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NASA launches robot to rescue aging Swift telescope from fiery demise

NASA on Tuesday is set to launch a daring robotic rescue mission, a long-shot bid to prevent one of its aging telescopes from vanishing into dust.

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The rise of space AI might explain the Fermi paradox

Artificial intelligence (AI) is continuing to have a disruptive impact on ever more parts of humanity. But what does it mean in the long run? A new paper, available as a preprint on arXiv from Austrian researcher Sergey Ivliev, extrapolates what the wide-scale adoption of AI means for the future of humanity in space—and in […]

New Horizons tracks solar wind slowdown as interstellar atoms add drag

A new Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) study based on data from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has uncovered insights into why the solar wind gradually slows as it moves toward the edge of the solar system and the boundary with interstellar space. The study “The Gradual Slowing of the Solar Wind in the Outer Heliosphere” is […]

Testing the orbital mechanics of giant mirrors

Giant mirrors in space have been a staple of science fiction for decades. But so far, there’s been very little work looking at the actual physics behind the concept—possibly because we’re still so far from making them ourselves. Still, they could potentially serve as a passive technosignature if we manage to find one. In order […]

NASA tests new refuel device for future in-space refueling missions

For NASA’s next generation of deep-space exploration missions, spacecraft may need to refuel in Earth orbit before pushing farther into the solar system. Similar to how a gas pump needs a nozzle to fit your fuel tank, future spacecraft could require a special device in order to fill up before departure, known as a cryocoupler. […]

Analyzing avalanches on asteroid Vesta offers new method for understanding regolith processes

A study conducted at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris uses images from NASA’s Dawn mission and a Bayesian inversion of the Hapke photometric model to analyze avalanches and ejecta deposits on the asteroid Vesta. The results show that the brightest deposits correspond to the most recently mobilized surfaces, offering a new way […]

Nova V612 Scuti’s light curve becomes audio, revealing how stellar shocks evolved

Researchers in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Texas Tech University recently used audio to represent the spectacular explosion of a star in deep space while also delving into the data to better understand how the phenomenon unfolded.

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Solar storms leave their mark on cosmic rays that reach Earth

A new study has revealed an unexpected link between solar storms and the flux of high-energy cosmic rays arriving at Earth. The findings, made using one of the world’s largest cosmic ray detectors, could open up a new way to probe the magnetic structures inside solar storms—and potentially improve our ability to forecast their effects […]

Europa’s ice shell secrets unlocked by ground radar study

Jupiter’s moon Europa has become high-value real estate for astrobiologists and the search for life beyond Earth. This is because the small moon, which is slightly smaller than Earth’s moon, boasts a massive subsurface ocean of liquid water that scientists estimate contains about double the amount of water in all Earth’s oceans combined. As seen […]

Ultra-faint galaxy discovered near Andromeda may be 12.5 billion years old

A new ultra-faint dwarf galaxy has been discovered in the vicinity of Andromeda (M31), the Milky Way’s large neighboring galaxy. The new study, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics suggests that the galaxy, named And XXXVI, is one of the faintest satellite galaxies discovered around Andromeda to date.

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Giant exoplanet may hold a magnetic grip on its host star

Within their planetary systems, stars are continuously shaping their orbiting planets through gravity, radiation and magnetic forces. So far, this relationship has appeared to be a one-way street.

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The solar gravitational lens could map white dwarfs and black holes

It feels like every few months we get to report on another academic paper singing the praises of the Solar Gravitational Lens (SGL). Partly, this is due to Dr. Slava Turyshev’s astounding productivity in pumping out academic articles, but partly because such a groundbreaking mission has lots of positive aspects—as well as challenges that need […]

Reanalysis suggests ‘Phoebe’ is a variable star, not a primordial black hole

A new study debunks a recent claim that astronomers may have detected a lunar-mass primordial black hole. In a reanalysis of observations from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), researchers found that the star nicknamed “Phoebe” was simply doing something ordinary that many stars do: changing its brightness naturally over time. The new findings have been […]

12 billion years old, this interstellar comet is older than our solar system

One year ago, on July 1, 2025, astronomers discovered a fascinating new object moving through the solar system. Detected by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), the object was quickly recognized as something special.

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NASA races to save Swift telescope from falling back to Earth with daring rescue mission

NASA is racing to save an aging telescope from falling back to Earth with a daring rescue mission.

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