Space Exploration News

February 7, 2026

Top Headlines

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Completes the First AI-planned Drive on Mars

Feb. 2, 2026 NASA’s Perseverance rover has just made history by driving across Mars using routes planned by artificial intelligence instead of human operators. A vision-capable AI analyzed the same images and terrain data normally used by rover planners, ...

Robots Descend Into Lava Tubes to Prepare for Future Moon Bases

Feb. 2, 2026 Hidden lava tunnels on the Moon and Mars could one day shelter human explorers, offering natural protection from radiation and space debris. A European research team has unveiled a bold new mission concept that uses three different robots working ...

Scientists Sent Viruses to Space and They Evolved in Surprising Ways

Jan. 18, 2026 When scientists sent bacteria-infecting viruses to the International Space Station, the microbes did not behave the same way they do on Earth. In microgravity, infections still occurred, but both viruses and bacteria evolved differently over time. ...

SETI Watched a Pulsar Flicker for Months and Found Space Keeps Shifting

Jan. 6, 2026 A distant pulsar’s radio signal flickers as it passes through space, much like stars twinkle in Earth’s atmosphere. By monitoring this effect for 10 months, researchers watched the pattern slowly evolve as gas, Earth, and the pulsar all moved. ...

Earth’s Toughest Microbes Could Help Humans Live on Mars

Jan. 6, 2026 Mars looks familiar from afar, but surviving there means creating a protective oasis in a hostile world. Instead of shipping construction materials from Earth, researchers are exploring how to use Martian soil as the raw ingredient. Two tough ...

How Manipulating Gravitational Waves Could Reveal Gravity’s Quantum Secrets

Jan. 2, 2026 A physicist has proposed a bold experiment that could allow gravitational waves to be manipulated using laser light. By transferring minute amounts of energy between light and gravity, the ...

What Are Asteroids Really Made of? New Analysis Brings Space Mining Closer to Reality

Dec. 25, 2025 Scientists are digging into the hidden makeup of carbon-rich asteroids to see whether they could one day fuel space exploration—or even be mined for valuable resources. By analyzing rare meteorites ...

Scientists Are Turning Earth Into a Giant Detector for Hidden Forces Shaping Our Universe

Dec. 6, 2025 SQUIRE aims to detect exotic spin-dependent interactions using quantum sensors deployed in space, where speed and environmental conditions vastly improve sensitivity. Orbiting sensors tap into ...

Space Is Filling with Junk and Scientists Have a Fix

Dec. 3, 2025 Earth’s orbit is getting crowded with broken satellites and leftover rocket parts. Researchers say the solution is to build spacecraft that can be repaired, reused, or recycled instead of abandoned. They also want new tools to collect old debris ...

Japanese Spacecraft Faces a Massive Challenge from a House-size Asteroid

Nov. 21, 2025 New observations show that asteroid 1998 KY26 is a mere 11 meters across and spinning twice as fast as previously thought. The discovery adds complexity to Hayabusa2’s 2031 mission but also heightens scientific interest. The asteroid’s ...

JWST Captures Stunning 3D View of a Planet’s Scorching Atmosphere

Nov. 2, 2025 A team of astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to create the first 3D atmospheric map of an exoplanet. The fiery WASP-18b, a massive “ultra-hot Jupiter,” revealed striking temperature contrasts, including regions so hot they destroy ...

AI Restores James Webb Telescope’s Crystal-clear Vision

Oct. 27, 2025 Two Sydney PhD students have pulled off a remarkable space science feat from Earth—using AI-driven software to correct image blurring in NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Their innovation, called AMIGO, fixed distortions in the telescope’s ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:34am EST

Mars’ Water Mystery May Have a Simple Ice Answer

Feb. 6, 2026 Scientists have found that ancient Martian lakes could have survived for decades despite freezing air temperatures. Using a newly adapted climate model, researchers showed that thin, seasonal ice ...

