Space Exploration News

Artist’s impression visualizing the ExoMars 2016 TGO, with its thrusters firing, beginning its entry into Mars orbit. Image credit: ESA / ATG medialab.

ExoMars 2016 Blasts Off from Baikonur

Mar 14, 2016 by News Staff

The ExoMars 2016 mission blasted off from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome atop a Proton-M rocket at 02:31 a.m. PDT (05:31 a.m. EDT, 09:31 a.m. GMT,...

An artist’s rendering of a classical nova. Image credit: David Hardy, www.astroart.org.

‘Pre-Solar Grains’ Could Be Remnants of Ancient Novae

Mar 11, 2016 by News Staff

Tiny particles of stardust have been found in meteorites. Whether some of these particles, known as ‘pre-solar grains,’ came from classical novae is...

Ahuna Mons is seen in this mosaic of images from Dawn. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Dawn Beams Back New Images of Ceres’ Mysterious ‘Pyramid-Shaped’ Mountain

Mar 10, 2016 by News Staff

This incredible mosaic of images from NASA’s Dawn orbiter shows one of Ceres’ most intriguing features — a mysterious mountain called Ahuna Mons. Ahuna...

Mercury. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Planetary Researchers Explain Why Mercury’s Surface is So Dark

Mar 8, 2016 by News Staff

According to a team of planetary scientists led by Dr. Patrick Peplowski of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, planet Mercury’s...

Methane snow-capped mountains in Cthulhu Regio, Pluto. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Spots Methane Snow-Capped Mountains on Pluto

Mar 7, 2016 by News Staff

This newly released image from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft shows a chain of snowcapped mountains in Pluto’s Cthulhu Regio. Methane snow-capped mountains...

Mars’ moon Phobos as observed by NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft. Image credit: NASA / CU /LASP.

Phobos in Ultraviolet: Latest Photo from NASA’s MAVEN Spacecraft

Mar 1, 2016 by News Staff

This false-color image of Phobos, the larger and inner of the two natural satellites of Mars, was taken by the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph instrument...

Solar System and the interstellar medium. Image credit: NASA / IBEX / Adler Planetarium.

Scientists Determine Strength, Direction of Local Interstellar Magnetic Field

Feb 29, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using data from NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), researchers have accurately determined the strength and direction of the magnetic field...

Vast canyons on Pluto’s north pole: the widest of the canyons is marked in yellow; smaller canyons are green; the valleys are blue and pink; irregularly-shaped pits are red. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Sees Canyons on North Pole of Pluto

Feb 26, 2016 by News Staff

This enhanced color image of Pluto’s north polar area was taken by New Horizons’ Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera on July 14, 2015, from...

A close-up of the canyons on Charon, taken by New Horizons’ LORRI instrument during the spacecraft’s close approach to the Pluto system on July 14, 2015. When New Horizons took this image, a distance of 48,900 miles (78,700 km) separated the spacecraft and Charon. The image measures 240 miles (386 km) long and 110 miles (175 km) wide. Multiple views taken by the spacecraft as it passed by the Pluto’s largest moon allow stereo measurements of topography, shown in the color-coded version of the image. The scale bar indicates relative elevation. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Charon May Have Had Subsurface Water Ocean

Feb 19, 2016 by News Staff

Images taken by the Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) instrument on board NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft suggest that Charon once had an underground...

Geologic map of Pluto’s famous heart-shaped region, Sputnik Planum. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

NASA Scientists Create Geologic Map of Pluto’s Big Heart

Feb 16, 2016 by News Staff

NASA scientists have produced this geologic map of one of Pluto’s most dominant features from images taken by New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance...

This image shows the Saturn’s icy moon Tethys. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft Captures Breathtaking View of Saturn’s Moon Tethys

Feb 10, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

This image, captured by Cassini’s wide-angle camera, was photographed when the mission was 40,000 miles (65,000 km) from Tethys, and Saturn and its rings...

Saturn’s B ring is the brightest and most opaque of the gas giant’s main rings, appearing almost black in this Cassini image taken from the unlit side of the ringplane. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Saturn’s B Ring Surprises Planetary Scientists

Feb 5, 2016 by News Staff

A team of planetary researchers from the United States has found surprisingly little correlation between how dense a Saturn’s ring might appear to be...

LEISA data point to more prevalent water ice on the surface of Pluto than previously thought. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Relatively Large Amounts of Water Ice Found on Pluto’s Surface

Feb 2, 2016 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons science team used data from the Ralph/Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA) — a short-wavelength, IR, spectral imager...

This false-color image shows the dwarf planet Ceres. Scientists use false color to examine differences in surface materials. The color blue on Ceres is generally associated with bright material, found in more than 130 locations, and seems to be consistent with salts. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Colorful Animation Shows Simulated Flight over Dwarf Planet Ceres

Jan 29, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

This breathtaking animation, produced by a team of scientists at the German Aerospace Center, shows a simulated flight over the surface of Ceres, based...

This New Horizons image shows the night side of Charon. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

First-Ever Look at Charon’s Night Side

Jan 26, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s New Horizons robotic probe captured this image of the night side of Charon on July 17, 2015, nearly three days after closest approach to the Pluto...

This image, taken by the New Horizons spacecraft on July 14, 2015, shows a possible cryovolcano on Pluto. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Beams Back Image of Possible Cryovolcano on Pluto’s Surface

Jan 15, 2016 by News Staff

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has sent back a beautiful image of one of two potential cryovolcanoes spotted on the surface of Pluto. This image, taken...

This image, taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, shows Saturn. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft Beams Back Stunning Image of Saturn

Jan 11, 2016 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini robotic orbiter has sent an amazing picture of Saturn, one of the Solar System’s gas giants. This image, taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft,...

This image of Ceres, taken by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on December 10, 2015, shows a crater chain called Gerber Catena. The space probe took the image in its low-altitude mapping orbit (LAMO) from a distance of 240 miles from Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft Beams Back Closest Images Ever Seen from Dwarf Planet Ceres

Dec 29, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft took these images of the dwarf planet Ceres on December 10, 2015, at an altitude of around 240 miles (385 km), which is its lowest-ever...

The Chinese lunar rover Yutu, photographed by its lander Chang’e-3, after the lander touched down in Mare Imbrium. Image credit: CNAS / CLEP.

Chinese Rover Yutu Finds New Type of Lunar Basalt

Dec 23, 2015 by Enrico de Lazaro

According to a team of scientists led by Dr Zongcheng Ling of Shandong University in Weihai, the Chinese lunar rover Yutu has found basalts unlike those...