https://phys.org/space-news/ en-us The latest science news on astronomy, astrobiology, and space exploration from Phys.org. On April 10, Artemis II—humanity's first mission to the moon in more than half a century—will draw to a close when the Orion capsule carrying four crew members detaches from its service module. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-nasa-artemis-ii-mission-rediscovered.html Space Exploration Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:20:05 EDT news694959750 Reading the "Mars Trilogy" by Kim Stanley Robinson brings the benefits and pitfalls of efforts to terraform the red planet into sharp relief. Since the 1970s, when Carl Sagan first suggested the possibility that we could make Mars more Earth-like, that process has been a staple of science fiction. But there's always been a significant amount of humanity that thinks we shouldn't. A new paper posted to the arXiv preprint server by Edwin Kite of the University of Chicago and his co-authors skirts around the ethical and moral questions of whether we should and tries to take a long, hard look at whether we can. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-terraform-mars-scientific-roadmap-lays.html Space Exploration Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:00:03 EDT news694959575 After successfully completing their mission to the moon, the Artemis II crew are about to return to Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-artemis-ii-crew-3000c-reentry.html Space Exploration Thu, 09 Apr 2026 13:00:03 EDT news694950614 The closest planet to our sun, Mercury, experiences extreme temperature variations. Since the planet has no atmosphere to speak of, it is in a constant cycle where one side is extremely hot and the other extremely cold. On the sun-facing side, temperatures reach a scorching 427°C (800°F), enough to melt tin and lead, and the surface is exposed to extremely lethal levels of radiation. On the night side, temperatures plunge to a chilling −173°C (-279.4°F), cold enough to freeze most liquids, including those used in battery manufacturing. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-mercury-rover-explore-planet-terminator.html Space Exploration Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:20:04 EDT news694949342 Twin control rooms at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are actively supporting real-time mission operations in lunar orbit as part of the agency's Artemis II mission, helping ensure astronaut safety and mission success as the crew prepares to return to Earth Friday, April 10. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-twin-nasa-rooms-artemis-safety.html Space Exploration Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:00:07 EDT news694948981 The Paranal solar ESPRESSO Telescope (PoET), installed at the European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) Paranal site in Chile, has made its first observations. The telescope will work with ESO's ESPRESSO instrument to study the sun in detail. Described as a solar telescope for planet hunters, PoET aims to understand how the variation in the light from stars like the sun can mask the presence of planets orbiting them, helping us in our search for worlds outside the solar system. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-solar-telescope-sunspots-exoplanet-weapons.html Astronomy Thu, 09 Apr 2026 10:00:06 EDT news694946419 They took thousands of photographs and documented copious observations on their voyage around the moon, but as they sped closer to home the Artemis astronauts said Wednesday they have barely started processing the extraordinary experience they shared. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-chills-artemis-astronauts-lunar-flyby.html Space Exploration Thu, 09 Apr 2026 06:50:02 EDT news694927993 A week after astronaut Jeremy Hansen blasted off on the historic Artemis II mission to the moon, his wife Catherine recalled the anxiety and thrill of witnessing the journey from afar. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-artemis-crew-families-enthralled-messages.html Space Exploration Thu, 09 Apr 2026 06:10:01 EDT news694927953 Lunar love knows no bounds. Now hurtling home from the moon, the Artemis II astronauts took a poignant page from Apollo 8 earlier this week, proposing deeply personal names for a pair of lunar craters. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-artemis-ii-astronauts-apollo-tradition.html Space Exploration Thu, 09 Apr 2026 05:20:02 EDT news694927931 Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen told Prime Minister Mark Carney on Wednesday that "teamwork is willingness" during an Earth-to-space call celebrating the achievements of the historic lunar journey. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-maple-syrup-nutella-pm-carney.html Space Exploration Thu, 09 Apr 2026 04:29:34 EDT news694927745 After a successful trip around the moon, everything has been going smoothly on the Orion spacecraft's journey back to Earth—except for the $23 million toilet, which has gotten clogged. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-houston-problem-toilet.html Space Exploration Thu, 09 Apr 2026 04:28:32 EDT news694927657 The absence of a signal could itself be a signal. This is the idea behind a new study published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, which aims to redefine how we search for dark matter, showing that it may not be necessary to find the same "clues" everywhere in order to interpret it. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-dark-states.html Astronomy Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:01 EDT news694856041 Fast solar winds originating from the sun can have direct impacts on Earth—disrupting systems like GPS, aviation, electrical grids, and satellite and radio communications. A new paper by New Mexico State University astronomy graduate student Khagendra Katuwal examines the connection between coronal holes and solar wind streams, helping improve our understanding of how the sun's magnetic structure influences space weather. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-student-coronal-holes-space-weather.html Astronomy Wed, 08 Apr 2026 15:00:01 EDT news694870433 During their historic lunar flyby, astronauts on NASA's Artemis II mission witnessed meteorites striking the rugged surface of the moon, a sight that has piqued scientists' curiosity. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-pinprick-artemis-crew-witnesses-meteorite.html Space Exploration Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:00:10 EDT news694860041 Leo is a prominent sight for stargazers in April. Its famous sickle, punctuated by the bright star Regulus, draws many a beginning stargazer's eyes, inviting deeper looks into some of Leo's celestial delights, including a great double star and a famous galactic trio. