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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nasa's space launch system sls illustration

SpaceX vs NASA: Who will get us to the moon first? Here's how their latest rockets compare

By Gareth Dorrian, Ian Whittaker

No-one has visited the Moon since 1972. But with the advent of commercial human spaceflight, the urge to return is resurgent and generating a new space race.

The Valoria 1 crew is fighting to survive the night — Commander's report: sol 8

By Michaela Musilova

Crewmembers sacrifice everything they can to save their simulated Martian mission at HI-SEAS

Illustration of a pair of stars about to merge: a neutron star and a white dwarf, whose gravity is severely distorting the larger white dwarf.

Neutrons' 'evil twins' may be crushing stars into black holes

By Paul Sutter

The universe may be filled with "mirror" particles — and these otherwise-undetectable particles could be shrinking the densest stars in the universe, turning them into black holes.

Virtual reality and creativity help the crew escape their Martian confinement — Commander's report: sol 5

By Michaela Musilova

Stressed out and teased by the weather, the Valoria 1 crew immerses themselves in artistic and imaginative projects.

Mysterious 'kick' just after the Big Bang may have created dark matter

By Paul Sutter

A mysterious "kick" in the early universe may have produced more matter than antimatter. And that imbalance may have also led to the creation of dark matter, researchers now say.

Galaxies eject gas when they merge, preventing new stars forming – new research

By Annagrazia Puglisi

Most stars in the universe today are found in massive galaxies called ellipticals, named for their stretched-out-circle shape.

These astronaut footprints on the Moon aren’t protected yet.

Apollo landers, Neil Armstrong’s bootprint and other human artifacts on Moon officially protected by new US law

By Michelle L.D. Hanlon

It’s hard to care about bootprints sunk in soil 238,900 miles away as humanity suffers the combined burden of an unforgiving virus and a political unease.

The Southern African Large Telescope has been a key part of South Africa’s astronomical contributions.

South African astronomy has a long, rich history of discovery — and a promising future

By Ian Glass

The South African Astronomical Observatory in Cape Town is the oldest permanent observatory in the southern hemisphere: it turned 200 in 2020.

Could we travel to other universes using wormholes?

Wormholes may be lurking in the universe — and new studies are proposing ways of finding them

By Andreea Font

Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity profoundly changed our thinking about fundamental concepts in physics, such as space and time.

A Hubble Space Telescope image of a nearby supernova remnant.

How do stars die?

By Paul Sutter

Surprisingly, the fate of a star is easy to predict. All you need to know is how big it is.

A recent analysis of results from the Large Hadron Collider revealed no evidence of the theory known as supersymmetry.

From squarks to gluinos: It's not looking good for supersymmetry

By Paul Sutter

According to a recent report, there have been no signs of supersymmetry, and the theory is looking a little shaky.

An artist's illustration of two black holes merging and creating ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves.

Did a holographic phase transition in the early universe release gravitational waves?

By Paul Sutter

A team of physicists recently used a string-theory technique to reveal that we're on the cusp of detecting phase transitions in the early universe through their gravitational wave signature.

This graphic shows a map of the universe's expansion rates in different directions, estimated in a recent study by Konstantinos Migkas and collaborators.

Is there more than one dark energy?

By Paul Sutter

What if there is more than one cosmological agent for dark energy? This mixture would have strange effects in our universe, making it potentially detectable with upcoming surveys.