Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. NASA is seeking innovative methods that could help retrieve samples collected by the Perseverance rover on Mars in the future. The rover, which landed on Mars in February 2021, has been gathering specimens from Jezero Crater, […]
BALTIMORE — Samples of Patapsco River water collected the day of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge did not contain signs of fuel or battery acid, according to test results obtained by The Baltimore Sun. The cargo vessel that collided with the bridge, the Dali, was carrying 56 containers of hazardous materials, including […]
Samples of Patapsco River water collected the day of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge did not contain signs of fuel or battery acid, according to test results obtained by The Baltimore Sun. The cargo vessel that collided with the bridge, the Dali, was carrying 56 containers of hazardous materials, including lithium batteries, […]
Editor’s Note: Jonathan Lunine is the David C. Duncan professor in the physical sciences at Cornell University. He served on the NASA Mars Sample Return Independent Review Board in 2023. Read more opinion on CNN. How tenuous is our planet’s ability to support life? The answer might come from one of our nearest planetary neighbors. Jonathan I. Lunine – […]
NASA’s bold plan to get pristine samples of Mars to Earth for analysis is facing major challenges, according to a new report. Design, cost and scheduling are all significant obstacles, an audit report of NASA’s Mars Sample Return (MSR) Program by the agency’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) finds. MSR aims to return Martian geological […]
We now know exactly how much material OSIRIS-REx captured from its target asteroid Bennu — and, it’s a lot. In addition to the 2.48 ounces (70.3 grams) of sample already collected from the outside of the canister, NASA has finally managed to fully open OSIRIS-REx’s sample container to find another 1.81 ounces (51.2 grams) of […]
Old and new minerals found in lunar samples brought home by China’s Chang’e-5 mission are helping scientists better understand the moon’s history. In 2020, Chang’e-5 returned 3.8 pounds (1.73 kilograms) of rocks and dust from Oceanus Procellarum (the Ocean of Storms), the largest dark region on the moon, which can be seen on its western […]
Scientists are now inspecting snagged, bagged and tagged bits and pieces from asteroid Bennu, the cosmic mother lode delivered by NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security — Regolith Explorer mission. Known in acronymic astro-speak as OSIRIS-REx, that seven-year-long voyage brought home the goods via a sample return canister that came to full stop […]
A detailed investigation of asteroid Ryugu samples has provided further evidence that the organic molecules which gave rise to life to our planet were brought here by ancient comets. These space rock samples were returned to Earth by Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission, which visited the spinning-top-like space rock Ryugu in 2018. Hayabusa2 spent around 18 months […]
In 2020, the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 visited the asteroid Ryugu and managed to bring precious samples of the space rock back to Earth. And sure enough, years later, we are still gaining insights about this small asteroid and the environment in which it formed thanks to those samples. Today, scientists released the latest findings from […]