What the James Webb Space Telescope's discoveries on another planet mean — and don't mean — for the search for alien life

Tech Insider
illustration of shadowy blue planet in space with a distant red star in the background
Exoplanet K2-18 b is not a planet astronomers would typically think to search for alien life.

NASA, CSA, ESA, J. Olmsted (STScI)

India's moon lander is the first to study the lunar south pole region up close. Here are 5 scientific discoveries it's already made.

Tech Insider
Image of the rover on board India's moon lander.
The lunar rover that recently landed near the moon's south pole is about as big as a medium-sized dog.

Indian Space Research Organization

India's moon lander detected movement near the lunar south pole. It could be the first signs of a moonquake in nearly 50 years.

Tech Insider
image of the lander on the moon
India's Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander on the moon.

ISRO

Photos show European satellite tumbling to its fiery doom after a first-of-a-kind maneuver that prevented a lot of space trash and falling debris on Earth

Tech Insider
Illustration of the Aeolus satellite in space.
Aeolus was the first satellite to study winds on Earth at a global scale.

European Space Agency

SpaceX's mishap investigation is officially closed but that doesn't mean it can fly its Starship rocket just yet

Tech Insider
An aerial picture shows the Starship rocket fully stacked on its launchpad.
Starship fully stacked on its launchpad. Elon Musk said Wednesday the rocket was 'ready to launch' on its second flight, pending regulatory approval.

SpaceX

We may be the only humans to ever see the green Comet Nishimura. Here's how, when, and where to spot it best.

Tech Insider
green comet with long faint white tail streaking through starry space
Comet Nishimura, photographed via telescope in June Lake, California, in late August.

Dan Bartlett

NASA spent billions on its SLS mega-rocket to take humans to the moon. It finally admitted it is 'unaffordable.'

Tech Insider
nasa sls orange and white rocket standing on launchpad against blue sky with grey clouds
The SLS rocket stands at Launch Pad 39B, on November 11, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA/Joel Kowsky

A device on NASA's Perseverance rover generated enough oxygen on Mars for a small dog to breathe for 10 hours. Astronauts could be next.

Tech Insider
Mars 2020 rover MOXIE
Members of NASA's Mars 2020 project install the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) into the chassis of NASA's next Mars rover.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Black holes mysteriously burp up fragments of stars they destroyed years earlier, and scientists have no idea why

Tech Insider
An artist's impression shows a jet of matter spewing from a black hole.
An artist's impression of a tidal disruption event. New research suggests that, contrary to what was previously thought, black holes can spew remnants of stars years after swallowing them.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab

Russia dominated the first space race, but now it can't even land on the moon. Photos show the US and China are way ahead.

Tech Insider
split image shows orange rocket beside a rover on the moon and the lunar surface with a crater
NASA's Space Launch System (left) is its new moon rocket. China's Yutu 2 rover (middle) explores the far side of the moon. Russia's Luna-25 lander just crashed (right).

NASA/Steve Seipel; China National Space Administration; NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University; Insider

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