Robots in Space

"Whether it's robotic rovers heading to Mars or, one day, a crew of astronauts, a round-trip journey is an incredibly long one."https://phys.org/news/2026-04-interplanetary-shortcut-mars.html?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter&user_id=66c4c92f5d78644b3ac5d5b4#google_vignette

Artemis 2 Heat Shields

"The Artemis 2 heat shield looks like a sunken treasure from the Titanic in an underwater shot following splashdown."

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/human-spaceflight/artemis-2-heat-shield-is-a-sunken-treasure-in-the-ocean-space-photo-of-the-day-for-april-28-2026

TESS and ASTEP

"Using NASA's exoplanet-hunting spacecraft TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) and Antarctic Search for Transiting ExoPlanets (ASTEP) on the Antarctic Plateau, astronomers have discovered a rare and uniquely weird planetary system."https://www.space.com/astronomy/exoplanets/nasas-tess-spacecraft-discovers-a-weird-system-of-exoplanets-unlike-anything-seen-before?utm_term=1E9CE68B-BB7D-4199-A76E-9D014B1CA562&lrh=64a20f24338333901e4cb7afc40a3cfae56c6770df59fc13cf25a5ce36d78b01&utm_campaign=58E4DE65-C57F-4CD3-9A5A-609994E2C5A9&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BE8C3789-79D9-4F19-8AFD-823EC4DBE5A5&utm_source=SmartBrief

Lyrid meteor shower

"The Lyrid meteor shower put on a spectacular show last night as Earth plunged through the debris stream cast off by comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher), triggering a peak of activity that saw shooting stars blaze a path away from the blue-white star Vega in the constellation Lyra."https://www.space.com/stargazing/meteor-showers/spectacular-photos-of-the-2026-lyrid-meteor-shower-captured-from-earth-and-space?utm_term=1E9CE68B-BB7D-4199-A76E-9D014B1CA562&lrh=64a20f24338333901e4cb7afc40a3cfae56c6770df59fc13cf25a5ce36d78b01&utm_campaign=58E4DE65-C57F-4CD3-9A5A-609994E2C5A9&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BE8C3789-79D9-4F19-8AFD-823EC4DBE5A5&utm_source=SmartBrief

Buckyballs

"The spectacular birthplace of weird carbon molecules known as "buckyballs" came to light in new imagery of a nebula from the James Webb Space Telescope."

https://www.space.com/astronomy/stars/james-webb-space-telescope-peers-into-a-dying-star-surrounded-by-mysterious-buckyballs-the-structures-were-seeing-now-are-breathtaking?utm_term=1E9CE68B-BB7D-4199-A76E-9D014B1CA562&lrh=64a20f24338333901e4cb7afc40a3cfae56c6770df59fc13cf25a5ce36d78b01&utm_campaign=58E4DE65-C57F-4CD3-9A5A-609994E2C5A9&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BE8C3789-79D9-4F19-8AFD-823EC4DBE5A5&utm_source=SmartBrief

Synthetic Universe

"Astronomers say they’ve created an entire synthetic universe which uncannily reproduces the properties of our real one."

https://futurism.com/space/astronomers-create-synthetic-universe

Elusive Particle

"In 2018, researchers in Japan claimed to find concrete evidence of an elusive particle, a Majorana fermion, in a quantum spin liquid called ruthenium trichloride."https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/04/soundwaves-settle-debate-about-elusive-quantum-particle