Space Exploration News

Physcomitrium patens spores survive simulated space conditions with high resilience. Image credit: Maeng et al., doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2025.113827.

Moss Can Survive Long-Term Exposure to Elements of Space, New Experiments Show

Nov 25, 2025 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Japan has tested protenemata (juvenile moss), brood cells (specialized stem cells that emerge under stress conditions) and sporophytes...

An artist’s impression of the collision between the proto-Earth and Theia. Image credit: MPS / Mark A. Garlick.

Moon-Forming Protoplanet Theia Originated from Inner Solar System, New Research Suggests

Nov 21, 2025 by News Staff

The Moon formed from a giant impact of the proto-Earth with the ancient protoplanet Theia. In a new study, a team of scientists from the United States,...

This image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was captured on October 3, 2025 by the CaSSIS instrument aboard ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter. Image credit: ESA / TGO / CaSSIS.

TGO Provides More Accurate Information about Path of 3I/ATLAS through Solar System

Nov 19, 2025 by News Staff

Thanks to the data collected by the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) onboard ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) spacecraft orbiting Mars,...

Panoramic aerial drone image of the Jinlin crater, taken on May 12, 2025. Image credit: Chen et al., doi: 10.1063/5.0301625.

Well-Preserved Impact Crater Discovered in China

Nov 13, 2025 by News Staff

Researchers have discovered an impact crater formed on a granite mountain capped by a thick weathering crust in southern China. Located in Zhaoqing in...

An artistic rendering of Kraken Mare, a large liquid methane sea on Titan. Image credit: NASA’s John Glenn Research Center.

Unexpected Mixture of Hydrogen Cyanide and Hydrocarbons May Exist on Saturn’s Moon Titan

Oct 21, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Titan offers great motivation for the detailed study of organic chemistry in unconventional conditions. Nonpolar hydrocarbons such as ethane and methane...

Two examples of Martian dunes with linear dune gullies: (a) linear dune gullies on a dune field in Galle crater; (b) linear dune gullies on a dune field in an unnamed crater in the center of Hellas Planitia. Image credit: Roelofs et al., doi: 10.1029/2024GL112860.

Martian ‘Linear Dune Gullies’ are Created by Sliding Blocks of Carbon Dioxide Ice, Researchers Find

Oct 14, 2025 by News Staff

On some of the dune fields on Mars, parallel channels, called linear dune gullies, are found. Contrary to their name these gullies are often highly sinuous....

Model depicting the importance of RNP condensate in mediating survival under Mars-like stress condition. Image credit: Dhage et al., doi: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf300.

Baker’s Yeast Can Survive Mars-like Stress Conditions, New Study Shows

Oct 14, 2025 by News Staff

Exploring the possibility of the survival of life under extraterrestrial conditions is an important goal of astrobiology. In a new study, scientists used...

The South Pole-Aitken impact basin on the far side of the Moon formed in a southward impact. Image credit: Jeff Andrews-Hanna / University of Arizona / NASA / NAOJ.

Southward Impact Excavated Magma Ocean at Moon’s Biggest Crater: Study

Oct 9, 2025 by News Staff

Roughly 4.3 billion years ago, when our Solar System was still in its infancy, a giant asteroid slammed into the far side of the Moon, blasting an enormous...

Commander Eugene Cernan retrieves a drive tube from the Lunar Roving Vehicle during an Apollo 17 EVA. Image credit: NASA.

Lunar Samples Returned by Apollo 17 Contain Anomalous Sulfur, New Analysis Shows

Oct 7, 2025 by News Staff

The leading hypotheses for the origin of the Moon call for a giant impact event between proto-Earth and a separate impactor called Theia. The efficiency...

This artist’s painting of the south polar region of Enceladus shows massive jets of water ice being blasted into space. Image credit: Karl Kofoed / NASA.

Cassini Detects Organic Molecules in Freshly Ejected Ice Grains from Enceladus’ Ocean

Oct 7, 2025 by News Staff

Saturn’s moon Enceladus continuously ejects a plume of ice grains and gases originating from its subsurface ocean via fractures near its south pole....

