Space

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

More Stories in Space

  1. Planetary Science

    Meet the Milky Way’s puffiest planets

    Two “superpuff” planets orbiting a sunlike star over 1,000 light-years from Earth are as big as Jupiter and as dense as cotton candy.

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  2. Space

    Pluto has landslides

    New Horizons data reveal Pluto’s first six confirmed landslides along steep crater rims.

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  3. Space

    A shoebox-sized satellite could expose hidden nuclear weapons in space

    There’s never been a good method to check for violations of the Outer Space Treaty’s prohibition of nuclear weapons in space.

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  4. Space

    This space telescope is falling. A robotic spacecraft may save it

    A private rocket mission aims to boost NASA’s Swift telescope before its orbit decays, extending its hunt for gamma-ray bursts.

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  5. Planetary Science

    A Mars rover found organic carbon just sitting on a rock

    The organic molecules could come from life or from ordinary chemistry — only samples returned to Earth can settle it.

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  6. Space

    Is NASA falling out of love with Mars?

    Editor in chief Nancy Shute discusses NASA's rocky relationship with Mars exploration.

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  7. Planetary Science

    NASA seems to be backing away from hunting for life on Mars

    Viking 1 kicked off the search for Martian life 50 years ago. Now NASA’s shifting priorities are putting the quest in limbo.

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  8. Space

    Otherworldly music albums feature space weather data

    A science-art team uses research data to make music featuring sounds of Antarctica and outer space

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  9. Space

    NASA declares MAVEN, its Mars atmosphere orbiter, dead

    Over more than a decade at Mars, the orbiter revealed how the solar wind strips away the planet’s atmosphere — and why the world lost its water.

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