Category: Space

Why Europa is the most likely spot we’ll find aliens – with NASA’s Kevin Peter Hand

11.26.18.

Jupiter has many moons, but none are quite like Europa: it has a thick crust of ice and a huge amount of liquid saltwater underneath its surface. In fact, many believe it’s the best place in the Solar System that we could find other lifeforms. To dive deeper into the mysteries of this icy world–and…
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Steve Squyres – On Exploring Mars, and Other Celestial Objects

10.23.18.

Steve Squyres is the principal investigator for the Mars Exploration Rover Program, which gave us the plucky and productive rovers Spirit and Opportunity. With the latter on life support and the former no longer with us, I spoke with him about his amazing run on Mars and what he’s working on now. It’s all out-of-this-world…
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Life on Mars? Watery new discovery raises tantalizing possibilities

07.26.18.

A huge announcement this week from the European Space Agency: they have found liquid water on Mars. Originally aired on the PBS NewsHour. Previous detections of water on the Red Planet were have all been frozen–though both imaging and on the ground sampling have also shown that liquid water was present on Mars’ surface in…
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What Kilauea’s eruption can reveal about volcanoes on other worlds–and possibly, alien life

05.14.18.

Over the three decades it has belched toxic gases and churned out lava, Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano has been a menace to the area that surrounds it. Last week, Kilauea’s eruption destroyed more than two dozen homes and forced the evacuation of nearly 2,000 people. On Sunday, a new fissure — stretching nearly 1,000 feet —…
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Astronaut receives honorary doctorate while in space

05.14.18.

Walking across the stage and receiving a diploma is at once a small step and a giant leap for high school and college graduates. Before that happens, however, there’s usually some pomp and circumstance graduates have to sit through. Friday’s graduation ceremony at Purdue University was no different–but the bestowing of honorary degrees was something…
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Where will the Chinese space station fall? Good estimates will come “only in the hours just before re-entry.”

03.31.18.

By now, you’ve probably heard about the Chinese space station, Tiangong-1, which is spiralling in an uncontrolled descent into the atmosphere. Two years ago, the Chinese announced that they had stopped communicating with the station and were monitoring its descent. Now, it is set to finally plunge into the atmosphere likely sometime this weekend. WATCH:…
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