Mosses thrive in the most extreme environments on Earth, from the peaks of the Himalayas to the sands of Death Valley, the Antarctic tundra to the lava fields of active volcanoes. Inspired by moss’s resilience, researchers sent moss sporophytes—reproductive structures that encase spores—to the most extreme environment yet: space. Publishing in the Cell Press journal iScience on November 20, their results show that over 80% of the spores survived 9 months outside of the International Space Station (ISS) and made it back to Earth still capable of reproducing, demonstrating for the first time that an early land plant can survive long-term exposure to the elements of space. 

MIT astronomers used the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer to identify key features in the innermost region of a white dwarf system called an intermediate polar. This extremely energetic environment has been inaccessible to most telescopes until now.

Any plan to send a human crew to explore Moon or Mars requires many tons of propellant to blast off from Moon or Mars for return to Earth. Two propellants are needed: (a) a fuel, typically either methane or hydrogen, and (b) oxygen. Oxygen represents the greatest mass of propellant, and in situ propellant production (ISPP) for oxygen only would provide a significant mass saving. Lunar and Martian ISPP processes range widely in complexity and degree of difficulty, with equally wide ranges in risk and apparent return on investment (ROI). Moreover, operating autonomous chemical engineering plants on remote bodies, in some cases involving mining, transporting, delivering, discharging, and processing planetary soil under severe environmental conditions, presents significant challenges. Difficulty in providing power compounds the problems. Therefore, it is important to distinguish between autonomous processes that are simple and straightforward to implement that lend themselves naturally to first landings versus processes that are complex and challenging and, because of that, likely to be relegated to second-generation or even third-generation landings, if at all.

- Universities of Exeter and Leicester collaborate on mission to send nematode worms to the International Space Station

- The experiment is based upon a concept and early development by the University of Exeter over more than 8 years

- A ‘Petri Pod’ designed and built at Space Park Leicester developed from that earlier work will allow scientists on Earth led from the University of Exeter to study the worms in space

- Will provide insights into the effects of space microgravity and radiation on biological material, and help inform future human space travel

A geomagnetic superstorm is an extreme space weather event that occurs when the Sun releases massive amounts of energy and charged particles toward Earth. These storms are rare, occurring about once every 20-25 years. On May 10-11, 2024, the strongest superstorm in over 20 years, known as the Gannon storm or Mother’s Day storm, struck Earth.  

A study led by Dr. Atsuki Shinbori from Nagoya University's Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research has captured direct measurements of this extreme event and provided the first detailed observations of how a superstorm compresses Earth's plasmasphere—a protective layer of charged particles that encircles our planet. Published in Earth, Planets and Space, the findings show how the plasmasphere and ionosphere react during the most violent solar storms and help forecast disruptions to satellites, GPS systems, and communication networks during extreme space weather events. 

The China National Space Administration plans to launch the asteroid sample-return mission TianWen-2 with the target being the near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3. The TianWen-2 spacecraft mainly focuses on surface sampling on the near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3. the whole TianWen-2 spacecraft will be controlled to achieve touchdown and sampling rather than releasing a small lander or ejecting a projectile. Small celestial bodies usually have an extremely low surface gravity and are covered with granular material a centimeter in size or smaller in the form of regolith. The dispersion, friction, and nonlinear dissipation of inelastic collision between particles make a regolith surface behave like a solid or a fluid at the macroscopic level, exhibiting phenomena such as deformation, flow, and ejection. Thus, sampling on a low-gravity regolith-covered surface with unknown physical properties is particularly challenging and risky. In order to successfully implement an in situ exploration, it is of great significance to analyze the influence of regolith soil on the sampling process of the spacecraft on the surface of the asteroid and comprehensively understand and evaluate spacecraft dynamics and control behavior during sampling.