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

An artist’s illustration of the red supergiant Betelgeuse. Its surface in this view is covered by large starspots, which reduce its brightness. During their pulsations, such stars regularly release gas into their surroundings, which condenses into dust.

Betelgeuse's weird dimming caused by gigantic starspots

By Mike Wall published

Betelgeuse's weird recent dimming was caused by starspots that temporarily covered at least half of the red supergiant's surface, a new study suggests.

Artist's illustration of Space Perspective's balloon-borne Spaceship Neptune high above Earth.

Space Perspective wants to take tourists on balloon rides to the stratosphere

By Mike Wall published

Space Perspective aims to send paying customers and payloads to the stratosphere in its Spaceship Neptune, a balloon-borne capsule that's scheduled to make its first test flights early next year.

Artist's illustration of the European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter detecting the green glow of oxygen in the Martian atmosphere. This emission, spotted on the dayside of Mars, is similar to the night glow seen around Earth’s atmosphere from space.

Weird green glow spotted in atmosphere of Mars

By Mike Wall published

Europe's Trace Gas Orbiter spotted an emerald glow in Mars' wispy atmosphere, marking the first time the phenomenon has been spotted on a world beyond Earth.

Fast Radio Burst Reaching Earth

Mysterious deep-space flashes repeat every 157 days

By Mike Wall published

Astronomers have discovered an activity cycle in another fast radio burst, potentially unearthing a significant clue about these mysterious deep-space phenomena.

Earthrise, as soon from lunar orbit by the Apollo 14 astronauts in 1971.

Earth from space: 'Overview effect' could help troubled country, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson says

By Mike Wall published

Neil deGrasse Tyson thinks we could all use a strong dose of the overview effect right now.

The first stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that launched the Demo-2 mission on May 30, 2020, arrives in Florida's Port Canaveral on June 2, 2020.

SpaceX rocket returns to shore after historic astronaut launch (photos)

By Mike Wall published

The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket that launched SpaceX's Demo-2 mission arrived in Port Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday (June 2).

On the upper left side of this image from May 29, 2020, from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory — shown here in the 171-angstrom wavelength, which is typically colorized in gold — one can see a spot of light hovering above the left horizon. This light emanates from solar material tracing out magnetic field lines that are hovering over a set of sunspots about to rotate over the left limb of the sun.

Sun unleashes biggest flare since 2017. Is our star waking up?

By Mike Wall published

Friday morning, our star fired off its strongest flare since October 2017, an eruption spotted by NASA's sun-watching Solar Dynamics Observatory.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch launches two NASA astronauts into orbit on a Crew Dragon spacecraft from Pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 30, 2020.

With SpaceX's first astronaut launch, a new era of human spaceflight has dawned

By Mike Wall published

The launch of SpaceX's first crewed mission is a very big deal. Here's why.

This SpaceX diagram shows the many steps it takes to get Crew Dragon to the International Space Station on the Demo-2 mission.

Why SpaceX has to wait until Saturday for its next try to launch astronauts for NASA

By Mike Wall published

If you're frustrated that you now have to wait until Saturday (May 30) to see SpaceX's first crewed launch, you can blame Mother Nature and orbital mechanics.

The crew access arm swings away from the Demo-2 SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on May 27, 2020. Bad weather nixed a planned liftoff on that day.

SpaceX delays 1st astronaut launch for NASA due to bad weather

By Mike Wall published

SpaceX will have to wait a few days to make history.

SpaceX's Demo-2 Crew Dragon, the first to carry astronauts, stands atop its Falcon 9 rocket at Launch Pad 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center as the crew access arm swings into position for launch.

SpaceX will launch NASA astronauts for the 1st time today. Here's what to expect.

By Mike Wall published

SpaceX's first-ever crewed mission, a test flight called Demo-2, is scheduled to launch at 4:33 p.m. EDT today (May 27) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

A Soyuz-2 rocket launches a missile-warning satellite from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia on May 22, 2020.

Russian military satellite launch spawns space-junk fireball over Australia (video)

By Mike Wall published

Russia launched a military satellite to orbit on Friday (May 22), and the mission generated plenty of drama in the downward direction as well.

Artist's impression of a city on Mars, which SpaceX wants to help establish with its Starship transportation system.

