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Wait, What? NASA Found Signs of Ancient Alien Life on Mars

NASA released a significant update from the Perseverance Mars rover on Sept. 10, focusing on a particularly juicy tidbit for those watching from home: A small rock sample called Sapphire Canyon showed signs of potential biosignatures, or ancient alien life that may have once grown on Mars. That's possible because of the unique location where Perseverance located the sample in July 2024. It came from a rock named Cheyava Falls. This particular rock is in Jezero Crater, home to an ancient dry riv

A record supply load won’t reach the International Space Station as scheduled

A problem with the main engine on Northrop Grumman's Cygnus XL spacecraft will keep it from delivering 11,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station as scheduled on Wednesday. In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, NASA said ground teams are evaluating backup plans that might still allow the Cygnus spacecraft to reach the space station, just not on schedule. The problem arose early Tuesday when the spacecraft's main engine shut down earlier than expected durin

NASA closing its original repository for Columbia artifacts to tours

NASA is changing the way that its employees come in contact with, and remember, one of its worst tragedies. In the wake of the 2003 loss of the space shuttle Columbia and its STS-107 crew, NASA created a program to use the orbiter's debris for research and education at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Agency employees were invited to see what remained of the space shuttle as a powerful reminder as to why they had to be diligent in their work. Access to the Columbia Research and Preservation Off

Astrophysics Source Code Library

[submitted] adstex automatically identifies all citation keys in a TeX source file and builds the corresponding bibliography file (.bib file) by fetching the reference information from NASA's Astrophysics Data System (ADS). adstex recognizes all variants of the cite commands in TeX, and works with various styles of citation keys, including arXiv IDs, DOIs, and ADS bibcodes. When a citation key is in the format of first-author name and year, adstex will query NASA's ADS and return a list of poss

NASA found intriguing rocks on Mars, so where does that leave Mars Sample Return?

NASA's interim administrator Sean Duffy was fired up on Wednesday when he joined a teleconference to talk about new scientific findings that concerned the potential for life to have once existed on Mars. "This is exciting news," said Duffy about an arrow-shaped rock on Mars found by NASA's Perseverance rover. The rock contained chemical signatures and structures that could have been formed by ancient microbial life. The findings were intriguing, but not conclusive. Further study of the rocks in

NASA found clues of life on Mars, but budget cuts threaten future missions

An exciting discovery on Mars is being overshadowed by turmoil at NASA, with budget cuts threatening to destroy a scientific legacy that has been built over decades. Yesterday, the agency shared a finding, published in Nature, of potential biosignatures identified by the Mars Perseverance rover in a 3.5 billion-year-old rock. “This very well could be the clearest sign of life that we’ve ever found on Mars,” said Transportation Secretary and Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy in a press confe

House Bill Could Rescue Some of NASA’s Most Important Space Projects

The U.S. House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday expressed support for several NASA missions that currently sit on the chopping block as a result of the administration’s 2026 budget proposal. While the committee did not specifically allocate more money to these missions, the support breathes new life into planetary science efforts that have been years in the making. The House committee met to discuss the commerce, justice, and science budget bill, which allocates funding to federal agencies

NASA Found Signs of Ancient Alien Life on Mars. Here's How Excited You Should Be

NASA released a significant update from the Perseverance Mars rover on Wednesday, focusing on a particularly juicy tidbit for those watching from home: A small rock sample called Sapphire Canyon showed signs of potential biosignatures, or ancient alien life that may have once grown on Mars. That's possible because of the unique location where Perseverance located the sample in July 2024. It came from a rock named Cheyava Falls. This particular rock is in Jezero Crater, home to an ancient dry ri

NASA Says Its Mars Rover Has Detected Possible Signs of Life on the Red Planet

NASA has announced that its Perseverance Mars rover spotted "potential biosignatures" in an ancient dry riverbed last year. Samples collected from a rock dubbed "Cheyava Falls" contain a structure that hints at the possibility of having a biological origin, according to the space agency, but more research needs to be completed to draw any conclusions about the presence of life on the Red Planet. "The identification of a potential biosignature on the Red Planet is a groundbreaking discovery, an

After early struggles, NASA’s ambitious mission to Titan is “on track” for launch

A new independent report finds that although NASA's ambitious mission to fly across the surface of Titan is delayed and over budget, the fault is due to the space agency's management rather than the program itself. Released Tuesday by NASA's Office of Inspector General, the report found that the mission's budget has soared from an initial figure of $850 million upon its selection in 2019 to $3.35 billion today. Additionally, the launch target has slipped from the year 2026 to 2028. However, th

NASA to Make Major Announcement About Martian Rock Sample on Wednesday. Here’s How to Watch

