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The material science behind a spacecraft’s impact armor

Aerospace engineers have to consider numerous factors when designing a spacecraft, but one that comes up more and more often is the need to design against micrometeoroids and orbital debris (MMOD). While most designers understand the threat, designing structural solutions capable of withstanding the hypervelocity impacts these undercontrolled pieces of material can cause can take […]

Black holes don’t live forever, but they might live long enough to look like white holes

Black holes live forever, at least according to general relativity. Once material crosses a black hole’s event horizon, it is trapped forever, until the last day of cosmic time. But we know that isn’t true. General relativity is a classical model. It doesn’t take into account the fuzzy, indeterminate nature of the quantum. We don’t […]

Katalyst wraps testing at NASA Goddard for Swift boost mission

A daring mission to lift NASA’s sinking Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is now one step closer to launch this June. On May 4, Katalyst Space Technologies completed environmental tests of its LINK robotic servicing spacecraft at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. LINK will meet up with Swift and attempt to raise its […]

More Star Wars-like worlds emerge as 27 planet candidates with two suns discovered

There’s so little we know about circumbinary planets—planets that orbit two stars instead of one—that they can feel like the stuff of fantasy. And for good reason: to date, we’ve only confirmed the existence of 18 circumbinary planets, compared to the more than 6000 planets we know about in single star systems.

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Radio telescopes confirm 3.3-million-light-year halo in unusually quiet galaxy cluster

Astronomers have employed the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) and the MeerKAT radio telescope to observe a galaxy cluster known as RXCJ0232–4420. Results of the new observations, published April 29 on the arXiv pre-print server, deliver important insights into the nature of this cluster.

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Scientists trace latest interstellar comet’s home to a cold, isolated corner of the Milky Way

The comet that rambled past us from another star last year likely originated in a cold, isolated corner of the galaxy that had yet to gel into its own solar system, astronomers reported Thursday.

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Ganymede’s unique magnetic field may be powered by ongoing core formation—not a cooling core

Ganymede is not only Jupiter’s largest moon, but also the largest in our solar system and one of the few that hosts a massive ice ocean. Adding to this planet-like moon’s uniqueness is the fact that among the hundreds of moons in our solar system, Ganymede is the only one that generates its own magnetic […]

Non-rotating early galaxy is a surprise to astronomers

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have made a surprising discovery about a galaxy long, long ago and far, far away: It isn’t rotating. That’s something only seen in the most massive, mature galaxies that are closer to us in space and time, said Ben Forrest, a research scientist in the Department of Physics […]

Black hole jets measured in real time, revealing 10,000-sun power

For the first time, scientists have measured the instantaneous mind-blowing power of jets blasting from a black hole.

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A close brush with Mars will reshape NASA’s Psyche journey in a way few missions attempt

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will get a boost from Mars on Friday, May 15, passing just 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) from the planet’s surface at some 12,333 mph (19,848 kph). The spacecraft will harness the planet’s gravitational pull to speed up and adjust its trajectory toward the metal-rich asteroid Psyche, one of the more unusual objects […]

Lonely Jupiter-like planet 900 light years away tells us more about gas giants

One night last fall, University of Cincinnati astrophysics graduate Paul Smith waited anxiously for data to start rolling across his computer screen from the James Webb Space Telescope a million miles from Earth.

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Asteroid Apophis will skim past Earth in 2029, and a new joint mission plans to watch every change

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to deepen collaboration in planetary defense, alongside a dedicated agreement for collaboration on the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses) to the near-Earth asteroid Apophis.

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The moon’s largest impact crater scattered something priceless—and Artemis may be heading straight into it

A new study, published in Science Advances, has refined some important details about the moon’s largest and oldest impact crater, which stretches more than 1,200 miles (2,000 km) on the far side of the moon. The new details can help guide some of the planning for NASA’s upcoming Artemis mission to the moon, which is […]

Spaceflight leaves astronauts’ joints unchanged after 18 days on ISS, early data suggest

Researchers at National Jewish Health have published new findings demonstrating that short-duration spaceflight may not significantly impact lower extremity joint structures, while also identifying a promising, noninvasive tool to monitor astronaut musculoskeletal health on future long-duration missions.

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Spiral galaxy’s brilliant heart shines bright in a new picture from NASA’s Webb telescope

A spiral galaxy’s brilliant heart outshines everything within sight in a new picture from NASA’s Webb Space Telescope.

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