https://phys.org/space-news/space-exploration en-us Space exploration news and updates. Space missions and science news. Planet exploration and more. After days of silence, NASA has heard from Voyager 2 in interstellar space billions of miles away. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-nasa-voyager-spacecraft-mistakenly-contact.html Space Exploration Tue, 01 Aug 2023 13:16:58 EDT news610114613 Euclid's two instruments have captured their first test images. The mesmerizing results indicate that the space telescope will achieve the scientific goals that it has been designed for—and possibly much more. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-euclid-images-riches.html Astronomy Space Exploration Mon, 31 Jul 2023 13:25:14 EDT news610028708 The cosmos is offering up a double feature in August: a pair of supermoons culminating in a rare blue moon. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-supermoons-august-stargazing-fun.html Space Exploration Sat, 29 Jul 2023 12:13:57 EDT news609851632 The spinning, solar-powered spacecraft will take another look of the fiery Jovian moon on July 30. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-nasa-juno-closer-jupiter-moon.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Wed, 26 Jul 2023 16:42:06 EDT news609608522 NASA and the US military said Wednesday they had selected defense contractor Lockheed Martin to develop a nuclear powered rocket, with a view to using the technology for missions to Mars. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-nasa-lockheed-martin-nuclear-rocket.html Space Exploration Wed, 26 Jul 2023 16:04:14 EDT news609606246 Kamilla Cziráki, a geophysics student at the Faculty of Science of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), has taken a new approach to researching the navigation systems that can be used on the surface of the moon to plan future journeys. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-year-old-mathematical-lunar.html Astronomy Space Exploration Tue, 25 Jul 2023 16:34:03 EDT news609521642 As a new space race heats up, two researchers from the Kansas Geological Survey at the University of Kansas and their colleagues have proposed a new scientific subfield: planetary geoarchaeology, the study of how cultural and natural processes on Earth's moon, on Mars and across the solar system may be altering, preserving or destroying the material record of space exploration. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-space-scientists-geoarchaeology-aid-heritage.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Fri, 21 Jul 2023 12:58:21 EDT news609163097 Water is essential for life, but for astrophysicists, it represents something more. Researchers look at water in galaxies, its distribution and in particular its changes of state from ice to vapor, as important markers indicating areas of increased energy, in which black holes and stars are formed. In essence, where there is water vapor, something important is going on. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-galaxy-j1135-reveals.html Astronomy Space Exploration Thu, 20 Jul 2023 13:20:04 EDT news609078001 New research by scientists from NASA and Japan's Osaka University suggests that rogue planets—worlds that drift through space untethered to a star—far outnumber planets that orbit stars. The results imply that NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, set to launch by May 2027, could find a staggering 400 Earth-mass rogue worlds. Indeed, this new study has already identified one such candidate. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-reveals-nasa-roman-earth-mass-rogue.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Wed, 19 Jul 2023 12:58:27 EDT news608990142 BepiColombo, the joint European Space Agency (ESA) and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission, has revealed how electrons raining down onto the surface of Mercury can trigger high-energy auroras. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-bepicolombo-flyby-mercury-electron-triggers.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Tue, 18 Jul 2023 12:09:02 EDT news608900941 A large international team of space scientists and geochemists has found preserved presolar silicate grains in surface samples collected from the Ryugu asteroid by the Japanese space probe Hayabusa2 in 2018 and 2019 and returned to Earth in 2020. In their study, reported in the journal Science Advances, the group found two clasts (unique and identifiable fragments of rock) in Ryugu samples. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-presolar-silicate-grains-ryugu-samples.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Mon, 17 Jul 2023 12:00:53 EDT news608814045 In an experimental study published in PNAS Nexus, researchers explore the visible impact flash that is created by high-velocity impacts. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-decoding-impact-high-velocity-impacts.html Space Exploration Thu, 13 Jul 2023 10:46:56 EDT news608464010 A solar storm forecast for Thursday is expected to give skygazers in 17 American states a chance to glimpse the Northern Lights, the colorful sky show that happens when solar wind hits the atmosphere. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-solar-storm-thursday-northern-visible.html Space Exploration Sun, 09 Jul 2023 07:44:35 EDT news608107472 Europe's Euclid space telescope blasted off Saturday, kicking off a first-ever mission to shed light on two of the universe's greatest mysteries: dark energy and dark matter. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-europe-space-telescope-universe-dark-1.html Astronomy Space Exploration Sat, 01 Jul 2023 12:54:52 EDT news607434881 The Rosetta orbiter spectrometer for ion and neutral analysis (ROSINA) instrument orbited comet 67P to revolutionize our understanding of cometary material composition. A key finding of the satellite was to explore the composition of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In a new report published in Science Advances, Ahmed Mahjoub and a team of planetary scientists in the Jet Propulsion Lab at CalTech, the Space Science Institute Colorado, and the University of Bern in Switzerland, used the ROSINA data to study dust particles volatilized during a dust event in September 2016. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-complex-organosulfur-molecules-comet-67p.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Fri, 30 Jun 2023 09:20:01 EDT news607334795 A team of Italian researchers reached the edge of space Thursday morning, flying aboard a rocket-powered plane piloted by Virgin Galactic as the space tourism company prepares for monthly commercial flights. