Space Exploration News

This colorful view of Mercury was produced by using images from the color base map imaging campaign during MESSENGER’s primary mission. These colors are not what Mercury would look like to the human eye, but rather the colors enhance the chemical, mineralogical, and physical differences between the rocks that make up the planet’s surface. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Mercury’s Crust May Hide Metal beneath Its Surface

Aug 31, 2026 by Sergio Prostak

Using a novel laboratory calibration, planetary researchers in Germany have produced the most reliable map yet of silica (SiO2) concentrations across the...

Venus in real colors, processed from Mariner 10 images. Image credit: Mattias Malmer / NASA.

Something in Venus’ Clouds is Absorbing Astonishing Amount of Sunlight

Aug 27, 2026 by News Staff

New research puts stringent limits on the unknown ‘material’ responsible for Venus’ dark ultraviolet markings, suggesting it must absorb sunlight...

This image of Phobos in front of the Sun was captured by Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z camera on August 12, 2026. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS / SSI.

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Spots Phobos Crossing the Sun

Aug 24, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Perseverance has caught the silhouette of Phobos, one of the two Martian moons, sweeping across the solar disk in a fresh transit video from Jezero crater. This...

This artist’s impression shows a field of Population III stars as they would have appeared a mere 100 million years after the Big Bang. Image credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva / Spaceengine.

Rocky Planets May Have Started Forming Just 100 Million Years after Big Bang

Aug 12, 2026 by News Staff

New simulations suggest supernova explosions of the Universe’s first stars scattered the ingredients for rocky planets only 100 million years after the...

This Pluto mosaic was made from New Horizons LORRI images taken on July 14, 2015, from a distance of 49,700 miles (80,000 km). This view is projected from a point 1,118 miles (1,800 km) above Pluto’s equator, looking northeast over the dark, cratered Cthulhu Regio toward the bright, smooth expanse of icy plains called Sputnik Planum. Pluto’s North Pole is off the image to the left. This mosaic was produced with panchromatic images from the New Horizons LORRI camera, with color overlaid from the Ralph color mapper onboard New Horizons. Image credit: S.A. Stern et al.

Liquid Nitrogen May Have Flowed on Pluto’s Surface in Recent Past

Aug 9, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Planetary researchers analyzing images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft have found evidence that liquid nitrogen may still be seeping up from beneath...

$The polygon fractures discovered by Curiosity in Gale crater, Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.$

Curiosity Finds Massive Field of Honeycomb-Shaped Fractures on Mars

Aug 5, 2026 by News Staff

NASA’s Curiosity rover has stumbled on the largest patch of polygon-shaped ground fractures it has ever seen on Mars, a discovery that could reveal more...

According to NASA scientists, complex chemical compounds called tholins give Pluto a distinctive blue haze. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Pluto’s Thin Atmosphere May Be Starting to Shrink

Aug 4, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Pluto’s tenuous atmosphere appears to have begun contracting after years of holding steady, according to a new study published in the Planetary Science...

NASA’s Spirit rover on Mars. Image credit: NASA.

Hidden Clues in Spirit Rover Data Suggest Mars Once Had Far More Water than Scientists Realized

Jul 29, 2026 by Sergio Prostak

A new look at more than two decades’ worth of archival data from NASA’s Spirit mission suggests that the Martian soil may hold iron-bearing minerals...

Artist’s concept of ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Europa’s Ice Shell May Be Tougher Barrier than Planetary Scientists Hoped

Jul 27, 2026 by News Staff

Europa’s subsurface ocean has long topped astrobiologists’ wish lists as a place to search for life beyond Earth. But new research led by a Rutgers...

This hemispheric view of Venus was created using radar observations, including images from NASA’s Magellan spacecraft. Magellan imaged more than 98% of Venus. Gaps in the Magellan coverage were filled with images from the Earth-based Arecibo radar. The composite image was processed to improve contrast and to emphasize small features, and was color-coded to represent elevation. Magellan launched on May 4, 1989, and was deployed from the cargo bay of Space Shuttle Atlantis on May 5, 1989. The spacecraft orbited Venus from August 10, 1990, until October 13, 1994 when the spacecraft was commanded to plunge into the atmosphere of Venus. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / USGS.

Giant Rift Valleys Hint Venus is Still Tectonically Active

Jul 24, 2026 by News Staff

New 3D computer simulations from ETH Zurich show that young rift flanks on Venus stay tall and steep, while older ones flatten out over time. This hemispheric...

