Astronomy (Page 18)

Latest in Astronomy

Despite budget overruns — and a pandemic — NASA is determined to get its next Mars rover called "Perseverance" off the ground in July.

NASA’s New Mars Rover Still Launching in July Despite Coronavirus

By Victor Tangermann

Bad news, space fans: NASA just announced they're gonna have reschedule that trip to the Moon they'd been planning in a few years.

NASA: Bad News, Something Came Up, Gotta Rain-Check That Moon Trip :(

By Foster Kamer

In a last-resort move to free up the InSight Mars rover's digging probe, NASA engineers programmed the rover to thwack it with a shovel.

NASA Fixes Mars Lander By Telling It to Hit Itself With a Shovel

By Dan Robitzski

Buzz Aldrin had some choice words of advice for Ars Technica's Eric Berger on how to survive self-isolation during the coronavirus outbreak.

The Second Man to Walk on the Moon Has Some Quarantine Advice

By Victor Tangermann

An international team of astrobiologists claim that organic molecules discovered by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover could be evidence for early life on Mars.

Scientists: NASA Rover Has Found Evidence of Ancient Life on Mars

By Victor Tangermann

Even in spite of the coronavirus pandemic, China has remained on track to launch its planned mission to Mars later this year.

China Powers Through the Coronavirus to Launch a Mars Mission

By Dan Robitzski

Researchers from the University of New Mexico believe they have found the remains of Theia buried deep beneath the lunar surface in a new paper.

Fragment of Planet That Hit Earth May Be Buried Inside Moon

By Victor Tangermann

"Unless we improve our rate of innovation dramatically, then there is no chance of a base on the moon or a city on Mars."

Elon Musk: My Main Goal Is to Get Humanity to Mars Before I Die

By Victor Tangermann

After a nation-wide stdudent contest, NASA has selected "Perseverance" as the name for its next Mars rover, set to launch later this year.

NASA’s New Mars Rover Officially Has a Name

By Dan Robitzski

NASA's Curiosity rover snapped more than 1,000 images, which teams back on Earth composed into a 360 degree Martian landscape panorama.

NASA Mars Rover Snaps Glorious 1.8 Billion Pixel Panorama

By Victor Tangermann

Researchers have a new theory which may help explain the strange exoplanets whose shape suggests they must have the density of cotton candy.

New Theory Could Explain Exoplanets With “Density of Cotton Candy”

Researchers have started analyzing data collected by China's Yutu-2 Moon rover's ground-penetrating radar. They found mostly Moon dust.

Chinese Rover Discovers It’s Sitting on 39 Feet of Moon Dust

By Victor Tangermann

A team of astronomers at the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey suspect there's a small asteroid that caught itself in our planet's gravity, like a moon.

Astronomers: Our Planet Might Have Another Moon, Except It’s Tiny

By Victor Tangermann

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing a nuclear-powered rocket to move cargo around Earth's orbit.

DARPA’s Working on a Nuclear-Powered Rocket for Easy Moon Access

By Jon Christian

A team of astronomers at Penn State just confirmed the existence of G 9-40b, a gigantic super-Earth only roughly 90 light years from Earth.

This Gigantic Neptune-Sized Exoplanet is Incredibly Close

By Victor Tangermann

Six new studies were published today, detailing some of the discoveries made by NASA's InSight Mars lander, including evidence of a strange glow in the sky.

NASA Lander Detects Strange Glow In Sky of Mars

By Victor Tangermann

In an interview with British fashion and culture magazine The Face, singer and visual artist Grimes revealed her wild plans to travel to Mars.

Grimes Wants to Send Her Mind to Mars Inside a “Humanoid Vessel”

By Victor Tangermann

If there's life on Mars, experts agree, it's probably beneath the surface. Finding evidence could require some lateral thinking -- or boots on the ground.

Here’s Why NASA Suspects Mars Life Could Be Hiding Underground

By Jon Christian

Japanese space agency JAXA announced today it has greenlit a sample return mission to the Martian moon Phobos called the Martian Moons Exploration mission.

Japan Gives the ‘Go’ to Sample Return Mission to Mars Moon

By Victor Tangermann

NASA is building a huge dish in California that it hopes will allow Mars astronauts to communicate with Earth — using high-powered lasers.

NASA: Mars Astronauts Will Use Lasers to Communicate With Earth

By Jon Christian

CEO Elon Musk has dropped yet another hint that a Tesla Cybertruck could be headed to Mars aboard a SpaceX Starship rocket.

