Artist’s illustration of a large exomoon orbiting a large exoplanet. Credit: NASA/ESA/L. Hustak Does the size of an exomoon help determine if life could form on an exoplanet it’s orbiting?…
Category: Space
Research sheds new light on moon rock formation solving major puzzle in lunar geology
Image shows astronaut-geologist standing next to a huge lunar boulder during NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The scientists in this research used rock samples from this Apollo mission. Credit:…
Hydrogen Emissions Within the Orion Constellation
Last week, Columbia University released the first data set from a new, high-resolution astronomical survey of the night sky. Swirling hydrogen emissions and stars in an area of the night…
Researchers Release Open-Source Space Debris Model
The MIT Orbital Capacity Assessment Tool lets users model the long-term future space environment. MIT’s Astrodynamics, Space Robotics, and Controls Laboratory (ARCLab) announced the public beta release of the MIT…
Doomed US lunar lander’s space odyssey continues… for now
Though Astrobotic, the company that built the Peregrine robot, has said a controlled touchdown on the Moon is no longer possible — it hasn’t ruled out a so-called “hard landing”…
Dark Energy Discovery a Decade in the Making: New Supernova Insights Offer Clues to the Expansion of the Universe
Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology have contributed to a landmark study that complicates our understanding of the universe. An example of a supernova discovered by the Dark Energy Survey within the…
Planetesimals are buffeted by wind in their nebula, throwing debris into space: Study
This artist’s illustration shows planetisimals around a young star. New research shows that planetesimals are blasted by headwind, losing debris into space. Credit: NASA/JPL Before planets form around a young…
Solar electric propulsion systems could be just what we need for efficient trips to Mars
Artist’s impression of a solar electric propulsion system. Credit: NASA There are many different ways to get to Mars, but there are always tradeoffs. Chemical propulsion, proven the most popular,…
Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detects surprise gamma-ray feature beyond our galaxy
This artist’s concept shows the entire sky in gamma rays with magenta circles illustrating the uncertainty in the direction from which more high-energy gamma rays than average seem to be…
