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

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 07, 2026
China's geospatial information sector, a key component of digital mapping and positioning, is approaching a scale of 1 trillion yuan, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources. The industry is expected to have exceeded 900 billion yuan in output for 2025, representing growth of more than 30 percent compared with 2020, and it employs more than 4 million people. At the core of the

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 07, 2026
Our galaxy's supermassive black hole is among the faintest known, yet new observations indicate it was far more active in the recent past on cosmic timescales. Sagittarius A*, at the Milky Way's center, appears to have produced a powerful X ray flare within the last few hundred to 1,000 years, leaving an observable imprint in surrounding gas. Michigan State University researcher Stephen Di

St. Louis MO (SPX) Jan 06, 2026
The giant planet Jupiter has nearly 100 known moons, yet none have captured the interest and imagination of astronomers and space scientists quite like Europa, an ice-shrouded world that is thought to possess a vast ocean of liquid salt water. For decades, scientists have wondered whether that ocean could harbor the right conditions for life, placing Europa near the top of the list of solar syst