Elon Musk Hints That a Cybertruck Is Headed to Mars

By Kristin Houser

A new documentary will follow Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa as he hunts for a "life partner" to join him on a trip around the Moon in 2023.

Billionaire Seeks “Life Partner” to Join Him on SpaceX Moon Trip

By Kristin Houser

Apply now! NASA is officially accepting astronaut applications for its next generation of astronauts that could one day travel to the Moon and Mars.

Here’s Where You Can Apply to Be a NASA Moon Astronaut

By Victor Tangermann

NASA will need $35 billion over the next four years to successfully complete the Artemis Moon mission, according to Human Spaceflight Chief Doug Loverro.

NASA: Next Moon Landing Will Cost About $35 Billion

By Kristin Houser

In October 2019, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter managed to snap a photo of a massive active dust devil — and you can now see it for yourself.

NASA Snaps Photo of Epic Dust Devil on the Surface of Mars

By Kristin Houser

NASA equipped the 2020 Mars rover with a powerful laser, capable of vaporizing rocks. It's an extreme way of learning what they're made of.

Next NASA Mars Rover Will Sport a Rock-Vaporizing Laser

By Dan Robitzski

Monica Grady, a professor at Liverpool Hope University, claims that there is "almost a racing certainty" there's alien life on Jupiter's moon Europa.

University Chancellor Predicts “Higher Forms of Life” on Europa

By Victor Tangermann

A scientist and a fashion designer on working a "Martian death project" that would include a system to compost dead Mars colonists' corpses.

Scientist: Mars Colonists Will Need to Compost Dead Human Bodies

By Kristin Houser

Japanese billionaire Yukatu Maezawa had to break the hearts of 27,722 women, revealing that he cancelled the TV show to find himself a Moon trip companion.

Billionaire Cancels Reality Show to Find Girlfriend For Moon Trip

By Victor Tangermann

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover just experienced a technical glitch losing its orientation, forcing it to stop in its tracks.

Glitch Puts NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Out of Commission

By Victor Tangermann

European Space Agency (ESA) scientists have figured out a way to produce oxygen from Moon dust. The team just opened up their own "prototype oxygen plant."

Scientists Say They’ve Found a Way to Make Oxygen From Moon Dust

By Victor Tangermann

In a series of tweets on Thursday evening, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk revealed some more details of his greater plans to colonize Mars.

Elon Musk Says He’ll Put A Million People on Mars By 2050

By Victor Tangermann

Over 20,000 people have offered to become Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa's flight companion on his trip around the Moon and "life partner."

20,000 Apply to Be Billionaire’s Girlfriend, Get Free Moon Trip

By Victor Tangermann

An experimental NASA program is tinkering with the idea of building a Mars or Moon base out of living mushrooms that astronauts would grow onsite.

NASA Wants to Grow a Moon Base Out of Mushrooms

By Dan Robitzski

NASA's new instrument, NEID, can measure the mass of a distant exoplanet with three times the sensitivity of any other equipment out there.

Here’s How NASA’s New Machine Weighs Exoplanets

By Dan Robitzski

A team of MIT scientists belive that the magnetic field of the Moon was caused by a crystallizing iron core "dynamo" about a billion years ago.

MIT: A “Dynamo” Inside the Moon Shut Down a Billion Years Ago

By Victor Tangermann

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine proposed to send Japanese astronauts to the Moon in the late 2020s as part of a joint plan with the US.

NASA Proposed Sending Japanese Astronauts to the Moon

By Victor Tangermann

Scientists just shared new information on the bizarre class of exoplanets that they'e named "super-puffs" due to their cotton candy-like fluffiness.

These Rare Exoplanets Have the “Density of Cotton Candy”

By Dan Robitzski

The Moon’s surface could electrocute future astronauts as they plan to visit areas hit by very little charge-negating sunlight.

Moon’s Surface Could Electrocute Astronauts, Scientists Warn

By Victor Tangermann

NASA's Mars 2020 rover rolled forward and backward for the first time inside a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, clearing small ramps.

NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover Earns Its “Driver’s License”

By Victor Tangermann

Ad Astra CEO and former NASA astronaut Franklin Chang Diaz is building a plasma rocket engine that he thinks is our best bet to send people to Mars.

A Former NASA Astronaut Is Building a Plasma-Powered Mars Rocket

By Dan Robitzski

NASA researchers have created a "treasure map" detailing where they believe water ice exists just below the surface of Mars.

NASA Releases “Treasure Map” for Water Ice on Mars

By Kristin Houser

After analyzing the atmospheres of 19 exoplanets, researchers determined that 14 contained water vapor — more than they'd anticipated.

