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NASA testing advanced capabilities for moon, Mars rovers

On a bleak stretch of the Colorado Desert in Southern California, a compact four-wheeled rover recently trundled 16 miles (26 kilometers) with minimal intervention from the team of engineers trailing it. Called ERNEST (Exploration ...

Desert field test with NASA advanced rover prototype

A prototype four-wheel rover developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory with advanced mobility and robotic autonomy capabilities trundled across the Colorado Desert near Plaster City, California, during a field test in ...

Texas wine grapes launch to space for research mission

Researchers from Texas A&M AgriLife are sending hundreds of grape seeds to the International Space Station, where the seeds will spend approximately six months exposed to cosmic radiation before returning to Earth for planting ...

Mars mission simulations reveal key to teamwork under pressure

Whether it's to the moon or Mars, a NASA mission requires some essential preparations: designing and developing the spacecraft, astronaut training and safety checks, clear goals, and strategies and procedures for maintaining ...

Quantum lab aboard space station gets 'chilly' upgrade

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have switched on NASA's newly upgraded Cold Atom Lab, a one-of-a-kind facility designed to improve how scientists explore the fundamental workings of matter and develop new ...

Future Martian colonists will need a new relativistic clock

We think of atomic clocks as the definitive timekeepers. They are famous for being accurate down to the picosecond. Unfortunately, they are still subject to general relativity, so if you put them on a different planet, they ...

The hidden physics complicating interstellar lightsails

If we're to reach another star, chemical propulsion will not get us there in any reasonable time frame. We're going to need a different propulsion technology, and one of the most promising seems to be a solar sail. These ...

SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket minutes ahead of IPO

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket loaded with Starlink satellites Friday less than an hour before Elon Musk's company was set to lift off for what would be the largest IPO in Wall Street history.

SpaceX lifts off in record Wall Street debut

Elon Musk's SpaceX began its first day as a public company on Wall Street on Friday after the biggest initial public offering in history, with the polarizing entrepreneur promising he will take humanity to Mars.

SpaceX IPO set for liftoff in record market debut

Elon Musk's SpaceX was set to begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange Friday, with the biggest initial public offering in history expected to make the polarizing entrepreneur the world's first trillionaire.

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NASA head defends Artemis 3 crew of all men
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Private space tourism is taking off—but laws on outer space are from another era
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ESA officially adopts ARRAKIHS mission: EU leads the exploration of the low surface brightness universe
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Small optical component could change how telescopes view the sun
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Italian astronaut expects home flavors on Artemis III menu
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SpaceX's hold over orbit matches East India Company's grip on maritime trade
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NASA unveils Artemis III astronauts to test technology for a future moon landing
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Italian Luca Parmitano to be first European to join an Artemis mission: NASA
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How Artemis II livestreamed hi-def videos and images from the moon to Earth
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Plants could be used to grow medicines in space, study shows
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Artemis II moon mission research continues on Earth
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NASA's INCUS mission on road to launch, study storms from space
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Lunar orbiter concept could reveal five key elements across moon in two years
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SpaceX denied fast track to S&P 500 after IPO
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Einstein Probe detects mysterious X-ray transient that doesn't fit any known class
Plants & Animals
Local species trends may flag global extinction risk, global study finds
Optics & Photonics
Solid-state material turns visible light into high-energy UV at sunlight intensity, expanding solar energy potential
Cell & Microbiology
Completing DNA replication triggers genomic instability in bacteria
Superconductivity
Broken time-reversal symmetry phase in kagome metals may establish conditions for superconductivity
Planetary Sciences
Titan and Pluto exhibit the same mysterious spectral feature—and researchers can't figure out its origin
Plants & Animals
Newly described Australian ballista spider builds a spring-loaded snare to catch a single ant species
Mathematics
How languages recycle parts of words to avoid confusion
Materials Science
Scientists design a clay that can prevent fruits and vegetables from rotting too quickly
Biochemistry
How oxygen sneaks into a corked wine bottle long before the first pour
Plants & Animals
Marmoset monkeys adapt their voices to sound more like their social partners, study finds
General Physics
Poo emoji, earthworm castings and pasta all obey the same coiling theory, physicists find
Biotechnology
Leaf-based fluorescence test speeds search for plant gene-editing targets
Earth Sciences
California has lost more than half of its coastal sand dunes, first-ever assessment reveals
Ecology
Mosquito-borne viruses avoid killing hosts by limiting protein output, study reveals
Social Sciences
Women negotiate as effectively as men—but leave people happier
Nanophysics
Nanotube-based thermoelectrics open a new pathway to waste-heat energy conversion
Evolution
New findings challenge idea that human bodies simply got bigger and bigger over time in a steady line
Plants & Animals
Seal pups and seabird chicks are suffering in extreme weather. How can we protect them?
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Corrected Pantheon+ analysis of supernovae challenges accelerating universe claim

Mars fungi could make red planet regolith fertile for crops

You're on the fourth human mission to Mars, and you've been tasked with establishing the first self-sustaining food crop on a Martian settlement. You're nervous because you're using a new type of fungi called beneficial fungi, ...

China launches crewed space flight as part of moon ambitions

China launched its crewed Shenzhou-23 spacecraft and eased it into a successful docking with a space station early Monday as part of Beijing's ambitions to send humans to the moon by 2030, state media said.

Study shows how sunspot activity speeds up reentries

It's getting crowded up there. Over the past few years, the advent of SpaceX's Starlink and other players in the mega-satellite constellation game are adding an exponential load of satellites and orbital debris to the low ...

SpaceX to retry Starship test launch Friday

Elon Musk's SpaceX will attempt another launch of its mammoth Starship rocket Friday, after the previous evening's try was called off over technical issues.

Extreme Lunar conditions need an extreme test rig

When people eventually head to the moon for long-term exploration and habitation, they'll need equipment and spacesuits made of well-tested materials. That's where NASA's Lunar Environment Test Rig (LESTR) comes in handy. ...