Space
NASA races to have the first moon base and nuclear-propulsion spacecraft
A $20 billion plan for a moon base by 2030 and the launch nuclear-propulsion space exploration raises hopes, but caution given deep government cuts.
Planetary Science
More Stories in Planetary Science
- Space
One possible recipe for life on Titan is a bust
An experiment mimicking conditions on the Saturn moon suggests that cell-like bubbles don’t form in methane lakes, puncturing hopes for alien life.
- Planetary Science
NASA’s DART spacecraft changed an asteroid’s orbit around the sun
A 2022 NASA mission changed the orbit of the asteroid Dimorphos around its companion. New data shows their joint orbit around the sun also changed.
- Planetary Science
A Titan collision may link Saturn’s tilt, its moon Hyperion and its rings
A new study proposes that a crash between Titan and another moon spawned Hyperion and, much later, destabilized Saturn’s inner moons into rings.
- Planetary Science
A chemical ‘Goldilocks zone’ may limit which planets can host life
Life needs nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. But without the right balance of oxygen, these elements get locked away in planets’ cores.
- Planetary Science
Venus has a massive lava tube
A collapsed lava tube detected in 30-year-old radar data from Venus may be part of a much wider network of underground caves.
- Planetary Science
A newly spotted asteroid spins faster than any of its size ever seen
Among the first finds from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, the discovery hints at a population of exceptionally strong asteroids.
- Planetary Science
An asteroid could hit the moon in 2032, scattering debris toward Earth
Researchers are keeping an eye on the building-sized asteroid 2024 YR4, which has a 4 percent chance of hitting the moon seven years from now.
- Astronomy
New Hubble images may solve the case of a disappearing exoplanet
A massive collision between two asteroid-sized bodies around a nearby star offers a rare look at the violent process of planetary construction.
- Planetary Science
Listen to the crackle of Martian ‘mini-lightning’
A microphone on NASA’s Perseverance rover recorded the sounds of electrical discharges generated by dusty gusts.
