Expert Voices

SPACE.com invites experts in space exploration, science & technology to provide insightful commentary and informed perspective on news, current events, innovations, big ideas and ongoing research. Expert Voices includes Op-Ed analysis and opinion as well as interesting observations from the field and space exploration efforts around the world.

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A new series of films on MagellanTV envisions a robust return to Venus and examines the planet's vital contributions to science and art. Surprisingly, there is evidence there may be life in its atmosphere.

Don't ignore Venus — Earth's twin hides surprising opportunities (op-ed)

By David Sky Brody

In many ways, Venus shows us an Earth that could have been; the twin that grew up in a different environment.

Could the universe collapse into a singularity? New study explains how.

By Paul Sutter

All you need is some string.

This image of the NGC 1398 galaxy, which is located in the Formax cluster, was taken with the Dark Energy Camera.

Dark energy: Map gives clue about what it is — but deepens dispute about the cosmic expansion rate

By Julian Bautista

Dark energy is one of the greatest mysteries in science today.

Illustration of NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars.

Mars 2020: The hunt for life on the Red Planet is about to get serious

By Monica Grady

Next spring is going to be a busy time for Mars.

Space tourists will face big risks, as private companies gear up for paid suborbital flights

By Sara M. Langston

While some hazards of spaceflight and the space environment — like G-forces, radiation, vibration and microgravity — are well documented, many risks remain unknown.

It's long been a mystery how fast the Earth's magnetic field changes.

Earth's magnetic field may change faster than we thought — new research

By Christopher Davies

Our new study, published in Nature Communications, has uncovered some answers.

It has been estimated that there will be one surgical emergency every 2.4 years on a mission to Mars.

From floating guts to 'sticky' blood — here's how to do surgery in space

By Nina Louise Purvis

Surgical emergencies are in fact one of the main challenges when it comes to human space travel.

The tiny floating duckweed plant is uniquely suited to meet the nutritional needs of astronauts.

Duckweed is an incredible, radiation-fighting astronaut food — and by changing how it is grown, we made it better

By Barbara Demmig-Adams

When room and supplies are limited — like during space travel — you need to optimize for a different set of goals to meet the needs of the people you are trying to feed.

Neowise seen from the International Space Station.

Comet Neowise: An increasingly rare opportunity to spot an icy wanderer with the naked eye

By Gareth Dorrian, Ian Whittaker

Neowise is the first bright comet to be visible with the naked eye from the northern hemisphere since the mid-1990s.

A Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-IIA rocket carrying the Hope Mars orbiter for the United Arab Emirates launches from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on July 20, 2020 Japan Standard Time (July 19 EDT/GMT).

UAE Mars mission: Extraordinary feat shows how space exploration can benefit small nations

By Ine Steenmans, Neil Morisetti

The concept for the Hope mission arose from a quest to fundamentally redirect a nation's trajectory.

NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, shown here in an artist's concept, will become the agency's two newest explorers on Mars when they arrive at the Red Planet in February 2021. Both were named by students as part of an essay contest.

Why Persevere — to Mars? (Op-Ed)

By Janet Ivey

In the year that is 2020, #WhyPersevere? Janet Ivey, President, of Explore Mars and creator of Janet's Planet, shares her reasons why Perseverance is exactly what we need now more than ever.