Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 13, 2026
For decades scientists have puzzled over why the moons two hemispheres look so different despite sharing a common origin in the early solar system. The near side that always faces Earth is dominated by dark flat volcanic plains called maria that create the familiar man in the moon pattern seen with the naked eye. In contrast the far side has a much thicker crust and appears as a rugged hea

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jan 13, 2026
Using high resolution images from several Mars orbiters, an international team led by the University of Bern has identified a system of fan deltas in southeast Coprates Chasma that record the highest stand of an ancient ocean in Mars Valles Marineris. The geomorphologic structures, preserved today as scarp fronted deposits near the lower end of the canyon system, closely resemble classic river d

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 13, 2026
What astronomers know about the birth of a black hole has long mirrored the objects themselves, tending to be dark, difficult to observe, and seemingly quiet despite their immense gravitational influence. Stellar mass black holes form in the final gravitational collapse of massive stars with several tens of the mass of the Sun, and these heavyweights were thought not to produce bright supernova

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jan 13, 2026
Temperatures of several thousand degrees Celsius and pressures of millions of atmospheres drive water into a superionic state in which hydrogen ions move freely through a solid lattice of oxygen atoms. In this exotic phase, which forms only under extreme conditions, water behaves like a hybrid of solid and liquid and shows very high electrical conductivity. Because this phase can efficient

Irvine, United States (SPX) Jan 08, 2026
University of California Irvine astronomers have reported the discovery of the largest known stream of super heated gas in the universe flowing out of a nearby spiral galaxy called VV 340a. The team describes the finding, made with data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and other facilities, in the journal Science under the identifier 10.1126/science.adp8989. The observations show sup

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 13, 2026
China has submitted plans for more than 200,000 satellites to the International Telecommunication Union, underscoring a drive to secure orbital positions and radio spectrum as global competition for low Earth orbit intensifies. The applications on the ITU website cover more than a dozen planned satellite constellations, with individual networks ranging from a few dozen spacecraft to systems appr

Behind the rhetoric about competition and innovation, not everyone is convinced SDA’s approach is a win-win

Michigan-based supplier cites rising government and commercial demand amid tight smallsat supply chain

Lunar night survival becomes an imperative “Surviving the lunar night has crossed a critical threshold: what was once a ‘nice-to-have’ is now the imperative for any serious lunar mission.