NASA’s New Horizons mission faces an uncertain future as budget constraints threaten further exploration of the solar system’s mysterious outer edge. NASA’s New Horizons probe is venturing deeper into the solar system than perhaps any mission in its...

After 21 years in orbit, a legendary NASA observatory faces a fiery end, leaving behind a remarkable legacy of groundbreaking cosmic images. The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is entering the final chapter of its two-decade mission, yet the veteran...

Japan’s MMX mission is headed to Mars to explore its moons and retrieve the first-ever soil samples from Phobos, targeting a return to Earth by 2031. Japan has embarked on an ambitious interplanetary mission, sending the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX)...

Hidden mantle ‘glass ceiling’ may explain Venus’s mysterious coronae and giant volcanic rises. A new study uses computer models and mineral physics to show that a layer about 600 km beneath Venus’s surface can trap warm mantle rock and spawn two...

A heavy, rusty “rock” found in an Australian goldfield turned out be something far rarer than gold: a meteorite that preserves untouched material from the early solar system. The Maryborough meteor is one of the most intriguing space rocks found in...

ring molecule in a distant molecular cloud supports the idea that at least some complex sulfur chemistry predates planet formation. These molecules could form in space, stick to dust grains, and later become part of forming planetary systems. In that...

far short of that amount. This suggests that Earth already had much of its water early on, possibly captured during planet formation rather than added later. A Well-Mixed Lunar Surface One striking result is how similar the impact signal looks across...

A detailed reconstruction of ancient ocean chemistry suggests that long-term changes in seawater calcium closely tracked atmospheric carbon dioxide as Earth cooled over the last 50 million years. Over the last 50 million years, Earth slowly changed...

After failed attempts to break open a mysterious red rock with tools and acid, researchers discovered it held a long-hidden, ancient cosmic secret. When David Hole began sweeping the clay-rich soils of Maryborough Regional Park with a metal detector in...