Scientists Just Mapped the Hidden Structure Holding the Universe Together

Feb. 3, 2026 Astronomers have produced the most detailed map yet of dark matter, revealing the invisible framework that shaped the Universe long before stars and galaxies formed. Using powerful new observations ...

A Record Breaking Gravitational Wave Is Helping Test Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity

Feb. 3, 2026 A newly detected gravitational wave, GW250114, is giving scientists their clearest look yet at a black hole collision—and a powerful way to test ...

Four Astronauts Enter Quarantine as NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 Launch Nears

Feb. 2, 2026 NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 team has entered a carefully controlled two-week quarantine as the countdown begins for their journey to the International Space Station. The four astronauts—representing ...

Jupiter’s Clouds Are Hiding Something Big

Jan. 31, 2026 Jupiter’s swirling storms have concealed its true makeup for centuries, but a new model is finally peeling back the clouds. Researchers found the planet likely holds significantly more oxygen than ...

Dark Stars Could Solve Three Major Mysteries of the Early Universe

Jan. 28, 2026 JWST has revealed a strange early universe filled with ultra-bright “blue monster” galaxies, mysterious “little red dots,” and black holes that seem far too massive for their age. A new study ...

A Sudden Signal Flare Reveals the Hidden Partner Behind Fast Radio Bursts

Jan. 28, 2026 A repeating fast radio burst has just given up one of its biggest secrets. Long-term observations revealed a rare signal flare caused by plasma likely ejected from a nearby companion star. This shows ...

Radio Waves Revealed What Happened Before a Star Exploded

Jan. 28, 2026 For the first time, astronomers have captured radio signals from a rare exploding star, exposing what happened in the years leading up to its death. The radio waves reveal that the star violently ...

Strange White Rocks on Mars Hint at Millions of Years of Rain

Jan. 27, 2026 Bright white rocks spotted by NASA’s Perseverance rover are rewriting what we thought we knew about ancient Mars. These aluminum-rich clays, called kaolinite, usually form on Earth only after ...

A Dying Star’s Final Breath Glows in a New Webb Image of the Helix Nebula

Jan. 26, 2026 Webb’s latest image of the Helix Nebula reveals a dramatic close-up of a dying star shedding its outer layers. The detailed view highlights glowing knots of gas shaped by fast-moving stellar winds ...

Astronomers Found a Black Hole Growing Way Too Fast

Jan. 24, 2026 Astronomers have spotted a rare, rule-breaking quasar in the early Universe that appears to be growing its central black hole at an astonishing pace. Observations show the black hole is devouring ...

“Stars Like the Sun Don’t Just Stop Shining,” but This One Did

Jan. 24, 2026 A distant Sun-like star suddenly went dark for months, stunning astronomers who quickly realized something massive was passing in front of it. Observations revealed a gigantic disk of gas and dust ...

Spacecraft Captures the "magnetic Avalanche" That Triggers Giant Solar Explosions

Jan. 21, 2026 Solar Orbiter has captured the clearest evidence yet that a solar flare grows through a cascading “magnetic avalanche.” Small, weak magnetic disturbances rapidly multiplied, triggering stronger ...

NASA Is Set to Send Astronauts Around the Moon Again

Jan. 25, 2026 NASA is moving into a new phase of space exploration, with major progress across human spaceflight, science missions, and advanced technology. In just one year, the agency has launched multiple ...

Europa’s Ice May Be Feeding a Hidden Ocean That Could Support Life

Jan. 23, 2026 Europa’s subsurface ocean might be getting fed after all. Scientists found that salty, nutrient-rich surface ice can become heavy enough to break free and sink through Europa’s icy shell, ...

NASA Astronaut Suni Williams Retires After 608 Days in Space and Nine Spacewalks

Jan. 22, 2026 NASA astronaut Suni Williams has retired after 27 years of service and a career defined by endurance, leadership, and firsts in space. She spent 608 days in orbit, completed nine spacewalks, and ...

