Meghan Bartels
Meghan is a senior writer at Space.com and has more than five years' experience as a science journalist based in New York City. She joined Space.com in July 2018, with previous writing published in outlets including Newsweek and Audubon. Meghan earned an MA in science journalism from New York University and a BA in classics from Georgetown University, and in her free time she enjoys reading and visiting museums. Follow her on Twitter at @meghanbartels.
Latest articles by Meghan Bartels
![An image shows a coronal mass ejection bursting off the sun on Nov. 2, 2021.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/36TH7bTp2WCCKLMS9Qkd9j-320-80.jpg)
Solar storm from 'cannibal' sun eruption may impact power grid and bring auroras as far south as Pennsylvania
By Meghan Bartels published
A powerful solar storm could interfere with power grids, satellites and radio signals — although it might also have sent the beautiful northern lights incredibly far south.
![Dark silicate glass is seen against the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/gYnEkUp3Q8mxVBWmxD4SRK-320-80.png)
Massive comet exploding over Chile 12,000 years ago may have created strange glassy rocks
By Meghan Bartels published
Be grateful you weren't in what is now Chile's Atacama Desert 12,000 years ago.
![A view of the Hubble Space Telescope in orbit.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/NKDNovEQ2ZAXVtcfiQrvY7-320-80.jpg)
NASA still working to figure out why Hubble's science instruments went dark
By Meghan Bartels published
NASA is still working to understand a glitch that took instruments on a venerable space observatory out of commission.
![A newly released Hubble Space Telescope image shows galaxy NGC 6984, which is located about 200 million light-years from Earth.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/zfdxLEuUULX4YmD2w2uRfg-320-80.jpeg)
Hubble telescope searches for aftermath of rare double star explosion (photo)
By Meghan Bartels published
Stellar explosions are messy affairs, so two consecutive supernovas in the same galaxy are bound to leave a mark.
![A photograph taken by the Perseverance rover of the Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars in April, just after the rover deployed the chopper.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/oJWjgKKts56uAZsx2bfidC-320-80.jpg)
The Mars helicopter Ingenuity is ready to fly again after interplanetary radio blackout
By Meghan Bartels published
NASA's Mars helicopter is ready to make its first flight attempt after a two-week communications blackout caused by the sun's being directly between Earth and the Red Planet.
![Cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky shared this photo of the International Space Station on Twitter on Sept. 29, 2021. He and two colleagues were relocating a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from one port to another at the time.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/46SoWfbWAVsNRsh8u53hsR-320-80.jpg)
China, space junk and more: Senators voice spaceflight concerns
By Meghan Bartels last updated
The risk of collisions in space, the fate of the United States in orbit after the space station retires and continuing debates over NASA's path back to the moon dominated a two-hour hearing.
![An observer captured a flash on Jupiter on Oct. 15, 2021, as seen in Japan with a Celestron C6.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/9aqpEcV4o7aqF3JKCpK2sH-320-80.jpg)
Jupiter hit by another space rock in rare views captured by Japanese skywatchers
By Meghan Bartels published
It's tough to be the biggest planet in the solar system, and this fall Jupiter is taking a beating.
![Astronaut Nicole Stott's "Back to Earth" chronicles her experience on the International Space Station and how the lessons there could help people on Earth.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/VrQYbLAEhmas74GZ7bARVN-320-80.jpg)
In 'Back to Earth,' NASA astronaut brings the space station mindset home
By Meghan Bartels published
Astronaut Nicole Stott's new book "Back to Earth" chronicles her experience on the International Space Station and how lessons there could help people on Earth.
![South Korea's new rocket, Nuri, made its first launch on Oct. 21, 2021, but did not deliver its mock payload to orbit.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/x43aBk8C9LZ9utNst6Gt4D-320-80.png)
South Korea's 1st Nuri rocket fails to put payload in orbit in debut space launch
By Meghan Bartels published
South Korea's first launch of its new rocket, dubbed Nuri seemed to go smoothly — until engineers determined that the mock payload hadn't been delivered to the proper orbit for unknown reasons.
![An artist's depiction of Lucy's solar arrays in the process of deploying.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/djGBSB4f3Z8WjQaLaRkyjW-320-80.jpg)
NASA's Lucy asteroid probe settles into Earth-orbiting cruise as engineers tackle solar array glitch
By Meghan Bartels published
Days after NASA's new mission to a mysterious group of asteroids launched, spacecraft personnel continue battling an issue with one of the vehicle's two massive solar arrays.
![Lucy's solar panels unfurled during spacecraft work before launch. Lucy will become the solar-powered spacecraft to venture the farthest from the sun.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/2kdtZA7hsUsGHKcBAM7y7K-320-80.jpeg)
NASA eyes solar array glitch on new Lucy asteroid spacecraft
By Meghan Bartels last updated
NASA's newly launched mission bound for the Trojan asteroids has to address a small issue with its solar panels.
![An artist's depiction (not to scale) of the Trojan asteroids clumped ahead of and behind Jupiter.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/wLGaKUZoe3LLbDzTyaGpQK-320-80.jpeg)
NASA's Lucy probe will visit 8 asteroids in 12 years. Here's how it will work.
By Meghan Bartels last updated
Squeezing flybys of eight asteroids, most in a completely unexplored region of space, into just 12 years is a challenge, but that's exactly what NASA's newest mission will do.
