Planetary Science News

These dark slope streaks resulted from dust avalanches in Acheron Fossae, Mars. The HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured them on December 3, 2006. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona.

Planetary Scientists Crack Mystery of Martian Dust Avalanches

May 9, 2022 by News Staff

In the 2000s, planetary researchers spotted ghostly, blue-white morning frost on the Martian surface in visible light images from NASA’s Mars Odyssey...

Yao et al. propose a potentially available extraterrestrial photosynthesis pathway on the Moon, which will help us to achieve a zero-energy consumption extraterrestrial life support system. Image credit: Yao et al., doi: 10.1016/j.joule.2022.04.011.

Lunar Soil Contains Active Compounds that Can Convert Carbon Dioxide into Oxygen and Fuels

May 5, 2022 by News Staff

In light of significant efforts being taken toward manned deep space exploration, it is of high technological importance and scientific interest to develop...

This image, taken on July 19, 2021 by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, shows part of Tantalus Fossae on Mars. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Mars Express Focuses on Tantalus Fossae

May 5, 2022 by News Staff

A new image from ESA’s Mars Express shows a network of long grooves and scratches in Tantalus Fossae, a large fault system in the Arcadia quadrangle...

This image, taken on December 17, 2012 by ESA’s Mars Express, shows the icy cap that covers Mars’ south pole, composed of frozen water and carbon dioxide. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / Bill Dunford.

Martian Deposits of Carbon Dioxide Ice Flow as Glaciers: Study

May 3, 2022 by News Staff

Carbon dioxide ice is found in a stack of deposits at the south pole of Mars. These deposits are situated in basins, where they reach more than 1 km thick....

This image of the backshell and supersonic parachute of NASA’s Perseverance rover was captured by the agency’s Ingenuity helicopter during its 26th flight on Mars on April 19, 2022. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Ingenuity Spots Perseverance Rover’s Landing Equipment on Mars

Apr 29, 2022 by News Staff

On April 19, 2022, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter recently surveyed both the parachute that helped the Perseverance rover land on Mars and the cone-shaped...

Schematic view of the propagation of seismic waves in the Martian crust and seismic conversions at the base of the discontinuity, at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). Image credit: IPGP.

NASA’s InSight Mission Detects Two Far-Side Marsquakes

Apr 27, 2022 by News Staff

In 2021, the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) — the seismometer placed on the surface of Mars by NASA’s Interior Exploration using...

Conceptual image of meteoroids delivering nucleobases to ancient Earth. The nucleobases are represented by structural diagrams with hydrogen atoms as white spheres, carbon as black, nitrogen as blue and oxygen as red. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / CI Lab / Dan Gallagher.

Key Components of DNA and RNA Found in Three Meteorites

Apr 26, 2022 by News Staff

Using state-of-the-art analytical techniques, researchers have detected diverse suites of nucleobases — including canonical base pairs (e.g., adenine-uracil,...

This view of Titan is among the last images NASA’s Cassini spacecraft sent to Earth before it plunged into the giant planet’s atmosphere. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Planetary Researchers Model Landscape Formation on Saturn’s Moon Titan

Apr 25, 2022 by News Staff

Alongside Earth and Mars, Titan is the third planetary body in the Solar System to show evidence for widespread and diverse sedimentary environments, including...

This composite image, taken by JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft, shows Venus. Image credit: JAXA / ISAS / DARTS / Damia Bouic.

New Study Sheds More Light on Dynamics of Venus’ Atmosphere

Apr 20, 2022 by News Staff

The gravity of a large object in space can keep a smaller object from spinning, a phenomenon called tidal locking. The discovery and characterization of...

This artist’s conception shows how double ridges on the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa may form over shallow, refreezing water pockets within the ice shell. Image credit: Justice Blaine Wainwright.

Study: Shallow Liquid Water is Ubiquitous across Ice Shell of Jupiter’s Moon Europa

Apr 20, 2022 by News Staff

Surface landforms called double ridges occur across every sector of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa and can be hundreds of kilometers in length. In new research,...

Ridges of possible aeolian origin from the Galileo Solid State Imager. Image credit: McDonald et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29682-x.

Dune-Like Features Spotted on Jupiter’s Moon Io

Apr 19, 2022 by News Staff

Jupiter’s moon Io is the most volcanically active body in the Solar System, and the body that is known to be most rapidly resurfaced. Surface modification...

Global map of the albedo from the 750 nm filter of the UV-VIS camera onboard NASA’s Clementine spacecraft. The image shows the near side and far side of the Moon in Lambert, equal-area projection. Image credit: NASA.

Colossal Ancient Impact Explains Moon’s Two Faces

Apr 8, 2022 by News Staff

An ancient impact that formed the South Pole-Aitken basin, a vast impact structure on the far side of the Moon, would have created a massive plume of heat...

The landing site of InSight is marked by a blue triangle, while black stars denote the two identified marsquakes. The solid black lines demonstrate the Graben faults. The lower left inset map shows the global Martian topography, and the blue rectangular illustrates the research region. Image credit: Sun & Tkalčić, doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29329-x.

Volcanic Activity Could Be Responsible for Triggering Marsquakes in Cerberus Fossae

Apr 6, 2022 by News Staff

Using seismic data from NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander, planetary researchers...

Hubble’s photo of Jupiter displays the ever-changing landscape of its turbulent atmosphere. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Amy Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Michael H. Wong, University of California, Berkeley / Joseph DePasquale, STScI.

Proto-Jupiter Underwent Significant Orbital Migration, Research Suggests

Apr 4, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The atmosphere of Jupiter is enriched with heavy elements by a factor of about 3 compared to a protosolar composition. The origin of this enrichment and...

Maurice et al. find that the speed of sound is slower on Mars than on Earth and that, mostly, a deep silence prevails. Image credit: Maurice et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04679-0.

Perseverance Characterizes Acoustic Environment of Mars

Apr 4, 2022 by News Staff

NASA’s Perseverance rover first recorded Martian sounds on February 19, 2021, the day after its arrival. These sounds fall within the human audible spectrum,...

This image shows Utopia Planitia, a plain that fills one of three major basins in the northern hemisphere of Mars. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Mars Express Sees Fascinating Ice-Related Features in Utopia Planitia

Mar 31, 2022 by News Staff

Utopia Planitia, a large lava plain in the northern hemisphere of Mars, has a diameter of roughly 3,300 km (2,051 miles) — just under twice the north-south...

This color image of Mercury was generated from three MESSENGER images taken through filters sensitive to light in different wavelengths. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Planet Mercury Has Magnetic Storms, New Research Shows

Mar 31, 2022 by News Staff

The significantly weaker magnetic field, smaller magnetosphere, and much faster timescale of processes around Mercury, when compared with Earth, enable...

The Wright Mons region on Pluto: darker/lower albedo, redder patches exist primarily on north-facing slopes but there are also more subtle differences in albedo and redness across the region; the region labeled A represents a redder unit transition to less red units at lower elevation. The longitude and latitude extents of the image are 160-182°E and 13-31°S. Image credit: Singer et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29056-3.

Enormous Cryovolcanoes Spotted on Pluto

Mar 29, 2022 by News Staff

Cryovolcanoes (ice volcanoes) are similar to normal volcanoes but instead of being formed from molten rock, they are made by frozen liquids like ammonia...

Artist’s concept of ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Salt Water within Europa’s Icy Shell Could Be Transporting Oxygen into Its Subsurface Ocean

Mar 24, 2022 by News Staff

Some icy moons in the outer Solar System likely contain an ocean beneath their ice shells. Jupiter’s moon Europa is thought to have an ocean beneath...