becomes more placid.

Earth's magnetic field acts like an invisible shield, protecting our planet from harmful cosmic radiation that would otherwise strip away our atmosphere and make life nearly impossible. Unlike Mars, which lost most of its magnetic protection and now faces constant bombardment from space particles, Earth has maintained this critical defence system for billions of years.

Chinese scientists have developed a remarkable machine that could revolutionize how humans build structures on the Moon. The device works like a 3D printer powered by concentrated sunlight, turning lunar soil (known as regolith) into strong construction bricks without needing any materials from Earth.

The coming week offers a chance to see a close pass of the two brightest planets in the sky.

The evolution of Earth's atmosphere is a major area of study. It's primal atmosphere consisted of hydrogen and helium accumulated from the solar nebula. That atmosphere was lost to space, replaced by the products of volcanic outgassing and asteroid and comet impacts. Eventually, free oxygen accumulated and the planet's atmosphere began to appear more like the current atmosphere. That took billions of years.