Space

The new planet, PSR J2322-2650b, is orbiting a rapidly spinning neutron star, also known as a pulsar. This bizarre, lemon-shaped body, possibly containing diamonds at its core, blurs the line between planets and stars.

Last week, NASA revealed that it lost contact with a vital Martian probe that’s been studying the Red Planet for more than a decade. Despite the mission team’s efforts to restore communication with the orbiter, their latest status report does not bode well.

On Monday, NASA confirmed that it hasn’t received telemetry from the MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft since December 4, but said the team did recover a brief fragment of tracking data from December 6. Analysis of that signal suggests that the orbiter was rotating in an “unexpected manner” and that its orbital trajectory may have changed.

“The team continues to analyze tracking data to understand the most likely scenarios leading to the loss of signal. Efforts to reestablish contact with MAVEN also continue,” the NASA statement reads.

Chinese companies are no longer hiding their intent to clone SpaceX. They’re advertising it.

In recent months, it has begun dawning on US lawmakers that, absent significant intervention, China will land humans on the Moon before the United States can return there with the Artemis Program.

So far, legislators have yet to take meaningful action on this—a $10 billion infusion into NASA’s budget this summer essentially provided zero funding for efforts needed to land humans on the Moon this decade. But now a subcommittee of the House Committee on Space, Science, and Technology has begun reviewing the space agency’s policy, expressing concerns about Chinese competition in civil spaceflight.