Intense exercise during long spaceflights helps maintain heart structure and function within a range needed to tolerate the low-gravity environment of Mars, a study co-led by a UT Southwestern Medical Center researcher suggests. The findings, published in Circulation, not only address an issue critical to future space missions but could also lead to better interventions to improve heart health on Earth.

Studying exoplanets has given astronomers insights into the characteristics that could help them find life beyond Earth. For years, astronomers thought an exoplanet’s location in a star’s habitable zone was enough to make it an Earth-like world. But some stars are more active than our sun, exposing planets in their habitable zones to far more radiation than Earth receives. Astronomers have increasingly recognized that a planet’s magnetic field, which shields Earth from harmful radiation, could be a key characteristic in identifying Earth-like worlds.

Conditions on early Earth may have become stable enough to sustain the chemistry associated with the origins of life around 4.33 billion years ago, according to new research co-led by Planetary Science Institute senior scientist Oleg Abramov.

Switching to modern silicon solar cells could cut the cost of powering satellites by as much as 90% based on beginning-of-life (BOL) performance, according to a review led by the University of Surrey. The switch to silicon cells could also halve the weight of the solar cells needed on a spacecraft, freeing mass for fuel or instruments or cutting launch costs.

Britain announced Wednesday that it will launch a new military space squadron to defend the country’s satellites, the latest move as countries race to develop military space capabilities.