Samples

The current coronavirus pandemic could question the wisdom of bringing rock samples that could contain alien biology from Mars to Earth.

NASA and Europe are planning to do that in the 2030s.

Nuclear Power

Private companies are pushing for NASA to adopt nuclear power for future deep space manned missions.

Nuclear propulsion could cut transit times to Mars in half, for instance.

Enceladus

Scientists are urging NASA to mount a mission to Enceladus in search of life.

Enceladus has a huge water ocean within its icy shell.

Artemis Base Camp

Yesterday, NASA released a report describing the Artemis Base Camp it plans for the Moon later this decade.

The ABC will serve as the foundation for continuing lunar operations, extensive exploration of the lunar surface, and as a testbed for technologies and strategies to be used in the early exploration of Mars.

SpaceX Failure

A Starship prototype collapsed during pressure tests last night.

This is the third prototype to collapse during a pressure test.

Lunar Landers

NASA's next two lunar landers are still in schedule for 2021 launches.

The landers are being built by Astrobotics and Intuitive Machines.

Galaxies

A new study of 200 globular clusters around the Milky Way argues our galaxy has absorbed five smaller galaxies over its history.

In the far future, the Milky Way will also collide with the Andromeda Galaxy.