Survey Finds That Water Is Common Around Exoplanets

By Kristin Houser

Ohio University pulled a press release detailing a professor’s “evidence” that Mars is home to bugs, but won’t say if it stands behind the research.

Ohio University Has Yet to Deny Professor’s ‘Bugs on Mars!’ Claim. So.

By Kristin Houser

New studies suggest that planet-wide dust storms and gigantic plumes called dust towers could have sucked up the planet's surface water.

NASA Suggests Giant Dust Storms Blew Mars’ Water Into Space

By Dan Robitzski

IKEA interior designer Christina Levenborn just helped researchers outfit the Mars Desert Research Station, a Mars analogue habitat in the Utah desert.

IKEA Designed the Interior of a Mars Habitat

By Victor Tangermann

NASA is about to test a prototype cosmic radiation-blocking vest by strapping it to a dummy and sending ti around the Moon.

NASA Is Sending Dummies Around the Moon to Test Cosmic Radiation

By Dan Robitzski

Roscosmos announced plans to build an observatory on its planned Moon base so that it can better spot potentially dangerous asteroids approaching Earth.

Russia Wants to Build an Observatory on the Moon

By Dan Robitzski

The Indian government released a short report detailing its Moon lander Vikram's demise in early September — the first time it admitted its lander crashed.

India Finally Admits Its Moon Lander Crashed

By Victor Tangermann

A new deepfake shows what it would have looked like if the Apollo 11 mission failed and then-president Nixon had to deliver the backup speech he had ready.

MIT Deepfake Shows Nixon Sadly Saying the Moon Astronauts Died

By Dan Robitzski

The Moon is covered in lunar swirls — magnetic anomalies that could act as natural shields from dangerous cosmic radiation.

Spiral Formations on the Moon Appear to Deflect Cosmic Rays

By Dan Robitzski

This scientist from Oregon State University believes the professor who claims to have evidence of insects on Mars was just an example of pareidolia.

University Deletes Press Release Claiming Evidence of Bugs on Mars

By Victor Tangermann

A doctoral candidate has a unique idea for how to colonize Mars: send bacteria to digest the soil and churn out useable raw materials for future settlers.

Unusual PhD Thesis: Let’s Use Bacteria to Colonize Mars

By Dan Robitzski

An entomologist claims rover photos show life on Mars in the form of both living and fossilized insects, but the evidence is far from convincing.

Professor Claims to Have Discovered Insect-Like Life on Mars

By Kristin Houser

New NASA research found that Neptune has two moons that are locked in a strange orbital dance in order to "maintain the peace."

NASA: Neptune’s Moons “Dance” to Avoid Smashing Into Each Other

By Kristin Houser

China has successfully launched its Tianwen-1 — Heavenly Questions — mission to Mars, including an orbiter, lander, and a rover.

China Successfully Tests Mars Lander in Giant Drop Test

By Victor Tangermann

The levels of oxygen on Mars increase and decrease over the year in a way that just doesn't make sense to scientists, a new paper reveals.

“Mind Boggling” Behavior of Oxygen on Mars Has NASA Stumped

By Kristin Houser

NASA: Four Astronauts Will Stay on the Moon For Two Weeks

NASA: Four Astronauts Will Stay on the Moon For Two Weeks

By Kristin Houser

Geneticist Chris Mason has an unusual idea for helping future astronauts survive the trip to Mars: gene-hack them with tardigrade DNA that blocks radiation.

This Scientist Wants to Gene-Hack Hybrid Humans to Survive Mars

By Dan Robitzski

Boeing just sent NASA its proposal for a crewed lunar lander that could ferry astronauts to the Moon by 2024 via NASA's planned "Lunar Gateway."

Here’s How Boeing is Planning to Get Astronauts to the Moon

By Victor Tangermann

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation announced the country's first ever plans to send astronauts to the surface of Mars.

China Unveils Plan to Send Astronauts to Mars

By Victor Tangermann

This startup's plan is to send swarms of smart robots to the surface of a distant moon and planets to extract resources including water ice and minerals.

Meet the Startup Building Robot Swarms to Mine Ice on the Moon

By Victor Tangermann

China has a new plan to send robotic vehilces to the Moon and bring back lunar samples of rocks. It'll be the first lunar retrieval mission since 1976.

China Is Going to the Moon, Coming Back With Moon Rocks

By Dan Robitzski

SpaceX “Definitely” Plans to Land Starship on Moon by 2022

SpaceX “Definitely” Plans to Land Starship on Moon by 2022

By Victor Tangermann