NASA’s Artemis II Reaches the Launch Pad and the Countdown to the Moon Begins

Jan. 19, 2026 NASA’s Artemis II rocket has reached its launch pad after a painstaking overnight crawl across Kennedy Space Center. Engineers are now preparing for crucial fueling and countdown tests ahead of the ...

The Ring Nebula Is Hiding a Giant Structure Made of Iron

Jan. 18, 2026 A huge bar of iron has been discovered lurking inside the iconic Ring Nebula. The structure is enormous, spanning hundreds of times the size of Pluto’s orbit and containing a Mars-sized amount of ...

NASA Brings Crew-11 Home Early in Rare Medical Evacuation

Jan. 16, 2026 SpaceX Crew-11 splashed down safely in the Pacific after more than five months in orbit aboard the International Space Station. The four astronauts completed over 140 experiments and traveled nearly ...

Those Strange Red Dots in James Webb Images Finally Have an Explanation

Jan. 16, 2026 For years, strange red dots in James Webb images left scientists puzzled. New research shows they are young black holes hidden inside dense clouds of gas, glowing as they devour their surroundings. ...

A Wobbling Black Hole Jet Is Stripping a Galaxy of Star-Forming Gas

Jan. 19, 2026 A nearby active galaxy called VV 340a offers a dramatic look at how a supermassive black hole can reshape its entire host. Astronomers observed a relatively weak but restless jet blasting outward ...

10 Quintillion Hydrogen Bombs Every Second: Webb Detects Massive Galactic Eruption

Jan. 10, 2026 Scientists have discovered an enormous stream of super-hot gas erupting from a nearby galaxy, driven by a powerful black hole at its center. The jets stretch farther than the galaxy itself and spiral ...

A New Study Casts Doubt on Life Beneath Europa’s Ice

Jan. 7, 2026 Europa’s buried ocean has made it one of the most exciting places to search for life beyond Earth. However, new calculations suggest its seafloor may be calm, cold, and largely inactive, with ...

Spacecraft Capture the Sun Building a Massive Superstorm

Jan. 13, 2026 Scientists have pulled back the curtain on one of the most extreme solar regions seen in decades, tracking it almost nonstop for three months as it unleashed powerful space weather. By combining ...

Astronomers Find a Ghost Galaxy Made of Dark Matter

Jan. 9, 2026 Hubble has revealed a strange cosmic object called Cloud-9, a dark matter–dominated cloud with no stars at all. Scientists believe it is a “failed galaxy,” a leftover building block from the ...

Astronomers Ring in the New Year With a Stunning Galaxy Collision

Dec. 31, 2025 The Champagne Cluster is a rare and beautiful example of two galaxy clusters smashing together. Its festive name comes from both its New Year’s Eve discovery and its bubbly appearance in space. ...

Astronomers Discover Stars Don’t Spread Life’s Ingredients the Way We Thought

Jan. 12, 2026 Scientists observing the red giant star R Doradus have found that starlight isn’t strong enough to drive its stellar winds, overturning a long-standing theory. The dust grains around the star are ...

What Looked Like a Planet Was Actually a Massive Space Collision

Jan. 7, 2026 Around the bright star Fomalhaut, astronomers spotted glowing clouds of debris left behind by colossal collisions between large space rocks. One of these clouds was even mistaken for a planet before ...

A Planet Just Vanished. NASA’s Hubble Reveals a Violent Cosmic Secret

Jan. 1, 2026 Astronomers tracking a nearby star system thought they had spotted an exoplanet reflecting light from its star. Then it vanished. Even stranger, another bright object appeared nearby. After studying ...

NASA Just Caught a Rare Glimpse of an Interstellar Comet

Dec. 20, 2025 An instrument aboard NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft captured rare ultraviolet observations of an interstellar comet while Earth-based telescopes were blinded by the Sun. The spacecraft’s unique ...