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.

Related Topics: Expert Voices - Don Lincoln, Expert Voices - Leroy Chiao, Expert Voices - Paul Sutter, Expert Voices - Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Expert Voices - The Kavli Foundation 

Latest Updates

international space station

A chunk of a Chinese satellite almost hit the International Space Station. They dodged it — but the space junk problem is getting worse

By Mark Rigby, Brad Carter published

The satellite exploded into more than 3,500 pieces of debris, most of which are still orbiting.

Crewmembers on a simulated Red Planet mission work at The Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station in Utah.

Tourists a (major) problem at Mars analog site

By Shannon Rupert published

Making a Red Planet simulation as realistic as possible is key to The Mars Society's research. Crews can accomplish this, but not with constant outside interference.

Are we listening in vain?

SETI: Why extraterrestrial intelligence is more likely to be artificial than biological

By Martin Rees published

Is there intelligent life elsewhere in the universe?

The galaxy cluster Abell 1689 is famous for the way it bends light in a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. Study of the cluster has revealed secrets about how dark energy shapes the universe.

Why is there a 'crisis' in cosmology?

By Paul Sutter published

Since 2014, there have been over 300 proposals for solutions to the "crisis in cosmology." None of these proposals is universally agreed upon by cosmologists, and the crisis just keeps getting worse.

Artist's illustration of a supermassive black hole emitting a jet of energetic particles.

Some supermassive black holes may contain fingerprints from the Big Bang

By Paul Sutter published

The elements around some giant black holes may be subtly different from the cosmic average, retaining a relic memory of the young universe.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured this view of the interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov on Oct. 12, 2019.

How much of the solar system is made of interstellar stuff?

By Paul Sutter published

The detection of interstellar objects in the solar system has raised an interesting question: How much of the solar system is made of foreign material?

big bang, expansion of the universe.

What if the universe had no beginning?

By Paul Sutter published

The CUAVA-1 satellite departs from the International Space Station.

Forecasting space weather is hard. A new Australian satellite may help make it easier

By Brett Carter, Iver Cairns published

The new satellite is the first designed and built by the Australian Research Council Training Centre for Cubesats, UAVs, and their Applications (or CUAVA for short).

This drawing by Adam Paulsen shows his observation of the aurora from Godthaab, Greenland, on Nov. 15, 1882.

People have long claimed to hear the northern lights. Are the reports true?

By Fiona Amery published

People have long claimed they can hear the northern lights, saying the sounds include eerie whizzing, crackling and buzzing. Is it just an auditory illusion?

Artist impression of BepiColombo flying by Mercury on 1 October 2021.

First close-up pictures of Mercury from BepiColombo hint at answers to the planet's secrets

By David Rothery published

The BepiColombo spacecraft – a joint project by the European and Japanese space agencies – swung by its destination planet Mercury in the early hours of Oct. 2.

Perseverance took a selfie next to its biggest accomplishment yet – the two small drill holes where the rover took samples of Martian rocks.

Perseverance's first major successes on Mars — an update from mission scientists

By Melissa Rice, Briony Horgan published

In the short time since NASA's Perseverance rover landed in Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021, it's already made history.

The primary mirror of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope as seen in 2017.

Astronomy needs a new long-term approach, new paper argues

By Paul Sutter published

If scientists want astronomy to thrive throughout the 21st century, we need a new approach: to view new observatories through a lens of public benefit.

A train of SpaceX Starlink satellites are visible in the night sky in this still from a video captured by satellite tracker Marco Langbroek in Leiden, the Netherlands on May 24, 2019, just one day after SpaceX launched 60 of the Starlink internet communications satellites into orbit.

Megaconstellations could destroy astronomy and there's no easy fix

By Paul Sutter published

Global satellite-based high-speed internet access will come at a cost, polluting the skies and contaminating astronomical observations.

color of the sky

'Bright skies' named color of the year — here's why there's so much more to the heavens than blue

By Daniel Brown published

The color of 2022 will be "bright skies," according to paint manufacturer Dulux.

Current climate future predictions do not go far enough.

Our climate projections for 2500 show an Earth that is alien to humans

By Christopher Lyon, Alex Dunhill, Andrew P. Beckerman, Ariane Burke, Bethany Allen, Chris Smith, Daniel J. Hill, Erin Saupe, James McKay, Julien Riel-Salvatore, Lindsay C. Stringer, Rob Merchant, Tracy Aze published

astronaut in space international space station

From poo politics to rubbish disposal: 5 big questions about the International Space Station becoming a movie set

By Alice Gorman published

This is an exciting — if controversial — development for the station, which orbits around 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth.

A portrait of the scientist James Clerk Maxwell made around 1875.

Who was James Clerk Maxwell? The greatest physicist you've probably never heard of.

By Paul Sutter published

James Clerk Maxwell is the scientist responsible for explaining the forces behind the radio in your car, the magnets on your fridge, the heat of a warm summer day and the charge on a battery.

The sun sits low on the Arctic horizon during the NASA-sponsored ICESCAPE mission of 2011 as scientists on board the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy headed south in the Chukchi Sea. The mission studies how changing conditions in the Arctic affect the ocean's chemistry and ecosystems.

Arctic sea ice hits its minimum extent for the year — 2 NASA scientists explain what's driving the overall decline

By Alek Petty, Linette Boisvert published

September marks the end of the summer sea ice melt season and the Arctic sea ice minimum, when sea ice over the Northern Hemisphere ocean reaches its lowest extent of the year.

An artist's depiction of a cloud of debris created by a neutron-star collision.

How neutron star collisions flooded Earth with gold and other precious metals

By Paul Sutter published

The universe is pretty good at smashing things together. And when neutron stars do it, the collisions release a flood of elements necessary for life.

It’s important to understand sex and eroticism in space.

Love and rockets: We need to figure out how to have sex in space for human survival and well-being

By Simon Dubé, Dave Anctil, Judith Lapierre, Lisa Giaccari, Maria Santaguida published

Love and sex need to happen in space if we hope to travel long distances and become an interplanetary species, but space organizations are not ready.