Space

T-Minus: New SpaceX fashion, a Mars mystery, and more

Freethink’s weekly countdown of the biggest space news, featuring new spacesuits, a mission to the dark side of the moon, and more.

Kristin Houser

Three people in astronaut training suits and helmets smiling inside a spacecraft simulation chamber.

Outer Space

Life on Mars, together

Researchers spent two weeks at the Mars Desert Research Station conducting an analog mission for potential future trips to Mars.

Rachel Ornitz | Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics | MIT News

A digital rendering of a martian landscape with rugged, reddish mountains and textured ground under a dark sky.

Outer Space

NASA hopes private space companies can rescue its $11 billion Mars rock mission

If this ambitious NASA mission unraveled, scientists would lose their chance to learn much more about the red planet.

Chris Impey

Outer Space

Rover images confirm Jezero crater is an ancient Martian lake

Without driving anywhere, the rover was able to solve one of the big unknowns, which was that this crater once held water.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office

Astronomy

Hubble smashes record for farthest star ever seen

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has smashed its own record for farthest star ever seen with the detection of “Earendel.”

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

ESA space telescope snaps pic of new NASA neighbor

ESA’s Gaia observatory has snapped a photo of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, its new neighbor at Earth’s second Lagrange point.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

Researchers scheme how they could ride a laser to Mars

Researchers have proposed an idea that will cut travel time to Mars down to just 45 days. All it takes is hitching a ride on a giant laser.

Teresa Carey

Aerospace

ESA plans to make the first oxygen on the moon

ESA plans to send a device that pulls oxygen from lunar regolith to the moon by 2025 and then build an oxygen-producing plant in the 2030s.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

NASA’s helicopter on Mars snaps stunning desert photo

NASA has shared a new photo taken by Ingenuity, its helicopter on Mars, and announced plans to extend the spacecraft’s mission.

Kristin Houser

Medicine

Space lettuce engineered to stimulate bone growth

To protect Mars astronauts from bone loss, scientists genetically engineered a lettuce that produces a bone-stimulating hormone.

Kristin Houser

Astronomy

Meteorite’s fall to Earth retraced with dashcam footage

The unconventional method could help astronomers better track meteorites that fall during the daytime.

Stephen Johnson

Astronomy

NASA shares stunning star image taken by Webb telescope

A star image taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope suggests the first-of-its-kind spacecraft is going to work even better than expected.

Kristin Houser

Asteroids

New asteroid spotted just before impact with Earth

NASA successfully pinpointed almost exactly where and when a new asteroid would hit Earth’s atmosphere, before it made contact.

Kristin Houser

Sections

Video

Freethink

We focus on solutions: the smartest people, the biggest ideas, and the most ground breaking technology shaping our future.