Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 07, 2026
Thanks to the discovery of thousands of exoplanets to date, we know that planets bigger than Earth but smaller than Neptune orbit most stars. Oddly, our sun lacks such a planet. That's been a source of frustration for planetary scientists, who can't study them in as much detail as they'd like, leaving one big question: How did these planets form? h3>Now we know the answer /h3> An interna

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 08, 2026
Carnegie researcher Luke Bouma is using a naturally occurring plasma structure around certain young M dwarf stars as a kind of space weather station to investigate how stellar particles shape planetary environments and potential habitability. M dwarfs are smaller, cooler and dimmer than the Sun and commonly host at least one Earth-sized rocky planet, many of which are either too hot for liquid w

Washington DC (SPX) Jan 08, 2026
As part of the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory First Look event in June 2025, Rubin announced that it had observed thousands of asteroids cruising about our Solar System, about 1900 of which have been confirmed as never-before-seen. Within the flurry, a team of astronomers has discovered 19 super- and ultra-fast-rotating asteroids. One of these is the fastest-spinning asteroid larger than 500

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jan 08, 2026
Martian winds lift sand grains into the air and drive them across the surface, where they erode soft sedimentary layers and gradually carve elongated grooves and ridges near the planet's equator. The remaining ridges, mounds, or columns, known as yardangs, stand above the surrounding terrain and often extend for tens of kilometres in the direction of the prevailing winds. In northern Eumen

Washington DC (SPX) Jan 08, 2026
Over half of the exhaust methane from lunar spacecraft could end up contaminating areas of the moon that might otherwise yield clues about the origins of earthly life, according to a recent study. The pollution could unfold rapidly regardless of a spacecraft's touchdown site; even for a landing at the South Pole, methane molecules may "hop" across the lunar surface to the North Pole in under two

Washington DC (SPX) Jan 07, 2026
NASA's twin ESCAPADE spacecraft are back on a fully synchronized path to Mars after mission controllers successfully carried out a critical trajectory correction maneuver for the second probe on Jan. 6. The burn followed a brief pause in December 2025, when engineers delayed the attempt to investigate low thrust seen during earlier correction efforts on one of the two small satellites. The

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 07, 2026
Aegis Aerospace Inc. has entered into a partnership with United Semiconductors LLC to develop semiconductor manufacturing capabilities in low Earth orbit as part of a new advanced materials production platform. The collaboration follows a recent grant agreement between Aegis Aerospace and the Texas Space Commission to design and operate an in-space manufacturing system for advanced materials in

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 07, 2026
A Georgia State University astronomy graduate student has led a new survey of nearby K-type stars to identify targets where Earth-like planets could provide conditions suitable for life. Sebastian Carrazco-Gaxiola presented the results at the January 2026 meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Phoenix, Arizona. The project delivers the first comprehensive spectroscopic census of t

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 07, 2026
NASA has chosen a set of industry proposals to advance technologies for its Habitable Worlds Observatory concept, a planned flagship space telescope intended to directly image Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars and analyze their atmospheres for potential signs of life. The observatory is also expected to support a broad astrophysics program and contribute to planning for future human