Global map of the albedo from the 750 nm filter of the UV-VIS camera onboard NASA’s Clementine spacecraft. The image shows the near side and far side of the Moon in Lambert, equal-area projection. Image credit: NASA.

Moon’s Far Side is Colder than Near Side, New Research Suggests

Oct 6, 2025 by News Staff

The stark contrast between the Moon’s near side and far side in topography, volcanic activity and crustal structure provides critical insights into lunar...

Spectrally distinct units at the Juventae Plateau, Mars. Image credit: Bishop et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-61801-2.

Planetary Scientists Discover New Mineral on Mars

Oct 6, 2025 by News Staff

The newly-discovered mineral, named ferric hydroxysulfate, provides clues about the environment and history of the Red Planet, including the possibility...

This image from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows Jezero Crater on Mars, the landing site for NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. On ancient Mars, water carved channels and transported sediments to form fans and deltas within lake basins. Examination of spectral data acquired from orbit show that some of these sediments have minerals that indicate chemical alteration by water. Here in Jezero Crater delta, sediments contain clays and carbonates. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS / JHU-APL.

Jezero Crater Experienced Multiple Episodes of Fluid Activity, New Study Confirms

Sep 23, 2025 by News Staff

Minerals are the building blocks of rocks, and the types of minerals and their chemistry provide critical information about rock formation and history....

This image of the asteroid Ryugu was captured by the Optical Navigation Camera - Telescopic (ONC-T) on JAXA’s Hayabusa-2 spacecraft on June 26, 2018, from a distance of 13.7 miles (22 km). Image credit: JAXA / University of Tokyo / Kochi University / Rikkyo University / Nagoya University / Chiba Institute of Technology / Meiji University / Aizu University / AIST.

Liquid Water Once Flowed on Asteroid Ryugu’s Parent Body, Scientists Say

Sep 22, 2025 by News Staff

This water flow occurred on an ancient asteroid more than one billion years after its formation and was probably triggered by an impact that generated...

Detections of near-infrared emissions in Saturn’s ionosphere (left) show dark bead-like features embedded within bright aurora; in the stratosphere (right), 500 km below, a lopsided star-pattern extends towards the equator. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / Stallard et al.

Webb Detects Complex Structures in Upper Atmosphere of Saturn

Sep 19, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA James Webb Space Telescope have detected a series of dark, bead-like and asymmetric star-shaped features in the ionosphere...

Map of the ananguites strewn field, based on the tektite locations. Image credit: Musolino et al., doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2025.119600.

New Type of Tektite Reveals 11-Million-Year-Old Asteroid Impact in Australia

Sep 18, 2025 by News Staff

Tektites are nearly pure glasses (practically no crystalline inclusions) created when a space rock slams into Earth, melting surface material and hurling...

Perspective view of Mars’ north polar ice cap and its distinctive dark troughs forming a spiral-like pattern. The view is based on images taken by ESA’s Mars Express and generated using elevation data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on board NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / NASA / MGS / MOLA Science Team.

Martian North Polar Vortex Creates Seasonal Ozone Layer, Planetary Scientists Say

Sep 17, 2025 by News Staff

The polar vortex is a consequence of Martian seasons, which occur because the planet’s axis is tilted at an angle of 25.2 degrees, according to University...

This map shows the size and shape of the ozone hole over the South Pole on October 5, 2022, when it reached its single-day maximum extent for the year. Image credit: Joshua Stevens / NASA’s Earth Observatory.

Earth’s Ozone Layer Remains on Track to Recovery in Coming Decades, Experts Say

Sep 17, 2025 by News Staff

The ozone layer is healing and the Antarctic ozone hole in 2024 was smaller than in previous years, according to a new report from the World Meteorological...

Saturn’s moon Enceladus with a plume. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI / Kevin M. Gill.

Planetary Scientists Question Ocean Origin of Organic Molecules in Enceladus’ Plumes

Sep 16, 2025 by News Staff

Saturn’s magnetosphere contains trapped plasma and energetic charged particles which constantly irradiate the surface of Enceladus. The plasma consists...