Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-08-262How SpaceX Plans to Retire Falcon Rockets for StarshipSpaceX plans to phase out Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy once Starship achieves regular, repeatable flights. Full reusability and larger payloads promise faster deployment of Starlink and other missions.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-08-253Three Supermassive Black Holes in a Galaxy from the DawnAstronomers using JWST found three actively accreting supermassive black holes in galaxy J0148-4214 at redshift 5.02, revealing rapid early growth and likely future mergers that shape black hole evolution.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-08-22How Commercial Landers Are Building NASA’s Moon BaseNASA and commercial partners are assembling the foundations of a lunar outpost through more than twenty robotic landings, infrastructure-class deliveries, and technology demonstrations aimed at a sustainable Moon Base.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-08-192A Star Near the Milky Way’s Black Hole Is Losing MassJames Webb observations show IRS 3, a star near Sagittarius A*, is losing mass at extreme rates and building a vast envelope that even contains water, reshaping views of chemistry near the Galactic Center.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-08-182SpaceX Breaks Record: Falcon 9 Launches 38 Minutes ApartSpaceX set a new record by launching two Falcon 9 rockets just 38 minutes apart, carrying Globalstar satellites and a classified USSF-366 mission. Both boosters landed successfully, highlighting rapid turnaround and reuse.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-08-163A Martian Rock That Quietly Fills a Billion-Year GapA newly analyzed Martian meteorite, NWA 13441, crystallized 1.273 billion years ago and reveals a previously unsampled mantle reservoir on Mars, filling a major gap in the shergottite record.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-08-145Caught at the First Light: X-ray Flash of SN 2026gzfA rare X-ray shock breakout from SN 2026gzf offered an unprecedented, multiwavelength view of a stripped-envelope supernova. Observatories worldwide revealed a Wolf-Rayet progenitor, pre-explosion shells, and a puzzling absent jet.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-08-143How Tiny Light Sails Could Carry Us to Nearby StarsTiny, wafer-thin light sails pushed by sunlight or ground-based lasers could carry gram-scale probes to nearby stars. This article explores the technology, challenges and near-term steps toward interstellar flybys.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-08-123Pluto’s Heart May Be Leaking Liquid Nitrogen, RevealedNew analysis of New Horizons imagery suggests liquid nitrogen may be rising through cracks beneath Pluto's Sputnik Planitia, wetting the surface and leaving dark streaks. Lab work and future missions will test the idea.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-08-102First Images Capture Falcon 9 Stage Colliding with MoonDanuri orbiter images and ground spectroscopy confirm that a Falcon 9 second stage struck the Moon, producing a shallow crater and releasing sodium and lithium into the lunar exosphere. The event highlights debris, tracking, and disposal challenges.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-08-092Why NASA Plans to Send a Perseverance Test Rover to the MoonNASA is considering sending a modified Perseverance ground test rover to the Moon's south pole under the PROMISE concept. The mission would use an MMRTG and target water-ice resource mapping for future bases.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-08-092SpaceX’s Bold Plan: Building Industrial Factories on MoonSpaceX plans to deliver heavy cargo and robots to the Moon to build industrial factories. Using Starship launches and robotic systems like Optimus, the company aims to manufacture AI satellites and scale off-Earth production.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-08-093Why NASA's Big Bang Maneuver Could Save Voyager for YearsVoyager 2 completed NASA's precision 'Big Bang' maneuver to reduce power use and avoid freezing critical systems. Engineers expect about two more years of science from the aging probes, preserving unique interstellar data.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-08-073Phobos' Hidden Interior Could Reveal Mars' Ancient CrashPhobos’ interior could determine whether Mars’ inner moon formed from a giant impact or was a captured asteroid. MMX’s gravity mapping and sample return aim to resolve the question by probing beneath Stickney crater.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-08-07Black Holes Are Inefficient Eaters, New Study ShowsVLT observations of Swift J1727.8-1613 reveal black holes expel large amounts of inflowing matter via jets and winds, even at low luminosity, suggesting inefficient accretion and wider implications for binary evolution and feedback.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-08-05How Solar-Wind Waves May Be Quietly Stripping Mars’ AirMAVEN observations link solar-wind-driven Kelvin-Helmholtz waves at Mars’ upper atmosphere to ion loss. ESCAPADE and further simulations will help determine how much these waves contributed to Mars’ long-term atmospheric escape.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-08-05How Apophis' 2029 Flyby Could Be Complicated by DebrisApophis will skim past Earth in April 2029. New modeling shows a small but meaningful chance that unseen high-altitude debris could strike the asteroid, complicating planned observations by ESA and NASA missions.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-08-05How Euclid Found Quasars That Shone a Trillion SunsESA’s Euclid telescope has identified 31 ancient quasars, including two that shone with the power of a trillion Suns just 670 million years after the Big Bang, reshaping our understanding of early black hole and galaxy growth.
Read MoreOliver Hayes2026-08-03Curiosity Finds a Vast Honeycomb of Martian PolygonsCuriosity photographed a wide field of honeycomb-like polygons in Valle Grande, Mars. Scientists are analyzing shapes and chemistry to learn whether drying mud, freeze-thaw cycles, or compression shaped this landscape.
Read MoreNora Schmidt2026-08-03Ancient Oceans Covered Ninety Percent of Venus's SurfaceReanalysis of Magellan radar data suggests Venus may once have been covered by oceans across roughly 90% of its surface. New geological interpretations point to marine sediments, giant submarine channels, and evaporite layers.
