The Same Technology Could Search for Microbes in Mars Rocks or Under the ice on Europa

4 years ago

NASA's SHERLOC and WATSON, two spectrometers designed to look for biosignatures, could answer if there's life on Mars on inside…

Trojan Mission Lucy Tested its Solar Panels for the First Time. Those Things are Huge

4 years ago

Space missions often have to go where the sun don’t shine. Or at least where it shines very faintly.  That…

Gaia Finds 12 Examples of Einstein Crosses; Galaxies Being Gravitationally Lensed so we see Them Repeated 4 Times

4 years ago

After examining data from the Gaia Observatory, a team of researchers found 12 more examples of the rare phenomenon known…

Brown Dwarfs can Spin so Fast They Almost Tear Themselves Apart

4 years ago

Some brown dwarfs rotate so fast that they are flattened spheres. If they rotate any faster they might fly apart.

OSIRIS-REx Did One Last Close Flyby of Asteroid Bennu. It’s Almost Time to Come Home

4 years ago

After more than two years in orbit around asteroid Bennu, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is ready to come home. It's bringing…

How’s the Weather in Jezero Crater? According to Perseverance: Cold

4 years ago

The Perseverance rover just provided its first Martian weather report (it was cold!), which could help inform future missions involving…

Primordial Asteroids That Never Suffered Massive Collisions all Seem to be Larger Than 100 km. Why?

4 years ago

The early asteroids had a similar size, and this could be due to turbulence in the early solar system.

What Would Raindrops be Like on Other Worlds?

4 years ago

Precipitation is much more widespread throughout that solar system than commonly assumed.  Obviously it rains water on Earth.  But it…

Jupiter Could Make an Ideal Dark Matter Detector

4 years ago

So, you want to find dark matter, but you don't know where to look? A giant planet might be exactly…

Perseverance Takes a Selfie With Ingenuity. It’s Almost Time to fly

4 years ago

Perseverance is having a proud parent moment in this image, looking like it’s waiting with a child at the bus…