Fairly a bit has occurred within the house sector this 12 months, out within the cosmos in addition to on Earth — and truly, in Earth orbit, too.
For example, U.S. President Donald Trump took workplace in solely January, however his administration is chargeable for a wealth of modifications which have flipped life the wrong way up for scientists within the States. China, Russia and India are in the meantime steadily strengthening their house packages, and different international locations are beginning to bloom towards the cosmos as properly. Earth orbit, to say the least, is getting fairly crowded.
However by means of all of it, our reporters have been following the present.
So, to create a must-read story listing for you, we requested our employees to pick out their favourite items of 2025. Alas, when you’re consuming leftover sizzling chocolate or sitting in your room making an attempt to flee questions out of your prolonged household, listed here are some nice reads, twisty reads, important reads and lengthy, joyful reads to chill out into.
1. On NASA sinking its flagship science middle and probably breaking the legislation
Anthony Wooden
Josh has been placing out superb tales all 12 months, however his investigative article revealing the sweeping and chaotic modifications inflicted by NASA management on the Goddard Area Flight Heart was of a special class. It was a thought of, well-researched and thoughtfully written piece that explored the human price of the administration’s actions, whereas alerting the general public to the long-term injury that the secretive strikes might wreak on the company’s scientific capabilities.
It prompted dialogue and motion from each Area.com’s readership and in addition the rating member of the U.S. congressional committee on science, house and expertise, Zoe Lofgren, who cited the story in a letter to NASA performing administrator Sean Duffy whereas demanding that NASA stop its actions and provides “a full accounting of the injury inflicted on Goddard up to now.”
TLDR: Josh is the journalist I wish to be after I lastly develop up.
2. The perplexing saga of an astronaut imposter
Tariq Malik
After greater than 20 years of house reporting, I assumed I might heard a lot of the loopy tales from the house age, however should admit that Jeff Maysh’s story of huckster astronaut wannabe Robert Hunt, who for years play-acted being an astronaut, took me without warning. By way of some meticulous reporting, and interviews with Hunt himself, Jeff recounts an astounding story of 1 man’s willpower to play the function of an area traveler with out truly being one. It is an incredible story, extra so for the way lengthy Hunt appeared to get away with it.
How a pretend astronaut fooled the world, broke girls’s hearts, and landed in jail
3. Edwin Hubble’s helpers and an aurora cruise
Monisha Ravisetti
As an astronomy editor, I learn and write about Edwin Hubble rather a lot, and in many various contexts. His presence permeates a lot of physics as an entire, from the Hubble Area Telescope and Hubble’s Legislation to the Hubble Fixed and ensuing Hubble Stress. However what science author Keith Cooper did together with his look again on how Hubble proved our Milky Manner galaxy is not alone within the universe is give attention to the aspect characters chargeable for Hubble’s nice success — characters very hardly ever spoken about. This engrossing learn is the place my rabbit-hole of information about Milton Humason started, a janitor and mule skinner who helped with the development of Mount Wilson Observatory, then went on to assist Hubble in a number of main discoveries.
I am unsure if that is allowed, however I even have a second favourite that must be on this listing. Perhaps I used to be biased as a result of I learn this story after having a barely tough day and sipping tea in my mattress, however our editor Daisy Dobrijevic’s lengthy, narrative piece about being on a multi-day aurora cruise alongside Norway’s frigid coast was actually a deal with. The vivid imagery and trustworthy retelling of what feelings are concerned when viewing neon ribbons within the sky make you’re feeling such as you had been there. There’s one bit a few window that has stayed in my thoughts. You may know once you learn it.
100 years in the past, Edwin Hubble proved our Milky Manner galaxy is not alone
Is an aurora cruise price it? I joined Hurtigruten’s Signature Voyage to seek out out
4. Trump’s want to slash NASA’s price range rattles scientists
Steve Spaleta
I like how we leaned into writing concerning the present U.S. administration’s questionable choices this 12 months, and this was considered one of my favorites. In occasions of controversy, in-depth reporting issues greater than ever.
‘What a waste:’ US scientists decry Trump’s 47% cuts to NASA science price range
5. A NASA satellite tv for pc corpse in disguise
Brett Tingley
This story from Rob Lea dives into an area thriller, that are all the time my favourite, and explores how a lifeless NASA satellite tv for pc ended up fooling astronomers into pondering they’d found a quick radio burst (FRB) from far past the Milky Manner. That includes interviews with the researchers behind the invention itself, the story explores attainable methods the defunct satellite tv for pc might have produced such a exceptional burst of radio waves — which nonetheless stays a thriller.
