Space Exploration News

Composite of a true color image of Saturn, observed by Cassini in 2016, overlaid with a false color representation of the ultraviolet aurora in the northern hemisphere as observed on August 20, 2017. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute / A. Bader, Lancaster University.

Cassini Reveals Saturn’s Ultraviolet Auroras in Unprecedented Detail

Jan 15, 2020 by News Staff

At the end of its mission in 2017, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft performed a set of ‘Grand Finale’ orbits bringing it closer to Saturn than ever before....

This is an artist impression of the protoplanetary disk around HD 107146. Image credit: A. Angelich / NRAO / AUI / NSF.

New Study Sheds Light on Solar System’s Great Divide

Jan 14, 2020 by News Staff

A new study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, suggests that our young Solar System’s protoplanetary disk was divided into two regions: on the...

Scanning electron microscope image of the 6.2-billion-year-old grain of silicon carbide from the Murchison meteorite. Image credit: Heck et al, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1904573117.

Scientists Find 7-Billion-Year-Old Stardust in Murchison Meteorite

Jan 13, 2020 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the United States, Switzerland and Australia has found 4.6 to 7-billion-year-old presolar grains of silicon carbide (SiC) in...

Artist’s impression of a volcano erupting on Venus. Image credit: ESA / AOES Medialab.

New Research Provides More Evidence that Venus is Volcanically Active Today

Jan 6, 2020 by News Staff

Young lava flows detected by ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft are just few years old, according to new research from Universities Space Research Association...

Martian moon Phobos. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona.

Mars Express Captures New Views of Martian Moon Phobos

Dec 17, 2019 by News Staff

On November 17, 2019, ESA’s Mars Express orbiter made a close flyby of Phobos, the larger and inner of the two natural satellites of Mars. The probe...

A series of JunoCam images from Juno’s 23rd close science pass by Jupiter on November 3, 2019, revealed a sixth circumpolar cyclone in the cluster around Jupiter’s south pole. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS.

Juno Spots New Circumpolar Cyclone at Jupiter’s South Pole

Dec 14, 2019 by News Staff

NASA’s Juno spacecraft spied the new Jovian cyclone on November 3, 2019, during its 23rd science pass of the gas giant. A series of JunoCam images from...

Computer-generated visualization of the orbital paths (white dots) taken by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft as it mapped winds (blue lines) in the Martian upper atmosphere; red lines coming from the white dots represent local wind speed and direction, measured by MAVEN’s Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer instrument. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / MAVEN / SVS / Greg Shirah.

NASA’s MAVEN Orbiter Maps Martian Upper Atmospheric Winds

Dec 13, 2019 by News Staff

Using NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft, a team of planetary researchers have measured the speed and direction of winds...

On Earth, the Northern and Southern lights occur when the solar wind (electrically charged particles from the Sun) follow our planet’s geomagnetic field lines to the poles and collide with the upper atmosphere. Mars lacks a global magnetic field, so instead the solar wind piles up in front of Mars in a bow shock, which blocks charged particles from reaching the bulk of the atmosphere. However, in a process first observed by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft, some solar wind protons can slip past the bow shock by first bonding with electrons from the Martian upper atmosphere to form hydrogen atoms. Because these hydrogen atoms are electrically neutral, they can pass through the bow shock and go on to create an ultraviolet proton aurora on the dayside of Mars. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

‘Proton Aurora’ is Most Common Type of Aurora on Mars, Researchers Say

Dec 13, 2019 by News Staff

Proton aurora, a type of Martian aurora first identified in 2016, forms when protons from the solar wind interact with hydrogen in the extended portions...

This map shows near-surface water ice on Mars; cool colors represent less than one foot (30 cm) below the surface; warm colors are over two feet (60 cm) deep; sprawling brown zones on the map represent areas where a landing spacecraft would sink into fine dust; the outlined box represents the ideal region to send astronauts for them to be able to dig up water ice. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU.

New Map Shows Near-Surface Water Ice on Mars

Dec 12, 2019 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey orbiter, a team of planetary researchers have crated a map of the water ice depth...

