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NASA narrows Artemis landing sites to 9 key regions

Less than two days from now, NASA’s Artemis II mission is scheduled to lift off for its historic 10-day journey around the moon, marking the first time humans have ventured beyond Low Earth Orbit for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972, and possibly even set new distance records for traveling beyond Earth. However, […]

Terraforming Mars: Modeling engineered aerosols to warm the planet

Whenever humans arrive on Mars, they’re going to find it a difficult place to exist. Mars is cold, with an average surface temperature of -55°C; temperatures can plunge to -125°C with dust storms lasting months; its atmosphere is very thin and almost all carbon dioxide; and all the water is frozen and mixed with ice […]

NASA is shooting for the moon. A guide to the Artemis II mission

It’s humanity’s first flight to the moon since 1972.

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Astronomers determine the fate of a double white dwarf binary

Utilizing the stellar evolution code named Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA), Chinese astronomers have investigated the evolution of a recently discovered ultra-compact double white dwarf binary system known as ATLAS J1138-5139. Results of this study, published March 20 on the arXiv pre-print server, allowed the researchers to determine the fate of this system. […]

‘A very big deal’: Canadian astronaut reflects on historic moon mission

As soon as Wednesday, NASA is poised to make history—sending the first woman, the first person of color, and the first non-American on a voyage around the moon.

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NASA begins the countdown for humanity’s first launch to the moon in 53 years

NASA began the countdown Monday for humanity’s first launch to the moon in 53 years.

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Legged robot could accelerate resource prospecting on the moon and the search for life on Mars

Planetary surface missions currently operate cautiously. On Mars, communication delays between Earth and rovers (typically between four and 22 minutes), as well as data transfer constraints due to uplink and downlink limitations, force scientists to plan operations in advance. Rovers are designed for energy efficiency and safety, and to move slowly across hazardous terrain.

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How the solar wind really works

The sun, our nearest star, never stops breathing. Every second of every day, it exhales a vast stream of charged particles that sweeps outward through the solar system at hundreds of kilometers per second. We call it the solar wind, and while that name conjures something gentle and constant, the reality is considerably more turbulent. […]

Spaceflight captures audiences when it centers on people because human space travel is hazardous

The central premise of the blockbuster film “Project Hail Mary” is a long-shot mission with a familiar goal: Save humanity from extinction. While the details of the threat facing humanity are new to this story, moviegoers are used to binging on popcorn while watching a heroic quest to save Earth from certain doom. And like […]

Mars-like worlds near M-dwarfs may lose air in millions of years

The criteria for finding an Earth-like planet unofficially comes down to two things: water and the habitable zone. But a phenomenon known as atmospheric escape often “escapes” the minds of many astronomy fans, and it turns out that atmospheric escape is one of the key characteristics for finding an Earth-like world. Although extensive research has […]

Image: NISAR’s View of Mount Rainier

This image captured by U.S.-Indian Earth satellite NISAR on Nov. 10, 2025, shows Washington’s Mount Rainier. The image is cropped from a much larger swath spanning the Pacific Northwest on a cloudy day; NISAR’s L-band SAR instrument is able to peer through the clouds at the surface below.

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Heat shield safety concerns raise stakes for NASA’s Artemis II moon mission

The astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen are preparing to launch into space on a trajectory that will make them the first humans to travel to the moon in over half a century.

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NASA wants to build a base on the Moon by the 2030s, How and why it plans to build up to a long‑term lunar presence

The next U.S. trip to the moon isn’t about planting a flag. It’s about learning how to live and work there. NASA has just reset its Artemis program, marking a clear strategic shift: Space exploration is moving away from a race to achieve milestones and toward a system built on repeated operations, a sustained presence […]

How plants could betray themselves across the galaxy

Here’s a thought experiment. Imagine looking at Earth from a distant star system, armed with a powerful telescope capable of capturing its reflected light. Could you tell the planet was alive? The answer, remarkably, might be yes and the clue would come from the color of the plants.

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Hera aces a massive engine burn on its way to Didymos

In September 2022, humanity crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid—on purpose. The objective of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) was to see if we could intentionally modify the orbit of Dimorphos, the small moonlet orbiting the larger asteroid Didymos. According to all accounts, the mission worked spectacularly, but it was a one-way trip, so […]