Curiosity Drives Over a Rock, Cracking it Open and Revealing an Amazing Yellow Crystal
On May 30th, the Mars Curiosity rover was just minding its own business exploring Gediz Vallis when it ran over…
Producing Oxygen From Rock Is Harder In Lower Gravities
One of the challenges engineers face when developing technologies for use in space is that of different gravities. Mostly, engineers…
Astro-Challenge: Catching Pluto at Opposition 2024
Why July 2024 is a prime time to see distant Pluto before it fades from view.
The Entrance of a Lunar Lava Tube Mapped from Space
Craters are a familiar sight on the lunar surface and indeed on many of the rocky planets in the Solar…
Moon Dust Could Contaminate Lunar Explorers’ Water Supply
Water purification is a big business on Earth. Companies offer everything from desalination to providing just the right pH level…
SpaceX Reveals the Beefed-Up Dragon That Will De-Orbit the ISS
The International Space Station (ISS) has been continuously orbiting Earth for more than 25 years and has been visited by…
Gaia Hit by a Micrometeoroid AND Caught in a Solar Storm
For over ten years, the ESA's Gaia Observatory has monitored the proper motion, luminosity, temperature, and composition of over a…
Lunar Infrastructure Could Be Protected By Autonomously Building A Rock Wall
Lunar exploration equipment at any future lunar base is in danger from debris blasted toward it by subsequent lunar landers.…
Why is Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Shrinking? It’s Starving.
The largest storm in the Solar System is shrinking and planetary scientists think they have an explanation. It could be…
ESA is Building a Mission to Visit Asteroid Apophis, Joining it for its 2029 Earth Flyby
According to the ESA's Near-Earth Objects Coordination Center (NEOCC), 35,264 known asteroids regularly cross the orbit of Earth and the…