Space & Physics: Can NASA win the new moon race?

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October 30 — This week, we're investigating NASA's messy moon race, Russia's new nuclear-powered missile, a wild explanation for 1950s UFO mania, how dark matter may have supersized the universe, and much more. Enjoy! —Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Physical Sciences

Top Stories

NASA's Moon Race Looks like a Losing Bet Former NASA officials warn that the U.S. looks poised to lose its self-declared race to beat China to the moon Dan Vergano

UFOs Are Just One Explanation for Mysterious Patterns in Old Telescope Data New peer-reviewed research reporting strange lights in the pre-space-age sky is sparking curiosity and controversy Jonathan O'Callaghan

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Here's How a Nuclear-Powered Cruise Missile Works Russian leader Vladimir Putin claimed his nation conducted a successful flight of a nuclear-powered cruise missile. Here's how that missile might work Dan Vergano

Physicists Propose a Simpler, Hotter Origin for the Cosmos Theorists have found that a "warm" version of cosmic inflation is consistent with known physics, linking it to the hunt for dark matter Stephanie Pappas

Why Do Some Comets Dazzle While Others Fizzle? A comet's brightness depends on how it's made, how and when we see it, and even a bit of unpredictable luck Phil Plait

This New Shape Breaks an 'Unbreakable' 3D Geometry Rule The noperthedron has a surprising property—which disproves a long-standing conjecture Emma R. Hasson

How an Error in Cult Classic Game Doom Sparked New Appreciation for Pi What would the world look like if we changed the value of pi? Whether in the real world or a game environment, the answer is complex Manon Bischoff

Surprise Meteorite Debris Uncovered on Moon's Far Side These rare samples, uncovered on the moon by China's Chang'e 6 mission, might help to reveal secrets of how the solar system evolved Jenna Ahart, Nature magazine

What We're Reading

Explore 25 years onboard the International Space Station | ISS in Real Time What happens when the U.S. stops funding the science behind SpaceX? | Bloomberg Argentina's move to woo Trump derails South America's largest radio telescope | Science

From the Archive

If Aliens Looked at Earth from Far Away, What Might They See? The question of whether aliens can detect our modern civilization depends on what signs they're looking for—and, crucially, their distance from us Phil Plait

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