A new study has found that an asteroid NASA used for target practice a few years ago was nudged into a slightly different route around the sun. It's the first time that a celestial body's solar orbit was deliberately changed. Scientists reported Friday that the 2022 impact by the Dart spacecraft not only trimmed the asteroid's orbit around its bigger space rock companion, but also around the sun. Researchers say their findings could help divert an incoming killer space rock given enough advance notice. The study was published in Science Advances.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued its first construction permit for a commercial nuclear reactor in eight years. The commission granted the permit Wednesday for a Bill Gates-backed company to build a sodium-cooled nuclear reactor in western Wyoming. The company filed for the permit in 2024. Construction of the reactor 130 miles northeast of Salt Lake City, Utah, is expected to begin within weeks, with a completion target of 2030. Gates is eyeing next-generation nuclear plants as a power source for the electricity-hungry data centers behind artificial intelligence. He is a founder of and primary investor in TerraPower, the company building the plant.

A new study in the journal Nature says most sea level rise research may have underestimated coastal water heights by an average of 1 foot or about 30 centimeters. The discrepancy stems from widespread reliance on gravitational models that account for Earth’s gravity and rotation but overlook local drivers of sea level including tides, currents and wind. Correcting this suggests a 1-meter or 3-foot rise could inundate up to 37% more land and threaten as many as 132 million more people. And that has major implications for climate adaption planning and finance. The findings come as a new UNESCO report warns that major gaps in understanding how much carbon the ocean absorbs are also skewing global climate projections.

The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing a request for new warnings on antidepressant drugs, and that's presenting an unusual conflict of interest at the agency. The researcher asking for the warning is a close friend of the FDA’s top drug official. The Associated Press has learned that Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg is overseeing the FDA's review of the petition by Dr. Adam Urato while also seeking to hire Urato at the agency. Under normal FDA standards, Hoeg would step aside from any work on the petition. But instead she's told FDA workers that they need to speed up their review of Urato's request.

NASA is revamping its Artemis moon landing program. NASA's new administrator Jared Isaacman announced the shake-up in the flight lineup Friday, days after the space agency's new moon rocket returned to its Florida hangar for more repairs. Artemis II — a lunar fly-around by four astronauts — is off until at least April. The follow-up mission Artemis III had been targeting a landing near the moon's south pole by another pair of astronauts. But Isaacman says that mission will now focus on testing a lunar lander in orbit around Earth with astronauts aboard an Orion capsule in 2027. That would be followed by one and possibly two moon landings by astronauts in 2028.

A blood-red moon will soon grace the skies for a total lunar eclipse. There won’t be another until late 2028. The spectacle will be visible Tuesday morning from North America, Central America and western part of South America. Australia and eastern Asia will see it Tuesday night. During a full lunar eclipse, the Earth is between the sun and moon, casting a shadow that covers the full moon. The moon looks red because of stray bits of sunlight filtering through Earth’s atmosphere. A partial lunar eclipse is in store for August, visible across the Americas, Europe, Africa and west Asia.