Here’s a look at the most interesting happenings in science, with stories you don’t want to miss. Landing on the Red Planet to study marsquakes Mars is hard. The odds of a safe landing on the surface are less than 50-50. But last Monday, the team at NASA/CalTech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory once again made it […]
How and why we’re sampling asteroid Bennu – with NASA’s OSIRIS-REx team
How did our early solar system form? What are the origins of life? How likely are we to get hit by a dangerous asteroid? A daring NASA mission called OSIRIS-REx hopes to find the answers to these big questions at an asteroid named Bennu. This week, the spacecraft arrives at its destination. To learn more, […]
How this spacecraft will sample an asteroid’s rocks, without even landing on it
More than two years after it launched, a spacecraft called OSIRIS-REx is approaching its target, an asteroid named Bennu. Scientists hope that rock samples from Bennu will provide insight into the likelihood of life on other planets, as well as the risk the asteroid poses to earth. PBS NewsHour science correspondent Miles O’Brien explains the […]
Why Europa is the most likely spot we’ll find aliens – with NASA’s Kevin Peter Hand
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 […]