Colonizing Mars may require humanity to tweak its DNA

By Mike Wall published

Genetic enhancement could allow humanity to push surprisingly far out into the final frontier.

This image shows the disk around the young AB Aurigae star, where the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) has spotted signs of planet birth. Close to the center of the image, in the inner region of the disk, we see the "twist" (in very bright yellow) that scientists believe marks the spot where a planet is forming. This twist lies at about the same distance from the AB Aurigae star as Neptune from the sun. The image was obtained with the VLT's SPHERE instrument in polarized light.

Baby exoplanet spotted growing around distant star (photo)

By Mike Wall published

New imagery pinpoints the spot where a baby planet is forming around the young star AB Aurigae, which lies 520 light-years from Earth.

The SR-71 Blackbird spy plane.

Elon Musk and Grimes named their baby in honor of the 'coolest plane ever'

By Mike Wall published

Appropriately enough, the name of Elon Musk's newborn son contains a tribute to pioneering aerospace tech.

A U.S. Air Force X-37B space plane, encapsulated ahead of a planned May 16, 2020, launch. That liftoff will kick off the sixth mission for the X-37B program.

US Space Force to launch the next X-37B space plane mystery mission on May 16

By Mike Wall published

The sixth X-37B mission is scheduled to lift off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station May 16, Space Force officials announced Wednesday (May 6).

The Arecibo Observatory captured this radar image of the big asteroid 1998 OR2 on April 18, 2020. 1998 OR2 will fly by Earth at a distance of 3.9 million miles (6.3 million kilometers) on April 29.

Big asteroid shows itself ahead of Earth flyby on April 29

By Mike Wall published

The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico captured a radar image of 1998 OR2, which will zoom within 3.9 million miles (6.3 million kilometers) of our planet on April 29.

A photograph showing SpaceX's first batch of Starlink satellites during launch on May 23, 2019.

SpaceX's Starlink satellites will soon get glare-reducing 'sunshades,' Elon Musk says

By Mike Wall published

SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites will soon sport an accessory to tamp down their surprising brightness.

Some of the dozens of engineers involved in creating a ventilator prototype specially targeted to coronavirus disease patients at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

NASA engineers build new COVID-19 ventilator in 37 days

By Mike Wall published

A prototype ventilator built in just 37 days by engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory passed a key test this week at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

An artist's illustration of a brilliant supernova, the explosive death of a star.

Weird star explosion is brightest supernova ever seen

By Mike Wall published

A mammoth star explosion known as SN2016aps, which occurred in a galaxy about 3.6 billion light-years from Earth, is the brightest supernova ever seen, a new study reports.

This simulation depicts the interstellar object 'Oumuamua as a mass of fragments forced into an elongated shape by stellar tidal forces.

New origin story of 'Oumuamua interstellar visitor does not involve aliens

By Mike Wall published

The mysterious interstellar object 'Oumuamua is probably a fragment of a larger body that was torn apart by gravitational forces during a close flyby of its native star, a new study suggests.

Uranus is uniquely tipped over among the planets in our solar system. Uranus' moons and rings are also orientated this way, suggesting they formed during a cataclysmic impact which tipped it over early in its history.

What smacked Uranus on its side? Something icy and as massive as Earth, scientists say.

By Mike Wall published

Astronomers have worked out details of the giant impact that knocked Uranus so famously askew.

Stratolaunch's Talon-A, shown here in an artist's concept, is one of several new hypersonic vehicles to be launched from the company's massive carrier plane, the world's largest aircraft.

Stratolaunch to launch hypersonic vehicles from world's biggest airplane

By Mike Wall published

Stratolaunch has found another use for the biggest airplane ever built.

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk discusses the company's successful Falcon Heavy rocket test launch in February 2018.

Elon Musk says he'll have 1,200 ventilators ready to deliver this week

By Mike Wall published

SpaceX and Tesla engineers are set to make a big contribution to the coronavirus fight, just a week after Elon Musk offered to help.

The Event Horizon Telescope captured this image of the supermassive black hole and its shadow that's in the center of the galaxy M87.

'Infinite subrings' may be next frontier for photographing black holes

By Mike Wall published

Black-hole photography could be even more powerful and revelatory than scientists had thought.

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