Kiona N. Smith

Kiona N. Smith

Space.com Contributor

Kiona Smith is a science writer based in the Midwest, where they write about space and archaeology. They've written for Inverse, Ars Technica, Forbes and authored the book, Peeing and Pooping in Space: A 100% Factual Illustrated History. They attended Texas A&M University and have a degree in anthropology. 

Latest articles by Kiona N. Smith

a rust orange yellow sky and landscape features a rocky surface in the foreground, with a large pointed hill beyond.

Cosmic rays may complicate the quest to find life on Mars

By Kiona N. Smith published

We may be racing against the clock to identify signs of life on Mars — and it's all because of cosmic rays.

Mars
Caption:An artist’s illustration of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope revealing, in the infrared, a population of small main-belt asteroids.

James Webb Space Telescope finds smallest asteroids ever seen between Mars and Jupiter

By Kiona N. Smith published

A team of astronomers just spotted dozens of tiny asteroids in JWST date — including the smallest ever seen in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Asteroids
a bright yellow star swirling in the center of a massive gaseous disk orbiting around.

Hubble Telescope peeks at star with planet-forming disk that gets 3 times hotter than the sun

By Kiona N. Smith published

Scientists used the Hubble Space Telescope to observe a star with a planet-forming disk that gets to absolutely scorching temperatures.

Stars
an array of planetary bodies and an asteroid belt stretch from left to right across space.

A super-Earth beyond Mars would have made Earth nearly uninhabitable

By Kiona N. Smith published

There's something big missing from our solar system — and that may be a good thing.

Solar System
Worlds lined up next to one another in an artist's concept.

Lava could light up the James Webb Space Telescope's search for watery exoplanets

By Kiona N. Smith published

Scientists are trying to figure out how minerals connected to exoplanetary water would look to the James Webb Space Telescope.

James Webb Space Telescope