NASA Archives | Page 10 of 15

The Technology We Desperately Need to Hunt for Alien Life

If we ever find life in other worlds, it is unlikely to be a powerful message from space. It’s certainly possible that an alien civilization specifically sends us a radio message like a scene out of by Brian Koberlein. Read the original article here.

These Free Tools Let You See the Earth From Space In Entirely New Ways

If you want to track changes in the Amazon rainforest, see the full expanse of a hurricane, or figure out where people need help after a disaster, it’s much easier to do with the view from a satellite orbiting a few hundred miles above Earth. Traditionally, access to satellite data has been limited to researchers […]

9 Years Ago, Astronomers Found Two Rogue Planets — But They Didn’t Realize It Until Now

Scientists have found what appear to be rogue planets hidden in old survey data. Their results are starting to define the poorly-understood rogue planet population. In the near future, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will conduct a search for more free-floating planets, and the team of researchers will develop some methods that will aid […]

New Study Suggests One Aspect of Space Travel Can Accelerate Aging

Space travel is not normal. Humans did not evolve to spend extended time in microgravity environments without having to use their muscles to stand upright, all while being bathed in cosmic radiation, and it shows in the health of astronauts: Extended stays on the International Space Station leave crew members with less bone and muscle […]

A Controversial Rocket Technology Could Challenge a Basic Law of Physics

One of the most exciting aspects of the current era of space exploration (Space Age 2.0) is how time-honored ideas are finally being realized. Some of the more well-known examples include retrievable and reusable rockets, retrieval at sea, mid-air retrieval, single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) rockets, and kinetic launch systems. In addition, there are also efforts to develop […]

How a NASA Drone Could Find Traces of Life on Saturn’s Weirdest Moon

The highly-anticipated Dragonfly robotic rotorcraft mission to Saturn’s moon Titan is scheduled to launch in 2027. When it arrives in the mid-2030s, it will hover and zoom around in the thick atmosphere of Titan, sampling the air and imaging the landscape. What could be more exciting than that!? Well, actually … there’s more: Dragonfly will […]

Sorry, Star Trek Fans: This Sci-fi Exoplanet Doesn’t Actually Exist

Fans of Star Trek were over the Moon when, in 2018, astronomers with the Dharma Planet Survey (DPS) announced the possible detection of 40 Eridani b, an extrasolar planet in the star system 40 Eridani. Located just 16.3 light-years away, this triple-star system happens to be where the planet Vulcan was located in the popular […]

A Radical Rethink of the Mars Rover Could Be Key to Human Settlement

Planetary exploration, specifically within our own Solar System, has provided a lifetime of scientific knowledge about the many worlds beyond Earth. However, this exploration, thus far, has primarily been limited to orbiters and landers/rovers designed for surface exploration of the celestial bodies they visit. But what if we could explore subsurface environments just as quickly […]

A Leaning Tower of Pisa-Sized Asteroid Will Sweep By Earth in 2046

A newly discovered asteroid called 2023 DW has generated quite a buzz over the past week due to an estimated 1-in-670 chance of impact on Valentine’s Day 2046. But despite a NASA advisory and the resulting scary headlines, there’s no need to put an asteroid doomsday on your day planner for that date. The risk […]

Scientists Have Glimpsed 59 New Exoplanets in Our Backyard

The hunt for habitable extrasolar planets continues! Thanks to dedicated missions like Kepler, TESS, and Hubble, the number of confirmed extrasolar planets has exploded in the past fifteen years (with 5,272 confirmed and counting!). At the same time, next-generation telescopes, spectrometers, and advanced imaging techniques now allow astronomers to study exoplanet atmospheres more closely. In […]