Since their discovery by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in 2022, small red dots (LRDs) have been the subject of great interest to astronomers. Understanding the nature of these compact and extremely distant red sources has been a perplexing scientific endeavor. One popular theory is that the small red dots are supermassive black holes known
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Explanation: Solar System bodies make deep space exploration more fuel efficient! Today’s video shows the Psyche spacecraft gaining speed and changing its trajectory with minimal fuel expenditure thanks to the gravitational assistance of Mars in May 2026. Mars has an average orbital speed of almost 87,000 km/h (54,000 mph) around the Sun. Its orbital motion
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When NASA’s Curiosity rover recently began ascending a Martian valley nicknamed “Big Valley,” it sent back images that were familiar to scientists on the mission: honeycomb textures called polygonal fractures, each about 1.5 to 3 inches (4 to 8 centimeters) wide. The mission has detected small specks of these geometric shapes several times before, but
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NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program has created 18 new awards to support visionary ideas to improve aerospace technologies in areas ranging from exploring the solar system to understanding the universe. The 18 NIAC Phase I grants total $3.2 million. Each grant provides up to $175,000 for an initial nine-month investigation. NIAC projects deal with
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NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this 360-degree view of an expanse of terrain covered in surface features called polygons on June 19 and 20, 2026, the 4,930th and 4,931st Martian days or sols of the mission. The rover has found polygons several times in the past, but never so many in one place. In the
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NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this sand-covered hill, nicknamed “Miraflores,” estimated to be about 20 feet (6 meters) high, with its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, on June 11, 2026, the 4,923rd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The hill was left behind when the surrounding rock eroded over time, deepening the wide valley Curiosity
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