In July 2024, NASA’s Perseverance rover extracted a rock core from the edge of Neretva Vallis, a river valley cut into the Martian surface by water rushing into the Jezero Crater billions of years ago. This mysterious rock caught the attention of scientists on Earth, as its features may reveal clues about possible ancient life on the Red Planet. At 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday, September 10, NASA will host a press conference to discuss the analysis of the sample, dubbed “Sapphire Canyon,” and the su

CPR in space could be made easier by chest compression machines

Performing CPR on a space station in microgravity involves doing a handstand on a person's chest and pushing against the walls with your legs – but now researchers say there is a better way Researchers test a chest compression machine on a dummy in an aeroplane CNES Microgravity makes it tricky to do simple tasks like eating, using the toilet and showering, so it is no wonder that performing CPR on someone whose heart stops beating in space is an extremely demanding procedure. But a mechanical

Congress and Trump may compromise on the SLS rocket by axing its costly upper stage

There are myriad questions about how NASA's budget process will play out in the coming weeks, with the start of the new fiscal year on October 1 looming. For example, the Trump administration may seek to shut off dozens of science missions that are either already in space or in development. Although Congress has signaled a desire to keep these missions active, absent a confirmed budget, the White House has made plans to turn off the lights. Some answers may be forthcoming this week, as the Hou

Four Telescopes Confirm There's Something Deeply Strange About the Mysterious Object Headed Into the Solar System

By definition, scientists don't know what to expect as they inspect the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, since it's only the third object detected from beyond the solar system in human history. But the surprises just keep coming. The mysterious entity, which was first spotted hurtling towards the Sun from far beyond in early July, has fascinated researchers ever since. As Science Alert points out, a quartet of powerful telescopes — NASA's Hubble, SPHEREx, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TES

Topics: 3i comet mars nasa object

NASA’s acting chief “angry” about talk that China will beat US back to the Moon

NASA's interim administrator, Sean Duffy, said Thursday he has heard the recent talk about how some people are starting to believe that China will land humans on the Moon before NASA can return there with the Artemis Program. "We had testimony that said NASA will not beat China to the Moon," Duffy remarked during an all-hands meeting with NASA employees. "That was shade thrown on all of NASA. I heard it, and I gotta tell you what, maybe I am competitive, I was angry about it. I can tell you wha

Lawmakers Panic As They Realize China May Beat the US to the Moon

During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing this week, experts warned that the United States is at risk of China beating it to the Moon as NASA's Artemis program continues to lag behind. Earlier this month, China's lunar exploration program tested its "Lanyue" lunar lander at a facility outside of Beijing, declaring that it's hoping to land the first Chinese astronauts on the Moon before the end of the decade. That's well within the margin of error of NASA's first crewed landing attempt, Artemis

U.S. Risks Losing the Moon to China if NASA’s Artemis Program Falters, Experts Tell Senate

The U.S. is at risk of ceding its lead in the new space race to China, experts told a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday, September 3, raising serious doubts about NASA’s ability to return American astronauts to the Moon before China. The hearing, titled “There’s a Bad Moon on the Rise,” examined legislative priorities for NASA’s upcoming reauthorization to ensure that the U.S. maintains its leadership in space. The nation’s position is increasingly challenged by China, which has ad

NASA Finds Evidence That Mars Devoured Huge Chunks of Other Planets

The Red Planet has a bloody history. Newly examined data from NASA's retired InSight lander suggest that there may be giant chunks of rocky material deep inside the mantle of Mars, which were lodged there after a barrage of massive objects slammed into its surface some 4.5 billion years ago. Some of these smithereens are so large, the researchers say, that they're effectively protoplanets — moon-sized objects in the early stages of becoming a planet proper. In other words: Mars could be stuffe

Former NASA chief says United States likely to lose second lunar space race

As part of its efforts to shore up NASA's flailing Artemis Program, the Trump administration earlier this year proposed two major changes to the agency's deep space exploration plans. First, in the president's budget request for fiscal year 2026, the White House sought to terminate NASA's costly Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft after the Artemis III mission, the first human landing. And second, to focus on "direct-to-surface" exploration, the White House sought to cancel the Luna

Trump Ends Union Protections for NASA Employees, Citing ‘National Security’

Just before Labor Day weekend, the White House issued an executive order that excludes NASA and other agencies from collective bargaining rights. NASA employees have previously expressed public dismay against the administration’s budget cuts to the agency and its policy against diversity programs, and the latest order is another major blow to the staff. President Donald Trump signed the new order on August 28, ending collective bargaining at a number of federal agencies with national security m

