Scott Alan Johnston
China Launches the Core Module of Its New Space Station
Early on Thursday, a Long March 5B rocket - currently the most powerful of China's space launch vehicles - blasted…
Perseverance Successfully Extracts Oxygen From the Martian Atmosphere. About 10 Minutes of Breathing Time for an Astronaut
Humanity achieved an incredible series of new milestones on Mars this week. It began on Monday April 19th, when the…
When Stars Get Too Close to Each Other, They Cast Out Interstellar Comets and Asteroids
In October 2017, humanity caught its first-ever glimpse of an interstellar object - a visitor from beyond our solar system…
Ground-Based Lasers Could Push Space Debris off Collision-Course Orbits
Researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) are finding new uses for the laser-based technology that sharpens telescope imagery –…
OSIRIS-REx Did One Last Close Flyby of Asteroid Bennu. It’s Almost Time to Come Home
After more than two years in orbit around asteroid Bennu, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is ready to come home. It's bringing…
Jupiter Could Make an Ideal Dark Matter Detector
So, you want to find dark matter, but you don't know where to look? A giant planet might be exactly…
InSight Detects Two Significant Quakes from the Cerberus Fossae Region on Mars
NASA's InSight lander felt the distant rumble of two major 'marsquakes' in March, originating from a region near the Martian…
Newly Forming Stars Don’t Blast Away Material as Previously Believed. So Why Do They Stop Growing?
We thought we understood how stars are formed. It turns out, we don't. Not completely, anyway. A new study, recently…
A Very Powerful Solar Storm Hit the Earth Back in 1582
"A great fire appeared in the sky to the North, and lasted three nights," wrote a Portuguese scribe in early…
Lightning Strikes Helped Life get an Early Start on Earth
So, you want to create life? You're going to need some ingredients first. On Earth four billion years ago, you…