Space Exploration News

Ancient Mars was Planet of Rivers, Planetary Scientists Say

Bench-and-slope morphology pictured on Mars (top) and nose morphology from the ground at Mars Mont Mercou outcrop (bottom). Image credit: NASA / Caltech-JPL / MSSS.
Oct 25, 2023 by News Staff

Ancient river deposits exist across Mars and can be identified in satellite data by erosional landforms called fluvial ridges. Fluvial ridges take the shape of ancient river deposits, and are useful for understanding the history of water on the Red Planet. However, NASA’s Curiosity rover at Gale crater, Mars, has observed river deposits that are not associated with fluvial ridges, but rather bench- and nose-like landforms that are not generally...

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Greer et al. analyzed tiny zircon crystals inside lunar dust collected in 1972 by Apollo 17 astronauts. Image credit: Eugene A. Cernan / Eric Hartwell.

Moon is Nearly 40 Million Years Older than Previously Thought

Oct 24, 2023 by News Staff

By analyzing tiny lunar zircon crystals gathered by Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972, planetary scientists recalculated the age of the Moon. Although previous...

An artist’s impression of the InSight lander on Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

InSight’s Largest Marsquake Was Likely Caused by Geological Processes, Study Says

Oct 18, 2023 by News Staff

During its time on Mars, NASA’s InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) lander recorded over 1,300 seismic...

This false-color image shows the dwarf planet Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Planetary Researchers Probe Origin of Complex Organics on Ceres

Oct 17, 2023 by News Staff

How aliphatic organic compounds originated on the dwarf planet Ceres has been the subject of intensive research since their discovery by NASA’s Dawn...

The Paleolithic settlement at Abu Hureyra in what is now Syria may have been destroyed 12,800 years ago because of a comet. Image credit: Jennifer Rice, Comet Research Group.

Comet Airburst Initiated Transition to Agriculture 12,800 Years Ago, Scientists Say

Oct 16, 2023 by News Staff

Around 12,800 years ago, Earth collided with fragments of a disintegrating comet, triggering Younger Dryas climate change; this event created environmental...

A view of the outside of the OSIRIS-REx sample collector. Sample material from asteroid Bennu can be seen on the middle right. Image credit: NASA / Erika Blumenfeld / Joseph Aebersold.

Sample Material from Asteroid Bennu Contains Carbon and Water, NASA Scientists Say

Oct 11, 2023 by News Staff

The sample was collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security, Regolith Explorer) spacecraft...

Space weather from the Sun, such as coronal mass ejections, disturbs Earth’s magnetic field, causing the aurorae and potentially decreasing the magnetic field’s reliability for migrating birds. Image credit: John Megahan.

Severe Space Weather Events Disrupt Nocturnal Bird Migrations, Researchers Find

Oct 11, 2023 by News Staff

Earth’s magnetic field is occasionally but regularly impacted by bursts of energy from the Sun (space weather), such as coronal mass ejections. Birds...

An artist’s illustration of a solar storm. Image credit: NASA.

Extreme Solar Storm Hit Our Planet 14,300 Years Ago, Subfossil Tree-Rings Show

Oct 9, 2023 by News Staff

In new research, scientists from the University of Leeds and elsewhere measured radiocarbon levels in ancient trees preserved within the eroded banks of...

New Horizons mosaics of Arrokoth (left) and the same observations overlain with geologic mapping (right). Image credit: Stern et al., doi: 10.3847/PSJ/acf317.

Kuiper Belt Object Arrokoth’s Large Mounds Have Common Origin, New Study Suggests

Oct 3, 2023 by News Staff

The 5-km-long mounds that dominate the appearance of the larger lobe of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth are similar enough to suggest a common origin,...

Hubble observed Saturn on June 20, 2019 as the planet made its closest approach to Earth this year, at approximately 808 million miles away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / M.H. Wong, University of California, Berkeley / OPAL Team.

Saturn’s Rings May Have Formed Following Massive Collision between Two Moons, Scientists Say

Oct 3, 2023 by News Staff

Saturn’s rings could have evolved from the debris of two progenitor icy moons that collided and shattered a few hundred million years ago; debris that...

An artist’s impression of the Gliese 414 system. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Novel AI Technique Reveals Sample’s Biological or Non-Biological Origin with 90% Accuracy

Sep 26, 2023 by News Staff

The search for definitive biosignatures — unambiguous markers of past or present life — is a central goal of paleobiology and astrobiology....

The sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after touching down in the desert, September 24, 2023, at the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range. Image credit: NASA / Keegan Barber.

Sample Return Capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex Mission Lands Successfully in Utah

Sep 25, 2023 by News Staff

OSIRIS-Rex’s capsule containing precious samples from the near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu landed safely in a targeted area of the Department of Defense’s...

