In an experiment on the outside of the International Space Station, a species of moss survived in space for 9 months. And it could have lasted much longer.
Thin, repeating sedimentary layers examined by the Curiosity rover suggest that a big, lost moon of Mars created tides in the ancient lake of Gale crater.
NASA's Perseverance rover has detected lightning on Mars 55 times. It heard the small electrical discharges with its microphone in dust storms and dust devils.
A new study suggests that Theia and Earth were neighbors in the early solar system about 4.5 billion years ago. Then their epic collision destroyed young Theia.
Researchers in China have discovered the 1st water-carved caves on Mars. Known as karst caves, they could provide a protective habitat for possible life.
Researchers suggest searching for colorful life on exoplanets by looking for spectral features similar to ones in Earth's clouds caused by airborne microbes.
In the late 1970s, NASA declared 'no life on Mars' when the Viking landers failed to find organic molecules (but they did). So was that conclusion a mistake?
Astronomers have found new evidence that dying stars destroy their planets - with the closest planets at greatest risk - as the stars swell up into red giants.
Paul Scott Anderson has had a passion for space exploration that began when he was a child when he watched Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. He studied English, writing, art and computer/publication design in high school and college. He later started his blog The Meridiani Journal in 2005, which was later renamed Planetaria. He also later started the blog Fermi Paradoxica, about the search for life elsewhere in the universe.
While interested in all aspects of space exploration, his primary passion is planetary science and SETI. In 2011, he started writing about space on a freelance basis with Universe Today. He has also written for SpaceFlight Insider and AmericaSpace and has also been published in The Mars Quarterly. He also did some supplementary writing for the iOS app Exoplanet.
He has been writing for EarthSky since 2018, and also assists with proofing and social media.