NASA’s Largest Satellite Antenna Ever Has Just Unfurled in Space

A Flower-like satellite has “bloomed” in outer space, unfolding to reveal the largest radar antenna reflector ever put into orbit. The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), a joint project between the US space agency and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), launched on July 30 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in southeastern India, before unfurling to its full size 17 days later. The spacecraft is now ready to make full-scale observations of the Earth, and will use radar to t

SpaceX Just Sent the ISS a New Way to Stay in Orbit

The International Space Station (ISS) has been in orbit for over 26 years, housing astronauts at an altitude of 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth. But even at that distance, the space station can’t escape the drag of Earth’s atmosphere as oxygen molecules and other gases collide with it, causing it to lose altitude over time. For the ISS to retain its status in orbit, NASA and its partners perform the occasional reboost maneuver. This is typically done using the space station’s own thruste

Meet Surya, a New AI Model From NASA and IBM That Can Predict Solar Flares

Today's solar flare forecasting is pretty straightforward. Earth has several instruments pointed at the sun that monitor it, and when a solar flare erupts, NOAA predicts whether it'll hit Earth and reports it via the Space Weather Prediction Center. But NASA and IBM may be able to do this faster and with a little more accuracy thanks to a new artificial intelligence model named Surya. Surya, which is Sanskrit for "Sun," is a 366M-parameter AI model developed to analyze the various cool things t

The Download: Ukraine’s Starlink repair shop, and predicting solar storms

Starlink is absolutely critical to Ukraine’s ability to continue in the fight against Russia. It’s how troops in battle zones stay connected with faraway HQs; it’s how many of the drones essential to Ukraine’s survival hit their targets; it’s even how soldiers stay in touch with spouses and children back home. However, Donald Trump’s fickle foreign policy and reports suggesting Elon Musk might remove Ukraine’s access to the services have cast the technology’s future in the country into doubt.

The Destruction of NASA Would Be a Blow to Our Collective Imagination

Not long before he decided to leave NASA, Steve Rader, an engineer who spent 36 years at the Johnson Space Center, held a retreat for leaders in his department at his home in downtown Houston. It had been a trying few months for Rader and his team. “I will say, I don't cry a lot,” he tells me in a recent phone call. That changed after Trump took office. “You can ask my wife, from the first few months I cried.” After decades working on projects like the Space Shuttle and International Space Stat

Astronomers Discover a Previously Hidden Moon Orbiting Uranus

Astronomers spotted a never-before-seen, bite-sized moon orbiting Uranus, bringing the ice giant’s follower count to 29. The moon is so small and faint—well below the detection threshold of NASA’s Voyager 2 probe—that scientists believe Uranus may host many more undiscovered, tiny moons. The moon, provisionally named S/2025 U1, first entered the view of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) on February 2, 2025. Further imaging led by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) shows that it sits at

James Webb Spots Mysterious Object Orbiting Uranus

"It’s like staring into the headlight of a car and trying to look at a fly." Circle Strafe NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has spotted a tiny moon orbiting Uranus, expanding the number of the planet's known satellites to 29. In early February, the space observatory's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) caught the minuscule and still-unnamed object orbiting the gas giant at a distance of 35,000 miles. "It’s a small moon but a significant discovery, which is something that even NASA’s Voyager 2 sp

IBM and NASA made an open-source AI model for predicting solar weather

Last year, the most powerful geomagnetic storm in 20 years hit Earth. It produced stunning aurora displays in parts of the US that are normally too far south to see them. Normally, such storms are a headache for energy providers. In 1989, for example, the Canadian province of Québec suffered a nine-hour blackout following a series of plasma ejections from the Sun. This time around, power companies were better prepared, and in the US and Canada, there weren't significant service disruptions. The

The James Webb Space Telescope Finds New Moon Orbiting Uranus

No joke: Science has found a new teeny, tiny moon orbiting Uranus. NASA announced on Tuesday that the James Webb Space Telescope found yet another moon floating around Uranus, an ice giant that already had 13 other known moons. The discovery was made thanks to images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. A team from the Southwest Research Institute noticed an unfamiliar object that appeared to be orbiting Uranus. The images have been stitched together in a slideshow on YouTube of the moon, w

China's Getting Ready to Land Astronauts on the Moon While NASA Flails Helplessly

Over half a year into Donald Trump's second term, NASA still doesn't have a long-term head. That leadership vacuum comes as the space agency is staring down the barrel of some devastating cuts to its science budget, with the White House betting its future on space exploration alone. The chaos has raised serious questions about NASA's ambitious plans to return astronauts to the surface of the Moon for the first time in over half a century. The dates of its planned Artemis program launches keep