NASA hasn’t updated its spacesuits since 1974, when only men were eligible to be astronauts. But when it heads to the Moon in the coming years, its new spacesuits should come in women’s sizes too.
Mars northern polar cap, photographed by the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Franck Montmessin, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ) – Université Paris-Saclay
New results show why and how water is disappearing from Mars atmosphere.
New research suggests that Venus’ crust is broken into large blocks – the dark reddish–purple areas – that are surrounded by belts of tectonic structures shown in lighter yellow–red.
Paul K. Byrne/NASA/USGS
Researchers used decades-old radar data and found that some low-lying areas of Venus’ crust are moving and jostling. This evidence is some of the strongest yet of tectonic activity on Venus.
Two new NASA missions hope to answer important questions about Venus’ past.
NASA/JPL/USGS
Two new NASA missions – VERITAS and DAVINCI+ – are headed to Venus. The missions will use radar and a probe to learn about Earth’s hard-to-study and potentially prophetic neighbor.
A volcanic eruption on Jupiter’s moon Io.
NASA/JPL/DLR
Venus wouldn’t attract much attention if it were outside our solar system. Its skies are filled with sulphuric acid, its land abounds with extinct volcanoes and its surface is mostly red hot lava.
Eugene Cernan on the Moon, December 13, 1972, during the Apollo 17 mission, the last manned flight to the Earth’s natural satellite.
NASA
Rappers have been taking listeners on lyrical journeys to outer space for decades. A hip-hop scholar says their music helps inspire more students to pursue careers among the stars.
A permanent Moon colony could become a reality in a few decades.
NASA/Dennis Davidson/WikimediaCommons
In the coming decades, governments and private companies will set up permanent bases on the Moon and Mars. And at some point, the first galactic baby will be born.
Faster than light travel is the only way humans could ever get to other stars in a reasonable amount of time.
Les Bossinas/NASA/Wikimedia Commons
If humanity wants to travel between stars, people are going to need to travel faster than light. New research suggests that it might be possible to build warp drives and beat the galactic speed limit.
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on its first flight, captured by cameras aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on April 19, 2021.
(NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU)
The Ingenuity is a drone-like helicopter that completed its first flight on Mars. This achievement reflects a new horizon for space exploration, as new places are discovered and studied.
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter hovers over the Martian surface.
NASA
The maiden flight of Mars helicopter was a significant advance in propulsion technology.
Modern computing allows to spot isolated trees and shrubs in semi-arid areas, facilitating research on the evolution of vegetation cover.
Martin Brandt
Advanced techniques allowed our research team to build an open database of billions of individual trees and challenge some common perceptions about vegetation in arid and semi-arid zones.
A planet in a triple-star system has been discovered.
(Shutterstock)
Going to the bathroom is much more complicated in space without any gravity. To solve this problem of tricky orbital potty breaks, NASA builds special toilets that work without gravity.
Science fiction has often had an inspirational and positive relationship with space endeavors. But the new US Space Force is struggling with a pop culture public relations problem.
NASA’s successful Mars landing will reveal yet more secrets from the red planet. But there is much we already know from Martian fragments that found their way to Earth.