Space Exploration News

Pluto Likely Has a Hidden Liquid Ocean

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, doi: 10.1126/science.aad1815.
Jun 21, 2016 by News Staff

When NASA’s New Horizons robotic spacecraft flew by Pluto in July 2015, it revealed clues that the enigmatic dwarf planet might have – or had at one time – a liquid ocean under its frozen surface. According to a new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, such an underground ocean likely still exists today. This Pluto mosaic was made from New Horizons LORRI images taken on July 14, 2015, from a distance of 49,700...

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Strong ‘Electric Wind’ Can Strip Terrestrial Planets of Atmospheres, Oceans

Jun 21, 2016 by News Staff

Solar System’s planet Venus has an ‘electric wind’ strong enough to remove the components of water from its upper atmosphere. This action may have...

ExoMars acquired its first image of Mars on June 13. The line-of-sight distance to the planet was 25.5 million miles (41 million km). The Tharsis region of Mars, home to the planet’s largest volcanoes, faces the spacecraft in this view. Image credit: ESA / Roscosmos / ExoMars / CaSSIS / UniBE.

ExoMars Orbiter Beams Back Its First Image of Mars

Jun 16, 2016 by Natali Anderson

ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) has snapped its first photo of the Red Planet. ExoMars acquired its first image of Mars on June 13. The line-of-sight...

Researchers Discover New Type of Meteorite: Ost 65

Jun 16, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A ‘fossil’ meteorite discovered in a limestone quarry in Sweden is unique and distinct from other known meteorites, according to a team of researchers...

This view looks toward the sunlit side of Saturn’s rings from about 15 degrees above the ring plane. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Latest Cassini Image Shows Mini-Jet Trail in Saturn’s F Ring

Jun 14, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A mysterious disruption in Saturn’s outermost F ring suggests it may have been disturbed recently, according to Cassini imaging scientists. This view...

Pluto’s far side. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Image Shows Pluto’s Far Side

Jun 6, 2016 by News Staff

The Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera onboard NASA’s New Horizons robotic probe captured this image of Pluto only 19 minutes after closest approach...

Sputnik Planum basin: this scene, which is about 250 miles (400 km) across, uses data from New Horizons’ Ralph/MVIC instrument. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Irregular Polygons in Pluto’s Heart-Shaped Region Finally Explained

Jun 1, 2016 by News Staff

According to members of NASA’s New Horizons science team, the icy surface of Pluto’s Sputnik Planum basin is being constantly renewed by a process...

The Rosetta spacecraft has detected ingredients considered important for life as we know it on Earth, in the atmosphere of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Image credit: ESA / ATG Medialab / Rosetta / NavCam / CC BY-SA IGO 3.0 / Kathrin Altwegg et al.

Rosetta Detects Two Ingredients for Life on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

May 27, 2016 by News Staff

ESA’s Rosetta orbiter has detected volatile glycine and phosphorus in the fuzzy atmosphere of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The Rosetta spacecraft...

This image, produced with the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, shows spiral features that were used in interpreting the climate signal of ice age advancement and retreat. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU-Berlin / Ralf Jaumann.

Planetary Scientists Find Evidence for Recent Ice Age on Mars

May 26, 2016 by News Staff

Researchers using data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have found evidence of an ice age recorded in the Red Planet’s polar caps. This image,...

Dr. Mandt and co-authors discovered two geologically young craters - one (right) 16 million, the other (left) between 75 and 420 million, years old - in the Moon’s darkest regions. Image credit: NASA GSFC / SwRI / ASU.

Researchers Find Two ‘Fresh’ Impact Craters near Moon’s South Pole

May 25, 2016 by News Staff

A team of researchers using data from the Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) instrument on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has detected two geologically...

This image of 1994 JR1 was taken by New Horizons’ LORRI camera in April 2016. The feature in the top left is an internal camera reflection caused by illumination by a very bright star just outside of LORRI’s field of view. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

NASA Spacecraft Beams Back Science Data on Kuiper Belt Object 1994 JR1

May 20, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA has released new images and data on the Kuiper belt object (KBO) 1994 JR1 from the New Horizons spacecraft. This image of 1994 JR1 was taken by New...

