https://phys.org/space-news/space-exploration/ en-us Space exploration news and updates. Space missions and science news. Planet exploration and more. Scientists have discovered a crater on the moon that's bigger than the Roman Colosseum and is the result of a powerful impact two years ago that initially went undetected. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-nasa-spacecraft-huge-crater-moon.html Space Exploration Thu, 17 Sep 2026 04:12:32 EDT news708837122 SpaceX announced Tuesday that it was planning to send its flagship rocket, Starship, into orbit, a key step in its project to one day reach the moon or Mars. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-spacex-orbital-flight-starship-rocket.html Space Exploration Wed, 16 Sep 2026 04:17:52 EDT news708751044 Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have developed a way to unravel changing weather patterns on distant worlds. Using this approach, they discovered that the weather on a well-studied brown dwarf, SIMP 0136, previously linked to northern lights-like phenomena, is largely shaped by just two dominant processes: changes in temperature and the vertical structure of its clouds. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-world-years-reveals-jupiter-weather.html Space Exploration Wed, 16 Sep 2026 03:00:01 EDT news708599341 The discovery of water in dark craters at the moon's poles has sparked a "moon rush" to establish bases there, followed by villages, cities and heavy industry. How sustainable is this rush? https://phys.org/news/2026-09-cities-moon-isnt-scientists.html Space Exploration Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:02 EDT news708349073 Mars is a terrible place to build a house. It's bitterly cold, blasted by radiation and a near vacuum. Not to mention that the building materials, even for a modest shelter, could spend months hurtling through space before construction begins. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-scientists-3d-houses-mars-yeast.html Space Exploration Thu, 10 Sep 2026 11:00:01 EDT news708089999 As NASA prepares to send humans to Mars as early as the 2030s, University of Mississippi researchers are working on one of the key questions: How will they get back? https://phys.org/news/2026-09-martian-air-yield-methane-rocket.html Space Exploration Tue, 08 Sep 2026 15:20:01 EDT news708092281 There are nearly 1 million pieces of debris larger than 1 centimeter (0.4 inch) in near-Earth orbit. As we continue launching spacecraft and telescopes to explore the universe, this debris poses a significant threat of high-speed impact damage. In the Journal of Applied Physics researchers from Dalian University of Technology in China explored an eggshell-inspired design as a potential spacecraft protection material. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-eggshells-aluminum-material-significant-space.html Space Exploration Tue, 08 Sep 2026 11:00:06 EDT news707991301 A private spacecraft that was supposed to provide a lifeline to NASA's Swift Observatory managed to get close to the sinking telescope and even snap photos two weeks after the rescue was abandoned. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-satellite-nasa-doomed-telescope.html Space Exploration Fri, 04 Sep 2026 10:52:33 EDT news707737920 When Blue Origin's New Glenn launch vehicle accidentally exploded during a static test fire in May 2026, the explosion generated low frequency soundwaves below the range of human hearing. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-blue-explosion-infrasound.html Space Exploration Wed, 02 Sep 2026 07:40:03 EDT news707543821 The moon's getting its first airport, and it's about to get busy. Within the next two decades, NASA's planned Gateway—humanity's first lunar spaceport—may become a bustling hub for Orion crew capsules, lunar landers, cargo vehicles and astronauts traveling between Earth, the moon and, eventually, destinations in the deep unknown. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-boarding-miles-earth-moon-airport.html Space Exploration Tue, 25 Aug 2026 09:20:03 EDT news706867861 Washington State University researchers used artificial intelligence to find a more efficient, less expensive way to 3D-print a high-performance metal alloy, saving researchers from needing to painstakingly test more than 100 million options. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-ways-rocket-grade-alloy.html Space Exploration Mon, 24 Aug 2026 17:30:04 EDT news706805546 Now it's the moon's turn to pull a disappearing act. After being shut out of this month's total solar eclipse, the Americas will have the best seats in the celestial house when Earth's shadow briefly envelops the moon. Almost the entire lunar surface will be masked Thursday night into Friday—a whopping 96%—making this an especially deep partial eclipse. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-total-lunar-eclipse-americas-prime.html Space Exploration Sat, 22 Aug 2026 10:38:34 EDT news706613876 During a coronal mass ejection (CME), the sun hurls billions of tons of magnetized plasma into space. These eruptions are among the most powerful events in the solar system, and when they are aimed toward Earth, they can seriously threaten the satellites and power grids we depend on. For now, it remains notoriously difficult to predict how these eruptions evolve over time—and, in turn, whether they might be heading toward us. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-interplanetary-spacecraft-capture-coronal-mass.html Space Exploration Fri, 21 Aug 2026 08:50:42 EDT news706521006 The mission to save NASA's sinking Swift Observatory was called off Wednesday, dooming the telescope to a fiery reentry later this year. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mission-nasa-aging-swift-space.html Space Exploration Thu, 20 Aug 2026 04:17:08 EDT news706418201 Between Aug. 11–12, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured a series of images of a new crater on the moon. The crater formed Aug. 5, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage impacted the surface following its Jan. 2025 launch of the Firefly Blue Ghost 1 mission. