Researchers have analyzed samples of the asteroid Ryugu collected by the Japanese Space Agency's Hayabusa2 spacecraft and found uracil, one of the informational units that make up RNA, the molecules that contain the instructions ...
Astrobiology
Mar 21, 2023
2
410
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) was Earth's first attempt at launching a spacecraft to intentionally collide with and deflect an asteroid as a planetary defense technique. On September 26, 2022, the DART spacecraft ...
Astronomy
Mar 1, 2023
4
113
As space missions delve deeper into the outer solar system, the need for more compact, resource-conserving and accurate analytical tools has become increasingly critical—especially as the hunt for extraterrestrial life ...
Astrobiology
Jan 16, 2023
0
317
A group of MPIA astronomers has managed to identify the "poor old heart of the Milky Way"—a population of stars left over from the earliest history of our home galaxy, which resides in our galaxy's core regions.
Astronomy
Dec 20, 2022
0
639
A NASA spacecraft rammed an asteroid at blistering speed Monday in an unprecedented dress rehearsal for the day a killer rock menaces Earth.
Planetary Sciences
Sep 27, 2022
3
82
In 2019, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft sent back images of a geological phenomenon no one had ever seen before: pebbles were flying off the surface of the asteroid Bennu. The asteroid appeared to be shooting off swarms of ...
Astronomy
Aug 11, 2022
0
179
Scientists have grown plants in soil from the Moon, a first in human history and a milestone in lunar and space exploration.
Plants & Animals
May 12, 2022
1
395
A new study using data from NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter may explain why Martian frost can be invisible to the naked eye and why dust avalanches appear on some slopes.
Planetary Sciences
May 5, 2022
0
153
A near-Earth asteroid named Kamo`oalewa could be a fragment of our moon, according to a new paper published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment by a team of astronomers led by the University of Arizona.
Planetary Sciences
Nov 11, 2021
2
310
Scientists thought asteroid Bennu's surface would be like a sandy beach, abundant in fine sand and pebbles, which would have been perfect for collecting samples. Past telescope observations from Earth's orbit had suggested ...
Space Exploration
Oct 6, 2021
1
633
