Space Exploration News

Saturn’s Rings are No More Than Few Hundred Million Years Old, Scientists Say

This Hubble image heralds the start of Saturn’s ‘spoke season’ with the appearance of two smudgy spokes in the B ring, on the left in the image. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Amy Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Alyssa Pagan, STScI.
May 16, 2023 by News Staff

Saturn’s ring system may well have formed when dinosaurs were still walking on the Earth, and will last only another few hundred million years at most, according to two new studies published in the journal Icarus. This Hubble image heralds the start of Saturn’s ‘spoke season’ with the appearance of two smudgy spokes in the B ring, on the left in the image. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Amy Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Alyssa...

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This image from ESA’s Mars Express shows the southern flanks of Ascraeus Mons, the second-tallest volcano on Mars. This image comprises data gathered by Mars Express’ High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on January 15, 2023. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

ESA’s Mars Express Orbiter Sees Fissured Flanks of Mars’ Second-Tallest Volcano

May 15, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Ascraeus Mons is the northernmost and tallest of three prominent volcanoes found in the Tharsis region of Mars, a volcanic plateau in the planet’s western...

Castillo-Rogez et al. show that there likely is an ocean layer in four of Uranus’ major moons: Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon; salty -- or briny -- oceans lie under the ice and atop layers of water-rich rock and dry rock; Miranda is too small to retain enough heat for an ocean layer. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Four Uranian Moons Host Subsurface Oceans, New Research Suggests

May 5, 2023 by News Staff

The five large moons of Uranus — Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon — are important targets for future spacecraft missions. Studying...

This image of Shackleton crater was captured by NASA’s ShadowCam instrument aboard the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter. Image credit: NASA / KARI / ASU.

ShadowCam Captures Spectacular Photos of Moon’s South Polar Region

May 1, 2023 by News Staff

NASA’s ShadowCam instrument is flying with five other instruments aboard KARI’s Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), also known as Danuri, which...

Gann et al. show that in principle it is possible to grow rice plants in MMS1 but levels of (Mg(ClO4)2) can be critical to both germination and growth; moreover, they presented that editing SnRK1a could potentially provide an approach to develop as table rice line that can germinate and grow in MMS1 with (Mg(ClO4)2). Image credit: Gann et al.

Genetically Modified Rice Could Actually Grow in Martian Regolith, New Study Suggests

Apr 27, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

One of the biggest challenges to growing food on Mars is the presence of perchlorate salts, which have been detected in the Martian regolith (soil) and...

This artist’s concept shows a cutaway of Mars, along with the paths of seismic waves from two separate marsquakes in 2021. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Maryland.

InSight Detects Seismic Waves Traveling through Martian Liquid Core

Apr 25, 2023 by News Staff

Mars has a liquid iron alloy core at its center. Using seismic data gathered by NASA’s InSight lander, planetary scientists have made the first observations...

This image was taken by JUICE’s monitoring camera 1 (JMC1) at 14:42 CEST on April 14, 2023, following launch at 14:14 CEST. Image credit: ESA / JUICE / JMC / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

ESA’s JUICE Spacecraft Sends Its First Images from Space

Apr 19, 2023 by News Staff

ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) has taken its first monitoring camera images showing part of the spacecraft with our home planet as a stunning...

This view of Europa was captured by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during the mission’s close flyby on September 29, 2022. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Kevin M. Gill.

Local Tectonic Activity Could Cause Landslides on Icy Satellites of Jupiter and Saturn

Apr 17, 2023 by News Staff

Intense tectonism is evident on many outer solar system satellites — such as Ganymede, Europa, and Enceladus — with some surface regions showing...

JUICE lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on April 14, 2023. Image credit: M. Pédoussaut / ESA.

ESA’s JUICE Spacecraft Launches to Study Jupiter’s Icy Moons

Apr 17, 2023 by News Staff

ESA’s latest interplanetary mission, the JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer (JUICE), lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French...

This composite image shows the Saturn Lyman-alpha bulge, an emission from hydrogen which is a persistent and unexpected excess detected by NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft, NASA’s Cassini probe, and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope between 1980 and 2017. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Lotfi Ben-Jaffel, IAP & LPL.

