NEW: This month, NASA’s Roman Space Telescope is set to be launched. It’ll find hidden planets and moons, and uncover the secrets of dark matter and dark energy. I also found out that it’ll defend Earth from killer asteroids. Me @techreviewjp.bsky.social www.technologyreview.com/2026/08/05/1...

NASA’s new dark-energy space telescope can also detect killer asteroids

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, set to launch at the end of August, is uniquely well placed to help us spot any dangerous rocks heading our way.

technologyreview.com

NEW: In 2024, the U.S. claimed Russia was thinking about putting a nuke in low-Earth orbit, hidden inside a satellite. But how would we find out if a bomb was really up there? Answer: supercharge a tiny spy robot using Earth's radiation. Me @supercluster.com www.supercluster.com/editorial/if...

A Tiny Spy Satellite Could Find A Hidden Nuke in Orbit

If a uranium-powered bomb is situated at a similar altitude to Russia's suspicious Kosmos-2553 satellite, it would interact with Earth’s natural radiation belts, causing it to cough out energetic part...

supercluster.com

Happy Asteroid Day, to those who celebrate! Want to know how NASA, @esa.int and a global team of scientists and engineers are racing to save the world from killer asteroids? Then buy my book, HOW TO KILL AN ASTEROID—now available in paperback! ☄️ 💥 ☠️ wwnorton.com/books/how-to...

NEW: Back in July 2024, an asteroid exploded above New York. None of it was thought to have survived. It turns out that a huge chunk of this space rock smashed through a house in New Jersey—and it contains the chemistry of an alien world. 🤯 Me @ New York Times: www.nytimes.com/2026/07/15/s...

New Jersey Couple Aids Meteorite Discovery After it Crashes Through Their Roof

A New Jersey couple helped scientists uncover the makeup of an unusual asteroid after it fell into their bedroom.

nytimes.com

NEW: Back in July 2024, an asteroid exploded above New York. None of it was thought to have survived. It turns out that a huge chunk of this space rock smashed through a house in New Jersey—and it contains the chemistry of an alien world. 🤯 Me @ New York Times: www.nytimes.com/2026/07/15/s...

New Jersey Couple Aids Meteorite Discovery After it Crashes Through Their Roof

A New Jersey couple helped scientists uncover the makeup of an unusual asteroid after it fell into their bedroom.

nytimes.com

Pretty sure Star City was a perfect series of television. Bloody hell.

I’m genuinely astounded that, for some madcap reason, the International Astronomical Union decided to name an asteroid after yours truly! This is both absurd and heartwarming. (20635) Robinandrews hangs out between Mars and Jupiter—and at 24km across, it could kill everyone on Earth. ;)

NEW: This week, astronomers are seeing double. A day after Japan’s spacecraft flew by a strange, 2-lobed asteroid, China’s space agency announced that its own robotic envoy had arrived at another space rock — one it wants to heist in the coming months. Me @ NYT www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/s...

In Deep Space, China Meets Earth’s ‘Amazing’ Quasi-Moon

nytimes.com

Meteorite peeps: quick question. I know that enstatite chondrites have a similar chemical makeup to Earth, something that makes scientists think ECs may be like the ‘building blocks’ of Earth. But what about enstatite achondrites? Can we say the same about those, even if they lack chondrules?

Hello asteroid peeps! Can anyone quickly have a chat to me (ideally via email) about Tianwen-2’s arrival at Kamo'oalewa? Let me know ASAP!

NEW: If we have to defend Earth from a killer asteroid, we may need to fly a spacecraft to it super quickly so we can spy on it. As a test, Japan’s space agency did just that—and when they met the asteroid, they were greeted with…two, smushed together! Me @ NYT: www.nytimes.com/2026/07/07/s...

Cosmic Conjoined Twins, Caught on Camera

nytimes.com

YO! I know a lot of asteroid scientists are at a conference right now, but is anyone available to talk for a story about how weird Torifune, the contact binary (!) that Hayabusa2# just flew by, is? LOOK AT THIS THING

Hayabusa2 has performed the Torifune flyby, and on July 5 at 18:35 JST, ground control confirmed that the spacecraft is operating normally.

Happy Asteroid Day, to those who celebrate! Want to know how NASA, @esa.int and a global team of scientists and engineers are racing to save the world from killer asteroids? Then buy my book, HOW TO KILL AN ASTEROID—now available in paperback! ☄️ 💥 ☠️ wwnorton.com/books/how-to...

Tomorrow, an L-1011 Stargazer aircraft will take off from the Marshall Islands, 2,300 miles southwest of Hawaii. With that, an ambitious quest to save the doomed NASA SWIFT space telescope will begin. www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa...

NASA prepares to launch an unprecedented mission to save a dying space telescope

Inside the quest to rescue NASA’s aging Swift observatory

scientificamerican.com

NEW: Yesterday, a rare catastrophe struck Venezuela when a magnitude 7.2 and a magnitude 7.5 quake hit the same region *within less than a minute*. For the @nytimes.com, I asked scientists how this happened, why they were so devastating, and what might happen next. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/25/s...