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-italian-edge-space-flying-aboard.html Space Exploration Thu, 29 Jun 2023 13:14:23 EDT news607263261 Although technically challenging, space experiments are a scientifically important aspect of astrobiology and astrochemistry investigations. The international space station (ISS) offers an excellent example of a long-term research platform orbiting the Earth, with highly successful advances to implement experiments in space, which has contributed to a wealth of scientific data in the past few decades. Future space platforms present additional opportunities for experiments in astrobiology and astrochemistry. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-future-space-platforms-astrobiology-astrochemistry.html Space Exploration Astrobiology Thu, 29 Jun 2023 09:43:10 EDT news607250585 Europe's Euclid space telescope is scheduled to blast off Saturday on the first-ever mission aiming to shed light on two of the universe's greatest mysteries: dark energy and dark matter. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-europe-space-telescope-universe-dark.html Space Exploration Thu, 29 Jun 2023 05:18:02 EDT news607234596 The European Space Agency said on Wednesday its space telescope Euclid is scheduled to launch on July 1, blasting off on a mission to shed light on the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-europe-euclid-space-telescope-july.html Astronomy Space Exploration Wed, 21 Jun 2023 13:12:46 EDT news606571957 In a new report now published in npj Microgravity, Zachary Estlack and a research team in mechanical engineering and space sciences at the University of Utah and the University of California, Berkeley, developed a microfluidic organic analyzer to detect life signatures beyond Earth and to clinically monitor astronaut health. The team performed extensive environmental tests across diverse gravitational atmospheres to confirm the functionality of the analyzer and its level of technology readiness. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-microfluidics-space-extraterrestrial-life-signatures.html Space Exploration Astrobiology Thu, 15 Jun 2023 11:30:01 EDT news606040770 A newly designed foldable phased-array transmitter can help make satellites lightweight, smaller, and cost-efficient to launch, report scientists at Tokyo Tech. The transmitter is made of stacked layers of liquid crystal polymer and incorporates flexible creases, which provide flexibility and deployability. The new design could make research and implementation of space technologies more accessible to private companies and startups. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-foldable-phased-array-transmitters-lightweight-smaller.html Space Exploration Wed, 14 Jun 2023 11:10:29 EDT news605959815 Martian maps are full of monikers recognizing places on Earth, explorers, and even cartoon characters. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-nasa-mars.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Thu, 08 Jun 2023 16:44:41 EDT news605461477 As we enter a new era in space travel, a study looking at how the human brain reacts to traveling outside Earth's gravity suggests frequent flyers should wait three years after longer missions to allow the physiological changes in their brains to reset. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-frequent-lengthy-space-toll-astronauts.html Space Exploration Thu, 08 Jun 2023 11:00:20 EDT news605429576 Life on Earth owes its existence to photosynthesis—a process which is 2.3 billion years old. This immensely fascinating (and still not fully understood) reaction enables plants and other organisms to harvest sunlight, water and carbon dioxide while converting them into oxygen and energy in the form of sugar. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-space-colonies-artificial-photosynthesis-key.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Wed, 07 Jun 2023 13:41:13 EDT news605364069 NASA's Parker Solar Probe (PSP) has flown close enough to the sun to detect the fine structure of the solar wind close to where it is generated at the sun's surface, revealing details that are lost as the wind exits the corona as a uniform blast of charged particles. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-parker-solar-probe-flies-fast.html Astronomy Space Exploration Wed, 07 Jun 2023 11:00:12 EDT news605346472 The food we eat determines how we feel, and nothing beats a good fry-up, although in moderation of course. As we prepare for missions to the moon and on to Mars, astronauts will be happy to hear from researchers that one staple comfort food is not out of reach, even in space: fries. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-frying-food-space.html Space Exploration Mon, 05 Jun 2023 13:31:16 EDT news605190671 A European spacecraft around Mars sent its first livestream from the red planet to Earth on Friday to mark the 20th anniversary of its launch, but rain in Spain interfered at times. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-first-of-its-kind-mars-livestream-esa-spacecraft.html Space Exploration Fri, 02 Jun 2023 15:06:07 EDT news604937158 A study conducted by group of scientists from Nagoya City University (NCU), Japan Space Forum (JSF), Advance Engineering Services (AES), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and ANSTO has revealed a clustering of charged particles in the microgravity environment of International Space Station (ISS), with implications for the development of photonic materials, improved drugs, and a range of new and innovative materials that depend on the mixing of two or more charged particles. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-reveals-basic-physical-property-particles.html Space Exploration Fri, 02 Jun 2023 10:01:08 EDT news604918865 NASA held its first public meeting on UFOs on Wednesday a year after launching a study into unexplained sightings and insisted it's not hiding anything. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-nasa-ufos-unidentified-flying.html Space Exploration Wed, 31 May 2023 12:28:25 EDT news604754902 China launched a new three-person crew for its orbiting space station on Tuesday, with an eye to putting astronauts on the moon before the end of the decade. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-china-crew-space-station-eye.html Space Exploration Tue, 30 May 2023 04:03:42 EDT news604638214