Space Exploration News

The ratio of volatile elements in Earth’s mantle suggests that virtually all of the planet’s life-giving carbon came from a collision with an embryonic planet about 100 million years after Earth formed. Image credit: A. Passwaters / Rice University / NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Proto-Earth Collided with Mercury-Like Planetary Embryo about 4.4 Billion Years Ago

Sep 6, 2016 by News Staff

In a new paper in the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers offer a new answer to a long-debated question: how did carbon-based life develop on Earth,...

Close-up of the Philae comet lander, imaged by Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on September 2 from a distance of 1.7 miles (2.7 km). Several of the lander’s instruments are identified, including one of the CIVA panoramic imaging cameras, the SD2 drill and SESAME-DIM (Surface Electric Sounding and Acoustic Monitoring Experiment Dust Impact Monitor). Image credit: ESA / Rosetta / OSIRIS Team / MPS / UPD / LAM / IAA / SSO / INTA / UPM / DASP / IDA.

Philae Comet Lander Finally Found

Sep 5, 2016 by News Staff

ESA’s Rosetta orbiter has spotted Philae hidden in a dark crack on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Philae has been identified in Rosetta’s...

Juno Sends Back Incredible New Images of Jupiter

Sep 3, 2016 by News Staff

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has beamed back the most detailed images yet of the Solar System’s king of the planets, Jupiter. This montage of ten JunoCam...

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.

Six Studies Provide New Insights into Dwarf Planet Ceres

Sep 2, 2016 by News Staff

Researchers on the Dawn mission released a series of six groundbreaking papers on the dwarf planet Ceres today in the journal Science. The new results...

In this image of Phobos, red arrows indicate a chain of small craters whose origin researchers were able to trace back to a primary impact at a large crater known as Grildrig. Image credit: M. Nayak & E. Asphaug / ESA / Mars Express.

Researchers Solve Mystery of Anomalous Grooves on Phobos

Sep 2, 2016 by News Staff

Anomalous grooves on Phobos, the larger of the two Martian moons, are the result of debris ejected by impacts eventually falling back onto the surface...

Earth-Moon system. Image credit: Comfreak.

Moon Mission Could Reveal the Story of Earth’s Journey around the Milky Way

Sep 1, 2016 by James Romero

A researcher’s proposal for an ESA mission to return to the Moon could lay the groundwork for a full-surface geological survey from a permanent lunar...

This false-color image, taken at 00:06 UTC on July 14, 2016 by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, shows the Kuiper Belt object Quaoar. This composite image includes 24 individual LORRI images. In addition to many background stars, two galaxies (IC 1048 and UGC 09485) are also visible in this image. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

New Horizons Snaps Images of Kuiper Belt Object ‘Quaoar’

Sep 1, 2016 by Natali Anderson

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has transmitted a series of images of a Kuiper Belt object known as Quaoar. This false-color image, taken at 00:06 UTC...

Jupiter’s north polar region is coming into view as Juno approaches Jupiter. This image was taken on August 27, when the spacecraft was 437,000 miles (703,000 km) away. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS.

Juno Completes Its First Flyby of Jupiter

Aug 29, 2016 by News Staff

On August 27, 2016, NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully performed its first of 36 close flybys of the giant planet Jupiter. Jupiter’s north polar region...

This image of Jupiter was taken on August 23, when Juno was 2.8 million miles (4.4 million km) from the gas giant on the inbound leg of its initial 53.5-day capture orbit. The image is a color composite taken with JunoCam’s visible red, green, and blue filters. Bright features like the planet’s Great Red Spot are higher in the atmosphere, and so have less of their light absorbed by the methane. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS.

NASA’s Juno Spacecraft to Make First Close Flyby of Jupiter

Aug 26, 2016 by News Staff

NASA’s Juno spacecraft will get closer to the cloud tops of Jupiter on Saturday, August 27. The flyby is expected to provide preliminary science data. This...

This dramatic outburst from the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko occured on February 19, 2016. Image credit: ESA / Rosetta / MPS for OSIRIS Team / MPS / UPD / LAM / IAA / SSO / INTA / UPM / DASP / IDA.

ESA’s Rosetta Orbiter Captures Outburst from Nucleus of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Aug 25, 2016 by News Staff

In February 2016, nine instruments onboard ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft serendipitously observed an outburst of gas and dust from the Atum region on Comet...

Map showing distribution of inverted channels (black lines) and valley networks (white lines) in Arabia Terra, Mars. Many of the inverted channels (e.g., southwest region of study area) are not associated with valley networks. Background image is Mars Orbital Laser Altimeter gridded topographic map. Image credit: J.M. Davis et al.

Planetary Researchers Find Evidence of Ancient River Systems in Mars’ Arabia Terra

Aug 23, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of scientists led by University College London researcher Joel Davis has identified over 10,500 miles (17,000 km) of ancient river...

Close Encounters between Centaurs and Gas Giants Form Our Solar System’s ‘Pinky Rings’

Aug 19, 2016 by James Romero

Our gas giants strip the icy surface off minor planets to form miniature versions of Saturn’s famous rings throughout the outer solar system, according...

Observations suggest Venus may have had water oceans in its distant past; a land-ocean pattern like that above was used in a climate model to show how storm clouds could have shielded ancient Venus from strong sunlight and made the planet habitable. Image credit: NASA.

Venus May Have Been Solar System’s First Habitable Planet

Aug 15, 2016 by News Staff

Venus today is an inhospitable place with surface temperatures approaching 864 degrees Fahrenheit (462 degrees Celsius) and an atmosphere 90 times as thick...

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.

Cassini Spots Liquid Methane-Filled Canyons on Titan

Aug 11, 2016 by Natali Anderson

Liquid methane-filled canyons hundreds to thousands of feet deep etch the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, according to researchers with NASA’s Cassini...

This false-color image from Cassini shows clouds in the atmosphere of Saturn. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute / Kevin M. Gill.

Stunning New Cassini Image Shows Saturn’s Clouds

Aug 10, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new infrared image from NASA’s Cassini orbiter shows enormous clouds in the northern hemisphere of the gas giant Saturn. This false-color image from...

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.

Widespread Volcanism on Planet Mercury Ended by 3.5 Billion Years Ago

Aug 9, 2016 by News Staff

According to new research published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, the main phase of volcanism on Mercury ended by 3.5 billion years ago,...

Dawn Orbiter Provides Clues to Internal Structure of Dwarf Planet Ceres

Aug 4, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using data from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft about Ceres’ gravity and topography, mission scientists have found that the dwarf planet is ‘differentiated,’...

Water ice on Rhea’s surface makes it bright in full sunlight. North on Rhea is up and rotated 36 degrees to the right. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

NASA Releases New Image of Saturn’s Moon Rhea

Aug 3, 2016 by Sergio Prostak

NASA has shared a stunning new image of Rhea, the second largest moon of the gas giant Saturn. Water ice on Rhea’s surface makes it bright in full sunlight....

Juno arrives at Jupiter. Image credit: NASA / JPL.

NASA’s Juno Orbiter Reaches Apojove

Jul 31, 2016 by News Staff

Almost a month after slipping into orbit around the Solar System’s largest planet, NASA’s Juno spacecraft is nearing a turning point. Juno. Image credit:...