Why the Venezuelan Earthquakes Happened, and What to Expect Next

nytimes.com

NEW: Yesterday, a rare catastrophe struck Venezuela when a magnitude 7.2 and a magnitude 7.5 quake hit the same region *within less than a minute*. For the @nytimes.com, I asked scientists how this happened, why they were so devastating, and what might happen next. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/25/s...

Why the Venezuelan Earthquakes Happened, and What to Expect Next

nytimes.com

NEW: In 'The Martian', astronaut Mark Watney is stranded on Mars and must find a way to grow potatoes in the planet’s unforgiving, ochre soil. Now, real-life space botanist Jessica Atkin wants to do the same – with chickpeas – on the Moon. Me @newscientist.com www.newscientist.com/article/2529...

The lunar botanist with a plan to farm vegetables on the moon

Jessica Atkin knows more than anyone else about what it would take to supply food for a moon base. She reveals how to build a lunar farm and what astronauts can expect to dine on

newscientist.com

NEW: Earth is drenched in life-giving water. But scientists don't actually know where it all came from. Comets? Asteroids? Now, some (crazy) new experiments offer a tantalising possibility: Earth might have made its own oceans! Me @quantamagazine.bsky.social www.quantamagazine.org/where-did-ea...

Where Did Earth Get Its Oceans? Maybe It Made Them Itself. | Quanta Magazine

At first, scientists thought Earth’s water came from comets. Then, asteroids. Now, they wonder if Earth’s water is homegrown.

quantamagazine.org

NEW: Earth is drenched in life-giving water. But scientists don't actually know where it all came from. Comets? Asteroids? Now, some (crazy) new experiments offer a tantalising possibility: Earth might have made its own oceans! Me @quantamagazine.bsky.social www.quantamagazine.org/where-did-ea...

Where Did Earth Get Its Oceans? Maybe It Made Them Itself. | Quanta Magazine

At first, scientists thought Earth’s water came from comets. Then, asteroids. Now, they wonder if Earth’s water is homegrown.

quantamagazine.org

NEW: Before the first stars were born, there were the Cosmic Dark Ages, a mysterious epoch that whispers in radio waves. And I got a sneaky look at a new plan to hear them—by unfurling an origami telescope in an impact crater on the Moon. 🤯 Me for NatGeo www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...

NEW: Before the first stars were born, there were the Cosmic Dark Ages, a mysterious epoch that whispers in radio waves. And I got a sneaky look at a new plan to hear them—by unfurling an origami telescope in an impact crater on the Moon. 🤯 Me for NatGeo www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...

NEW: Sometimes stories are about major scientific breakthroughs, about the origin of life, the end of worlds—dramatic epiphanies about the cosmos. And sometimes a flaming asteroid photobombs an erupting volcano. Me @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/s...

A Fiery Visitor From Space Photo-Bombs an Erupting Volcano

nytimes.com

NEW: Sometimes stories are about major scientific breakthroughs, about the origin of life, the end of worlds—dramatic epiphanies about the cosmos. And sometimes a flaming asteroid photobombs an erupting volcano. Me @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/s...

A Fiery Visitor From Space Photo-Bombs an Erupting Volcano

nytimes.com

NEW: NASA just made a flurry of announcements about its plan to build a Moon base. They also revealed that they will take not just one, but TWO futuristic rovers to the lunar surface. And last summer, for NatGeo, I got to take them both for a test drive. www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...

An inside look at NASA's new Artemis moon rovers

A retro-futuristic space truck and a nimble crustacean on wheels just won a multibillion-dollar prize to deploy on a future NASA Artemis mission. And we took them out for a spin.

nationalgeographic.com

NEW: Can we mine asteroids to transform the world economy? The thrillseekers at @astroforge.bsky.social think so—and this year, their do-or-die mission to chase down an asteroid will launch. Will they triumph? For PopMech, I visited their HQ to find out. www.popularmechanics.com/space/a70295...

After Two Failed Space Missions, Can a Scrappy Startup Finally Land on an Asteroid and Change Spaceflight?

These mavericks are dead-set on mining asteroids.

popularmechanics.com

NEW: NASA wants to put a nuclear reactor on the Moon—and it's not as crazy as it sounds. But how can they build, launch, land and operate one without a grim accident? For @sciam.bsky.social, I asked leading nuclear experts how NASA might just pull it off. www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa...

NASA’s plan for a nuclear reactor on the moon isn’t as crazy as it sounds

To build its moon base, NASA needs a lot of power

scientificamerican.com

so should we put a nuclear reactor up on the moon or www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/epis...

The surprising case for nuclear energy on the moon

Nuclear power could enable long-term lunar missions, but NASA’s timeline may be too ambitious

scientificamerican.com

NEW: NASA wants to put a nuclear reactor on the Moon—and it's not as crazy as it sounds. But how can they build, launch, land and operate one without a grim accident? For @sciam.bsky.social, I asked leading nuclear experts how NASA might just pull it off. www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa...

NASA’s plan for a nuclear reactor on the moon isn’t as crazy as it sounds

To build its moon base, NASA needs a lot of power

scientificamerican.com

aww the Waymos just wanted to hang out and plot stuff 🥰

Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Dozens of empty Waymos invaded an Atlanta neighborhood and circled a cul-de-sac for hours with no passengers www.wsbtv.com/news/local/a...