Space Exploration News

Pluto’s Nitrogen Atmosphere is Condensing as Dwarf Planet Moves Away from Sun

Pluto’s haze layer shows its blue color in this picture taken by the New Horizons Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC). The high-altitude haze is thought to be similar in nature to that seen at Saturn’s moon Titan. The source of both hazes likely involves sunlight-initiated chemical reactions of nitrogen and methane, leading to relatively small, soot-like particles -- called tholins -- that grow as they settle toward the surface. This image was generated by software that combines information from blue, red and near-infrared images to replicate the color a human eye would perceive as closely as possible. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.
Oct 5, 2021 by News Staff

The surface pressure on the dwarf planet Pluto is decreasing and that its nitrogen atmosphere is condensing, forming ice on the dwarf planet’s surface, according to a study presented this week at the 53rd American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences Annual Meeting. Pluto’s haze layer shows its blue color in this picture taken by the New Horizons Ralph/Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC). The high-altitude haze is thought...

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The Mercury Transfer Module’s Monitoring Camera 2 captured this image at 23:44:12 UTC, when the spacecraft was about 2,418 km from Mercury. Image credit: ESA / BepiColombo / MTM / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

BepiColombo Makes Its First Gravity Assist Flyby of Mercury

Oct 4, 2021 by News Staff

On October 1, 2021, BepiColombo — a joint endeavor between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) —...

Valley networks and paleolake outlet canyons on Mars: (a) distribution of analyzed valley networks (black) and paleolake outlet canyons (white); gray shading indicates the combined latitude (poleward of ±30°) and age (younger than Early Hesperian) mask used for volume calculations; (b and c) examples of the early Martian landscape dissected by both valley networks (black) and paleolake outlet canyons (white); paleolake basin extents shown by semi-transparent white polygons. Image credit: Goudge et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03860-1.

Lake Breach Floods Eroded Surface of Early Mars, Study Says

Sep 30, 2021 by News Staff

Massive floods from overflowing crater lakes were responsible for eroding at least 24% of the volume of incised valleys on early Mars, according to new...

Hydrogen atoms diffuse easily between the superionic and the liquid phases. The liquid-fcc superionic interface of a water system with 20,736 atoms at 100 GPa and 3,250 K (on the melting curve) is shown. The oxygen atoms are red and the hydrogen atoms are white. The yellow, green and blue lines show the trajectories of three hydrogen atoms during a 75 ps molecular dynamics simulation run. Image credit: Cheng et al., doi: 10.1038/s41567-021-01334-9.

Physicists Study Superionic Water’s Phase Behaviors

Sep 28, 2021 by News Staff

Using machine learning, a team of physicists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has studied the phase behaviors of superionic water — a phase...

An artist’s impression of the InSight lander on Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

InSight Detects Three Strong Marsquakes

Sep 23, 2021 by News Staff

On September 18, 2021, NASA’s InSight lander celebrated its 1,000th Martian day by measuring one of the biggest, longest-lasting marsquakes its has ever...

An illustration of NASA’s VIPER lunar rover. Image credit: NASA / Ames Research Center / Daniel Rutter.

NASA Announces Landing Site for VIPER Lunar Rover

Sep 21, 2021 by News Staff

NASA has chosen the western edge of Nobile Crater at the Moon’s south pole as the landing site for its upcoming Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration...

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

Mars Too Small to Be Habitable, New Study Suggests

Sep 20, 2021 by News Staff

The habitability of Mars is limited by its small size, according to new research by Washington University in St. Louis planetary scientists. This artist’s...

This image, acquired by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on October 1, 2020, shows several craters in Arabia Terra filled with layered rock. Image credit: NASA / Molly Wasser.

Early Mars Experienced Volcanic Supereruptions, Reseachers Say

Sep 16, 2021 by News Staff

Using high-resolution images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, planetary scientists have discovered 4-billion-year-old layered deposits containing...

Meteoroids bombarded the Earth-Moon system 800 million years ago. Image credit: Murayama, Osaka University.

