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NASA’s asteroid-hunting spacecraft, NEOWISE, has officially concluded its journey, meeting its end as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and burned up on 1 November. Over its 15-year lifespan, NEOWISE catalogued nearly 3,000 near-Earth objects, including numerous asteroids, providing critical data for researchers studying potential planetary threats. The space agency confirmed NEOWISE’s re-entry on social media the following day, marking the end of a mission that significantly advanced NASA’s understanding of near-Earth space.

A Two-Phase Mission Evolution

NASA has confirmed that NEOWISE has entered the Earth’s atmosphere after spending 15 yeaers in space. The spacecraft was initially launched as WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) to observe the universe in infrared light. During the first phase, WISE captured some of the universe’s most luminous galaxies, hidden black holes and the coolest stars. However, in 2011, the spacecraft’s coolant reserves depleted, putting it into hibernation. In 2013, NASA reactivated WISE, repurposing it as NEOWISE to focus on tracking near-Earth objects—a critical step toward planetary defence.

Amy Mainzer, who led the NEOWISE project at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), noted that its ability to detect asteroids was initially unexpected, saying in 2019 that it turned out to be exceptionally effective at identifying near-Earth objects. NEOWISE eventually collected vast amounts of data, which Joseph Hunt, its last project manager at JPL, stated would continue to benefit the scientific community for years.

Atmospheric Drag and the End of NEOWISE

The spacecraft’s demise was largely due to the solar maximum, the peak of the Sun’s 11-year cycle, which led to increased solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These solar events warmed and expanded Earth’s atmosphere, creating drag that gradually drew NEOWISE closer to Earth. Without propulsion capabilities, the spacecraft was unable to boost its orbit, ultimately leading to its atmospheric re-entry.

Next Steps in Near-Earth Object Detection

Although NEOWISE is now out of operation, NASA’s efforts to detect asteroids remain active. The NEO Surveyor, a successor mission specifically designed to identify near-Earth objects in infrared light, is slated for a late 2027 launch. Expected to bolster planetary defence strategies, the NEO Surveyor will be NASA’s first telescope dedicated to this critical task, carrying forward NEOWISE’s legacy in protecting Earth from potential space threats

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MIT Study Reveals Why Roman Concrete Lasts Thousands of Years

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MIT Study Reveals Why Roman Concrete Lasts Thousands of Years

Ancient Roman structures have always been a major attraction for both common people and researchers. The durability of those magnificent architectural feats like the Pantheon of Rome has made researchers curious about how they are standing tall nearly after two thousand years of the height of the Roman empire. While The longevity of these structures can be attributed largely to Roman concrete, question still prevails about the speciality and the materials used in the concrete itself. 

Ingredients of Roman concrete

According to the study published in the journal Science Advances, an international team of researchers led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that not only are the materials slightly different from what we may have thought, but the techniques used to mix them were also different.

One key ingrediant was pozzolan, or ash. The Romans used ash from the volcanic beds of the Italian city Pozzuoli and shipped it all over the empire. The silica and alumina in the ash react with lime and water in a pozzolanic reaction at ambient temperatures, resulting in a stronger, longer lasting concrete.
Another key ingredient is lime clasts, or small chunks of quicklime.

These clasts give Roman concrete its self-healing capability. Concrete weathers and weakens over time, but water can infiltrate its cracks and reach the clasts. When they react with the water, the clasts create crystals called calcites that fill in the cracks.

Difference with modern day cement

The high-temperature kiln process used today to make modern day Portland cement, grinds all materials into fine powder. It eliminates the lime clasts which results into the lack of the self-healing properties of Roman cement.

The Romans utilized a method known as hot mixing, which involves combining quicklime with pozzolan, water and other ingredients and then heating them up. The MIT team found that this method helps unlock the lime clasts’ self-healing abilities, and can result in faster setting than cement made with a quicklime-water solution called slaked lime.

