Mike Wall

Mike Wall

Space.com Senior Writer
Michael was a science writer for the Idaho National Laboratory and has been an intern at Wired.com, The Salinas Californian newspaper, and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. He has also worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Articles by: Mike Wall

The Library of the Great Silence will feature artifacts of transition, like this handaxe.

'Library of the Great Silence' invites E.T. to share long-term survival strategies

By Mike Wall published

Intelligent aliens will soon have a space here on Earth where they can share how they made it through their technological adolescence.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover used its dual-camera Mastcam-Z imager to capture this image of "Santa Cruz," a hill within Jezero Crater, on April 29, 2021.

NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars has found some mysterious rocks (photos)

By Mike Wall published

For the past five weeks, Perseverance has been focused primarily on supporting and documenting the flights of NASA's Ingenuity helicopter. But the rover has been doing some science work, too.

A Long March 5B rocket launches Tianhe, the core module of China's new space station, on April 28, 2021.

Huge Chinese rocket booster falls to Earth over Arabian Peninsula

By Mike Wall published

The 23-ton core stage of a Chinese Long March 5B booster crashed back to Earth Saturday night (May 8), ending 10 controversial days aloft that captured the attention of the world.

Stratolaunch's Roc carrier plane performed its second-ever test flight on April 29, 2021.

Stratolaunch flies world's largest airplane on 2nd test flight

By Mike Wall published

Stratolaunch's Roc carrier plane, which is being groomed to haul hypersonic vehicles aloft, conducted its second-ever test flight Thursday morning (April 29).

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity takes its third flight on the Red Planet in this zoomed-in view of a photo from the Perseverance rover taken on April 25, 2021.

Mars helicopter Ingenuity goes long distance in 3rd flight on Red Planet

By Mike Wall published

Ingenuity aced its third-ever Martian flight early Sunday morning (April 25), adding to its already impressive resume.

This photo, snapped on April 22, 2021 by NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity, shows tracks made by the Perseverance rover on Jezero Crater's floor. “This is the first color image of the Martian surface taken by an aerial vehicle while it was aloft,” NASA officials wrote.

Mars helicopter Ingenuity snaps epic photo of rover tracks, will attempt 3rd flight Sunday

By Mike Wall published

NASA's history-making Mars helicopter Ingenuity will make its third Red Planet flight this weekend, if all goes according to plan.

This still image from NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars shows the Mars Helicopter Ingenuity hovering above the Martian surface during its historic first flight on April 19, 2021.

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity takes off on historic 1st powered flight on another world

By Mike Wall published

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter lifted off on the Red Planet early this morning (April 19), performing the first-ever powered flight on a world beyond Earth.

This low-resolution view of the floor of Mars’ Jezero Crater and a portion of two wheels of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover was captured by the agency’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter on April 3, 2021. It’s the first color photo taken by Ingenuity on the Martian surface.

Mars Helicopter Ingenuity snaps 1st color photo on Red Planet

By Mike Wall published

The 4-lb. (1.8 kilograms) chopper captured its first color photograph on Saturday (April 3), shortly after being lowered to the Martian dirt by the Perseverance rover.

The three Merlin engines on SpaceX's SN11 prototype firing during the craft's test flight on March 30, 2021.

SpaceX identifies cause of Starship SN11 prototype's crash

By Mike Wall published

The stainless-steel SN11 didn't stick its landing last week because of a plumbing problem, according to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk.

An Airbus-built Pleiades Earth-observation satellite captured this view of the Ever Given container ship stuck in the Suez Canal on March 25, 2021.

The huge ship stuck in the Suez Canal seen in photos from space

By Mike Wall published

A massive container ship's embarrassing and inconvenient predicament is visible from space.

Space junk created by a 2007 Chinese anti-satellite test hit a Russian satellite on Jan. 22, 2013.

US military to keep wary eye on Chinese and Russian space ambitions under President Biden

By Mike Wall published

The space ambitions of Russia and China will likely stay front and center for the U.S. military during the administration of President Joe Biden.

The International Space Station jettisons a 2.9-ton pallet carrying used batteries on March 11, 2021. This photo was posted on Twitter by NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins.

Space station tosses 2.9-ton hunk of space junk overboard. It will stay in orbit for years.

By Mike Wall published

The International Space Station discarded a 2.9-ton pallet of used batteries on Thursday morning (March 11), the most massive object it has ever jettisoned.

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is on the search for planets outside our solar system, including those that could support life. The mission finds exoplanets that periodically block part of the light from their host stars — events called transits.

Newfound super-Earth alien planet whips around its star every 0.67 days

By Mike Wall published

We keep getting reminders that the Milky Way's planetary diversity dwarfs what we see in our own solar system.

