Space Exploration News

Channel-forms preserved in sedimentary layers in Hellas Planitia on Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona / Matt Balme.

Deep, Perennial or Semi-Perennial Rivers Flowed on Early Mars

May 7, 2020 by News Staff

While the present-day Martian surface is generally dry and cold, its sedimentary rocks contain compelling evidence for the former presence of liquid water....

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

Martian Dynamo was Active between 4.5 and 3.7 Billion Years Ago, Study Says

May 5, 2020 by News Staff

A planet’s global magnetic field arises from a so-called dynamo — a flow of molten metal within the planet’s core that produces an electrical...

NASA Releases Reprocessed Photos of Jupiter’s Moon Europa

May 5, 2020 by News Staff

The newly-remastered images show the icy surface of Europa, the sixth of Jupiter’s moons and the fourth largest, in enhanced color. This map shows locations...

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.

Active Tectonic System Spotted on Moon’s Nearside

May 4, 2020 by News Staff

A system of wrinkle ridges on the nearside maria of the Moon is evidence of seismic activity set in motion 4.3 billion years ago that could be ongoing...

Orange-colored carbonate grains in the ALH 84001 meteorite. Image credit: Koike et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15931-4.

Researchers Find Nitrogen-Bearing Organics in Ancient Martian Meteorite

May 1, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Four-billion-year-old carbonates in a Martian meteorite called Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 contain nitrogen-bearing organic molecules, according to a new study...

The Unified Geologic Map of the Moon. Image credit: U.S. Geological Survey / Lunar and Planetary Institute / South Dakota School of Mines and Technology / NASA / JAXA.

Researchers Create Comprehensive Geologic Map of Moon

Apr 23, 2020 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, the Lunar and Planetary Institute and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology has released...

A composite image of Venus as seen by JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft. Image credit: Institute of Space and Astronautical Science / Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

MESSENGER Finds Chemically Distinct Regions in Atmosphere of Venus

Apr 22, 2020 by News Staff

A new analysis of archival data from NASA’s Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft reveals a sudden rise...

Reconstructed sagittal 5-mm orthogonal midline images in the brain using the sagittal 3D T1-weighted data set: (left) preflight baseline image and (right) matching postflight image (postflight day 1) in the same astronaut; the black arrowheads show upward expansion of the anterior, middle, and posterior superior margins of the lateral ventricle with associated narrowing of the marginal sulcus of the cingulate sulcus (white arrowhead); there is subtle expansion of the third ventricle (indicated by a 3), which has displaced the thalamus (T) from midline, making it less visible; there is thickening of the intermediate signal scalp soft tissues (arrows). Image credit: Kramer et al, doi: 10.1148/radiol.2020191413.

Study: Long-Duration Spaceflight Affects Brain Volume

Apr 16, 2020 by News Staff

A new study led by Professor Larry Kramer from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston suggests that the impact of microgravity is far-reaching,...

DLR researchers spotted an unusual ozone mini-hole over the Arctic. Image credit: DLR / BIRA / ESA.

Researchers Spot Ozone Mini-Hole over Arctic

Apr 10, 2020 by News Staff

Using data from the Tropomi instrument on ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite (also known as Sentinel-5P), a team of scientists from the...

Composite of a true color image of Saturn, observed by Cassini in 2016, overlaid with a false color representation of the ultraviolet aurora in the northern hemisphere as observed on August 20, 2017. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute / A. Bader, Lancaster University.

Pole-to-Pole Map of Saturn’s Thermosphere Reveals Likely Reason Why It’s So Hot

Apr 8, 2020 by News Staff

A team of planetary researchers from the United States and the United Kingdom has created a 2D map of densities and temperatures in Saturn’s thermosphere...

$Illustration showing the present-day hydrogen reservoirs in and on Mars. The mass fractions (pie chart) of Martian water are based on the mass of water in the bulk crust (C), the mantle (M) and the combined inventory (A) of the atmosphere and polar ice deposits (PID). The mantle mass fraction is the combination of depleted shergottites (DS) and enriched shergottites (ES). Image credit: Barnes et al, doi: 10.1038/s41561-020-0552-y.$

Early Mars Had Multiple Water Sources, New Study Shows

Mar 31, 2020 by News Staff

An analysis of two Martian meteorites — Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034 and Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 — shows that Mars likely received water from...

Space Physicists Find Plasmoid in Magnetosphere of Uranus

Mar 27, 2020 by News Staff

Uranus possesses an intrinsic magnetic field that encircles the ice giant and influences the local space environment. The solar wind plasma, made up of...

Model of the hemolithin molecule: space-filling mode (top), ball and stick (center), enlarged view of iron, oxygen and lithium termination (bottom). White = H; orange = Li; gray = C; blue = N; red = O and green = Fe. Hydrogen bonds are shown by dotted lines. Image credit: McGeoch et al, arXiv: 2002.11688.

Researchers Find Extraterrestrial Protein in Meteorite Acfer 086

Mar 26, 2020 by Sergio Prostak

A research team led by Harvard University scientist Julie McGeoch has found a never-before-seen protein inside a meteorite called Acfer 086. A sample of...

This selfie was taken by Curiosity on February 26, 2020; the crumbling rock layer at the top of the image is the Greenheugh Pediment, which the rover climbed soon after taking the image. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Curiosity Sends New Selfie from Red Planet

Mar 25, 2020 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured a stunning new selfie on February 26, 2020 (the 2687th Martian day, or sol, of the mission). This selfie was taken...

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.

Mercury’s Extreme Daytime Heat May Help It Make Its Polar Ice

Mar 16, 2020 by News Staff

In 2011, NASA’s MESSENGER orbiter detected signals typical of glacial ice near the poles on Mercury. The ice was dingy and lurked in permanent shadows...

Perspective view of the Moreux crater. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Mars Express Sees Intriguing Geological Features in Moreux Crater

Mar 10, 2020 by News Staff

The High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express orbiter has captured stunning images of Moreux crater, a huge impact crater in the Terra Sabaea...

This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance on the surface of the Red Planet. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA’s Next Mars Rover Gets Official Name: Perseverance

Mar 6, 2020 by News Staff

Perseverance is the latest in a long line of Red Planet rovers to be named by school-age children, from Sojourner in 1997 to the Spirit and Opportunity...

As NASA’s Dawn spacecraft takes off for its next destination, this mosaic synthesizes some of the best views the spacecraft had of the giant asteroid Vesta. Dawn studied Vesta from July 2011 to September 2012. The towering mountain at the south pole -- more than twice the height of Mount Everest -- is visible at the bottom of the image. The set of three craters known as the ‘snowman’ can be seen at the top left. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Asteroid Vesta Has Turbulent Past

Mar 5, 2020 by News Staff

A new study by Curtin University researchers has shed light on the early days of Vesta, the second largest asteroid of the main belt and the fourth such...

Curiosity captured this panorama of the Martian surface between November 24 and December 1, 2019. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS.

Curiosity Captures 1.8-Billion-Pixel Panorama of Martian Surface

Mar 5, 2020 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has captured its highest-resolution panorama (high-resolution file, 2.43 GB) yet of the Martian surface. The new panorama...