Category: Planetary Science
Two lunar landings in a week for NASA’s private moon fleet
Credit: CC0 Public Domain More than fifty years passed between the last Apollo mission and the United States’ return to the lunar surface, when the first-ever private lander touched down…
A new study reveals the structure of violent winds 1,300 light years away
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain The planet WASP-121b is extreme. It’s a gas giant almost twice as big as Jupiter orbiting extremely close to its star–50 times closer than the Earth…
Researchers create virtual model to decode red planet’s climate evolution
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Researchers are creating advanced simulations that will provide a deeper understanding of Mars’s climatic history and help to determine whether it was once able to sustain…
Designing a satellite to hunt small space debris
This image, with Earth’s north polar region at center, shows satellites (orange dots) and space debris (pink dots) in orbit through the ionosphere on July 22, 2024. Ionosphere model data…
Making it ‘dirtier’ could improve astronaut health
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Astronauts often experience immune dysfunction, skin rashes, and other inflammatory conditions while traveling in space. A new study published in the journal Cell suggests that these…
The Milky Way on the horizon
Credit: NASA/Don Pettit NASA astronaut Don Pettit used a camera with low light and long duration settings to capture this Jan. 29, 2025, image of the Milky Way appearing beyond…
One of the most massive black holes in the universe lurks at the center of the Cosmic Horseshoe
The notable gravitational lens known as the Cosmic Horseshoe was discovered in 2007. New research reveals a presence of an Ultra Massive Black Hole containing 36 billion solar masses. Credit:…
Laser-powered device tested on Earth could help detect microbial fossils on Mars
Credit: CC0 Public Domain The first life on Earth formed four billion years ago, as microbes living in pools and seas: what if the same thing happened on Mars? If…
Elon Musk calls for deorbit of International Space Station as soon as possible
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Elon Musk’s latest space-related hammer throw is to call for it to be deorbited as soon as two years from now. In posts to X, Musk…
