Latest articles by Leonard David
Risks with current Artemis 3 moon landing plan 'may be too high,' NASA safety group says
An annual safety report to NASA has both praise and also underscores a number of cautionary woes, including the space agency's Artemis undertaking to return astronauts to the moon.
Exploring Venus may require exotic tech like balloons and 'aerobots'
Scientists are proposing ways to explore Venus in the next decade and beyond by way of a host of advanced technologies, from balloons to long-lived landers.
SpaceX to launch water-hunting moon probe 'Lunar Trailblazer' on Feb. 26
NASA's Lunar Trailblazer probe has made it to Florida's Cape Canaveral to prep for its launch to the moon, which could occur as soon as Feb. 26.
Falling space debris is a growing worry for aircraft, new research suggests
Uncontrolled space debris reentries are of growing concern for air traffic, as SpaceX's recent Starship Flight 7 showed.
20 years after crashing in the Utah desert, NASA's Genesis mission is still teaching us about solar wind
Despite crashing in the Utah desert in 2004, NASA's Genesis mission is still helping scientists study the effects of solar wind.
Moon selected as historical preservation site to protect lunar heritage
The World Monuments Fund has added the moon to its watch list of 25 historic places that face major challenges and has called for preserving lunar heritage.
What happened to the flags Apollo astronauts left on the moon?
Astronauts placed six different American flags on the moon during the Apollo program. What became of those flags in the years since, and why were they controversial?
China plans to plant a waving flag on the moon in 2026. Here's how
China's Chang'e 7 moon-landing mission will apparently include a flag that can flutter in the moon's thin and tenuous atmosphere.
Space Force's secretive X-37B space plane soars past 1 year in orbit
The U.S. Space Force X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-7) has silently slipped past one-year of flight time.
How NASA and Sierra Space are preparing for Dream Chaser space plane's 1st flight to ISS
Sierra Space and NASA's Johnson Space Center are conducting simulations to prepare for the Dream Chaser space plane's first flight to the International Space Station.
Can NASA's troubled Mars Sample Return mission be saved?
An independent review team is delivering a final report to NASA leadership to determine if the agency's Mars Sample Return mission is salvageable after facing scrutiny for its $11 billion budget.
Space debris crash in Kenya village believed to be from leftover rocket hardware
Kenya Space Agency officials report a large, “red-hot” metallic ring roughly 8 feet (2.5 meters) in diameter fell from the sky, crashing into Mukuku village.
Understanding UFOs: What has to happen in 2025 to move the UAP story forward?
What should happen in 2025 to move the UAP/UFO story forward? Are we at a dead-end? Conversely, is the coming year one of "full disclosure?"
Planes, drones or UFOs: What are people seeing in the New Jersey sky?
Recent sightings of unidentified aircraft in New Jersey and other states have triggered another round of unanswered questions — and fueled conspiracy theories.
Meet Endurance, a pioneering NASA moon rover designed to survive the frigid lunar night
NASA has begun blueprinting the Endurance rover to traverse the gigantic South Pole–Aitken (SPA) basin, a wonderland of promising geological surprises.
NASA's Mars exploration plans need 'paradigm shifts' to succeed, report finds
NASA has released a new document that highlights planned programmatic paradigm shifts in Mars exploration over the next 20 years.
The yearning for Uranus: A far-out world with a tale to tell
A proposed mission known as Uranus Orbiter and Probe would conduct a multiyear orbital tour to yield knowledge of ice giants in general and the Uranus system in particular.
Will the International Space Station's 2031 death dive cause pollution problems?
The International Space Station will be steered to a controlled destruction in Earth's atmosphere in 2031, if all goes to plan. Should we be worried about the pollution this death dive will cause?
How amateur radio is connecting astronauts in space with kids on Earth
The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) aims to inspire and educate youth in STEM through connecting astronauts in orbit with people on the ground.
'Lunik Heist:' A real-life CIA rocket kidnapping goes to Hollywood
"At a time like this, we need to find more stories from the days when Americans outsmarted the bad guys and planted our flag on the moon."
UFOs 'not attributable to foreign adversaries," new Pentagon report says
"Analyzing and understanding the potential threats posed by UAP is an ongoing collaborative effort involving many departments and agencies."
China's space station experiments are back on Earth
Space specialists in China have begun to assess experiment samples brought back by the Shenzhou-18 crew that touched down November 4 in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Will China return Mars samples to Earth before the US does?
China has moved up its timeline for bringing Mars samples to Earth, aiming to do so as early as 2028 — long before the U.S. is slated to achieve this same ambitious goal.