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-celestial-leo.html Astronomy Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:20:04 EDT news694858621 The Artemis II astronauts were jetting toward Earth and sharing their lunar flyby souvenirs Tuesday, delighting colleagues both at home and in space with captivating tales of their historic journey. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-artemis-crew-flying-home-thrilled.html Space Exploration Wed, 08 Apr 2026 06:00:01 EDT news694840547 The Artemis II astronauts—three Americans and one Canadian—hurtled deeper into space than any other humans during a moon flyby Monday that marks NASA's lunar comeback. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-photos-stunning-views-moon-earth.html Space Exploration Wed, 08 Apr 2026 04:30:01 EDT news694840326 Still aglow from their triumphant lunar flyby, the Artemis II astronauts made more history Tuesday: calling their friends aboard the International Space Station hundreds of thousands of miles away as they headed home from the moon. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-artemis-ii-astronauts-distance-space.html Space Exploration Wed, 08 Apr 2026 04:12:49 EDT news694840292 Lasers could one day steer solar sails and adjust a satellite's position in outer space, thanks to graphene. An experiment on a gravity rollercoaster ride showed how this innovative material has the potential to revolutionize propulsion beyond Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-parabolic-flight-lasers-propel-graphene.html Space Exploration Tue, 07 Apr 2026 15:40:04 EDT news694783083 Supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies are one of the most active fields of research in astronomy. In order to accumulate their enormous masses, they must merge with each other. A research team led by Silke Britzen from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn has found direct evidence of two supermassive black holes in the galaxy Markarian 501, which orbit each other very closely. This could be the first time that a pair has been detected that is about to merge. This provides a unique opportunity to better understand a central process in galaxy evolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-pair-supermassive-black-holes.html Astronomy Tue, 07 Apr 2026 11:40:05 EDT news694773121 The two largest planets in our solar system, Jupiter and Saturn, also have the largest satellite systems, or the most moons. At present, Jupiter's reported moon count stands at more than 100 moons, and along with its many rings, Saturn has more than 280 reported moons. Not all these moons are equal, however. Jupiter's moon family has four large members, including the largest moon in the solar system, Ganymede, while Saturn's family is dominated by one large moon, Titan, the solar system's second largest. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-jupiter-cultivated-large-moons-saturn.html Astronomy Tue, 07 Apr 2026 11:20:04 EDT news694772744 The Artemis II astronauts snapped a stunning shot of Earthset—the moment when Earth dips below the moon's horizon—on their long journey back home Tuesday after wrapping up a historic lunar flyby. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-artemis-ii-earthset-shot-revisits.html Space Exploration Tue, 07 Apr 2026 10:01:59 EDT news694774882 By analyzing the data from the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey (PandAS), European astronomers have discovered a new satellite of the Andromeda galaxy. The newfound object, which received the designation Andromeda XXXVI, appears to be an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy. The finding is reported in a paper published March 30 on the arXiv preprint server . https://phys.org/news/2026-04-astronomers-andromeda-xxxvi-ultra-faint.html Astronomy Tue, 07 Apr 2026 08:10:01 EDT news694706609 Water likely accumulated on the moon slowly over billions of years, rather than during one big event, according to a new study by an international team of scientists. The researchers, including Paul Hayne, a planetary scientist at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder, have published their findings in Nature Astronomy. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-moon-narrows.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 07 Apr 2026 05:00:03 EDT news694708202 The four astronauts carrying out NASA's first lunar flyby in more than half-a-century were sending back detailed observations of the moon after traveling farther from Earth than any human before. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-artemis-astronauts-survey-lunar-surface.html Space Exploration Tue, 07 Apr 2026 04:50:01 EDT news694753639 The Artemis II astronauts wrapped up their lunar flyby as they continue their journey back to Earth on Tuesday, bringing with them rich celestial observations including little-known lunar craters, a solar eclipse and meteor strikes that scientists hope will open doors. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-milestone-rich-lunar-flyby-astronauts.html Space Exploration Tue, 07 Apr 2026 04:40:01 EDT news694753741 Artemis astronauts at the outer edge of human space travel had an emotional moment Monday as they proposed to name a crater in honor of the deceased wife of mission commander Reid Wiseman. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-lunar-crater-artemis-deceased-wife.html Space Exploration Tue, 07 Apr 2026 04:20:01 EDT news694753502 The four Artemis astronauts on a lunar flyby are now unreachable by NASA scientists on Earth, an expected communications blackout anticipated to last some 40 minutes as their spacecraft passes behind the moon. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-artemis-astronauts-moon-communications.html Space Exploration Tue, 07 Apr 2026 04:07:50 EDT news694753613 Canadian astronaut Jenni Gibbons was at the heart of NASA's control room in Houston on Monday, supporting her Artemis II crewmates remotely during their flight around the moon. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-laughter-historic-day-astronaut-jenni.html Space Exploration Tue, 07 Apr 2026 04:03:16 EDT news694753317 The theory of panspermia holds that life is spread through the cosmos via asteroids, comets, and other objects. When the building blocks of life emerge on one planet, impacts can eject surface material into space, which then carries these seeds to other worlds. For decades, scientists have debated whether this could have occurred between Earth and Mars (in both directions). However, the recent controversy over the possible existence of microbial life in Venus's dense clouds has sparked discussions of interplanetary transfers between Venus, Earth, and Mars. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-life-venus-atmosphere-earth.html Astrobiology Mon, 06 Apr 2026 18:30:02 EDT news694687754