The north polar region of Io was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft on December 30, 2023. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt.

Juno’s Microwave Vision Peers beneath Surface of Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io

Jul 23, 2026 by Natali Anderson

New data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft show temperatures spike more than 20 degrees Celsius just a few meters under Io’s surface, providing the first...

These images from Mars Color Imager (MARCI) aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) show Mars before (left) and during (right) the June 2018 dust storm. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona.

Space Weather May Warp Martian Weather during Dust Storms, Planetary Scientists Suggest

Jul 22, 2026 by News Staff

Planetary researchers have found the first evidence that bursts of energetic particles from the Sun could warm the lower atmosphere of Mars during massive...

This painting depicts an asteroid slamming into tropical, shallow seas of the sulfur-rich Yucatan Peninsula in what is today southeast Mexico. The aftermath of this immense asteroid collision, which occurred approximately 65 million years ago, is believed to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. Shown in this painting are pterodactyls, flying reptiles with wingspans of up to 50 feet, gliding above low tropical clouds. Image credit: Donald E. Davis / NASA.

Dinosaurs May Have Been Wiped Out by ‘Oddball’ Space Rock

Jul 17, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

By analyzing nickel isotopes preserved in the 66-million-year-old debris left by the Chicxulub impact, researchers conclude that the asteroid responsible...

This impressive view of Charon was captured on July 14, 2015. Charon’s color palette is not as diverse as Pluto’s; most striking is the reddish north (top) polar region, informally named Mordor Macula. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Pluto’s Moon Charon May Still Be Slowing Its Spin, Study Suggests

Jul 15, 2026 by News Staff

New research indicates that Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, may continue to lose rotational energy despite the pair’s long-standing tidal lock, offering...

This image of the near-Earth asteroid Torifune was captured with the ONC-T instrument aboard JAXA’s Hayabusa-2 spacecraft on July 5, 2026. Image credit: JAXA / University of Tokyo / Chiba Institute of Technology / Institute of Science Tokyo / AIST / Paris Observatory / IAC.

Hayabusa-2 Snaps Stunning Close-Up Images of Asteroid Torifune during Flyby

Jul 8, 2026 by Natali Anderson

On July 5, 2026, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Hayabusa-2 spacecraft completed the first asteroid encounter of its extended mission, flying past...

Tianwen-2 captured this image of 2016 HO3 on July 2, 2026 from a distance of about 20 km. Image credit: CNSA.

China’s Tianwen-2 Spacecraft Reaches Earth’s Quasi-Moon after One Billion-Kilometer Journey

Jul 7, 2026 by Natali Anderson

On July 2, 2026, the Tianwen-2 probe closed to within 20 km (12.4 miles) of the small near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3, one of only seven Earth quasi-satellites...

This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance on the surface of the Red Planet. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Perseverance Finds Complex Organic Matter on Mars

Jun 30, 2026 by Natali Anderson

NASA’s Perseverance rover has uncovered the most extensive evidence yet of complex organic molecules on Mars, detecting macromolecular carbon in rocks...

The North Pole Dome crater: (A) simplified map of the East Pilbara Terrane (EPT, Western Australia), showing Paleoarchean granite domes (pink) and greenstone belts (greens and blues); the North Pole Dome (NPD) lies near the terrane center; (B) geological map of the NPD and the shatter-cone field (yellow star); (C) A quartz (Qtz)-carbonate vein cutting shatter-cone lineation. Image credit: Kirkland et al., doi: 10.1130/G54866.1.

Australia’s North Pole Dome Crater is Earth’s Oldest and Only Known Archean Impact Structure

Jun 25, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Zircon crystals and impact-altered minerals show that a massive asteroid slammed into what is now the Pilbara region of Western Australia about 3 billion...

The asteroid Donaldjohanson is composed of two heavily cratered lobes, connected by a smoother neck, with overall dimensions 8.8 km by 4.4 km by 3.1 km. Image credit: NASA / Goddard / SwRI / Dan Gallagher.

Asteroid Donaldjohanson is Wobbly, Peanut-Shaped Object with Watery Past, Scientists Say

Jun 22, 2026 by News Staff

The main-belt asteroid Donaldjohanson, a heavily cratered fragment born from a catastrophic breakup 155 million years ago, appears to wobble through space...

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