Young Moon May Have Been Subjected to Heavier Bombardment than Previously Thought

Sep 14, 2021 by News Staff

Impact bombardment has played a significant role in the evolution of the Earth-Moon system. However, it is suggested from different perspectives, including...

The sample of Mars rock is seen inside a titanium container tube in this image taken by the Sampling and Caching System Camera (CacheCam) onboard NASA’s Perseverance rover. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Perseverance Successfully Completes Collection of Mars Rock Sample

Sep 8, 2021 by News Staff

Perseverance’s first cored-rock sample from Jezero Crater, Mars, is now enclosed in an airtight titanium sample tube, making it available for retrieval...

The drill hole from Perseverance’s second sample-collection attempt can be seen in this composite of two images taken on September 1, 2021 by one of the rover’s navigation cameras. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Perseverance Cores Its First Martian Rock, NASA Says

Sep 3, 2021 by News Staff

The initial images captured by the Mastcam-Z instrument onboard NASA’s Perseverance rover show an intact Mars sample present in a sample tube after coring. The...

Mars has annular modes. Image credit: Michael S. Helfenbein / NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Study: Mars and Titan Have Annular Atmospheric Modes

Sep 2, 2021 by News Staff

Annular modes explain much of the internal variability of Earth’s atmosphere but have never been identified as influential on other planets. Mars has...

This image shows the asteroid Vesta. Image credit: NASA / JPL.

Researchers Probe Origin of Asteroid Vesta’s Enormous Troughs and Impact Basins

Sep 1, 2021 by News Staff

A team of planetary researchers from the University of Georgia and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center has explored the relative age of large-scale troughs...

An artist’s rendering of the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Image credit: Benjamin de Bivort, debivort.org / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Crystalline Nitriles Occur on Surface of Titan, New Research Suggests

Aug 27, 2021 by News Staff

Titan, Saturn’s icy moon, is an ideal planetary body to study prebiotic chemistry, origins of life, and the potential habitability of an extraterrestrial...

This false-color image shows the dwarf planet Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Crust of Dwarf Planet Ceres is Rich in Water Ice, New Research Confirms

Aug 18, 2021 by News Staff

Using high spatial-resolution data gathered by the Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector (GRaND) aboard NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, planetary researchers have detected...

This artist’s concept depicts the dry environment seen at Mars today versus the early Martian environment. Image credit: Simon Fraser University.

Regional Dust Storms Enhance Martian Water Loss to Space: Study

Aug 17, 2021 by News Staff

Individual regional dust events can boost planetary water loss by a factor of five to ten and represent an important driver of atmospheric evolution on...

An illustration of Saturn and its ‘fuzzy’ core. Image credit: R. Hurt, IPAC / Caltech.

Saturn Has Diffuse, Stably Stratified Core, New Study Says

Aug 16, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on ripples in Saturn’s rings have revealed new information about the gas giant’s mysterious...

This image shows the South Séítah region of Jezero Crater, captured by NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter during its 11th flight on August 4, 2021. At the bottom center of the image is Ingenuity’s shadow. Above it, toward the top of the frame -- just beyond the dune field and right of center -- is the Perseverance rover (white circle). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Ingenuity Helicopter Captures Image of Perseverance Rover

Aug 12, 2021 by News Staff

On August 4, 2021, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter performed its 11th flight on Mars, snapping multiple photographs during its trip. This image shows the...

Dragonfly was officially selected for flight by NASA as the fourth New Frontiers mission on 2019 June 27. Launch is planned for 2027, with Titan arrival in the mid-2030s, during the local northern hemisphere winter. Image credit: NASA.

NASA’s Dragonfly Mission to Saturn’s Moon Titan Has Big Science Goals

Aug 11, 2021 by News Staff

NASA’s Dragonfly mission will send a rotorcraft lander to the surface of Titan in the mid-2030s. Dragonfly was officially selected for flight by NASA...

This infrared view of Ganymede was obtained by the JIRAM instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during the July 20, 2021 flyby. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / ASI / INAF / JIRAM.

Juno Team Creates Infrared Map of Ganymede

Aug 9, 2021 by News Staff

Using data from the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument onboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft, researchers have produced a new infrared map of...

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