Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- 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.
- Space
Pluto has landslides
New Horizons data reveal Pluto’s first six confirmed landslides along steep crater rims.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Space
Is NASA falling out of love with Mars?
Editor in chief Nancy Shute discusses NASA's rocky relationship with Mars exploration.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- Astronomy
Even quiet black holes create winds, new Milky Way observations reveal
New observations suggest the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s core is blowing gas away from the central behemoth.
- Planetary Science
Europa may not vent water into space after all
The debate could reopen in 2030 when NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft gets the closest view of the icy moon’s surface.
- Space
Solar flares may show predictable warning signs hours before erupting
Scientists spotted patterns hours before a major solar flare, a discovery that could help forecast dangerous eruptions.
