Latest Articles

Latest published articles from SpaceOne Times.

Materials Science

Moon and Mars Soil Falls Short as Space Cement, Study Finds

Researchers have conducted one of the most comprehensive assessments to date of whether lunar and Martian regolith simulants can function as cementitious binders for future extraterrestrial construction. The study found that neither untreated nor moderately processed regolith simulants exhibited meaningful cement-like reactivity. Instead, the materials primarily acted as inert fillers while still contributing to structurally stable concrete mixtures suitable for certain construction applications.

Microgravity Research

How Variable Gravity Could Change Flame Science in Space

A new perspective paper highlights variable gravity combustion as an emerging research frontier for spaceflight safety, rocket operations, and deep-space missions. The study explains why flames behave differently in microgravity, normal gravity, and supergravity, and why changing gravity conditions may create combustion effects that fixed-gravity experiments cannot fully predict.

Galaxies

JWST Finds Earliest Known Barred Spiral Galaxy

Astronomers report M1149-BSG-z5, a massive barred spiral galaxy seen at redshift 5.102, when the universe was about 1.1 billion years old. JWST and HST observations suggest the galaxy already had a stellar bar, spiral-arm structure, active star formation, and an AGN, challenging expectations for how early mature disk galaxies could form.

Early Universe

Rare Galaxy Leak May Reveal How Early Universe Lit Up

Astronomers report LCEz4-M1, a candidate Lyman continuum emitter at redshift 4.444 in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Detected using VLT/MUSE, HST and JWST data, the galaxy may offer a rare direct view of how ionizing radiation escaped from early galaxies and helped shape cosmic reionization.

Exoplanets

Nearby Habitable-Zone Super-Earth GJ 3378 b Found to Be Smaller Than Previously Thought

Astronomers have significantly revised the properties of the nearby exoplanet GJ 3378 b after combining observations from four high-precision spectrographs. The updated analysis shows the planet is less than half as massive as previously estimated while remaining inside its star’s conservative habitable zone. Its lower mass makes it a stronger candidate for having a rocky composition and an important target for future direct imaging and atmospheric studies.

SETI

Stellar Winds May Be Hiding Narrowband Alien Signals

A new study suggests that turbulent plasma surrounding distant stars may broaden narrowband radio transmissions enough to evade conventional technosignature searches. Simulations indicate that the effect could be especially severe around M-dwarf stars and at lower radio frequencies, highlighting the need for search pipelines that examine a wider range of signal widths.

Ocean Worlds

Could Earth Have Seeded Europa’s Hidden Ocean With Life?

A theoretical study proposes that microscopic dust grains expelled from Earth could have carried bacteria to Jupiter’s moon Europa. The model estimates that a large number of potentially life-bearing particles may have reached Europa over tens of millions of years, although their transfer into the subsurface ocean remains unconfirmed.

Black Holes

Supermassive Black Hole Binaries May Reveal Themselves by Lensing Starlight

Astronomers have proposed a new way to find hidden pairs of supermassive black holes by tracking how they gravitationally magnify the light of stars behind them. The study suggests these binaries can create repeating bursts of brightness, called quasiperiodic lensed starlight, that trace their orbits and could also help identify systems later detectable through gravitational waves. This approach could open a new path to discovering close black hole binaries in otherwise quiet galactic centres.

Space Communications

NASA Extends PExT Mission After Successful Space Network Test

NASA’s Polylingual Experimental Terminal has completed its primary technology demonstration and will continue operations through April 2027. The extended mission will test additional communications links, including direct-to-Earth connectivity and enterprise service management tools for future multi-network space operations.

Moon

Tiny X-Ray Telescope Could Map the Moon’s Chemistry

A new simulation study suggests that a compact, lightweight X-ray fluorescence imaging spectrometer could help create global maps of key lunar surface elements. The proposed instrument, based on lobster-eye X-ray optics, may improve future studies of the Moon’s polar regions and support landing-site assessment for upcoming lunar exploration.

Moon

Chandrayaan-3 Reveals Unexpected Diversity in the Moon’s Ancient Highland Crust

New research based on Chandrayaan-3’s Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) data has provided the most detailed geochemical analysis yet of the mission’s landing site in the Moon’s southern highlands. The findings show that the region contains a more magnesium-rich and iron-rich composition than expected for typical lunar highlands. Researchers conclude that the area likely contains a mixture of primordial lunar crust and deeper materials excavated by the massive South Pole–Aitken impact basin.

Solar Flares

AI Solar Flare Forecasts Still Face the Sun’s Uncertainty

A major European research project tested whether big data and machine learning could improve solar flare forecasting. FLARECAST used hundreds of solar active-region properties and multiple machine-learning methods, but found that solar flare prediction remains fundamentally probabilistic.

Astrobiology

Scientists Remain Skeptical Despite Major Alien Life Claims on Mars and K2-18b

Two of the most widely discussed extraterrestrial life claims of 2025 involved the exoplanet K2-18b and the Martian rock known as Cheyava Falls. While both discoveries generated global headlines and optimism about finding life beyond Earth, a new survey of astrobiologists reveals that most experts remain cautious. The study highlights how scientific opinion often evolves gradually rather than shifting immediately toward acceptance of extraordinary claims.

Space Weather

How SWMF Became a Powerful Space Weather Forecasting Model

A major review paper explains how decades of multidisciplinary research produced the Space Weather Modeling Framework, one of the few physics-based systems capable of simulating space weather from the Sun to near-Earth space. Developed at the University of Michigan, SWMF and its BATS-R-US core model now support both scientific research and operational forecasting through NOAA and NASA-linked platforms.

Astrobiology

Why Alien Life Could Be Hiding in Plain Sight, Scientists Argue

The search for extraterrestrial life may be limited not by technology, but by human expectations. Scientists and philosophers argue that deeply rooted assumptions about what life should look like could cause researchers to overlook unfamiliar biosignatures on distant worlds. The challenge, they say, is remaining open to possibilities that do not fit current scientific models.

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