Saturn’s Rings are Heating Gas Giant’s Upper Atmosphere, Astronomers Say

Mar 30, 2023 by News Staff

The most feasible explanation is that icy ring particles raining down onto Saturn’s atmosphere cause this heating, according to a team of astronomers...

This map shows shield volcanoes on Venus. Image credit: Rebecca Hahn, Washington University in St. Louis.

Venus is Home to At Least 85,000 Volcanoes, Planetary Researchers Say

Mar 30, 2023 by News Staff

There are many thousands of volcanoes on the surface of Venus. These volcanoes provide clues into the interior properties of the planet, properties that...

If the Moon has enough water, and if it’s reasonably convenient to access, future explorers might be able to use it as drinking water or to convert it into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel or oxygen to breathe. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Impact Glass Beads from the Moon Contain Solar Wind-Derived Water, Study Shows

Mar 29, 2023 by News Staff

Scientists from China and the United States have analyzed the impact glass beads from a lunar soil sample returned by China’s Chang’e-5 mission. Asteroid...

An artist’s impression of the surface of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI.

Scientists Explain Why Jupiter’s and Saturn’s Icy Moons Have Extreme Radar Properties

Mar 23, 2023 by News Staff

The radar properties of icy satellites of Jupiter and Saturn commonly differ by more than an order of magnitude from those of rocky planets because of...

Oba et al. report the detection of uracil, one of the four nucleobases in ribonucleic acid, in aqueous extracts from Ryugu samples. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / JAXA / Dan Gallagher.

Scientists Find Vitamin B3 and Uracil in Samples from Asteroid Ryugu

Mar 22, 2023 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has detected nicotinic acid (also known as vitamin B3 or niacin) and uracil, one of the four nucleobases in ribonucleic...

A relict glacier near Mars’ equator. Image credit: Lee et al. / LPSC 2023 / NASA.

Relict Glacier Spotted near Martian Equator

Mar 20, 2023 by News Staff

A so-called light-toned deposit (LTD) in Eastern Noctis Labyrinthus, about 160 km (99.4 miles) north-west of Oudemans crater near Mars’ equator, presents...

Aled Roberts and Nigel Scrutton used simulated Martian soil mixed with potato starch and a pinch of salt to create the material that is twice as strong as ordinary concrete and is perfectly suited for construction work in extraterrestrial environments. Image credit: Aled Roberts & Nigel Scrutton, doi: 10.1515/eng-2022-0390.

StarCrete: Materials Scientists Create Starch-Based Concrete for Extraterrestrial Construction

Mar 17, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The StarCrete is twice as strong as regular concrete and is made from extraterrestrial dust, potato starch, and a pinch of salt. Aled Roberts and Nigel...

The dashed white line in this illustration shows the boundary between the inner and outer Solar System, with the asteroid belt positioned roughly in between Mars and Jupiter. A bubble near the top of the image shows water molecules attached to a rocky fragment, demonstrating the kind of object that could have carried water to Earth. Image credit: Jack Cook / Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Study Offers New Insights into Extraterrestrial Origins of Earth’s Water

Mar 16, 2023 by News Staff

In new research, planetary scientists from the University of Maryland and elsewhere analyzed melted meteorites that had been floating around in space since...

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

Venus Has Ongoing Active Volcanism, New Study Confirms

Mar 15, 2023 by News Staff

Planetary scientists have examined volcanic areas on Venus that were imaged two or three times by NASA’s Magellan spacecraft and identified a 2.2-km2...

This view of Europa was captured by JunoCam during Juno’s close flyby on September 29, 2022. Citizen scientist Björn Jónsson processed the view to create this image. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Björn Jónsson / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Rotation of Europa’s Ice Shell May Be Controlled By Dynamics of Subsurface Ocean: Study

Mar 14, 2023 by News Staff

The subsurface ocean of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa is heated from below via tidal heating and radioactive decay of the rocky interior, while being cooled...

This feather-shaped iridescent cloud was captured just after sunset on January 27, 2023, the 3,724th Martian day, or Sol, of Curiosity’s mission. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Curiosity Rover Images Sun Rays and Feather-Shaped Clouds on Mars

Mar 6, 2023 by News Staff

‘Sun rays’ are also known as crepuscular rays, from the Latin word for twilight. It was the first time sun rays have been so clearly viewed on Mars. This...

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