![An artist's depiction of the Lucy spacecraft studying an asteroid.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/yAfb9gZnUdYiVhZyVxnAEM-320-80.jpg)
NASA's Lucy asteroid mission will explore mysteries of the early solar system
By Meghan Bartels last updated
Spacecraft have visited most pockets of the solar system by now, but a new region is about to come under the robotic inspection: the two clumps of asteroids that flank mighty Jupiter in its orbit.
![Paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson saw the Lucy spacecraft, named for his discovery of a 3-million-year-old hominin, in July 2021, when the spacecraft was nearly complete.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/fnLkQxKJVMpfM7FXNSD2n6-320-80.jpg)
Discoverer of Lucy asteroid mission's namesake fossil excited to watch Saturday launch
By Meghan Bartels published
Decades ago, Donald Johanson found fossils of an early hominin that would rewrite scientists' understanding of our species. Now, he'll watch a spacecraft named for the discovery blast off Earth.
![The Lucy spacecraft enclosed in its fairing being lifted onto its rocket in preparation for launch.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/qhnvGkBi9SQNBVQfvyyEfk-320-80.jpg)
NASA's daring Lucy asteroid mission is ready to launch
By Meghan Bartels last updated
NASA's newest asteroid mission, a spacecraft targeting space rocks that orbit ahead of and behind Jupiter, is ready to begin its journey.
![The Chang'e 5 return capsule at its landing site in Inner Mongolia, China, on Dec. 17, 2020.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/3NCMwQUC6sTUpa9GZ2gaH4-320-80.jpg)
Moon rocks brought to Earth by Chinese mission fill key gaps in solar system history
By Meghan Bartels published
China's new moon-rock treasure trove may be a billion years younger than the material the Apollo program brought home decades ago, according to new research.
![Engineers decked out in protective "bunny suits" inspect the Perseverance rover in a clean room in 2019, before the spacecraft launched to Mars.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/gWmWu4gTPjKpS8cC9nXPFg-320-80.jpg)
Not all Mars spacecraft might need such deep cleaning, scientists find
By Meghan Bartels published
Mars-bound landers and rovers may not need to undergo quite such stringent cleaning procedures as they previously have before leaving Earth.
![A photograph of Mars taken by MarCO-B after its closest approach to the Red Planet on Nov. 26, 2018.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/jrjYUw2KJbjo9xCcykDxQW-320-80.jpeg)
3 years after tiny spacecraft made Mars history, where are all their successors?
By Meghan Bartels published
When NASA's most recent Mars lander trekked out to the Red Planet, it had historic company: two tiny cubesats, the first to leave the relative safety of Earth orbit.
![A composite image shows the passage of 2005 QN173, a rare active asteroid. The nucleus is in the upper left corner of the image; the tail streaks diagonally across the frame.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/vjs8MtyfZAADBYPKwbpmgV-320-80.jpeg)
Is it an asteroid or comet? This strange solar system object is actually both.
By Meghan Bartels published
Scientists have identified a rare solar system object with traits of both an asteroid and a comet.
![Actor William Shatner, at left, and Blue Origin Vice President of Mission & Flight Operations, at right, will fill the final two seats on the Oct. 12, 2021, New Shepard crewed flight.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/826yBnhmCxheLnKYkAoWHC-320-80.jpg)
William Shatner will launch into space with Blue Origin on Oct. 12
By Meghan Bartels last updated
Actor William Shatner and a Blue Origin vice president will fill the last two seats on the company's second crewed flight.
![Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos celebrates his company's first crewed flight, on which he was a passenger, on July 20, 2021.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/FtPHCQTN9zU545VodQTa4V-320-80.jpg)
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin faces scathing criticism of safety and culture
By Meghan Bartels published
With Blue Origin's second crewed flight less than two weeks away, the company is facing scathing allegations about its culture and the safety of its suborbital launch system, New Shepard.
![An image of Hurricane Sam as seen from the International Space Station, shared by NASA astronaut Megan McArthur on Sept. 29, 2021.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/rUT6NDCCZdT7wedLBfMHZd-320-80.jpg)
Astronaut snaps stunning photos of massive Hurricane Sam from space
By Meghan Bartels published
NASA astronaut Megan McArthur shared three photos of the massive Hurricane Sam as seen from the International Space Station.
![Elon Musk, SpaceX founder, as seen during the company's Demo-2 mission, a crewed test flight to the International Space Station conducted in 2019.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/477BWzog6mSW7dQzZUx2y8-320-80.jpg)
Elon Musk scorns Jeff Bezos' lawsuit on NASA moon lander
By Meghan Bartels published
SpaceX founder Elon Musk isn't impressed by his rival Jeff Bezos' legal approach to a moon shot.
![A screenshot of the system scientists used to correlate footage of a February 2020 fireball with still images.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/PgFzpKSWBpaLYwZnMy3vR4-320-80.png)
Brilliant dashcam fireball videos help scientists find 3 meteorites in Slovenia
By Meghan Bartels published
By diligently tracing dashcam footage from a particularly spectacular fireball seen over central Europe in February 2020, a team of scientists hit pay dirt on three fragments of space rock.
Get the Space.com Newsletter
Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!