Webb identified carbon dioxide on the icy surface of Europa that likely originated in the moon’s subsurface ocean. Image credit: Geronimo Villanueva, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Samantha Trumbo, Cornell University / NASA / ESA / CSA / Alyssa Pagan, STScI.

Europa’s Carbon Dioxide Originates from Source within Its Subsurface Ocean, Planetary Scientists Say

Sep 22, 2023 by News Staff

Jupiter’s icy moon Europa has an ocean beneath a crust of water ice. Solid carbon dioxide has previously been observed on the surface, but the source...

If the Moon has enough water, and if it’s reasonably convenient to access, future explorers might be able to use it as drinking water or to convert it into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel or oxygen to breathe. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

High-Energy Electrons from Earth’s Plasma Sheet May Be Forming Water on Lunar Surface

Sep 18, 2023 by News Staff

Planetary scientists from the University of Hawaii and elsewhere suggest that although they have confirmed the importance of the solar wind as a major...

The NASA UAP independent study team recommends that NASA plays a prominent role in the whole-of-government effort to understand UAP by leveraging its extensive expertise to contribute to a comprehensive, evidence-based approach that is rooted in the scientific method. The team members specifically recommend that NASA utilize its existing and planned Earth-observing assets to probe the local environmental conditions associated with UAP that are initially detected by other means. In so doing, NASA can directly probe whether certain environmental factors are coincident with known UAP. They further recommend that NASA explore enhancing collaborations with the U.S. commercial remote-sensing industry, which offer powerful constellations of high-resolution Earth-observing satellites. Image credit: NASA.

NASA’s UAP Study Team Releases Its Final Report

Sep 18, 2023 by News Staff

On September 14, 2023, the NASA Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena independent study team published its final report containing a series of recommendations...

This image of the main-belt asteroid Dinkinesh was captured by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft on September 5, 2023. The brightest star in this field of view is HD 34258, a 7.6 magnitude star in the constellation of Auriga that is too dim to be seen by the naked eye from Earth. At this distance, Dinkinesh is only 19 magnitude, about 150,000 times fainter than that star. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / SwRI / Johns Hopkins APL.

Lucy Sends Back Its First Images of Main-Belt Asteroid Dinkinesh

Sep 12, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The small main-belt asteroid (152830) Dinkinesh was recently added to NASA’s Lucy mission and will be the first fly-by target on November 1, 2023. This...

A fragment of the Erg Chech 002 meteorite. Image credit: Steve Jurvetson / CC BY 2.0.

4.6-Billion-Year-Old Meteorite Provides New Insights into Early Solar Nebula

Aug 29, 2023 by News Staff

Scientists have determined a precise lead isotopic age of the andesitic achondrite meteorite Erg Chech 002. Their result, combined with published aluminum-26-magnesium-26...

This oblique perspective view of Lycus Sulci and Yelwa Crater on Mars was generated from the digital terrain model and the nadir and color channels of the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express. It shows the large 8-km-wide Yelwa Crater in the background, while the wrinkled terrain of Lycus Sulci dominates the foreground. These features lie on the edge of the ‘aureole’ of Olympus Mons. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

ESA’s Mars Express Focuses on Surroundings of Olympus Mons Volcano

Aug 24, 2023 by News Staff

Lava flows on Olympus Mons probably melted ice in the ground, making the volcano flank unstable; rockfalls and landslides moved hundreds of km into the...

JAXA astronaut Aki Hoshide, ISS Expedition 32 flight engineer, taking a space selfie during extravehicular activity on September 5, 2012, with the Sun behind him. Image credit: NASA.

Long Duration Spaceflights Destroy Red Blood Cells and Bone: Study

Aug 23, 2023 by News Staff

But our body can eventually replenish them back on Earth with the help of bone marrow fat, according to new research. JAXA astronaut Aki Hoshide, ISS Expedition...

Polygonal ridges on Mars: (a) general view of bedrock surrounding the rover on sols 3,154 to 3,156 showing widespread polygonal ridges; (b) close-up showing ‘stepped’ exposure of polygons within large bedrock blocks; (c) view of bedrock with polygons and locations of ChemCam analysis on ridge (red rectangle) and APXS analysis on smooth host bedrock (dotted circle); (d) remote micro-image of cemented ridge with spots analyzed by ChemCam (reticles 1 to 5), highlighting details of nodular texture; (e, f) bedrock with polygonal pattern (e) and interpretative overlay (f) that shows prominent ridges (solid red lines), less certain ridges (dotted red lines) and cross-cutting later-stage Ca-sulfate-filled veins (white areas). Image credit: Rapin et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06220-3.

Early Mars Had a Sustained, Cyclic, Possibly Seasonal, Climate

Aug 10, 2023 by News Staff

New observations of mud cracks made by NASA’s Curiosity rover show that high-frequency, wet-dry cycling occurred in early Martian surface environments,...

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