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 

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The Inspiration4 crew are pictured inside a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on Sept. 12, 2021, during a dress rehearsal for their Sept. 15 launch. From left: Chris Sembroski, Sian Proctor, Jared Isaacman and Hayley Arceneaux.

Private astronauts are not 'space tourists' (op-ed)

By Rick Tumlinson published

The Inspiration4 mission will launch an all-civilian crew of culturally and socially blended people on a mission funded by a billionaire. None of them will be tourists.

Four people — none of them trained astronauts — are scheduled to launch into orbit aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule on Sept. 15, 2021.

SpaceX Inspiration4 mission will send 4 people with minimal training into orbit — and bring space tourism closer to reality

By Wendy Whitman Cobb published

Organized and funded by entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, the Inspiration4 mission touts itself as "the first all-civilian mission to orbit" and represents a new type of space tourism.

sun

Curious Kids: Why is the sun's atmosphere hotter than its surface?

By Hannah Schunker, David Pontin published

The truth of the matter is — we don't know!

For centuries, sailors have told tales of huge swaths of ocean glowing on dark nights.

Scientists are using new satellite tech to find glow-in-the-dark milky seas of maritime lore

By Steven D. Miller published

For centuries, sailors have been reporting strange encounters like this one.

An artist's impression of dark matter in the beginning of the universe.

Is dark matter made of 'Fermi balls' forged in the Big Bang?

By Paul Sutter published

A new theory suggests dark matter may have come from quantum bags that got squished together in the early universe.

sun-like stars

A quarter of sunlike stars eat their own planets, according to new research

By Lorenzo Spina published

How rare is our solar system? In the 30 years or so since planets were first discovered orbiting stars other than our sun, we have found that planetary systems are common in the galaxy.

An artist's depiction of matter swirling around a black hole.

Primordial black holes may flood the universe. Could one hit Earth?

By Paul Sutter published

What are the chances that a primordial black hole forged in the earliest moments of the universe will come wandering toward Earth?

greenland

When Greenland was green: Rapid global warming 55 million years ago shows us what the future may hold

By Milo Barham, Jussi Hovikoski, Michael B.W. Fyhn published

Frozen northeast Greenland seems an unlikely place to gain insight into our ever-warming world.

The Binar-1 satellite is a 10-cm cube.

We're launching Australia's first scratch-built satellite, and it's a giant leap towards the moon

By Ben Hartig published

On Aug. 28, a SpaceX rocket will blast off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, carrying supplies bound for the International Space Station.

An overhead view of South Africa's MeerKAT radio-telescope array while it was under construction. The 64-dish network was inaugurated in July 2018.

Analysis of 2,000 galaxies using the MeerKat radio telescope reveals fresh insights

By Fangxia An published

Galaxies – massive collections of gas, dust, and billions of stars and their solar systems – are a fundamental component of our universe.

Titan's northernmost giant lake, Ligeia Mare, contains enough vinyl cyanide to form the cell membranes of ten million cells per cubic centimeter.

The five most impressive geological structures in the solar system

By David Rothery published

When we talk about amazing geological features, we often limit ourselves to those on Earth.

An artist's rendition of a future space colony.

The billionaire space race reflects a colonial mindset that fails to imagine a different world

By Ted McCormick published

It was a time of political uncertainty, cultural conflict and social change.

iss e orig.

An Australian 'space command' could be a force for good — or a cause for war

By Cassandra Steer published

Having a dedicated space command will bring Australia into line with Canada, India, France and Japan, all of which recently created similar organisations within their armed forces.

Traveling through a wormhole could be possible in certain gravity conditions.

Traversable wormholes are possible under certain gravity conditions

By Paul Sutter published

Certain weird gravity conditions would make it possible to travel through a wormhole and back.

An artist's depiction of colliding black holes causing ripples in the fabric of space-time.

How do gravitational waves work?

By Paul Sutter published

Fishing on the high seas is expensive, and the profits are often small.

Thousands of ocean fishing boats could be using forced labor – we used AI and satellite data to find them

By Gavin McDonald published

Fishing on the high seas is a bit of a mystery, economically speaking.

Ghost forest panorama in coastal North Carolina.

Sea level rise is killing trees along the Atlantic coast, creating 'ghost forests' that are visible from space

By Emily Ury published

Permanent flooding has become commonplace on this low-lying peninsula, nestled behind North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The trees growing in the water are small and stunted.

An artist's depiction of the metal-rich asteroid Psyche, which a NASA spacecraft will visit later this decade.

What can we do with a captured asteroid?

By Paul Sutter published

Asteroids are packed with gold and other valuable resources. And the best way to harvest those metals may be to bring space rocks to Earth.

An artist's depiction of what the surface of Proxima b might be like,

How can we take pictures of Earth-like exoplanets? Use the sun!

By Paul Sutter published

If we ever want to take pictures of an Earth-like exoplanet, we need to think bigger than the biggest telescopes on Earth.

Parkes 64 meter radio telescope with space shuttle Atlantis, International Space Station in the sky behind it.

Cyberspace and outer space are new frontiers for national security, according to an expert report

By Steven Freeland, Danielle Ireland-Piper, Dan Jerker B. Svantesson, Jonathan Crowe, Samuli Haataja, Wendy Bonython published

What do cyberspace and outer space have in common?