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Venus Is Alive: Scientists Discover Signs of Ongoing Geological Activity

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Venus Is Alive: Scientists Discover Signs of Ongoing Geological Activity

In a finding published in the journal Science Advances on May 14, 2025, researchers have unleashed fresh evidence that Venus is still alive geologically. Venus and Earth had similar sizes and exploded by comparable amounts of water billions of years ago. This shared origin has raised questions like why Venus became extremely uninhabitable while Earth is flourishing in a cradle of life. After more than thirty years, NASA’s Magellan spacecraft tracked the surface of Venus, and scientists found the hot material rising signals from the interior of the planet, signalling that the crust is still getting shaped.

Venus May Still Be Geologically Active, Scientists Say

According to Research revealed that Venus is active geologically, shaping its surface by internal heat. Scientists analysed the large, ring-shaped structures called coronae, formed when a hot mantle pushes the crust upside down and collapses into circular depressions.

Gael Cascioli, an assistant scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre, said this gives valuable insight into subsurface motion. Out of 75 Coronae, analysed with the help of NASA’s Magellan spacecraft data, 52 sit above the active, buoyant mantle plumes, which is very hard to believe.

Similarities Between Venus and Early Earth

Anna Gulcher, the co-lead of the study, said that these ongoing processes are similar to the Earth. Venus holds 100s of coronae, particularly within the thin crust and high thermal places.

Venus’ Surprisingly Thin Crust

Justin Filiberto of NASA’s Astromaterials Research Division found that the Venus crust could break off or melt when it exceeds just 65 km in thickness, a thin barrier.

Crustal Recycling and Volcanic Activity

The crust shearing not just shaped the surface but also recycled the materials, such as water in the interior of Venus, which triggers the volcanic activity and the shifts of the atmosphere. The mechanism resets how the geology, atmosphere and crust on Venus work simultaneously.

Upcoming Missions to Unveil More

The future missions include NASA’s VERITAS and DAVINCI. Further, ESA’s EnVision is going to provide high-resolution data for validating the findings. Suzanne Smrekar put emphasis on these missions could change our understanding of Venue geology together with clues of the Earth’s past.

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New Analysis Weakens Claims of Life on Distant Exoplanet K2-18b

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New Analysis Weakens Claims of Life on Distant Exoplanet K2-18b

Last month, astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope made headlines by announcing they had detected hints of the chemicals dimethyl sulphide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) on the exoplanet K2-18b, located 124 light-years away from the Earth. These chemicals are only produced by life such as marine algae on Earth, meaning they are considered potential “biosignatures” indicating life. recent follow-up research questions the reliability of this finding. A new study led by researchers from the University of Chicago reanalysed the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) data and found the evidence for DMS far less convincing than previously reported.

Weakening of signals

According to a recent arxiv preprint, yet to be peer-reviewed, Rafael Luque, Caroline Piaulet-Ghorayeb, and Michael Zhang, used a joint approach by combining all JWST observations across its key instruments (NIRISS, NIRSpec, and MIRI). They found that the supposed DMS signal becomes significantly weaker when all data are considered together. Differences in data processing and modelling between the original studies also cast doubt on the initial results.

According to the team, even when DMS-like signals appear, they are weak, inconsistent, and can often be explained by other, non-biological molecules like ethane. The researchers stressed the importance of consistent modelling to avoid contradictory interpretations of planetary atmospheres.

Spectral Complexity

Molecules in an exoplanet’s atmosphere are typically detected through spectral analysis, which identifies unique “chemical fingerprints” based on how the planet’s atmosphere absorbs specific wavelengths of starlight as it passes or transits in front of its host star.

The difference between DMS and ethane a common molecule in exoplanet atmospheres is just one sulfur atom, and current spectrometers, including those on the JWST, have impressive sensitivity, but still face limits. The distance to exoplanets, the faintness of signals, and the complexity of atmospheres mean distinguishing between molecules that differ by just one atom is extremely challenging. The recent claim of a “3-sigma” detection of DMS falls short of the scientific standard for confirmation. The team calls for more rigorous standards in both scientific publication and media reporting.

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