The Perseverance rover's wind sensor has been deployed, as this shot by one of the robot's navigation cameras shows.

NASA's Perseverance rover deploys wind sensor on Mars

By Mike Wall published

NASA's Mars rover Perseverance continues getting up to speed on the Red Planet.

A portion of the panorama captured by the Mastcam-Z camera system aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover. The full panorama consists of 142 images taken on Feb. 21, 2021.

Perseverance rover snaps gorgeous HD panorama of Mars landing site

By Mike Wall published

Perseverance has captured a high-definition, 360-degree panorama of its surroundings on the floor of Mars' Jezero Crater, which harbored a lake and a river delta billions of years ago.

SpaceX's Starship SN9 prototype conducted a 6.2-mile-high (10 kilometers) test flight from the company's South Texas site on Feb. 3, 2021.

FAA closes investigation of SpaceX's Starship SN9's test-flight crash

By Mike Wall published

The path is now much clearer for the test flight of SN9's successor, SN10.

A diagram of the key steps in the Mars 2020 mission's entry, descent and landing sequence of Feb. 18, 2021.

A new 7 minutes of terror: See the nail-biting Mars landing of NASA's Perseverance rover in this video

By Mike Wall published

Perseverance will attempt to land inside Mars’ Jezero Crater on Feb. 18. A new video shows how the spacecraft’s harrowing entry, descent and landing will work.

China's Tianwen-1 Mars mission enters orbit around the Red Planet in this still from a video animation. Tianwen-1, China's first Mars mission, arrived at Mars on Feb. 10, 2021.

China's first Mars mission, Tianwen-1, successfully enters orbit around Red Planet

By Mike Wall published

China's first fully homegrown Mars mission, Tianwen-1, arrived in orbit around the Red Planet Wednesday (Feb. 10).

An artist's depiction of NASA's Mars 2020 rover, Perseverance, storing samples of Martian rocks in tubes for future delivery to Earth. Perseverance will land inside Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.

NASA's Mars rover Perseverance is in the home stretch of its journey to Red Planet

By Mike Wall published

The car-size Perseverance rover, which launched on July 30 of last year, is scheduled to land inside the 28-mile-wide (45 kilometers) Jezero Crater on Feb. 18.

This composite image of the galaxy cluster Abell 2261 contains optical data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Japan's Subaru Telescope showing galaxies in the cluster and in the background, and data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory showing hot gas (colored pink) pervading the cluster. The middle of the image shows the large elliptical galaxy in the center of the cluster.

A giant black hole keeps evading detection and scientists can't explain it

By Mike Wall published

The big galaxy at the core of the cluster Abell 2261 should harbor a supermassive black hole that weighs as much as 3 billion to 100 billion suns. But astronomers can't find it.

China's Chang'e 5 sample-return capsule is seen back on Earth after delivering the first new samples of moon rocks in 44 year. The landing occurred at1:59 a.m. Dec. 17 Beijing time in the Siziwang Banner of Inner Mongolia. It was 12:59 p.m. EST (1759 GMT) and landing.

China's Chang'e 5 capsule lands on Earth with the 1st new moon samples in 44 years

By Mike Wall published

China's Chang'e 5 moon sample-return capsule landed in Inner Mongolia on Wednesday (Dec. 16), returning lunar rocks for the first time since 1976.

SpaceX's Starship SN8 prototype launches on its first high-altitude test flight from Boca Chica, Texas on Dec. 9, 2020.

SpaceX's Starship SN8 prototype soars on epic test launch, with explosive landing

By Mike Wall published

SpaceX's Starship spaceflight system just took a big step on its path to Mars.

SpaceX's Starship SN8 rocket prototype stands atop its test stand at the company's Boca Chica, Texas facility during an attempted high-altitude launch test on Dec. 8, 2020.

SpaceX aborts Starship SN8 prototype test launch at last second

By Mike Wall published

SpaceX's first attempt to launch a Starship prototype on a high-altitude test flight ended with a last-second abort in Texas on Tuesday (Dec. 8).

An artist's illustration of China's Chang'e 5 moon sample-return spacecraft on the lunar surface.

China's Chang'e 5 lands on the moon to collect the 1st fresh lunar samples in decades

By Mike Wall published

China has landed on the moon again — and this time the country plans to bring home some souvenirs.

A Chinese Long March 5 rocket launches the Chang'e 5 moon sample-return mission into orbit from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on Hainan Island in southern China on Nov. 24, 2020 Beijing time (Nov. 23 EST).

China launches historic Chang'e 5 mission to collect the first moon samples since 1976

By Mike Wall published

The first lunar sample-return mission since the 1970s is underway.

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