Black holes are impossible to observe directly. But researchers like Jason Dexter are probing the hot and violent regions of space that circle these mysterious objects.
“Moments like these, when the first science data comes back from an instrument you’ve been working on for years, are always special," said LASP scientist Mike Chaffin.
Mars is a dangerous place for vulnerable humans—but robotic space missions can probe the planet's radiation, dust storms and other threats safely and for a fraction of the cost of crewed missions.
The mission, launched in July 2020 and aided by researchers from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, will orbit Mars to gather crucial scientific data on its atmosphere.
In this Q&A, aerospace engineer Iain Boyd talks about what happens to vehicles when they hit speeds of 4,000 miles per hour or more and how those conditions might affect efforts to land humans on Mars.
Scientists believe that planets like Earth bob in a sea of gravitational waves that spread throughout the universe. Now, an international team has gotten closer than ever before to detecting those cosmic ripples.