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-nasa-lro-images-falcon-crater.html Space Exploration Tue, 18 Aug 2026 17:50:01 EDT news706289341 Using unique equipment installed on NASA's WB-57 aircraft flying above heavy clouds off the coast of Iceland, a Southwest Research Institute-led team successfully observed a total solar eclipse on Wednesday. The high-altitude jet followed the moon's shadow at 50,000 feet (15,000 meters) to take measurements of the solar corona in nine different wavelengths, ranging from visible to infrared light. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-airborne-observatory-views-solar-corona.html Space Exploration Fri, 14 Aug 2026 18:40:03 EDT news705938400 For astronauts in space, constipation is a well-known problem. But why this happens has long been unclear. Now, a new study from the University of Copenhagen in collaboration with NASA provides an idea of what happens in the stomach without the influence of gravity. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-constipation-common-astronauts-blood.html Space Exploration Fri, 14 Aug 2026 15:20:03 EDT news705932401 A tiny UK-developed satellite, roughly the size of a small carry-on suitcase, could help answer one of the biggest questions in cosmology: What happened during the roughly 150 million years of the cosmic dark ages, before the universe's first stars appeared? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-tiny-satellite-dark-side-moon.html Astronomy Fri, 14 Aug 2026 11:00:01 EDT news705749643 It's common to see images of astronauts on the International Space Station exercising, running on special treadmills and pedaling cycles designed for tight quarters. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-space-doesnt-affect-strength-heart.html Space Exploration Wed, 12 Aug 2026 18:20:03 EDT news705759301 To date, close to 30,000 satellites have been launched into Earth's orbit, leading to mounting concerns over the debris created when they collide. In a new analysis posted to the preprint server arXiv, Hugh Lewis of the University of Birmingham shows that satellite constellations can grow so large that they cross a critical size beyond which they generate unstable, runaway amounts of debris. The findings point to an urgent need for tougher rules on which satellites are allowed into orbit in the first place. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-satellite-constellations-spiraling-space-debris.html Space Exploration Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:00:08 EDT news705747610 A new study suggests a protective vest tested on a manikin during NASA's first Artemis moonshot could drastically cut the radiation exposure of lunar astronauts during severe solar storms. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-vest-nasa-moonshot-astronauts-exposure.html Space Exploration Wed, 12 Aug 2026 14:35:26 EDT news705764085 An international team of astronomers led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics has identified three actively accreting supermassive black holes in the galaxy J0148-4214. Matter is falling into the black holes from accretion disks surrounding them. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-supermassive-black-holes-galaxy.html Astronomy Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:40:14 EDT news705743283 In extreme environments, habitats are built for survival. Submarines, Antarctic bases and post-disaster dwellings are designed to prioritize health and safety. This is especially the case for habitats in space, where room is limited, contact with Earth is remote and hazards are numerous. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-space-habitat-residents-mental-health.html Space Exploration Wed, 12 Aug 2026 05:00:04 EDT news705673502 Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers has discovered that dust and water can form and survive surprisingly close to the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The observations reveal that the evolved star IRS 3 continues to enrich its surroundings with newly formed material despite the intense radiation environment around Sagittarius A*. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-webb-reveals-oxygen-rich-surviving.html Astronomy Tue, 11 Aug 2026 13:00:02 EDT news705665284 The Perseid summer light show is back—and viewing conditions are especially promising for the Northern Hemisphere. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-perseid-meteor-shower-summer-dazzle.html Space Exploration Sun, 09 Aug 2026 14:52:39 EDT news705505929 From reaching for a cup of coffee to tying your shoelaces, gravity shapes nearly all human movement. So how do our bodies react when that familiar force begins to change? Texas A&M University researchers are exploring the answer through a multiphase project supported by NASA. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-gravity-people-simpler-movement-patterns.html Space Exploration Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:20:01 EDT news705377293 In March 2026, the Einstein Probe detected a brief flash of soft X-rays emitted from a galaxy about 500 million light-years away. The flash, dubbed EP260321a, immediately triggered a worldwide observing campaign. Within an hour, ground-based telescopes began monitoring the source, revealing a rapidly brightening supernova, later designated SN 2026gzf. Two teams of scientists used several NSF NOIRLab facilities to observe the event and monitor its evolving light profile. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-astronomers-massive-star-death-explosive.html Astronomy Wed, 05 Aug 2026 11:40:01 EDT news705057700 For the first time in more than a century, a total solar eclipse is coming to mainland Spain with an even longer encore next summer. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-august-total-solar-eclipse-spain.html Space Exploration Mon, 03 Aug 2026 03:12:40 EDT news704945507 Finding water on the moon may only be a matter of detecting the right vibrations. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-moonquakes-reveal-ice-beneath-lunar.html Space Exploration Fri, 31 Jul 2026 17:40:03 EDT news704731117 When astronauts travel deeper into space, every drop of fuel becomes critical, and keeping those fuels stable for months or even years is one of the biggest engineering challenges facing future missions. Now, University of Florida researchers have uncovered a surprising behavior in boiling liquids that could help solve that challenge. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-behavior-liquids-advance-future-space.html Space Exploration Fri, 31 Jul 2026 10:40:01 EDT news704710081