Space & Physics: Artemis II moon mission delayed after test issues

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February 5 — This week, we're covering the latest on NASA's Artemis II lunar mission, a "space archaeology" search for a long-lost Soviet moon lander, SpaceX's plan to launch a million "orbital data centers," a possible glimpse of an "Earth 2.0" and much, much more. Enjoy! Thoughts? Questions? Let me know via e-mail (lbillings@sciam.com), X or Bluesky. —Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Physical Sciences

Top Stories

Space archaeologists may have found a long-lost Soviet lander on the moon Scientists have spent decades searching for the final resting place of Luna 9, the first spacecraft to soft-land on the moon. Now they're on the cusp of finding it Ilya Ferapontov

NASA delays Artemis II moon mission after critical test raises issues NASA will review data gathered during a simulated launch of the Artemis II rocket before revealing a new date for its upcoming moon mission Claire Cameron

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Weird new object escalates 'black hole star' debate Researchers have found what might be a little red dot transitioning into its final state, where x-rays burst through its gas cocoon. Others argue the object is nothing special Joseph Howlett

SpaceX plans to launch one million satellites to power orbital AI data center Elon Musk's SpaceX is set to massively expand its orbital footprint in a bid to power next-generation artificial intelligence Claire Cameron

Another Earth or a blip in the data? We may never find out An exoplanet called HD 137010 b might be the closest thing astronomers have ever seen to "Earth 2.0." The trouble is that it's only been seen once—and may never be glimpsed again Joseph Howlett

Jupiter isn't as huge as we thought it was "Textbooks will need to be updated": the solar system's largest planet appears to be smaller and flatter than we knew Jackie Flynn Mogensen

Astronomers declare rare dark-sky victory over scrapped energy project in Chile After a year of protests from astronomers, authorities have abandoned plans for a giant, light-polluting renewable-energy facility in Chile's Atacama Desert Jenna Ahart

Physicists trace particles back to the quantum vacuum Scientists have found "strange quarks" that originated as virtual particles that sprang from nothing Clara Moskowitz

'Baby cluster' of galaxies may challenge cosmic models Dating to only a billion years after the big bang, JADES-ID1 may be the earliest, most distant galaxy protocluster astronomers have ever seen Lee Billings

Lost ancient Greek star catalog decoded by particle accelerator Synchrotron radiation has revealed a star map made by the ancient astronomer Hipparchus that was thought to be lost to time K. R. Callaway

NASA's next space suit for Artemis has out-of-this-world mobility Astronauts are flying to the moon for the first time since 1972, and scientists are preparing specialized space suits for the next milestone—landing there K. R. Callaway

NASA's Artemis II moon mission engulfed by debate over its controversial heat shield Experts have sounded the alarm over NASA's decision to use a heat shield design for Artemis II that may be riskier than the space agency claims Claire Cameron

What We're Reading

Jeff Bezos' rocket company, Blue Origin, pauses space tourism to focus on the moon. | The New York Times U.S. House takes first step toward creating "commercial" deep-space program | Ars Technica SpaceX's Starlink dodged 300,000 satellite collisions in 2025 | New Scientist

From the Archive

When We Find Earth 2.0, What's Next? We're looking for another Earth. But how likely is it that we'll find a duplicate of home? Phil Plait

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