Earth
Should Planetary Defence Take Center Stage?
Throughout the Solar System, planets and moons bear the scars of a past fraught with collisions. The Moon, Mercury, and…
Earth’s Water is 4.5 Billion Years Old
The origin of Earth's water has been an enduring mystery. There are different hypotheses and theories explaining how the water…
To Fight Climate Change, We Could Block the Sun. A Lightweight Solar Sail Could Make it Feasible
Can we build an enormous umbrella to dim the Sun? Such a feat would be a megaproject on a scale…
Should We Build a Nature Reserve on Mars?
There are 8 billion of us now. The UN says when the population peaks around the year 2100, there'll be…
OK, Artemis. Now You’re Just Showing Off. A Stunning View of the Moon Eclipsing Earth From the Orion Spacecraft
Have you ever seen a lunar eclipse of the Earth from the far side of the Moon? Now we have.…
What’s the Best Mix of Oceans to Land for a Habitable Planet?
Earth is about 29% land and 71% oceans. How significant is that mix for habitability? What does it tell us…
Volcanoes are the worst. They’ve caused extinctions on Earth, and probably killed Venus
Is there anything good about volcanoes? They can be violent, dangerous, and unpredictable. For modern humans, volcanoes are mostly an…
Mapping the Interiors of Meteorites to Learn how Earth got its Water
Locked within meterorites could be the key to understanding the origin of Earth's oceans. A new scanning technique could show…
Earth’s First Known Mass Extinction Event Starved Life of Oxygen
650 million years ago, Earth was completely or almost completely frozen, according to the Snowball Earth Hypothesis. As the atmosphere…
Three New Potentially Hazardous Asteroids Discovered, Including a big one That Measures 1.5 km Across
An asteroid 1.5 km across is no joke. Even a much smaller one, about the size of a house, can…