This artist’s impression shows how Mars may have looked about 4 billion years ago. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Mega-Tsunamis Resurfaced Shorelines of Early Mars’ Ocean, Researchers Say

May 19, 2016 by News Staff

Massive meteorite impacts triggered two mega-tsunamis in the early Martian ocean 3.4 billion years ago, according to scientists writing in the journal...

The surface of Europa looms large in this newly-reprocessed color view; image scale is 1.6 km per pixel; north on Europa is at right. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SETI Institute.

Subsurface Ocean on Jupiter’s Moon Europa May Have Earthlike Chemical Balance

May 18, 2016 by News Staff

A new study modeling conditions in Europa’s global liquid ocean suggests that the necessary balance of chemical energy for life could exist there. Europa....

The four MMS spacecraft -- shown here in an artist’s concept -- have made more than 4,000 trips through the boundaries of Earth’s magnetic field. Image credit: NASA / Goddard / Conceptual Image Lab.

NASA’s MMS Spacecraft Capture Magnetic Reconnection in Action

May 16, 2016 by News Staff

The four spacecraft of NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) have flown through the heart of a magnetic process that controls Earth’s space...

SOFIA/GREAT spectrum of oxygen [OI] superimposed on an image of Mars from NASA’ MAVEN mission. The amount of atomic oxygen computed from SOFIA data is about half the amount expected. Image credit: NASA / DLR / USRA / DSI / MPIfR / GREAT Consortium / MPIfS / Rezac et al / MAVEN.

NASA’s SOFIA Observatory Detects Atomic Oxygen in Upper Atmosphere of Mars

May 10, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), the largest airborne observatory in the world, has detected atomic oxygen in the upper...

This image, taken by New Horizons’ LORRI camera on July 14, 2015, shows Pluto’s small, irregularly shaped moon Hydra. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Beams Back Compositional Data about Pluto’s Small Moon Hydra

May 10, 2016 by News Staff

The first compositional data from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft about Pluto’s small, irregularly shaped moon Hydra show the moon’s surface is dominated...

Topographic map of Mercury with labeled features. Image credit: NASA / U.S. Geological Survey / Arizona State University / Carnegie Institution of Washington / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

Scientists Create Global Topographic Map of Mercury

May 9, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists from NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, Arizona State University, Carnegie Institute of Washington and Johns Hopkins University Applied...

This image of an impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars was taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on March 30, 2015. The crater is approximately 3,300 feet (1-km) wide and appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta. The steep inner slopes are carved by gullies and include possible recurring slope lineae on the equator-facing slopes. Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona / Alfred McEwen.

Mars’ Recurring Slope Lineae May Be Formed by Boiling Water

May 3, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Seasonal dark streaks on Mars — called recurring slope lineae by planetary researchers — could be the result of water boiling whilst flowing...

Artist’s impression of C/2014 S3 (PanSTARRS). The comet’s current long orbital period (approximately 860 years) suggests that its source is in the Oort Cloud -- a large region surrounding the Sun like a giant, thick soap bubble -- and it was nudged comparatively recently into an orbit that brings it closer to the Sun. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Unique Rocky Comet from Oort Cloud May Provide Clues about Origin of Solar System

Apr 29, 2016 by News Staff

Observations of a tailless comet called C/2014 S3 (PanSTARRS), made with ESO’s Very Large Telescope and the Canada France Hawaii Telescope, show that...

Cassini caught the sunlight glinting off Titan's seas and lakes filled with liquid methane or ethane. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona / University of Idaho.

NASA’s Cassini Orbiter Explores Titan’s Ligeia Mare

Apr 28, 2016 by News Staff

Ligeia Mare, one of the largest seas on Saturn’s moon Titan, consists of pure methane and likely has a seabed covered by a sludge of organic-rich material,...

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