6. A scientific convention with a veil of worry
Josh Dinner
Mona’s piece is my high choose due to its well timed and informative content material and its narrative define. She does a beautiful job describing the impacts of NASA’s and the Nationwide Science Basis’s absences at a serious astronomy assembly and connects it to wider points regarding the scientific neighborhood at a time when many of their subject really feel unsure about their educational {and professional} futures.
Mona plainly demonstrates the stakes from an easy-to-understand perspective, and exhibits the significance of such organizations at these sorts of biannual gatherings in a means that put me within the footwear of the disillusioned scientists who traveled all the best way to Alaska just for the headline act to not present up, and the scientists who eagerly await these conferences who had been barred from attending.
I might additionally like so as to add honorable mentions, although, to 2 different good tales from this 12 months: Daisy Dobrijevic’s piece about visiting STARMUS in La Palma and Brett Tingley’s about an Apollo-era radio telescope being up on the market.
NASA’s been pulling out of main astronomy conferences — and scientists are feeling the consequences
I went to STARMUS La Palma for science and music — I got here again in love
This Apollo-era radio telescope within the NC mountains as soon as spied on Soviet satellites. Now it is on the market
7. The division between our universe’s most monstrous objects
Black holes and neutron stars are for sure the 2 most fearsome and spectacular objects within the identified universe. Each are born when large stars die and “go nova.” That implies that the apparent query is: The place is the dividing line between these two our bodies? It’s so cool that we’re on the verge of discovering that division, which is able to lead us towards determining what the largest neutron stars are and what the smallest black holes are.
How compact can a neutron star get earlier than collapsing right into a black gap?
8. An industrial challenge threatening the world’s largest telescope
Daisy Dobrijevic
My favourite tales this 12 months are Tereza Pultarova’s paired options on the menace posed to Cerro Paranal, printed a few 12 months aside. Collectively, they present how journalism can comply with a difficulty past the preliminary alarm, tracing it by means of proof, skilled voices and finally a name to motion. They steadiness the pressing want for clear power with our shared duty to guard the evening sky, highlighting not simply apparent impacts to astronomy like mild air pollution but in addition subtler ones akin to vibrations and turbulence. To me, this is without doubt one of the greatest rising threats to fashionable astronomy — and precisely the type of story we have to maintain telling.
World’s largest telescope threatened by mild air pollution from renewable power challenge
An industrial challenge in Chile threatens Earth’s darkest sky. 28 main astronomers signed an open letter urging to maneuver it
9. The hunt for alien life on Mars will get a lead
Mike Wall
This story is a good instance of find out how to cowl the seek for alien life responsibly. It highlights the inherent complexity and issue of the E.T. hunt with out sucking the joy out of essential discoveries that spot the path, just like the Perseverance rover’s “poppy seed” and “leopard spot” finds. All science journalists ought to search to strike this steadiness.
Did NASA’s Perseverance rover discover proof of historic life on Mars? The plot thickens
10. The movie “Apollo 13” is simply nearly as good as you keep in mind
Ian Stokes
The quintessential house film turned 30 this 12 months, and Wealthy Edwards — considered one of our gifted freelancers — seemed again on Apollo 13 and the way it showcased the grit and willpower of NASA’s scientists, and never simply the rockstar astronauts onboard the stricken craft.
It is a fantastically written retrospective on an outstanding film, and for those who missed it again in June, then it is time to carry out a slingshot maneuver across the moon and test it out now.
‘Apollo 13’ at 30: The house film the place scientists have the proper stuff too
11. The significance of journalism and a comet from past
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry
I actually loved this story as a result of I obtained a entrance row seat to see among the coolest pictures of 3I/ATLAS in existence — and in addition due to the basic journalism spirit behind it. When this information broke, it was night and simply our astronomy editor Mona, myself, our video editor Steve, our spaceflight editor Mike and our editor in chief Tariq had been on Slack, seeing these pictures collectively for the primary time and tag-teaming to get the story polished and printed. At one level, my web (which I fortunately now have up to date) wasn’t working and I freaked out, fearing the job would attain a halt. Fortunately, the delay was brief, and right here we’re.
So … lengthy reply, however general, not solely is that this story a pleasure to learn as a result of it is scientifically spectacular — have a look at these pictures of an interstellar object! — but in addition due to the folks behind it. In a world the place journalism and freedom of the press is below a number of threats, each from rising anti-intellectual tradition and the rise of AI, it is essential to recollect individuals are on the coronary heart of what we do.