Schematic diagram of orbit determination model output for the 19 January 2019 particle ejection event from Bennu observed by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft: Bennu is depicted in gray and has a diameter of 1,640 feet (500 m). OSIRIS-REx is indicated with the brown dot, 1.2 miles (2 km) from Bennu’s center of mass; the cone represents the viewing angle; blue arcs are particle trajectories, ending or with gaps where the trajectories pass into shadow; the Sun-angular momentum frame coordinates are shown at bottom right: x - solar vector, y - Bennu orbital direction, z - Bennu north. Image credit: Lauretta et al, doi: 10.1126/science.aay3544.

Bennu is Active Asteroid, OSIRIS-REx Team Says

Dec 11, 2019 by News Staff

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer) spacecraft recently observed several particle...

Enceladus’ tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon’s icy interior into space, creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon’s south pole and creating Saturn’s mysterious E-ring. Evidence for this has come from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. Pictured here, a high resolution image of Enceladus is shown from a close flyby. Tiger stripes are visible in false-color blue. Image credit: NASA / ESA / JPL / SSI / Cassini Imaging Team.

Enceladus’ Tiger Stripes Finally Explained

Dec 10, 2019 by News Staff

Saturn’s 300-mile- (500 km) diameter moon Enceladus is thought to have an outer ice shell covering a liquid water ocean. Slashed across the moon’s...

Illustration of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Steve Gribben.

NASA Releases First Science Results from Parker Solar Probe Mission

Dec 6, 2019 by NASA

The four instruments of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, a robotic spacecraft designed to explore the Sun’s atmosphere, have returned unprecedented science...

This schematic of the heliosphere shows the solar wind begins slowing at approximately 4 AU radial distance from the Sun and continues to slow as it moves toward the outer Solar System and picks up interstellar material. Current extrapolations reveal the termination shock may currently be closer than found by the Voyager spacecraft. However, increasing solar activity will soon expand the heliosphere and push the termination shock farther out, possibly to the 84-94 AU range encountered by the Voyager spacecraft. Image credit: Southwest Research Institute / NASA / Adler Planetarium.

Solar Wind Slows in Outer Heliosphere, Data from New Horizons Confirm

Dec 4, 2019 by News Staff

As the solar wind — the supersonic stream of charged particles blown out by the Sun — moves farther from the Sun, it encounters an increasing...

The yellow-white cloud in the bottom-center of this image, taken on November 30, 2010 by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, is a ‘dust tower’ -- a concentrated cloud of dust that can be lofted dozens of miles above the surface. The blue-white plumes are water vapor clouds. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

‘Dust Towers’ Spotted on Mars

Nov 28, 2019 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter observed a high number of ‘dust towers’ — concentrated clouds of dust that warm in sunlight and rise high...

The Expedition 20 crew members share a meal in the Unity node of the International Space Station. Image credit: NASA.

Spaceflight Can Cause Sustained Defect in Epithelial Barrier Function, New Study Shows

Nov 27, 2019 by News Staff

Epithelial cells that line our intestines serve as a robust barrier to invasion by viruses, bacteria and exposure to ingested agents. A new study, published...

This image shows a region of Mars named Deuteronilus Mensae. The oblique perspective view was generated using a digital terrain model and Mars Express data gathered on February 25, 2018. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

ESA’s Mars Express Orbiter Spots Fractured Ice Sheets

Nov 26, 2019 by News Staff

The two Martian hemispheres are drastically different; the smooth northern lowlands sit up to 3 km below the rugged southern highlands, and the surface...

SEM image of the Acfer 094 polished section. CAI - Ca-Al-rich inclusion. Image credit: Matsumoto et al, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aax5078.

Scientists Find Fossil Asteroidal Ice in Meteorite

Nov 26, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of scientists from the UK and Japan has found ‘fossilized asteroidal ice’ and pristine dust materials in a 4.6-billion-year-old...

Wing of Mars insect caught on the rover; inset: enlarged portion of wing. Image credit: William Romoser, doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.12363.95520.

NASA Photos Show Insect- and Reptile-Like Life Forms on Mars, Entomologist Says

Nov 21, 2019 by News Staff

Ohio University Emeritus Professor William Romoser has analyzed photos from NASA’s various Mars rovers, mostly from the rover Curiosity, and found insect/arthropod-...

A model of the molecular structure of ribose and an image of the Murchison meteorite. Image credit: Yoshihiro Furukawa.

Researchers Find Extraterrestrial Sugars in Meteorites

Nov 20, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of scientists from Japan and the United States has found ribose and other bioessential sugars in two primitive meteorites, NWA 801...